Everything is suddenly rosy at Manchester United after the consecutive victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool mean Louis van Gaal can look upwards towards the leaders, Chelsea, as is his stated wish. Yet as the final stretch of the “rat race” to qualify for the Champions League is entered Aston Villa arrive at Old Trafford having drawn 1-1 in the reverse fixture, despite having only 10 men for the final 25 minutes due to Gabriel Agbonlahor’s red card in that December game. This resilience means United may have a difficult time maintaining momentum though, really, given their £150m-plus summer transfer spend there should be only one victor. Jamie Jackson

Kick-off Saturday 3pm

Venue Old Trafford

Last season Manchester Utd 4 Aston Villa 1

Referee R East

This season G13, Y46, R2, 3.85 cards per game

Odds H 1-3 A 12-1 D 9-2

Manchester Utd

Subs from Valdes, Lindegaard, Vermijl, Amos, Thorpe, Pereira, Blackett,

Lingard, McNair, Falcao, Da Silva, Di María, Januzaj, Rojo, Shaw

Doubtful Smalling (illness)

Injured Van Persie (ankle, 25 Apr)

Suspended Evans (fourth of six)

Form WLWWWW

Discipline Y56 R4

Leading scorer Rooney 11

Aston Villa

Subs from Given, Sánchez, Westwood, Kinsella, Grealish, Weimann, Cole, Senderos

Doubtful Senderos, Vlaar (both calf)

Injured Cissokho (groin, 11 Apr), Richardson (calf, 11 Apr), Baker (knee, 11 Apr), Herd (knee, 1 Jun), Kozak (broken leg, unknown)

Suspended None

Unavailable Cleverley (terms of loan)

Suspended None

Form LLLWWL

Discipline Y62 R6

Leading scorer Agbonlahor 6