Paul Merson makes prediction for Aston Villa clash v Manchester United
Aston Villa will welcome Manchester United to the Midlands on Sunday (6 November) in what is going to be Unai Emery’s first game in charge.
The Villans are off the back of two successive 4-0 scorelines with one going their way and one very much not as they got a mauling by Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
Back on home turf, though, Villa could spring a surprise although Paul Merson is not entirely convinced and thinks they could even be in the relegation zone very soon.
“Aston Villa scored four goals past Brentford the other day and went on to lose to Newcastle by the same margin the week after,” Merson said to Sportskeeda.
“If they lose this game as well, they’re not far away from what they were doing under Steven Gerrard. They have hard games up ahead, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they find themselves in the relegation zone on New Year’s Day.
“Manchester United have now played eight games without a defeat. They’ve played against Chelsea, Tottenham, and Newcastle in the Premier League during this period and they’ve been very good. They’re on a roll now and I’d be shocked if they dropped points this weekend.”
Uphill battle
Emery has a real task on his hands to turn around this mis-matched group of Aston Villa players and he doesn’t have much time to do so.
The visit of United is the penultimate league fixture before the entire Premier League breaks off while the World Cup goes on in Qatar and many of Villa’s players will be in the Middle East for the tournament.
A tough run of games on the horizon isn’t going to help things for Emery and Merson could well be right that a place in the bottom three come 2023 could be occupied by Aston Villa.
But once the cobwebs have been dusted off and tactics refined, things should quickly turn around at Villa Park with the squad very obviously far too good to go down to the Championship.
But to make the rise happen, every player needs to buy into the Spaniard’s methodolgy and forget what Steven Gerrard tried to instil into them during his tenure.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are set to reject a request from this World Cup-bound nation to rest their players on the final gameweek before the break.