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Game #4643

Tuesday, 26 December 2000

Attendance: 40,889

Lost

Premier League

9th (-2)

Manchester United

Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

Villa Park

Villa lose for the first time in six games to fall back to ninth in the Premier League table.

Aston Villa

0-1

Manchester United

Assist(s) | None

KEY MAN

David Ginola, fleeting and peripheral

RELATED MATCHES

MATCH TIMELINE

🔁 | 38’ Sub off, Alpay Özalan, Sub on, Mark Delaney
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United
🟨 | 65’ Booking, George Boateng
🔁 | 67’ Sub off, Gilles De Bilde, Sub on, Dion Dublin
🥅 | 85’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester United), Ole Gunnar Solskjær
🔁 | 87’ Sub off, Gareth Barry, Sub on, Darius Vassell
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester United

ON THIS DAY

Another game, another late goal, this time at Villa's expense and in runaway leaders Manchester United's favour.

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup / Europa League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Manchester United

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1999-00

FIXTURE HISTORY

Previous 5 vs. United: 🟨 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 2000-01 |
Matchday | #24 |
League Game | #19 |
Manager Game | #134 |
Tuesday, 26 December 2000

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Scunthorpe, 1998-2002
Referee: Graham Poll | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hertfordshire, 1991-2007
Kick off: 1.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟥 0-1
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Graham Poll | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hertfordshire, 1991-2007
Previous 5: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 14 May 00, Villa 0-1 Chelsea (n)
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨

CARDS

Villa

🟨 🟨

Manchester United

🟨

TEAM NEWS

Villa name an unchanged line up.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 28.37 |

Oldest Player |
W David Ginola | 🇫🇷 | 33.94 |

Youngest Player |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.85 |

MANAGER

John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Alex Ferguson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

Aston Villa

GK David James | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Alpay Özalan | 🇹🇷 | 🔁 |
CB Gareth Southgate | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Paul Merson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M George Boateng | 🇳🇱 | 🟨 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Steve Stone | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W David Ginola | 🇫🇷 |
F Gilles De Bilde | 🇧🇪 | 🔁 |

Manchester United

GK Fabien Barthez | 🇫🇷 |
LB Denis Irwin | 🇮🇪 | 🔁 |
LB Mikaël Silvestre | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
CB Wes Brown | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
RB Gary Neville | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Nicky Butt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Roy Keane | 🇮🇪 |
M Paul Scholes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W David Beckham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Ryan Giggs | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CF Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 🇳🇴 | ⚽ |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | RB Mark Delaney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | for CB Alpay Özalan | 🇹🇷 | 38’ |
🔁 | CF Dion Dublin | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for CF Gilles De Bilde | 🇫🇷 | 67’ |
🔁 | CF Darius Vassell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 87’ |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | LB Denis Irwin | 🇮🇪 | (M Ronnie Wallwork | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)
🔁 | LB Mikaël Silvestre | 🇫🇷 | (RB Phil Neville | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Raimond Van Der Gouw | 🇳🇱 |
M Luke Chadwick | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Jonathan Greening | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11
Homegrown: 2/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/14
Homegrown: 3/14

MATCHDAY SQUAD

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 6/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/16

MATCHDAY SQUAD

UNAVAILABLE

Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE

Not Recorded

Player Abbreviations:

GK : Goalkeeper

LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back

CB, D : Centre Back, Defender

M, W : Midfielder. Winger

F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward

🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance

DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

MATCH STATS

Not recorded

TABLE

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

MATCHDAY QUOTES

“It’s a foregone conclusion; unless Barcelona come with a late run.”

*The Guardian*
Wednesday, 27 December, 2000

*Solskjaer’s late strike rewards impeccable United*

Every yuletide Norway sends Britain a fir tree and this Christmas Manchester United have been especially grateful for the spruce finishing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose goals have enabled them to regain and retain their eight-point lead at the top of the Premiership.

Yesterday, in the continued absence of the injured Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole plus the suspended Dwight Yorke, the Norwegian striker scored for the fifth time in as many league matches to bring United a late but thoroughly deserved victory against an Aston Villa side, who seldom lose but have yet to rediscover the art of winning on a regular basis.

Solskjaer’s sharply taken header five minutes from the end denied Villa the muted satisfaction of taking a point from a game in which they were at times outplayed.

The goal crowned an impeccable display of passing and movement by United which suggested that by the end of the season the Liverpool defeat will have turned out to be more a hiccup than a convulsion. Certainly John Gregory, the Villa manager, was not arguing with the notion that Sir Alex Ferguson’s six-times champions are as well set as ever for a first championship hat-trick.

“It’s a foregone conclusion; unless Barcelona come with a late run,” Gregory observed wrily. “Today all 10 of their outfield players were totally comfortable with their passing, which was simple and effective from start to finish.”

True enough, although Ferguson admitted that “while Ole Solskjaer’s a great finisher and might have had four today, when you create chances and can’t get a goal it’s always possible you might not get something from the game.”

A similar thought probably occurred to Villa, except for them it was less a case of chances being missed than almost none being created. Fresh from a 2-1 win at Leeds, Gregory’s side might have been expected to stretch Manchester United more than they did but with Dion Dublin, who missed Saturday’s game because his wife had just had a baby, on the bench until the final 25 minutes the Villa attack appeared set on tickling the opposition to death with a feather duster.

With Paul Merson forced deep by Nicky Butt and Roy Keane, and the influence of David Ginola fleeting and peripheral, Gilles de Bilde enjoyed scant support as he took on Gary Neville and Wes Brown at the heart of United’s defence. After half-time, with Merson making closer contact with the front two, Villa achieved some sort of attacking momentum and just past the hour Ginola cut in from the left before centring for De Bilde’s goalbound header to force an instinctive, stretching save from Fabien Barthez.

Had Villa taken the lead it would have made a nonsense of the game’s prevailing pattern; it would also have punished United for some earlier profligacy. Certainly Solskjaer should have done better than drag his shot wide after Barthez, way out of goal, had caught Villa’s defence square with a perfect example of route one.

Just past the half-hour Scholes’s run saw him well placed to meet David Beckham’s cross at the far post, but David James managed to keep his header out. After the break Scholes missed the target with a shot and a header, and when Dublin arrived an improving Villa could glimpse something more than a bland, blank draw.

Then Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane worked the ball out to Beckham on the right and from another of his precise crosses, this one to the near post, Solskjaer settled the contest with a nod. United’s last Boxing Day defeat was at Villa Park in 1989. Yesterday, for Gregory and his players, that result looked very much a ghost of Christmas past.