Aston Villa's Champions League hopes threatened as Man Utd run out 2-1 victors

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden's post-match thoughts after Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United in the Premier League.

Transcript

00:00 Aston Villa's must not lose game against Manchester United has ended in, well, defeat.

00:06 Five points is now the gap between Man United and Aston Villa.

00:10 It could have been 11 at the home side come out victors tonight.

00:13 But it's a deserved three points, I think you'd have to say, in terms of the finishing ability of Manchester United.

00:19 Villa, I think they're a better team going forward. They created more chances.

00:23 Defensively, some errors once again, like we saw against Chelsea, like we saw against Newcastle United.

00:28 They haven't been cut out. And then just not that clinical edge from the likes of Oli Watkins,

00:33 Moussa Diaby coming off the bench as well, Leon Bailey, Jacob Ramsey.

00:37 They all had opportunities to kill this game. They could have got back into it making it 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, etc.

00:43 They did get back into it in the second half. Douglas Luiz scoring from a Leon Bailey cross after a corner.

00:49 That was a very good finish. Fair play to the Brazilian, his seventh Premier League goal of the season.

00:53 But other chances weren't converted when they should have been.

00:55 I think Oli Watkins probably should have had about two or three tonight going through on goal.

00:59 John McGinn as well. I mean, you can't take anything away from him.

01:01 A very good effort in the first half, got so much power behind it. Onana saved it.

01:06 I think credit has to go to Man Utd's goalkeeper today, actually.

01:09 He did make quite a few impressive stops to keep Villa out of their net.

01:14 But it was those errors, as I mentioned, in the first half. The first goal, Rasmus Hoyland.

01:19 Bubikar Kamara failed to head away a corner. Harry Maguire nuzzled it in to Hoyland, who was able to put it beyond Martínez, through his legs.

01:27 Before that, Hoyland probably should have scored, as Douglas Luiz gave the ball away.

01:31 Clemen Longley wasn't quick enough to react as well. Bruno Fernandes got there first.

01:35 Played in Hoyland, who messed up his chance in the end. Diego Carlos swiping in to clear that one away.

01:41 And then, late on, the goal. 86th minute it was to make it 2-1 to Man Utd.

01:46 Scott McTominay heading in from a Diego Dalot cross.

01:49 Well, Matty Cash should have done so much better. Matty Cash today, actually.

01:53 So many errors, again. He did put in a couple of decent crosses going forward.

01:58 Looks a bit of a threat, but defensively, his positioning was poor.

02:01 And he struggled to deal the likes of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, and then, of course, McTominay right at the end.

02:06 Just not strong enough in the challenge, allowing McTominay to head in for 2-1.

02:10 And Villa couldn't, in the end, get another goal back.

02:13 A huge three points for Man Utd. A huge three points drop for Villa.

02:17 And, well, the gap now being five.

02:19 If Villa don't sort themselves out, especially at home, which is a weird thing to say, considering the record earlier in the season,

02:25 well, Chambers League dreams could be slipping away very quickly.