Aston Villa have been officially relegated from the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford today.
Eric Black’s side went into the match knowing that only a win would further delay the inevitability of relegation, but Marcus Rashford got the only goal of the game to condemn the visitors to Championship football next season.
Villa went into the match with only one win from their last 40 league meetings against United and just one on their last 30 visits to Old Trafford, and sure enough they found themselves on the back foot early on as the hosts dominated possession in the opening exchanges.
United were largely limited to hoisting crosses into the box, which created half-chances for Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo in the opening 10 minutes.
The returning Wayne Rooney sent a long pass out to Antonio Valencia, whose low cross into the middle was turned in by Marcus Rashford as the youngster made it seven goals in 12 appearances since breaking into the first team.
A curling effort from Rooney drew a routine save from Brad Guzan just three minutes later, before Villa ended the half with their first real sight of goal when Jordan Ayew cut inside, only to see his shot blocked by Smalling.
The second half immediately fell into a similar pattern and United almost doubled their lead in the opening minutes when Rashford stayed on his feet after a rash challenge from Alan Hutton inside the penalty area before firing a low strike narrowly wide moments later.
Memphis Depay saw a curling effort fly over as the hosts continued to dominate possession, while shortly after the hour mark Villa fell asleep from a corner and needed Guzan to deny Mata from a tight angle.
For the most part, though, United’s passing was far too laboured to really trouble the Villa defence, and the hosts almost paid the price for that as Villa provided a late flurry in their final minutes before relegation.
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