Roy Keane disputes Gary Neville’s analysis as Manchester United beat Aston Villa

Manchester United fired themselves back into the race for a top four finish in the Premier League with a dramatic win at Aston Villa, but club legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane remain unconvinced by Erik ten Hag’s side.

Super sub Scott McTominay’s thundering header secured Manchester United a late, hard-fought 2-1 victory away to fellow Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa.

This felt like a match that the sixth-placed Red Devils could ill afford to lose given Unai Emery’s men were a place higher in the standings and able to extend an eight-point cushion to an eye-watering 11.

In-form Rasmus Hojlund broke Villa hearts on St Stephen’s Day and got United off to a dream start when scoring in a fifth straight Premier League match, but the hosts responded brilliantly and deserved Douglas Luiz’s second-half leveller.

The match was on a knife-edge from that point and McTominay made another key contribution, scoring his fourth goal off the bench four minutes from time to seal the points at Villa Park.

United are now five points behind Villa after what could prove to be a crucial win, yet Keane was confused by Neville’s suggestion that United have an easy run of games ahead of them.

United travel to Luton next weekend and will then entertain Fulham at Old Trafford, with Neville suggesting they are games Ten Hag’s side should win.

“The way I’d be looking at it is that every game is going to be unbelievably tough in the Premier League.

“You start looking at games and you can’t look beyond the next game. It’s impossible.

“It’s dangerous if you are looking beyond the next game. You can’t go and say these games are going to be easy for United. Would you say United are going to win the next five or six games?”

Neville went on to suggest he is ‘confused’ by this United team.

“We are now at the business end of the season. It’s been so up and down for United. We are at the stage where they are six pointers,” said Neville, who revealed he went to watch U2 in Las Vegas before flying back to watch United beat Villa.

“They could’ve been out of it but as they go over to those United fans, they go within five points and touching distance of being able to catch Villa.

“I think Tottenham would have wanted Villa to beat United and not make it three teams out of two for that top four spot.

“United were appalling in the first half of the season. They lost so many matches it was untrue.

“They are better than they were. They are still not great. I don’t see patterns and combinations they don’t control games, but they have players who can win matches. They are an odd bunch. I’ve been saying that for some time now.”

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