Game #4779
Saturday, 6 December 2003
Attendance: 67,621
Lost
Premier League
18th (-1)
Manchester United
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥
Old Trafford
Villa return to Premier League action and are hammered by Manchester United to leave them with three wins in fifteen matches having lost three of their last five and fall back to 18th place in the table as a result.
Manchester United
4-0
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | None
KEY MAN
Darius Vassell, break
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🥅 | 16’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy
🥅 | 45’ Goal, 0-2, (Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy
🕒 | HT Manchester United 2-0 Aston Villa
🟨 | 55’ Booking, Lee Hendrie
🔁 | 64’ Sub off, Juan Pablo Ángel, Sub on, Marcus Allbäck
🔁 | 72’ Sub off, Peter Whittingham, Sub on, Thomas Hitzlsperger
🥅 | 90’ Goal, 0-3, (Manchester United), Diego Forlán
🥅 | 90’+3 Goal, 0-4, (Manchester United), Diego Forlán
🕒 | FT Manchester United 4-0 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Villa fall to a heavy, though not unexpected, defeat to land back in the relegation zone after 15 League games.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions 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: 2003-04
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester United
Previous 5 vs. United: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2003-04 |
Matchday | #18 |
League Game | #15 |
Manager Game | #18 |
Saturday, 6 December 2003
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: David O’Leary | 🇮🇪 | Stoke Newington, 2003-2006
Referee: Steve Dunn | 🏴 | Bristol, 1992-2006
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Score: 🟥 0-4
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Steve Dunn | 🏴 | Bristol, 1992-2006
Previous 5: 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 3 May 2003, Villa 1-0 Sunderland, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Mark Delaney, Lee Hendrie and Peter Whittingham replace Thomas Hitzlsperger, Ulises de la Cruz and Stefan Moore.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.89 |
Oldest Player |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 | 34.65 |
Youngest Player |
W Peter Whittingham | 🏴 | 19.25 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
David O'Leary | 🇮🇪 |
Alex Ferguson | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Thomas Sörensen | 🇩🇰 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 |
RB Mark Delaney | 🏴 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Gavin McCann | 🏴 |
W Peter Whittingham | 🏴 | 🔁 |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 |
CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | 🔁 |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 |
Manchester United
GK Tim Howard | 🇺🇸 |
LB Mikaël Silvestre | 🇫🇷 |
CB Rio Ferdinand | 🏴 |
RB Gary Neville | 🏴 |
RB Phil Neville | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Kléberson | 🇧🇷 |
M Roy Keane | 🇮🇪 |
M Quinton Fortune | 🇿🇦 |
W Cristiano Ronaldo | 🇵🇹 |
W Ryan Giggs | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Ruud van Nistelrooy | 🇳🇱 | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🔁 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 F Marcus Allbäck | 🇸🇪 | for CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | 64’ |
🔁 M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | for W Peter Whittingham | 🏴 | 72’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | RB Phil Neville | 🏴 | (M Paul Scholes | 🏴 |)
🔁 | W Ryan Giggs | 🏴 | (F David Bellion | 🇫🇷 |)
🔁 | CF Ruud van Nistelrooy | 🇳🇱 | (Diego Forlán | 🇺🇾 | ⚽ | ⚽ |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Stefan Postma | 🇳🇱 |
CB Liam Ridgewell | 🏴 |
RB Ulises de la Cruz | 🇪🇨 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Roy Carroll | 🇬🇧 |
CB John O'Shea | 🇮🇪 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 8/11
Homegrown: 5/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/16
Homegrown: 7/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/16
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

PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
"In the final minute when Forlan curled an unstoppable left-footed shot past Sorensen and then volleyed in his second to make the scoreline somewhat flattering."
*BBC Sport*
Saturday, 6 December, 2003
*Man Utd destroy Villa*
Ruud van Nistelrooy took his tally for the season to 14 goals as Manchester United eased to the most comfortable of victories against Aston Villa.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson could not have wished for a more stress-free day following this week’s heart scare, especially as rivals Chelsea and Arsenal both drew.
Van Nistelrooy scored twice in the first half against a Villa side which offered very little in attack.
And substitute Diego Forlan got in on the act with two goals in the final moments to leave Villa shell-shocked.
Villa arrived with two recent victories under their belt but, after losing their last two games, United showed their intent from the start.
Ryan Giggs found Kleberson, who fired a fierce shot straight into the arms of Thomas Sorensen to set the tone for the next 90 minutes.
Giggs then flicked on Cristiano Ronaldo’s corner and Roy Keane, making his 550th career appearance, was denied when fit-again Lee Hendrie cleared his goal-bound shot.
The breakthrough came on 16 minutes when Van Nistelrooy fired United ahead after a neat one-two with the impressive Kleberson.
Villa gave United a fright when Ronaldo clumsily lost possession, allowing Darius Vassell to break and pick out Lee Hendrie, but Keane was on hand to clear after sprinting back 75 yards.
United’s dominance paid off again as Van Nistelrooy made it 2-0 just before the interval when the Dutchman hooked a Giggs pass over his shoulder for a brilliant second.
The big Old Trafford crowd had little to get excited about early in the second half until England midfielder Paul Scholes made a surprise return after six weeks out following a groin operation.
Ferguson wanted more urgency from his side, who were playing deep in the comfort zone.
Tim Howard finally made his first save in the United goal on the hour when he tipped Hendrie’s speculative effort over the crossbar.
Van Nistelrooy was given a rest when he made way for Forlan as Ferguson looked ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League Group B decider against VfB Stuttgart.
The wasteful Ronaldo missed a sitter after a fine sweeping move from defence to attack but the one-sided game began to fizzle out with United doing little more than playing out time.
That was until the final minute when Forlan curled an unstoppable left-footed shot past Sorensen and then volleyed in his second to make the scoreline somewhat flattering.