Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester United: Falcao header saves point against Villa

Radamel Falcao secured a point for Manchester United in their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.

United pressurised in the early proceedings, before Christian Benteke gave the homes side a spectacular lead 18 minutes in. Falcao equalised just after the interval before Gabriel Agbonlahor was given his marching orders. United continued to press but Villa stood firm until the final whistle.

Villa struggled with their new formation in the early proceedings, with United abusing the masses of space in the opposition half and almost did with Ashley Young cutting back for Robin Van Persie, but he couldn’t get anything on it.

United dominated the possession but Paul Lambert’s side looked menacing on the break with Andre Weimann only just missing out on getting on the end of Christian Benteke’s ball. United still proved a threat with Young’s attempted volley blocked by Sanchez and a minute later Van Persie’s ball was too close to Brad Guzan and he collected easily.

From nothing the home side took the lead. Benteke chested down the costless kick into the area he then patiently waited to put it onto his left foot, before he curled it brilliantly into the far corner leaving David De Gea rooted to the spot.

Despite being behind Louis Van Gaal’s side continued to pressurise but Villa stood firm with Okore doing enough to distract Falcao’s shot and Guzan produced a good save after Young’s attempted cross made it all the way through but the American tipped it away.

Villa continued to their dominance at the beginning of the second half with Benteke forcing De Gea to tip the Belgian’s powerful header over the bar. United began to turn the screw with Van Persie and Juan Mata forcing saves from a busy Guzan.

Seven minutes after the restart United were back on level terms, Young got beyond the defender and curled in a brilliant ball for the Columbian to head it back across Guzan and into the bottom corner.

Substitute Angel Di Maria began to cause problems after he replaced Van Persie drifting behind the defence before cutting back inside but his low shot was straight at Guzan. In the 64th minute Aston Villa were down to ten men, Agbonlahor went into what seemed a 50/50 challenge with a Young which Lee Mason judged to be dangerous much to the fans disapproval but the striker is off.

With the man advantage United continued to push for the victory but didn’t have a clear opportunity until extra time with substitute James Wilson hitting a curling shot towards to Guzan but the keeper was equal to it.

The final opportunities of the game fell to the home side with sub Leandro Bacuna hitting a clean strike towards goal but it was just over the bar, Bacuna then turned provider putting a great ball across to fellow sub Charles N’Zogbia but he just couldn’t get his foot to it.

Aston Villa looked uneasy in the early proceedings but eventually grew into the game, they were deserving of their point but if they proved more critical in front of goal in their dangerous breakaways they could have easily walked away with the victory.

Manchester United did grow into the match after going behind but overall they were disappointing, despite this minor blip they still remain third and with a relatively easy Christmas period it is likely they will keep up the pressure on Chelsea and Manchester City