Our reporter Michael Plant gives his reaction from Villa Park as Manchester United earn a vital three points in the race for fourth place.
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00:00 I'm at Villa Park where this evening Manchester United earned a crucial 2-1 victory against
00:04 Aston Villa in the race for the Champions League places.
00:07 It means United are now just 6 points off Spurs in 4th place and 5 points behind 5th
00:12 place Villa.
00:13 But really this is a game that United will feel pretty fortunate to come away from with
00:18 all 3 points because for long periods of this game they were 2nd best.
00:22 Villa actually managed 23 shots here this evening, 10 on target and there were periods
00:26 this game where it just felt like a matter of when, not if, Villa were going to just
00:31 take the game away from United.
00:32 There was a long spell in the second half where they completely dominated the game.
00:36 United were hanging on really but, but, as has so often happened this season with United,
00:40 they have a way of digging in, of staying competitive, staying involved in games and
00:45 ultimately they have enough firepower at the other end of the pitch that they can ground
00:50 out wins and results.
00:51 I think defensively they'll be pleased to have dealt with all those chances for Villa
00:54 as well.
00:55 I think Malo had a really good game, same with Harry Maguire and actually Andre Anana
00:59 as well, of course a player who has earned a lot of criticism at times this season.
01:02 Probably in terms of shots stopping, perhaps his best performance in a United shirt because
01:05 he made some really important ones to deny walk-ins on a couple of occasions.
01:08 Douglas Luiz made a good save from Leon Feeley as well.
01:12 But United took an early lead through Rasmus Hoyland and now that's 5 goals in 5 games
01:18 for him.
01:19 Seems like a long time ago that he couldn't find the back of the net.
01:22 Of course it was against Villa that he found his goal scoring touch with that injury time
01:27 winner.
01:28 He looks like a completely different player since then.
01:30 But after that Villa were on top, created a couple of chances but went in at half time
01:33 and 1-0 down.
01:35 They did eventually get a goal via Douglas Luiz who tapped in from a Leon Feeley cross
01:40 but in 86th minute Scott McTominay rose with a back post header, jumping above Matty Cash
01:44 to give United a huge 3 points.
01:46 You can actually just see Scott McTominay doing a little bit of a cool down behind me
01:49 because he wasn't actually on the pitch for that long so getting in a couple of extra
01:53 yards into his legs.
01:55 But listen, a huge contribution from him.
01:56 So many times McTominay has come off the bench this season and provided game-changing moments.
02:00 It was only 11 days ago he was in the West Midlands and powered a header into the goal
02:05 at Molineux to help United earn a 4-3 victory against the Wolves.
02:09 Of course there was that one against Brentford earlier this season as well.
02:11 McTominay has had a real contribution in terms of match-changing moments I suppose and really
02:18 important for him.
02:19 He's a player who's actually found himself out of the team in recent weeks but good performance
02:22 from him.
02:23 But listen, I think in general United will be a bit concerned that this is once again
02:25 a game that they didn't dominate.
02:28 The other team dictated to them what sort of game it was going to be.
02:31 They were second best for a long period and while they've got 3 points there are still
02:34 concerns I think about Ten Hag and his approach and just how open United are through the middle.
02:38 But for now anyway it's a big win for United.
02:40 They cut the gap to the Champions League spots down to 6 points.
02:44 They've actually really I think blown this Champions League race open.
02:47 The front three are scoring goals, they've defended well and they've now won 5 out of
02:50 6.
02:51 It is certainly looking better for Eric Ten Hag.
02:53 Eric Ten Hag and Manchester United.