{"id":105232,"date":"2015-04-05T06:01:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=105232"},"modified":"2015-04-05T06:09:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:09:50","slug":"herrera-bags-brace-in-man-utd-win-over-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=105232","title":{"rendered":"Herrera bags brace in Man Utd win over Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United defeated Aston Villa to move above Manchester City and into third place in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan tipped over Marcos Rojo’s powerful 25-yard effort, but was beaten by Ander Herrera’s low shot after good work from Daley Blind.<\/p>\n

Wayne Rooney added a second goal when he spun and fired into the top corner.<\/p>\n

Villa’s Christian Benteke pulled one back with a low strike before Herrera scored his second with a side-footed finish in injury-time to seal the win.<\/p>\n

Louis van Gaal’s side deserved the victory, their fifth in a row in the Premier League, after having 77% possession and restricting their opponents to only two shots on target.<\/p>\n

However, Benteke’s goal, which came within two minutes of Rooney’s spectacular effort, gave the hosts a scare before Herrera’s late goal secured the three points.<\/p>\n

The result was enough to take United above bitter rivals Manchester City, although Manuel Pellegrini’s team will go second if they beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday.<\/p>\n

United are now eight points above fifth-placed Liverpool as they aim to return to the Champions League after a season without European football.<\/p>\n

Van Gaal’s side now face a vital spell with a home derby against Manchester City followed by a trip to leaders Chelsea.<\/p>\n

Defeat for Villa sees them remain three points above the relegation zone with a crucial home game on Tuesday against fellow strugglers QPR.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Manchester United’s remaining matches<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Home<\/th>\nAway<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
12 April v Manchester City<\/td>\n18 April v Chelsea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2 May v West Brom<\/td>\n26 April v Everton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17 May v Arsenal<\/td>\n9 May v Crystal Palace<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n24 May v Hull City<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

United had to be patient in the first half against a well-organised Villa side before Herrera put them ahead two minutes before the break.<\/p>\n

Ashley Young released the overlapping Blind and he pulled the ball back to the unmarked Spanish midfielder, who took a touch to set himself and drilled the ball past Guzan from 12 yards out.<\/p>\n

Villa should have equalised when Jores Okore met Leandro Bacuna’s flighted free-kick but glanced a header wide from eight yards.<\/p>\n

That miss proved costly as Rooney, who had a first-half appeal for a penalty turned down after he had been challenged by Ciaran Clark, scored his sixth goal in his last eight United appearances.<\/p>\n

Substitute Angel Di Maria played the ball into Rooney and the England captain did well to control the pass, spin and shoot past Guzan.<\/p>\n

It looked like the game would be over as a contest but Villa responded when Joe Cole’s corner – Villa’s first – found its way to Benteke and the Belgian striker’s shot squeezed underneath David De Gea.<\/p>\n

That goal, only the fifth Villa have scored in the second half in 16 away league matches, was not the start of a fightback as Juan Mata played in Herrera who scored the third to seal the win.<\/p>\n

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I thought we stuck in there and were always in the game until the third goal killed us.<\/p>\n

“But it was encouraging. They have given me everything and left nothing on the pitch, but Manchester United were too good for us.”<\/p>\n

On his side’s match against QPR on Tuesday, Sherwood added: “It’s a massive game for us. They got a win but we’re hoping to have six points between us and them at the end of that match.”<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

United’s Ashley Young scored 39 goals in 193 games in a four-and-a-half-year spell at Aston Villa<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Wayne<\/p>\n

Wayne Rooney has now got six goals from his last eight Manchester United appearances<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Ander<\/p>\n

Five of Ander Herrera’s seven goals for Manchester United have come in 2015<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Wayne<\/p>\n

Wayne Rooney has now scored 185 Premier League goals, only Andy Cole (187) and Alan Shearer (260) have scored more<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Aston Villa have only scored 20 goals in the Premier League in 31 matches this season<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Ander<\/p>\n

It was the first time Ander Herrera had scored twice in the same match since joining Manchester United<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester United defeated Aston Villa to move above Manchester City and into third place in the Premier League. Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan tipped over Marcos Rojo’s powerful 25-yard effort, but was beaten by Ander Herrera’s low shot after good work from Daley Blind. Wayne Rooney added a second goal when he spun and fired into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":105233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-105232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/105233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}