Manchester United scraped into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday night.
Result: Manchester United 1-0 Aston Villa
Date: 10 January 2022
Venue: Old Trafford
Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Victor Lindelof and Diogo Dalot returned to the line-up, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho missed out through injury.
After a disappointing result against Wolverhampton Wanderers seven days ago, the Red Devils got off to the perfect start when Fred picked out Scott McTominay to send home a close-range header for the opening goal on - minutes.
Villa looked to pull themselves level soon after as John McGinn forced David de Gea into a fine save with a stinging effort from the edge of the box for their first real effort at goal.
The visitors went even closer in the 29th minute when Ollie Watkins pounced on Lindelof's poor touch before cutting inside and unleashing a strike that cannoned off the crossbar.
Ralf Rangnick's charges carved out a couple more chances in the latter parts of the half but they were unable to find the second goal.
The visitors had the ball in the back of the net in the seven minutes after the break when Danny Ings bundled the ball home, but celebrations were cut short after the Video Assistant Referee spotted a block on Cavani in the build-up.
With Villa dominating in the second half, Rangnick decided to introduce Donny van de Beek for Cavani with 20 minutes left on the contest and they nearly doubled their lead soon after but Mason Greenwood was denied by Emiliano Martinez.
United were able to see out the closing stages and deny Villa a way back into the contest as they secured a spot in the fourth round where they will face Championship side Middlesbrough.
