Aston Villa v Man Utd - EPL 23 Dec

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Aston Villa v Man Utd

Ch 24 - 11:00 pm - (Live) - Villa Park

ASTON VILLA and Manchester United meet at Villa Park in a dress rehearsal for next month's FA Cup third round tie at Old Trafford. Villa are on the equal longest current winless run in the Premiership of six matches, as they prepare to face the League leaders in the pre-Christmas fixture. They will not want to hand too many presents to United, as defeat could see the Midlanders slipping out of the top half of the table, following an impressive opening to the campaign.

This is set to be a fascinating tactical duel between two of the most successful managers in British football, Martin O'Neill and Sir Alex Ferguson, and pits this season's Premiership specialists against the most prolific winners. Villa have lost only one more match than United, but are 19 points worse off.

Aston Villa : Sorensen, Mellberg, Cahill, Ridgewell, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Davis, McCann, Petrov, Barry, Osbourne, Whittingham, Djemba-Djemba, Agathe, Angel, Sutton, Baros, Gabor Kiraly.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Silvestre, Evra, Heinz, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Richardson, Saha, Rooney, Park, Smith, Solskjaer.

REFEREE
Steve Bennett (Orpington, Kent)

ASTON VILLA

Juan Pablo ANGEL and Gareth BARRY are Villa's top scorers, with seven goals each. Five of Barry's have come from the penalty spot.

BARRY is the club's top Premiership marksman with six.

This match provides the opportunity of an "old boys' reunion" for Eric DJEMBA-DJEMBA.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Louis SAHA is United's leading scorer with 12 League and Cup goals.

SAHA and Wayne ROONEY are the club's joint top marksmen in the Premiership with eight each.

LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester United
17 December 2005 - Ref: Mike Dean
Man United scorers: van Nistelrooy 10, Rooney 51

HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS

at Villa only
League: Villa 32 wins, Man United 23, Draws 18
Prem: Villa 2 wins, Man United 9, Draws 3

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Don't make me mark Ronaldo

OLOF MELLBERG is desperate to mark Wayne Rooney tomorrow because it will be a lot easier than tracking Cristiano Ronaldo. Aston Villas Swedish international has played the majority of his 201 games for the club as a central defender.

But with no other cover for the injured Mark Delaney and Aaron Hughes, he has spent the last seven Premiership games filling in as an emergency right-back. Yet the prospect of being shown a clean pair of heels by Manchester Uniteds flying winger at Villa Park has left him sweating. And he has hinted to boss Martin ONeill that now might be a good time for normal service to be resumed.

Mellberg, 29, said: Its been all right playing at right-back but I obviously prefer playing in the centre because Im more comfortable there. I used to play right-back for Sweden when I first broke into the international team. But that was a long time ago and I hadnt played there for quite some time before this season.

I guess Ill be marking either Ryan Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday. But Id rather it was Wayne Rooney because I played against him in the World Cup in Germany last summer.

Giggs and Ronaldo are both world-class players. But theres something extra special about Ronaldo. Hes very quick and skilful with the ball at his feet and wins a lot of free-kicks.

Despite Uniteds surprise defeat at West Ham last weekend, Mellberg is still tipping Alex Fergusons side to edge out Chelsea in the title race. The Old Trafford giants nine-point lead at the top of the Premiership has been cut to just two.

But Mellberg said: I just think United have been very impressive this season and I fancy them to win the league. But this is a good game for us on Saturday because we need to get our home form going again we can play this one with no pressure.

dinky1409 SG

Haha power lah! Hopefully can win.. Then pray that Chelsea drop points..

Dead_Man_Inc SG

I think chelsea will whack wigan Laughing

used SG

larsson will be behind the bench talking to his former manager Laughing

zocoss SG

In a rare moment of seriousness from Ferguson in an otherwise light-hearted look forward to tomorrow's trip to Aston Villa, Fergie said, Although the disappointment of last weekend's defeat at West Ham remained fresh in his mind, the United boss seemed more determined to emphasise his club's hospitality at providing mince pies and wine for the assembled media than worrying about Chelsea reducing the gap at the Premiership summit to two points.

However, Ferguson remains calm under pressure, pointing out the championship is won over a nine-month season, not one weekend. "We are here for the long haul," he said. "We have youth on our side and we have strength on our side.

"Historically, we do okay in the second half of the season so we should be pleased to get to this point in the position we are. "You could be over-critical and say we threw three points away against West Ham but that doesn't get you anywhere. What is done is done.

"We have to make sure we get back on target. The next game is an obvious target. Ferguson refused to get embroiled in a personal debate over Mourinho's angry 'yellow-card gestures' at Everton and Newcastle over the past week, claiming he had not seen them.

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Fergie wants United response

Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Manchester United will bounce back from the defeat to West Ham when they face Aston Villa this Saturday. Chelsea cut the gap at the top to two points last weekend as United slipped to a surprise 1-0 loss at Upton Park, but Ferguson is keen not to dwell on the past.

He has challenged his side to respond to the setback, and predicts that the title race will go right down to the wire. "We have to accept in a championship race there is going to be a disappointment along the way," Ferguson told Sky Sports News.

"That's the making of your team to recover from these things. We've done it many times so tomorrow is a nice challenge for us. "I think we're here for the long haul. I think the league this season will be the long haul and that's a good thing.

Henrik Larsson has been training with United this week ahead of his three-month loan spell, and Ferguson has been delighted with his sharpness.

"I am pleased. His fitness levels were better than I expected and he's done very well this week. His sharpness was good and his finishing was good," he praised.

Dead_Man_Inc SG

Come on guys, lets support our team tonight!

zocoss SG

Aston Villa 0-2 Man Utd

82 mins:

Cristiano Ronaldo

Scholes

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Aston Villa 0-3 Man Utd

86 mins:

Cristiano Ronaldo (2)

Scholes

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Aston Villa 0-3 Man Utd

Final Score:

Cristiano Ronaldo (2)

Scholes

Ronaldo sinks sorry Villa

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Man Utd kept their position on top of the league by beating Aston Villa 3-0.

dinky1409 SG

What an unbelievable screamer from Scholesy.. Excellent goal! See! Its so much better when they pass the ball around and be patient.. Almost scored a goal from fantastic team movement and passing of ball.. What for play long ball? Lose possesion only like just now Ferdinand ruin it all by trying a long ball which goes nowhere but to the opponents and Man U lost possession just like that.. Senseless.. PJS is a damn brilliant player I love the way he turn into the space between 2 players just now.. Giggs scold Saha for an overhit pass then minutes after that he also mishit a simple ball passed directly to him.. With all respects to Giggs, but I think his form now doesn’t deserve a starting place in the team…

thoreldan SG

i feel that Park played badly in this game

Båseline SG

Another contender for goal of the Season. What a first timer from Scholes.

zocoss SG

Scholes with a brilliant goal!... And this tops the lot... Commentator...

Gackt247 SG

Sad.. me no see the match.. juz came back home. Sad

dinky1409 SG

Nothing special I feel.. Felt that they could control more if they just keep up the passing flow...

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CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR UNITED

Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes ensured Manchester United would be top of the Barclays Premiership on Christmas Day as the leaders won 3-0 at Aston Villa.

After a goalless first half, Ronaldo wasted little time putting United ahead, running 40 yards, seeing his first shot blocked, and following up to score past emergency-loan goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.

United doubled their advantage after Scholes volleyed in one of the goals of the season, waiting for a clearance to drop 25 yards out before blasting home via the underside of the crossbar.

Ronaldo ended any doubt over the result when he tapped Gary Neville's cross into an empty net five minutes from time.

gigabyte14 SG

I WON MONEY!!! YEAH!!! RONALDO U ROCK!!! SCHOLES U ROCK!!! MERRY XMAS!!!

Dead_Man_Inc SG

I felt that giggs and park did not play well leh Laughing