Two sides eyeing Champions League football next season meet at Villa Park this weekend as Aston Villa take on Manchester United.
Aston Villa currently sit 4th in the Premier League with fourteen wins, four draws and five losses from twenty-three games this season.
Aston Villa are having an outstanding campaign under Unai Emery and are well-placed to maintain their run for a Champions League spot with over half of the season played.
They're coming into this game amidst a fairly mixed run on the whole having won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five games, the most recent of which was a 5-0 win away at Sheffield United thanks to goals from John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans and Àlex Moreno.
The win at Bramall Lane was very welcome for Emery's men as they'd been on a pretty poor run of just one win in their last five league matches, so such a comprehensive victory will go some way to re-establishing themselves as a force within the top four chasers.
Despite losing their most recent game at Villa park, they've generally been excellent on home soil with the 1-3 defeat to Newcastle their only loss at home in the league all season.
The wind will definitely be back in their sails following their thumping win at the weekend and they should bring that momentum into this one, where they look to make amends for the reverse fixture at Old Trafford where they sacrificed a 2-0 lead to eventually fall to a 3-2 defeat on Boxing Day.
Manchester United currently sit 6th in the Premier League with twelve wins, two draws and nine losses from twenty-three games this season.
The Red Devils have had yet another tumultuous campaign and have been less than convincing on the pitch, both domestically and in Europe.
There is, though, a faint flicker of light at the end of the tunnel following what is now an eleven-year stint without a Premier League title, with the club now under new ownership which is widely hoped will result in a more astute running of the club from top to bottom which they hope will be reflected on the pitch.
Their form has taken a recent uptick too, with Erik ten Hag's men coming into this game unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions, winning four of those.
Their latest outing saw them cruise to a convincing 3-0 win over West Ham United courtesy of goals from Rasmus Højlund and Alejandro Garnacho (X2).
The win was a big one for United and, contrary to many of their wins this season, came alongside what was a good team performance.
Ten Hag seems to have found a nice balance with Garnacho proving very effective off the right wing, a position United have struggled to fill for a while now, while Kobbie Mainoo has added some poise in midfield.
The hope will be the side can now continue to progress because given they still lie eight points shy of Villa in 4th they've got a fair bit of ground to make up if they want to finish in the Champions League places this season.
For our Aston Villa vs. Manchester United prediction, we're going for a 1-1 draw.
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