Aston Villa claimed an historic 1-0 win over Germany giants Bayern Munich at Villa Park on Wednesday in the Champions League and they have a chance to claim another big scalp on Sunday when hosting Manchester United.
The Red Devils are winless in four matches across all competitions but they did at least manage to salvage a point in their own European assignment, fighting back to claim a 3-3 draw at Porto in the Europa League.
Visiting manager Erik ten Hag finds himself under real pressure in these early stages of the campaign after three defeats in the opening six league fixtures.
Team news
Villa picked up a few knocks on their way to victory over Bayern as Jacob Ramsey, Amadou Onana and Leon Bailey were all forced off.
three are rated as doubtful for the visit of United, while Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn are confirmed absentees.
Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Leny Yoro are missing for United and Mason Mount is a doubt.
Kobbie Mainoo was forced off in the 3-0 defeat to Spurs in the last round of Premier League games and was not involved against Porto, but he has trained this week and may be involved.
Prediction
Ten Hag is under intense pressure at Old Trafford and the Dutchman desperately needs a result at Villa Park after a run of four games without a win, but they may struggle to get anything against their in-form hosts.
United do have an impressive record against Villa but the recent form here points strongly towards a home win. Only Arsenal have managed to beat Villa this term and they have won six of their last seven games across all competitions.
The visitors are a team who appear low on confidence after they were crushed by Tottenham at home last time out. United took a two-goal lead at Porto but found themselves trailing in the closing stages before grabbing a late equaliser.
Goals have been an issue for United as they have failed to score in three of their last four league outings.
If Villa do manage to get ahead, there may well be no way back for Ten Hag’s men against a team who managed to shut down Bayern’s impressive attack.
