Villa Home - Match talk/coverage

[E.S.]

[20] Villa manager McLeish hopes for an Old Trafford upset

"Can I spoil the United party? I have done it before with Motherwell when we played Rangers. They had the carnival ready to go. Motherwell won that day 2-0 with two goals from Owen Coyle."

"I know Sir Alex would never allow that to happen. We know we would face a rampant United side but you never know what can happen."

[Red News]

Stephen Ireland - I grew up as a Manchester United fan

"I was a United fan when I was growing up because it was in my family. It was a time when they were at their best with people like Cantona, Giggs, Scholes and Beckham. It was easy to follow a team who kept winning and playing attractive football. I had a trial with United and there was a chance I might go there but felt I had more chance of getting into the first team at City. I was a big fan of Cantona and always wanted to wear the number seven shirt and, when it became available at Villa, I wanted to take it."

[Red News]

Alex Ferguson - we rested Paul Scholes at Wigan but he is back for Sunday

"Scholesy was rested on Wednesday. He's shown his influence since he came back. We did the right thing in resting him on Wednesday. He'll play on Sunday."

[Red News]

Manchester United and Aston Villa squads

Man United (from): De Gea, Amos, Rafael, Jones, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Fabio, Evra, Valencia, Nani, Park, Scholes, Cleverley, Carrick, Pogba, Giggs, Young, Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez, Berbatov.


Aston Villa (from): Given, Guzan, Hutton, Lichaj, Cuellar, Herd, Collins, Baker, Bannan, Clark, Gardner, Warnock, Ireland, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Weimann, Marshall, Johnson, Stevens, Delfouneso, Delph, Albrighton.

[Red News]

Alex Ferguson defends criticism of old boy Alex McLeish

"Alex had a rough first year at the club, not being able to buy players and selling a few. It makes it difficult if you get injuries and he has had a couple of bad ones in losing Dunne and Bent, whose goals were a big loss. He has a lot of criticism from the fan base at Villa Park but he has handled the whole pressure very well. He is a very capable manager and I hope everything is all right for him."

[E.S.]

[15] Ashley Young hopes Villa will avoid relegation

"I hope so. It’s so tough at this stage because every team is fighting for something but, if they can get some good results at home, they’ll have a great chance.

"We got dragged into a bit of a relegation battle when I was there last season, but we had a good team spirit and got ourselves clear of it and finished ninth in the end. I’m sure they have the squad and team spirit to survive."

[E.S.]

[16] Ashley Young is still a "fan" of his old club Villa

"I always look out for Villa's results,"

"I enjoyed my four and a half years there and keep in touch with a lot of the people there. I exchanged a couple of messages with some of the lads last week – I was trying to find out their team!

"There won’t be any extra edge for me because it’s against my old team – I’ll just be trying to put in another good performance and help us get three points."

[Red News]

Alex Ferguson - Aston Villa losing Darren Bent to injury was a massive blow

“There was an imbalance in terms of what is needed in the Premier League. You only need a couple of injuries and it is a massive blow. And in Bent you are taking away a goalscorer who gets between 18 and 20 a season. That is a big loss.”

[Red News]

MUFC vs Aston Villa EA Sports Player Performance Stats - Paul Scholes has the best minutes per pass completed in an opponent’s half


Man Utd v Aston Villa Sun 15 Apr 16:00

· United have had mixed fortunes in their Easter fixtures, beating QPR and then losing to Wigan to make their lead over rival Manchester City five points with five games to go
· Rooney and Scholes both hit the target in the game against QPR, although controversy surrounded Rooney’s penalty, won by Ashley Young
· Rooney’s goal was his 22nd of the season, the second highest goal scorer in the Premier League behind Robin van Persie, while Paul Scholes has scored three times in the Premier League since returning from retirement
· Rooney’s goals have come from 118 shots at goal with 67% on target
· The evergreen Scholes has covered 50.28 miles so far this season, averaging 4.19 miles in each of his 12 appearances
· Scholes has the best minutes per pass completed in the opponent’s half rate of any player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, averaging a pass every one minute 47 seconds
· Villa come to Old Trafford on the back of successive 1-1 draws in the Premier League
· Chris Herd scored against Liverpoolto give Villa the lead and Andreas Weimann did the same against Stoke before their opponent’s equalised in the last twenty minutes in both games
· Herd has made 14 appearances this season, winning 73% of tackles attempted and making 54 interceptions
· Villa have some of the most impressive defensive stats in the league, with players consistently in the top ranked for each defensive discipline
· Stephen Warnock is ranked second inthe EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for tackles won, having won 79 tackles so far this season, while James Collins is the top ranked player for clearances having made 84 so far this season
· Collins has also made more interceptions than any other player this season with 206, and the second highest number of blocks with 33

[Red News]

Alex Ferguson on importance of Villa game after Wigan

"We were disappointed to lose but we have to put it into perspective. In the treble year we went through the whole season from December without losing. A couple of years back we lost 4-1 at home to Liverpool and won the league by nine points. From the position of a few months ago to where we are
today, we have to be delighted. Sunday is very important and we must get back on track. A great thing about our club is we do recover and we have to do that again."