Man Utd 3 – 1 Aston Villa

Manchester United took control of the race for Champions League qualification after beating Aston Villa 3-1 at Old Trafford to open up a three-point buffer on their Midlands rivals.

When Michael Carrick took over at Old Trafford in January the gap to Villa was a whopping 11 points. Two months on and the picture has changed dramatically in United’s favour, now surely favourites to clinch third place.

While Unai Emery’s side have accrued fewer points than bottom club Wolves since the turn of the year, United are flying, with Carrick masterminding his fifth home win since taking charge – and seventh overall.

Bruno Fernandes, so often the creative genius, was at it again, assisting Casemiro from a corner and then Matheus Cunha with a beautifully weighted line-breaking pass. Ross Barkley had levelled just before Cunha broke to score but that was Villa’s only moment of an otherwise drab display. They look spent.

As the game stretched, the hosts made good on their dominance. Benjamin Sesko delivered instant impact from the bench, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after Cunha’s cross was blocked. If three points were not certain before, they were now.

Fernandes sent Sesko racing away to put the gloss on another fine performance – and bag him a hat-trick of assists – late on, but the super-sub fluffed his shot. “Giving joy to the others is very good,” Fernandes reflected afterwards.

Man Utd will hold a six-point gap on sixth in the Premier League regardless of other results on Sunday, while Villa are forced to look nervously over their shoulders. Unai Emery’s side have won just three of their last 12 league outings and look devoid of the courage needed to stay the pace in this fascinating European race.

Story of the match in stats