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22 October 2007, by Sean Gillen

Nani continues to shine as United tear apart Villa

Aston Villa 1-4 Manchester United

Portuguese international Nani was in impressive form as Manchester United recorded their seventh successive Premiership victory with an ultimately effortless dismantlement of nine-man Aston Villa on Saturday evening.

With Cristiano Ronaldo rested from the starting line-up, Nani had what was probably his best match in a United shirt, contributing to what was an outstanding team performance from United after Villa had taken an early lead.

Having won all four of their previous home games, including a 2-0 win over Chelsea, Villa survived some early pressure from United and soon began to look a threat. It was still a surprise, however, when they went ahead on 13 minutes when Gabriel Agbonlahor headed in Ashley Young’s cross.

The home side should have doubled their lead through Luke Moore, but United took control in the final twenty minutes of the first period, with their slick passing and movement causing the Villa defence countless problems.

Dynamic Attack

Scholes and Anderson pulled the strings from midfield, Nani and Giggs offered guile from wide areas and Tevez and Rooney combined brilliantly on several occasions through the middle. A fantastic move involving Nani, Scholes, Rooney and Tevez saw the latter clean through on goal, but the Argentine saw his finish blocked by Carson.

The breakthrough for United arrived in the 36th minute, with Nani a key contributor. The 20-year-old did well to evade his marker on the right-hand side of the area, and his low ball across the goalmouth was tucked in at the back post by Wayne Rooney.

United dominated their opponents during the following ten minutes and went ahead in the 44th minute when Tevez drove infield from the left and slid a neat ball in to Rooney, who took a touch before passing into the bottom corner.

The visitors showed their opponents no mercy and heaped more misery on Villa with a third in first half stoppage time. Impressive young defender Gerard Pique’s header from a Giggs corner drew a save from Carson, but Ferdinand prodded the ball back towards goal, leading to Gardner’s attempted clearance going in off the underside of the crossbar.

The second half was comfortable for United, and more notable for two red cards for the home side. First Reo-Coker was dismissed for two poorly-timed challenges, before goalkeeper Carson saw red and gave away a penalty for his lunge on Tevez. Rooney, seeking a hat-trick, failed to beat substitute ‘keeper Taylor with the spotkick.

Ronaldo hits 200 mark

Rooney hit the bar and Taylor blocked Tevez’s finish after some good set-up play from Nani, before Giggs added some gloss to the scoreline when he cut in from the right and scored with the aid of a couple of deflections. Ronaldo was then given a fifteen-minute run-out in place of the veteran Welshman, making his 200th appearance for the club.

Aston Villa:
Carson, Mellberg, Knight (Taylor 67), Laursen, Bouma, Gardner (Maloney 53), Reo-Coker, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor, Moore (Osbourne 54)
Yellow Cards: Reo-Coker (2) Young
Red Cards: Reo-Coker, Carson

Man Utd:
van der Sar, Pique, Brown, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani, Anderson, Scholes (O'Shea 77), Giggs (Ronaldo 76), Tevez (Fletcher 73), Rooney
Yellow Cards: Scholes, Nani

Goals:
[1-0] Agbonlahor, 13
[1-1] Rooney, 36
[1-2] Rooney, 44
[1-3] Ferdinand, 45
[1-4] Giggs, 75