Manchester United kept pace with Premier League leaders Manchester City with an impressive victory over Aston Villa.
Phil Jones scored the crucial goal after 20 minutes when he volleyed home from Nani's cross.
The win came at a cost though as Javier Hernandez had to be stretchered off early on with ankle ligament damage.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side climbed back above Tottenham, who had briefly gone second with their win earlier on, and remained five points adrift of City after dominating for long periods.
United suffered an early setback when Hernandez appeared to twist his ankle when it became caught in the Villa Park surface after turning sharply. Boss Ferguson said the striker is expected to be out for a month with damaged ankle ligaments.
There was a lengthy delay while Hernandez received treatment but he was unable to continue and was stretchered off and replaced by Antonio Valencia.
But it came as no surprise when the impressive Jones put United ahead with a clinical finish after 20 minutes.
Patrice Evra released the overlapping Nani and his cross was met by Jones - who started in midfield - who volleyed past Given from close range.
Villa could not get a foothold in the game and it needed a fine save from Shay Given to prevent United doubling their lead.
Young provided the probing cross from the right of the area and Nani's powerful header was turned aside by the Republic of Ireland keeper.
There was a brief moment of danger from Villa when Barry Bannan ran on to a reverse ball from Agbonlahor inside the United box but he over-ran the ball.
Effort
But United were the dominant force and Antonio Valencia curled a 25-yard effort just wide after no-one had closed him down.
Given had to be replaced by Brad Guzan after 38 minutes after hurting his leg when racing out of his area to clear.
The second period began in the same vein as the opening 45 minutes with United dominating proceedings.
Wayne Rooney tried his luck from 25 yards out and his shot skidded just past the post.
Then Bannan made a crucial block on Nani's shot from near the penalty area, then Anders Lindegaard clung onto a teasing cross-shot from Agbonlahor in a rare Villa attack.
Jenas became the third player to be substituted after 64 minutes with a serious-looking ankle injury and he also had to be stretchered off.
Villa substitute Emile Heskey almost made an instant impact as he headed wide at the far post after Richard Dunne had flicked on a corner from Bannan.
Young dragged a low 20-yard effort only a couple of feet wide after brushing off the challenge of Bannan.
But Villa were at last showing some menace with Lindegaard turning over a Collins header from a Dunne centre.
Young curled a sot straight at Guzan after good play by Ryan Giggs but could not score against his former team-mates before being substituted after 78 minutes.
Rooney had a quiet afternoon but was just too high with a snap shot after exchanging passes with Carrick.
Substitute Danny Welbeck had the ball in the net in the 90th minute but had strayed offside as Rooney delayed his pass.
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1
December 03, 2011
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a struggling win against a very very poor villa side,we will not meet many teams poor as villa were today this season.huge improvements are needed if we are to finish even top 4 this season as teams such as spurs,arsenal,city,and pool look good.
even though jones scored i dont like the way fergie's messing about with his game,he needs to play in a settled positiion to improve his game,and not become the next o'shea(can play anywhere but useless).
very sorry to see hernandez go off injured,hope he gets well soon.
News flash!!!!...............United win ONEtonothing!
a struggling win against a very very poor villa side,we will not meet many teams poor as villa were today this season.huge improvements are needed if we are to finish even top 4 this season as teams such as spurs,arsenal,city,and pool look good.
even though jones scored i dont like the way fergie's messing about with his game,he needs to play in a settled positiion to improve his game,and not become the next o'shea(can play anywhere but useless).
very sorry to see hernandez go off injured,hope he gets well soon.
We have become the infamous 'boring Chel$ki'?
State of affairs not good at all.
Not a good performance. Rooney not getting enough support from other players. Goals are not coming at the moment not enough creativity in the middle.
77% of goals conceded by us have come in the second half.
That stat kept my heart in my mouth till the final whistle. This is definitely not for the faint
hearted.
Thank God SAF did not bring Evans on.
Looks almost like someone else playing in our colours.
Can we not score more than one goal? C'mon SAF rectify the problem.
I hope Chicha's injury is not long term.
77% of goals conceded by us have come in the second half.
That stat kept my heart in my mouth till the final whistle. This is definitely not for the faint
hearted.
Thank God SAF did not bring Evans on.
Looks almost like someone else playing in our colours.
Can we not score more than one goal? C'mon SAF rectify the problem.
I hope Chicha's injury is not long term.
kept pace check the goal difference worst goals for twenty yrs thank god for Jones
What I saw-United & ISDEP 1- Villa o
Good effort across the board.
Nice save by Lindegard.
Valencia seemed to play better.
Another freaky injury - what the heck is going on?
It’s nice to see Wellbeck back on.
I like Jones in CM with Carrick who had another nice game.
Smalling is going to be special.
Did anyone else see the guy with no shirt and wearing a red wig? Was that ISDEP?
What they saw – the sky falling.
Enjoy your weekend everyone and…stay calm.
R7
Yeah, I know... three points on the road, that's all that matters. What a crock. Wayne Rooney and Nani should be sent away. They are like a couple of school-girls who refuse to play with each other. What a complete waste of 100 minutes of field time for both of them. Valencia was just about as bad. I have had enough of our "senior leadership" showing none. Just going through the motions. We were one poor decision away from throwing away two points, again. Nine goals scored in our last ten PL matches! Inexcusable.
Phil Jones finally got his well-deserved goal. Carrick looked good, for about the 4th straight time. Lindegaard was sharp, when he needed to be. The amazing thing is, we are still in 2nd, only five behind City. Imagine if everyone were on-board with hunger and passion?
All 3 points away from home, cant complain and over the moon with our away form this season... Absolutely dominated but lacked somewhat in the final 3rd which explains the 1 nil scoreline... but another clean sheet and Lindegaard was only tested once so that's testament to the huge improvements we have made in our defence over the last few weeks.
The usual mob will be on here calling for Fergies head because we didn't win by 4 goals but if any of you actually think we played badly today or below par then you have about as much football knowledge as an Ant, we will get better as the season progresses like we always do and I get the feeling SAF has a January signing up his sleeve.
We cannot get a break with Injuries this season and the Manager and the Squad deserve praise for dealing with injury's to key players such as Hernandez, Welbeck, Vidic, Cleverly, Young, Rafael and Fabio our only other natural full backs despite Evra etc if any other big club in the country had picked up the injury's we had had they would not be where we are now so just stop moaning and enjoy the 3 points!
We're finished at the hands of Ferguson.
Solid performance, but I wish we coild kill teams off, Could have lost two points in the end if Villa got lucky. Should have been two or three up before that
well this is getting to be a rather monotonous score for us, but sure beats dropping 2 points top because of some half witted freakin linesman
I would say a solid performance but not impressive, we just have villas number
hope we pick it up for basle this week
I guess all the other EPL teams are lying down now for our noisy neighbours, like the used to do for chelsea
Boring boring united..we are going backwards. We were supposed to be closing the gap on Barcelona. We have never been further away.
Nice to see Phil Jones on the score sheet - keeps us within touch as we dominated really. But concerned about our ability to put 'em away - and trying to walk it in all the time. Now for Basel - a match that we'll certainly need to dominate also.
What's wrong with Rooney and Nani? Their form has taken a nose dive and with Valencia and Young ineffective on the wings, no wonder we just scored 9 goals in our last 10 league matches!
The amount of injuries the last few seasons is just incredible. If only the players would stay fit, I would not be too worried. But something needs to be done about keeping players fit. It cannot be coincidence that we have so many injury prone players, other Premier League teams do not seem to suffer as much from it.
Other than that, a good, solid win today. A win at Villa is never easy. Good for Jones, getting his first goal. The lad looks like he could be a solution in midfield, if given time there he could fill the shoes of Roy Keane.
This season is for rebuilding, give guys like Morrison and Pogba a few games as well.
Just what was wrong with that pitch? We didn't get that many on Hulme Hall Lane red rec fifty years ago,despite many of us being half caylied (drunk)!
We still can't score can we in spite of so much possession especially in the first half? The wingers still aren't producing the goods by giving service to the strikers.
Good to see that we now have two great keepers and the defence was pretty solid with Jones in front and Carrick had a good game. The sheer joy on young Jones' face when he scored was something to behold,so pleased for him! Rooney is still a bit too quiet still for my liking and he isn't bossing games. Nice control,some nice passing but lacking in effort.
For Wednesday,I wouldn't mind seeing the same team out,the one after Chico went off and Nani playing through the middle. That formation has some potential with a bit more practice/
Why oh why have we lost the scoring knack though?
Didn't see ISDEP in the crowd---bet he didn't go!
Keeping pace 1-0, 5-1???? Goal difference 18-35???? Impressive???? City scored 4 against Villa who ran us ragged in that second half and were well worth a point. In all we were absolute RUBBISH, again. Fergies substitutions????, Striker gets injured, he brings on a wide man. He then brings on a striker and takes off a wide man, we know Giggs isn't going to play wide. After watching City play, where every player works very hard, playing for each other where no one is trying to be the hero. This compared to United, where the first five passes out of defence went to the opposition and about 60% of their passes did throughout the game. I know we got the three points and I should be happy but we are killing our reputation as a free flowing goal scoring machine which I loath to admit that Man. City now are. ( I now have a lousy taste in my mouth after admitting that.)
How as that impressive? Villa had one shot on goal and United played one isolated striker. Dull and defensive. I never thought you signings would close the gap on Barca but I could never have hoped they would take you backwards.
A SOLID WIN ON THE ROAD. THE EPL IS A VERY TOUGH LEAGUE, BY TOUGH, I MEAN COMPETITIVE, AND ANY WIN, ESPECIALLY AWAY FROM HOME, SHOULD BE CONSIDERED VITAL AND AS SUCH, APPRECIATED. OF LATE I HAVE BEEN READING SOME VERY CRITICAL POINT OF VIEWS ON HERE FROM SOME UTD FANS ABOUT THE DISPLAY OF OUR TEAM, ESPECIALLY THE MIDFIELD. LIKE MANY OF YOU, I TOO HAVE SOME CONCERNS WITH OUR OVERALL PLAY AND MIDFIELD CONFIGURATION. HAVING SAID, AT THIS POINT, NO NEED TO PANIC. WE ARE STILL VERY WELL IN THE MIX FOR THE EPL TITLE RUN. AS BAD AS WE HAVE PLAYED SOMETIMES THIS SEASON, ONE CAN ONLY GUESS THAT WE CAN AND WILL IMPROVE COME THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON. AS YOU CAN SEE, I WAS NOT BORN OR RAISED AS A UTD FAN, I BECAME A FAN IN THE EARLY 90S BECAUSE FOR MANY REASONS, BUT MAINLY, BECAUSE OF THE "NEVER DIE" MENTALITY OF THE CLUB. I AM VERY CONVINCED THAT WITH THE CURRENT CROP OF PLAYERS WE GOT, WE CAN AND WE WILL WIN THE LEAGUE. REMEMBER THE "RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT"... AND THE LAST LAUGH IS ALWAYS THE BEST LAUGH. UTD ALL THE WAY.
Get better really soon Javier !!
WE NEED YOU
At least we got three points !
Better play tho' but still not enough to win the PL!!
Its like the Sexton years revisited at the minute,but another 3 pts. Nani is the most hair tearing enigma since Gordon Hill took a slap off Buchan
Amongst all these mounting injuries we must be thankful that both Vida and Rooney have avoided anything serious,although one wonders when Rooney will return to scoring ways, because its imperative he finds his early season form now that Hernandez is out for the forseeable future.
Still cant figure Jonesy's immediate best position....but then again his versatility is a great blessing for the manager.
And so on to Basle....fingers crossed.
Good result, but Villa were there for the taking and we should have sealed the game in the first half. To be fair, Collins was everywhere in the second. We seem to be lacking a little bit in the final third at the moment. We are creating chances, but we aren't putting them away.
I thought our best player was once again, Michael Carrick. He's been brilliant since his return and it's no coincidence that we've looked much more compact the middle. Particularly loved the cheeky one-two with Rooney. Phil Jones ran him close, brilliant performance from him. I thought Valencia looked much better. Tony V would be the first to say that his form hasn't been true to his high standards. Hopefully, he can go the rest of the season without being injured, because he can be a real asset as he showed during the latter part of last season. Nani in a more central role. Obviously Sir Alex has been looking into it for some time; I remember a couple of times last year where he played more centrally. He's certainly got the talent to do it, but sometimes, his decision making is a bit off. If he works on that and his consistency, he has every chance of being right up there with the best footballers.
Rooney looked OK. Should have scored and that pass to Welbeck was a bit late. Fantastic ball to Valencia.
A good result, but we can and should do much better. A welcome change from the disappointing week we've had.