With United sitting pretty at the top of the league and Aston Villa just outside of the relegation zone, you would be forgiven if you thought today’s game was a forgone conclusion. After all, United have the longest unbeaten away run in Premier League history, at Villa Park.
This was far from the case as Villa stormed into a 2-0 lead with two goals in five minutes, either side of half time from Andreas Weimann.
Although United controlled the tempo and play throughout the first half, there weren’t many candidates putting in a stand out performance.
United seemed to lack that creative spark, which was a surprise considering the current form or Van Persie and Rooney.
During the half time interval, we saw Sir Alex Ferguson bring on Mexican forward Javier Hernandez, who is currently in a rich vein of form, netting against Chelsea and Braga on two occasions in recent weeks.
The little pea injected pace and energy, chasing every ball and putting the Villa defence under a lot of pressure.
Within the 45 minutes he played, Hernandez made more of an impact than anybody else on the pitch did in 90; scoring a hat-trick with the game finishing in a 3-2 victory. (Yes hat-trick, until the dubious goals panel tell me otherwise).
Already a fans favourite, Hernandez has really put himself in the running for a place in the starting XI over the next few weeks with today’s performance.
As far as the team performance goes, nobody played badly – but without a doubt, Javier Hernandez was the man of the match.
To reply to me directly, I am on Twitter: @NathonW
For all United News, Comment and Opinion, follow: @RFFH
Chicharito has always been a match winner. Playing Welbeck ahead of him in the pecking order has undone the team especially last season