Aston Villa went into this game in buoyant mood after a hard fought victory away to Bournemouth on the opening day of the season.
Unfortunately the momentum they carried into tonight's game against a well drilled Manchester United side was shortlived as a 29th minute Adnan Januzaj goal was enough to secure victory for the away side.
In truth it was a game of very few chances for either side but the share of posession and quality in the final third belonged to United.
Team News
Villa manager Tim Sherwood made no changes from the side that beat Bournemouth on the opening day, which meant match winner Rudy Gestede had to settle for a place on the bench once again.
Sherwood's opposite number Louis Van Gaal sprung a surprise by replacing the in-form Villa old boy Ashley Young with Belgian youngster Adnan Januzaj. David De Gea continues to find himself out in the cold as speculation continues about his future.
First Half
Villa started the game the strongest with an early burst out of defence from captain Micah Richards setting the tone for his players and leading to a foul from Morgan Schneiderlin on the half way line.
Villa's men seemed to derive inspiration from their captain and made life very difficult for the visitors throughout the opening 15 minutes of the game with Idrissa Gueye and Jordan Amavi particularly impressive. The latter providing width with his energetic overlapping runs and confidence to take on the Utd defence.
Utd began to creep into the game as the half progressed and Brad Guzan had to be on his toes to rush off his line and make a last ditch tackle on Memphis Depay after he found himself through on goal from a opportunistic ricochet.
Gueye was presented with a shooting chance 22 minutes in but seemed rather tentative when opting to try an eye of the needle through ball instead which was cut out by the outstretched leg of Chris Smalling.
The deadlock was finally broken after 29mins when Juan Mata's clinical slide-rule pass found Januzaj who dummied the sliding Micah Richards and found the inside of the left post with the aid of a deflection from the boot of Ciaran Clark.
As half time was approaching Villa might feel agrieved that they were denied a penalty when Richards seemed to be dragged around the head and neck by Matteo Darmian while attempting to head Ashley Westwood's corner towards goal. Like so many of those type of grappling incidents in the box, Mike Dean, who was well positioned, chose to ignore it.
Second Half
As they did in the first half Villa started the second half brightly, taking the game to Utd with pace and direct attacking football.
Jordan Ayew might have done better when a wayward pass from Mata found its way to him and after finding space for a shot he blazed over from just outside the area.
Soon after, the ever impressive Amavi got in behind the tight Utd defence from a clever ball from Scott Sinclair but his drilled cross to the back post found nobody as both Villa attackers made similar runs to the near post.
Villa's only real chance came 10 minutes into the second half when Gabby Agbonlahor had a free header at the back post but could only manage a tame attempt straight into Sergio Romero's grateful arms.
The indroduction of Bastian Schweinsteiger 60 minutes in seemed to galvanise Utd, as the classy German began to dictate the tempo and allow Utd to gain control of the game for much of the remainder of the second half.
Utd could have put the game beyond reach when another defence splitting pass from Mata found Memphis with only Guzan to beat but his curling effort went narrowly wide of the far post.
No Late Drama
Even with a more direct approach late on where Villa tried to utilise the ariel prowess of subsitute Gestede they just couldn't seem to find a way through a much more solid looking Utd defence.
Both sides can take positives out of what was a tight game with neither team allowing the other many clear cut chances.
Villa look like a side who are going in the right direction with a new look team which seems to be not too far from gelling and becoming a force to be reckoned with.
While Utd got the job done and maybe will be a different prospect when playing teams at Old Trafford, as they played a conservative but effective style to get the away win.