86 min United’s latest makeshift corner-taker is Mason Mount. He sends the ball straight into the arms of Martinez.

85 min Another United attack, another Cunha long shot. This one is low and easily saved by Emi Martinez.

84 min Better news for United fans: Shea Lacey makes his debut! He’s the closest thing to Amad in the Under-21s.

83 min Bad news for United fans: Villa are bringing on their supersub, Emi Buendia. He and Guessand replace McGinn and Onana.

82 min Villa have some subs on too: Digne for Maatsen, Malen for Watkins.

81 min United have not one appeal for a penalty but two, both for handball. The VAR gives them short shrift.

79 min Lisandro Martinez keeps finding himself in the right place in midfield, winning the ball and calmly playing it forward. He’s a natural!

78 min A caption shows that Villa have had 11 shots, four of them on target – and so have United. The only difference between the sides has been Rogers.

75 min Zirkzee replaced Sesko, so that’s straightforward – he’ll go up front. Fletcher replaced Ugarte, perhaps because of the yellow card. This is more complicated: it may mean that United’s pivot, which began as Ugarte and Fernandes, is now Fletcher and Martinez. A debutant and a defender.

74 min Amorim brings on two subs – Joshua Zirkzee and young Jack Fletcher, son of Darren and twin of Tyler. A lovely moment for that family.

71 min One yellow card brings two as Dalot lays a high boot on Maatsen. Before that, some neat passes got United into the box, only for Mount’s low cross to end up in Emi Martinez’s arms.

69 min Ugarte produces a foul and picks up a yellow card, the first of the game I think.

67 min Big miss! It’s Cunha again – getting his head to a cross from Dorgu, nodding it down, but failing to get it on target. Maybe he was gobsmacked at seeing Dorgu hit a good cross.

65 min That was good from Cunha, and so was the goal – but now he takes another of his long shots and sprays it wide. If Rogers gets a chance like that, he’ll have a hat-trick.

63 min Onana strolls through the middle of the park and feeds McGinn, who is hotly pursued by Cunha but wins a corner.

“Interesting how footie can (long) throw different perspectives depending on circumstances,” says Jeremy Boyce. “Two years ago Isaak was scoring goals for fun, hence the transfer, but since then has spent most of his time crocked, again yesterday. Two years ago Calvert-Lewin was constantly crocked and going nowhere, hence the transfer, but look at him now. It’s a funny old game, footie. 3-2 Villa then...”

60 min United get forward, yet again. Dalot has a shot saved and Dorgu, following up, has one blocked. The crowd don’t care: they’re singing when they’re winning.

Meanwhile, there’s been a casualty in the WSL.

58 min Again it’s just Rogers doing what Rogers does, cutting in from the left and finding the far corner. As with the first goal, Leny Yoro was a bit slow to close him down. There was an assist for Ollie Watkins, who did well to lay a cross off to Rogers.

56 min Villa threaten to counter, but Lisandro Martinez calmly nicks the ball and helps himself to a shot – just wide.

54 min United win a corner on the right. All their corner-takers have vanished – Mbeumo, Amad, Fernandes. Luke Shaw steps up and finds the ball headed back to him. His volleyed cross makes its way to Mount, whose shot from the edge of the area goes wide.

52 min Villa get into the box with both their full-backs joining the fun – but also getting the glimpses of goal, which they don’t exploit as well as the forwards would.

49 min The closest thing United have to Morgan Rogers is Mason Mount, who has finally begun to resemble the player they bought from Chelsea. He advances now and whips in a cross which Cunha can’t quite get a toe to.

48 min Fernandes is well enough to walk to the bench, head in a hoodie, looking suddenly younger than his 31 years.

46 min Martinez lines up in Fernandes’ slot, in midfield, next to Ugarte. He did play there a few times for Ajax, but I seem to remember Amorim saying recently that he didn’t see Martinez as a midfielder.

And here’s our Scottish correspondent, Simon McMahon. “Afternoon Tim, and season’s greetings to you. Celtic have just beaten Aberdeen 3-1 at home, late goals from Kieran Tierney and James Forrest providing some respite for the beleaguered Wilfried Nancy after four straight defeats in 11 days since the Frenchman replaced interim boss Martin O’Neill as manager. Aberdeen were reduced to ten men before half-time, yet equalised, with Celtic hitting the woodwork four times and forcing a string of saves from Mitov in the Dons goal before Tierney and Forrest’s late interventions.

“Hearts had earlier beaten Rangers 2-1 at Tynecastle and will remain top at Christmas, the first time any side other than Celtic or Rangers have done so since 1993. Might there actually be a title race in Scotland next year...?”

Time for a glance at the mail. “Bruno Fernandes has probably pulled his ego,” says Justin Kavanagh. “Or else he’s twinged his hubris.” Ouch!

“I’m still wondering,” says Martin Lancon, “what United are doing in training. They’ve known all along the right wing was going to be weakened.” Good point. Shea Lacey, who’s young, gifted and their only remaining right-winger, was on the bench three times recently and didn’t get a single minute on the pitch, even when they were 4-1 up against Wolves.

“Watching the match in Italy,” says Colum Fordham, “where the commentators are underlining what they see as madness in selling McTominay to make way for Ugarte. I tend to agree but am rather pleased the Scottish midfielder came to Naples where he is a star.”

45+2 min We’re in the middle of four added minutes. United win a corner, which Fernandes is well enough to take. And then …

41 min It will take more than an injury to stop Bruno Fernandes making things happen. After some neat work by Cunha and Mount, he gets a chance on his left foot, and draws a save from Martinez. But he does appear to be limping.

41 min “‘He doesn’t look at all dazed,’” says Andy Waddington, quoting me on Martinez. “Is this how they make a medical decision of whether he should continue playing with a potential brain injury?” Ha, no, it was just an observation.

38 min Another long shot, from Tielemans this time. It goes close enough to get an ooh from the home crowd, but not close enough to ruffle Lammens’ hair.

34 min The Villa player with the most touches so far – behind four of their opponents – is Martinez. Didn’t have that on my bingo card.

34 min Another shot for Cunha! It’s from distance, like most of his attempts for United, and doesn’t bother Martinez.

32 min In the last ten minutes, United have had 75pc of the possession. But here comes Rogers! He storms in from the left and has a free shot… but scuffs it, so Lammens has no trouble making a save.

30 min Shaw gets United going forward and Fernandes races into the inside-left channel. That leaves Ugarte as the midfield orchestrator: when the ball reaches him he tries a booming Bruno pass, which goes straight out for a goal kick.

29 min Marco Bizot has been told to keep warming up, so watch that space.

27 min Martinez stays on for now. He doesn’t look at all dazed.

25 min The lecture took place during a lull caused by a collision – Sesko’s run left Matty Cash clattering into Emi Martinez. They both look OK, but the physios may be telling Martinez he needs to come off.

23 min Sesko is through again! And again he looks rusty, as a heavy first touch takes the ball well away from goal. He gets a lecture from Bruno Fernandes.

22 min Big chance for United! Sesko is clean through… but shoots straight at Martinez.

19 min Villa go a-probing on the right, where the ball bobbles and Luke Shaw hooks it away. Then they head over to the left, where Rogers is offside.

17 min United get up the field and show a flicker of their fluency from the fast start against Bournemouth, but the move breaks down when Dalot overhits another cross, this time a low drilled one to Cunha.

15 min Dorgu dawdles on the ball, whereupon Matty Cash picks his pocket – and gets penalised. “He’s got away with one there,” says Gary Neville.

13 min Heaven to the rescue again as Lindelof hits a cultured long ball to Watkins. It feels as if a Villa goal is imminent.

11 min United get their act together, to an extent, with two moves, one on each flank. The first one ends with Diogo Dalot crossing straight into the arms of Emi Martinez, the second with Patrick Dorgu doing the very same thing. Where are Rashford and Garnacho when they need them?

8 min From the resulting corner, Villa come close again as Maatsen drills in a shot from the left.

6 min Big chance! Ugarte loses the plot in midfield and McGinn, in space on the right, draws a save from Lammens. There could be a rebound to be snaffled but Heaven does well again.

5 min The ball pings around the midfield, with Villa looking sharp whenever it comes loose.

4 min Villa chance! It’s their first attack, with Rogers sending Watkins through. Ayden Heaven does well to dispossess him on the edge of the area.

3 min Chance! Matheus Cunha, just outside the D, curls a shot over the top. Mason Mount had done well to get United forward: Gary Neville reckons he is playing in a midfield three, in front of Ugarte and Fernandes.

2 min United win a throw-in on the right, and then a free kick, which comes to nothing.

We have a minor celebrity in the tunnel! Kelly Osbourne, daughter of the late lamented Ozzy, is there and she’s wearing a Villa shirt. Is she playing? No, her son Sid is a mascot today. He’s not holding hands with John McGinn in the traditional fashion – he’s in his arms.

That United XI doesn’t look very hard to beat. Patrick Dorgu, a regular earlier this year, went down the pecking order because of being “anxious” with his final ball, as Amorim put it. Manuel Ugarte has been trusted with a start only three times this season – in the 3-0 defeat at Man City, the 3-1 defeat at Brentford, and the 2-2 embarrassment at Grimsby. (Plus one game for Uruguay – the 5-1 thrashing by the USA.)

Casemiro will be missed not just in midfield but up front, where he is United’s most effective target man, even better than Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt – who are also missing today. This might be a good time for Ben Sesko to get his first headed goal for United.

The first email of the day comes from Nelson Calvinho. “When did Amorim spurn or scorn Mainoo?” he asks. “Isn’t it more truthful that the English media spurns and scorns Amorim?”

Well, Amorim has spurned Mainoo in just about every league game this season, failing to give him a single start. As Mainoo had been a regular for United under Erik ten Hag and for England under Gareth Southgate, this was quite marked. Amorim has repeatedly mentioned his misgivings about Mainoo, saying “he needs to increase the rhythm, the pace,” and arguing that Mainoo is competing for Bruno Fernandes’s position, whereas Ten Hag usually lined them up together.

The English media (with the odd exception) have been kind to Amorim. They certainly haven’t spurned him: they like the fact that he is forthcoming and quotable. Among the pundits, the only one I know of who has scorned him is Paul Scholes, who said he had “ruined'” Mainoo.