Man United close gap on Aston Villa thanks to McTominay winner

Manchester United closed the gap on fellow Premier League top-four chasers Aston Villa with a hard-earned 2-1 win at Villa Park.

The Lions' powers of recovery would ostensibly be enough for a slice of the spoils in the West Midlands, as Douglas Luiz cancelled out a first-half opener from the free-scoring Rasmus Hojlund.

However, the ever-threatening Scott McTominay popped up with yet another Premier League goal to take Erik ten Hag's <a href="/football/premier-league/table.html">sixth-placed</a> men to within five points of Unai Emery's fifth-placed side, who missed the chance to leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur back into the Champions League positions.

Raphael Varane for the injured Lisandro Martinez was the only alteration made to a settled . . .