Manchester United ground out a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday in an English Premier League game steeped in speculation about the future of the visitors’ under-fire manager Erik ten Hag amid the team’s worst start in the Premier League era.
The draw sends Unai Emery’s men into the international break in fifth in the table on 14 points after seven games, while United are languishing in 14th with eight points and still searching for their third win of the season.
Their points tally is United’s lowest in their opening seven matches of a Premier League campaign and their lowest in any league season since 1989-90 (seven points), when they went on to finish 13th under Alex Ferguson — his lowest league finish.
“It wasn’t perfect, we didn’t probably pass the ball as well as we would have liked to, but we got a point against a good side away from home,” United defender Jonny Evans told Sky Sports.
United captain Bruno Fernandes had the best chance of the game for either team, clanging a free-kick off the crossbar from outside the box in the 68th minute.
Antony then missed the target with the rebound and with keeper Emi Martinez out of his goal.
Villa’s Jaden Philogene had a spectacular effort at a goal in stoppage time after Matthijs de Ligt missed Morgan Rogers’ drilled ball across the goal. Philogene’s shot looked to be heading for the net before defender Diogo Dalot turned to block it with his back.
Emery buried his head in his hands in frustration.
Harry Maguire handed United another injury headache after being helped from the field by medical staff.
His match was cut short after picking up a knock inside 45 minutes.
The 31-year-old had to be helped from the field by United’s medical team.
United’s woeful start to the season has put Ten Hag back in the spotlight and the team’s entire senior leadership was in attendance at Villa Park.
Forest earn point
Nottingham Forest earned a 1-1 draw at Chelsea despite going down to 10 men in the 78th minute, as a fine defensive and goalkeeping display kept the hosts at bay.
Nottingham Forest scored first when a classic James Ward-Prowse free-kick found defender Nikola Milenkovic at the back post in the 50th minute and the Serbian nodded the ball across goal and Chris Wood tapped it home.
Six minutes later Chelsea’s Noni Madueke latched on to a Cole Palmer ball, cut inside and sent it into the bottom corner.
Tottenham stumble
Brighton & Hove Albion staged a storming second-half comeback with Danny Welbeck sealing a 3-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in a topsy-turvy clash.
Reuters
