With two twin goals from midfielder Morgan Rodgers, Aston Villa defeated Manchester United 2:1 in a match from the 17th round.
For the hosts, led by manager Unai Emery, this was the 11th victory in the last 12 rounds, as well as a record seventh consecutive success in the club's history in the Premier League. With it, they retain third place in the standings with 36 points, only three behind the leader Arsenal and one behind the second Manchester City.
Manchester United, on the other hand, was unable to overcome the huge personnel problems, although in large periods of the match the guests were the better playing team at "Villa Park". The defeat leaves them seventh in the table with 26 points, three behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
In the opening minutes of the match, United could have opened the scoring, but Mateusz Cunha's shot went inches wide of Emiliano Martinez's crossbar.
Aston Villa had better minutes to follow, with the Manchester United defence having to make several decisive moves. Morgan Rodgers also made a serious mistake, however, when he failed to direct the ball with his heel into the empty net from about five metres out.
The second half of the first half, however, was once again under the control of the visitors, who missed a very good chance through Benjamin Seszko.
In the 45th minute, Aston Villa took the lead in a situation where this did not seem expected. A kicked ball was reached by Rodgers to the sideline, he entered the edge of the penalty area and with a curling shot into the far corner of the goal made it 1:0.
Only two minutes later, however, Manchester United equalized. Patrick Dorgu stole the ball from defender Matty Cash and directed it to Mateusz Cunha, who had no problem scoring from close range to make it 1:1.
The second half began with the substitution of Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, who was injured shortly after the 30th minute. The Portuguese became another key player to be dropped from the match after the suspended Casemiro, the injured Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, as well as the absentees due to the African Cup of Nations Nousair Mazraoui, Brian Mbemo and Amad Diallo.
Fernandez's exit seemed to give Aston Villa even more confidence that they could win the match and in the 58th minute the Birmingham team reached the winning goal. Its author was again Morgan Rogers, who again scored with a right-footed curled shot into the far corner of Senne Lamens, but this time he shot from a closer distance.
The guests had an excellent chance to equalize through Cunha ten minutes later, but the Brazilian missed with a header from no more than five meters.
The game continued to be in the home team's court until the end of the match, but the away team, deprived of its best players, was never able to reach a second equalizer.