Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa (11 Feb, 2024) Game Analysis

Super substitute Scott McTominay scored a late winner as Manchester United continued to climb the Premier League table with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Sunday.

Erik ten Hag's United are sixth on 41 points after their third straight win, five points behind fifth-placed Villa, who would have climbed to fourth place with a win. United are six points off fourth place and a guaranteed place in next season's Champions League.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)

“Every game you win is huge to take a step forward and give the boys confidence,” McTominay, whose seven goals make him the highest-scoring substitute in the league this season, told Sky Sports.

“Everything is positive, but it's about repeating it and not getting too far ahead when we win a few. We need to repeat it now.”

Rasmus Højlund scored his fifth goal in five consecutive league matches – and his 11th in all competitions – to give United the lead in the 17th minute, smashing Harry Maguire's header from close range through the legs of goalkeeper Emi Martinez .

United goalkeeper Andre Onana made several huge saves to keep Villa off the scoresheet until Douglas Luiz equalized in the 67th minute.

Onana made another superb save to stop Clément Lenglet but Luiz was there to pull in the rebound, celebrating with a shoulder shimmy in front of Onana's net.

But United had the last laugh, with Scotsman McTominay coming on in the 73rd minute and scoring the winner in the 86th, jumping to head a superb Diogo Dalot cross past Martinez.

An elated Ten Hag punched the air in celebration.

“I feel like as long as I'm fit and healthy, I can come on the pitch and play. I don't take it personally, I just want to go in and try to do my best for it. Long time but it continues,” McTominay said.

“It was an incredible cross, to be honest, whipped in with great pace. I just needed it to hit my head and the shot was on target. All credit to the boys, we created a lot of good chances opportunities that might go unnoticed.”

Villa had 10 shots on target to United's five and had 55.9% possession.

“Good spirit and fight to come back and Scott is the match winner again,” Maguire told Sky. “It’s an incredible feeling, but we’d like to make it a little easier on ourselves.

“Scott came on in a lot of games this year and was the difference for us. We had to dig deep in the second half; I think we finally did that and deserved the win.”