Manchester United beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday as Louis Van Gaal‘s side kept up the pressure on Manchester rivals Manchester City in the race for fourth place.
Teenager Marcus Rashford scored the only goal of the game with a flicked finish in the first half, as Aston Villa barely had a chance of note in the first half.
They hit the post through Rudy Gestede late on but their first since 1987 relegation was confirmed with this result.
With the win United stay in fifth place on 53 points, while Villa is finally put out of their misery with relegation confirmed.
Despite it being mid-April, snowflakes fell at Old Trafford in the first half but soon the home fans were warmed up as their returning captain opened up Aston Villa’s defense.
United took the lead in the 32nd minute as Rooney’s diagonal ball across the pitch found Antonio Valencia, who crossed for Rashford and he finished with confidence. 1-0, and the youngster has now scored seven goals in his first 12 appearances for United.
At the start of the second half United almost went 2-0 up as Juan Mata‘s cross was flicked goalwards by Rashford but his effort just dribbled wide.
United continued to dominate possession but failed to carve out many clear cut chances and then in the final moments Villa finally had a go.
First an almighty goalmouth scramble saw United clear the ball for a corner and from that resulting set piece Gestede sent a volley off the post and the follow up was poked over.
That summed up Villa’s dismal season, as the Midlands giant is relegated to England’s second-tier for the first time in almost years.
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