Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 3 - Report and pictures

The gulf in quality and form to Manchester United is such the visitors would always likely have defeated Dean Smith’s men, who are now 10 top flight matches without a win and sinking deeper into the relegation mire.

But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team were given a helping hand by one of the season’s worst refereeing decisions when the game was goal-less.

If referee Jon Moss’ decision to penalise Ezri Konsa and award a penalty when the Villa defender was trodden on by Bruno Fernandes in the 27th minute was bemusing, the subsequent failure of video referee Graham Scott to overturn the error bordered on the insulting.

Fernandes swept home the resulting spot-kick to set United, who had been second best to that point, on course for a victory which maintained their push for a top-four finish.

Villa, who had almost gone in front moments before when Trezeguet hit the post, were left smarting from the injustice.

There could be few complaints, however, about the manner in which United took hold of the match from that point. Mason Greenwood doubled their advantage with a blistering strike seconds before half-time before Paul Pogba struck in the second half.

Both goals were helped by poor Villa defending and the manner in which the home players failed to close down Pogba before he fired home from 25 yards suggested a team which is also losing belief. This was their fourth defeat in six matches since the top flight's restart.

The immediate challenge for Dean Smith is to rally his men ahead of Sunday’s visit of Crystal Palace, a match which is now surely a must-win fixture.

With Watford and West Ham both playing 24 hours earlier, Villa could find themselves seven points adrift of safety by then. The likelihood, in any case, is they will need to win three of their remaining four matches to stand any chance of escaping the drop. For a team who have now failed to score in three matches and netted only twice in their last eight, it appears an increasingly tall order.

Mbwana Samatta replaced Keinan Davis in the only change from the team from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool. The Tanzania international was quickly into the action, running back to dispossess a sleeping Nemanja Matic in an opening period where Villa were generally sharper than the visitors.

Their delivery into the box, so often disappointing, was causing United all kinds of trouble with but there was never anyone to apply the finish.

Grealish should have done better than fire an inviting Konsa cross wide of the target, before Trezeguet then failed to connect with an Anwar El Ghazi centre.

The most frenetic period of the half came immediately after the drinks break. First Trezeguet went close when he robbed Paul Pogba in the middle of the park and raced toward goal before firing a shot which bounced off the outside of the post and wide.

Then came the controversy. As United pressed and probed around the edge of the Villa box, both Konsa and Fernandes challenged for the same ball, the visiting player turning away as he jumped, his studs landing on the ankle of the home defender.

Konsa’s look of incredulity when Moss pointed to the spot was understandable and Villa’s disbelief only grew further when VAR Graham Scott allowed the decision to stand after review, Fernandes sending Reina the wrong way from the spot to put United ahead.

Villa’s performance levels did not drop with the goal yet the visitors were now visibly more confident and chances began to come their way.

Reina did well to save a low Greenwood shot after the forward had been allowed to advance unchecked to the edge of the box. Villa were then fortunate to escape as the clock ticked into stoppage time when Fernandes headed a Luke Shaw cross wide from eight yards out.

They were not so fortunate a couple of minutes later when Mings, pushing into the opposing half, lost possession and United broke with menace, Greenwood finishing off the move with a blistering shot which gave Reina no chance.

That left Villa with a mountain to climb and the gradient almost got steeper just a few minutes into the second half when Marcus Rashford sent El Ghazi sliding out of play and then delivered a cross to the far post which Aaron Wan-Bissaka somehow directed wide of the post.

Yet the match was becoming one-way traffic and after Villa had escaped again, courtesy of a well-timed sliding challenge from Neil Taylor to deny Anthony Martial, Pogba added United’s third when he curled home from 25 yards out.

When Martial then thumped a shot against the bar there seemed a real danger of Villa finding themselves on the end of a humiliating scoreline.

To their credit, they kept working, Reina preventing any further damage when he denied Rashford in stoppage time.

Villa (4-2-3-1): Reina, Konsa, Hause, Mings, Taylor, McGinn (Nakamba 59), Luiz (Vassilev 84), El Ghazi (Hourihane 58), Grealish, Trezeguet, Samatta (Davis 59) Subs not used: Elmohamady, Guilbert, Lansbury, Jota, Nyland (gk).

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea, Wan-Bissaka (Williams 67), Lindelhof, Maguire ©, Shaw, Matic (McTominay 67), Pogba, Fernandes (Fred 71), Rashford, Greenwood (James 79), Martial (Ighalo 79) Subs not used: Bailly, Mata, Pereira, Romero (gk).