Unai Emery bemoans key moment in Aston Villa's defeat at Manchester United

Goals in the final 20 minutes from Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko condemned Villa to a third straight Premier League loss, equalling their worst run since Emery took charge in November, 2022.

But on a ground where they have regularly been beaten over the past four decades, they were left wondering what might have been after Ross Barkley had cancelled out Casemiro’s opener.

Villa were on top for most of the seven minutes between Barkley’s leveller and Cunha putting United back ahead.

But after Tammy Abraham had missed a good chance, Leon Bailey was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply with his team on the attack. Seconds later, it was in the net at the other end of the pitch.

Emery was visibly furious with Bailey and asked about the moment afterward, he said: “It is difficult, because it was an exciting moment. 

“Leon Bailey, just before, he did a good action to Abraham, creating a very good chance.

“When we got in transition, we were not really dominating. They had more defenders than we had attackers.

“In this action Leon Bailey was alone with Luke Shaw, and there were two players with Morgan Rogers. I was trying to get Bailey to stop and get passes to get positioning in attack.

“Why? We planned before that the transition of them (United) is really fantastic. In this moment, the match was being played through the emotions. Maybe, if Abraham scored we’d be speaking now differently.

“We needed to control the game like we did in other moments. 

“I can’t tell nothing to the players, because I know the effort they are doing to recover their confidence and getting our structure stronger again.”

Villa failed to make the most of several promising moments in attack throughout the afternoon, with Abraham, Douglas Luiz and Andres Garcia somehow all failing to convert from close range in second half stoppage time.

Emery saw positives in the performance despite the result. His team now host Lille in the second leg of a Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday, before a key home Premier League match against West Ham next Sunday.

“Overall, we did things good but it was not enough,” said Emery. “How we are progressing after some fantastic months, we have struggled more in the last two months. 

“We are recovering confidence and working again on some things in our structure. The players are feeling better.

“Today, the result was in my expectation. I knew it could happen. They (United) are in a good moment and they played an intelligent match. 

“But we did compete and we can feel better. The result was bad, but we have to analyse it for Thursday and then Sunday.”