We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League game at Old Trafford with our Man Utd vs Aston Villa prediction and preview. Can Unai Emery’s side secure Champions League qualification?
Man Utd vs Aston Villa Stats: The Key Insights
Aston Villa know the best chance they have of securing a Champions League place is with a win at Old Trafford, and the Opta supercomputer gives them a 51.8% chance of doing so.
Villa have won just one of the last 26 occasions their final league game of the season has come away from home – 3-1 at Chelsea in 2001-02.
Manchester United have won 40 Premier League games against Villa.
The race for the Champions League is going down to the wire, and Aston Villa travel to Manchester United – beaten Europa League finalists on Wednesday – in the hope of sneaking into the top five.
Ahead of the final game of the season, Villa are one of three teams with Newcastle United and Chelsea on 66 points, though they sit sixth due to their inferior goal difference.
It leaves Unai Emery’s side needing favours from elsewhere, with the Opta supercomputer currently giving them a 42.6% chance of finishing in the top five, only slightly lower than their likelihood of finishing sixth (42.9%).
Premier League season prediction
Villa are at least in good form, winning nine of their last 11 Premier League games (L2), just one fewer than opponents United have won all season (10).
Overall, they have won 19 league matches this term and could win 20+ in consecutive top-flight campaigns for the first time since 1930-31 (three in a row).
Since the start of March, Villa have earned 24 points in the Premier League from their nine games (W8 L1), more than any other side in that period.
But the Villans have won just one of the last 26 occasions their final league game of the season has come away from home (D7 L18), winning 3-1 at Chelsea in 2001-02.
It still leaves United with an uphill battle if they want to give the Old Trafford faithful something to cheer after a dismal season, which hit a new low on Wednesday as they were beaten 1-0 by Tottenham in the Europa League final.
Tottenham v Man Utd Europa League final
It was the Red Devils’ 20th defeat in all competitions this season, their most in a single campaign since losing 22 en route to top-flight relegation in 1973-74.
And their Premier League form is nothing to shout about. They are winless in their last eight league matches (D2 L6), losing the last three in a row – it’s their longest ever such run in the competition.
Another loss on Sunday would be their 19th in the top flight in 2024-25. They’ve not lost as many as half of their games in a single league season since 1933-34 (22/42 in the second tier), while they last did so in the top tier in 1930-31 (27/42).
They will also finish the league season without ever winning two matches in a row – it’s only the third time in the club’s history that they’ve gone an entire league campaign without winning back-to-back games (also in 1893-94 and 1921-22).
On a more positive note for Ruben Amorim, only Arsenal (23) have won their final Premier League game of the season more often than United (22), while they also have the lowest loss rate of any team to compete in at least 10 campaigns (12.5% – 4/32).
Man Utd vs Aston Villa Head-to-Head
United have won 40 Premier League games against Aston Villa.
Only the Red Devils themselves have beaten a single team more often (42 vs Everton).
Villa have earned eight points from their last seven Premier League games against United (W2 D2 L3), as many as they had in their previous 31 (W1 D5 L25).
Man Utd vs Aston Villa Prediction
A win might not even be enough for Villa to earn a second straight season in the Champions League, but the Opta supercomputer gives them a 51.8% chance of collecting all three points at Old Trafford on Sunday.
United’s hopes of signing off their dreadful season with a win sit at 24.9%, while the likelihood of a draw is 23.3%.
Man Utd vs Aston Villa Prediction
Man Utd vs Aston Villa Predicted Lineups
Man Utd predicted lineup vs Aston Villa
Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Man Utd
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here are the Opta Power Rankings for both sides.
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