On another evening of theatre at Villa Park, it was fitting that the match-winner Morgan Rogers was last to leave the stage. There is simply no stopping this Aston Villa machine, cylinders pumping, handcrafted by Unai Emery, who reacted to Rogers’s second goal against Manchester United by launching his jacket into the night sky. “Birmingham, are you listening?” came the chorus from the home support but this was a victory with far wider implications.
Approaching the halfway stage of the season, Villa, third and three points behind the Premier League leaders Arsenal, are ensconced in the title race, two more Rogers goals earning a 10th consecutive win in all competitions and rendering Matheus Cunha’s well-taken equaliser a consolation. The discourse and debate will run wild after this latest Villa win, a seventh in a row in the league, but it was one that undoubtedly belonged to Rogers’s individual brilliance. After his second goal, Rogers spread his arms, screwed up his face and shrugged as if to say: “Well, what am I supposed to do?”
Amadou Onana pretended to place a crown on his head, though, remarkably, Emery revealed he was not entirely happy with Rogers until that moment. The England midfielder’s divine opener had been and gone; this is Emery, fastidious and demanding.
The last time Villa won seven in a row in the top flight was between December and February in the 1989-90 campaign, another run during which they also dispatched United and went on to finish second under Graham Taylor. If Villa beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday they will equal their club-record 11 wins in a row from 1897, when Villa Park was still known as Aston Lower Grounds.
A frustrating defeat for Ruben Amorim was compounded by his captain, Bruno Fernandes, being forced off through injury at half-time with a muscle injury that will likely mean several matches on the sidelines, starting on Boxing Day against Newcastle at Old Trafford. Kobbie Mainoo was absent altogether with a calf injury sustained in training on Saturday. So it was down to Lisandro Martínez to moonlight as an anchor, the Argentina centre-back partnering Manuel Ugarte at the base of midfield for the second half.
This was always likely to be a high-octane occasion and within two and a half minutes Cunha sent a rasping first-time effort narrowly wide of Emi Martínez’s left post. Villa’s first opening fell to Ollie Watkins but after chopping inside Leny Yoro his delayed thinking allowed Ayden Heaven to intervene. After Youri Tielemans pinched possession from Ugarte, John McGinn forced a save from Senne Lammens and then the United goalkeeper repelled Watkins’s rebound. From the subsequent corner Ian Maatsen’s throttled volley whistled a whisker wide, via Rogers’s right heel.
The chances were totting up and it served as a teaser for what was to come. Benjamin Sesko had a couple of big moments; Martínez’s legs thwarted the United striker for the first and for the other his touch after rounding the Villa goalkeeper was too clunky.
There were plenty moments for a fervent Villa crowd to get behind. On the half hour McGinn emerged from a cul-de-sac of three white United shirts with the ball and earlier Tielemans charged into Yoro as Emery’s side swarmed in numbers. At a corner there was some pantomime grappling between Yoro and Martínez for good measure. Amid all of that, though, Rogers served Yoro and United notice.
It was the 33rd minute when Rogers drove inside Yoro, opened up his body and, encouraged by the locals to take aim, sent a shot at goal. As it happened, it was a little tame and easy for Lammens to claim.
It was a different story approaching the half-time interval, when Rogers dispatched a superb curling strike into the far corner of the United goal. This time Lammens swivelled his head only to confirm the ball had rippled his net. Rogers had improbably kept McGinn’s slightly overcooked pass in play on the left touchline and then roamed inside, glancing up briefly to pick his spot. The “ref cam” replays suggested Michael Oliver had arguably the best view in the house.
It was the kind of strike worthy of winning any game but a couple of minutes later, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Cunha celebrated his leveller by pretending to surf in front of the Holte End. Patrick Dorgu dispossessed a dallying Matty Cash and Cunha, involved in almost all of United’s good work, seized on the loose ball. Ezri Konsa pointed Martínez towards the top corner, his telepathic instincts kicking in, but Cunha’s superb finish gave the Villa goalkeeper no chance.
In the second half, Lisandro Martínez smacked the advertising hoardings with a shot from 20 yards and United did not seem too disrupted. But a minute later Villa and Rogers struck again. Tielemans kept the ball alive close to the byline and hooked a cross towards Watkins. The Villa striker could not trap the ball but Rogers was alert and took over the baton. Again, Rogers drifted inside Yoro and, again, he picked out the far corner. Emery put his jacket taking flight down to adrenaline and, really, who could blame him?
It was Cunha who missed a golden opportunity to equalise midway through the second half. When he read Dorgu’s cross from the left, time appeared to freeze for a split-second and the away end were primed to celebrate. But, perhaps spooked by the time and space afforded to him a few yards from goal by Konsa and Victor Lindelöf – the former United centre-back making his second Premier League start for Villa – he failed to make clean contact and sent his header off target.
