Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate

Manchester United’s winless run stretched to five games in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday that did little to ease the pressure on Erik ten Hag. Bruno Fernandes hit the crossbar with the best effort from either side with a second-half free-kick but United have now failed to score in their last three […]

Manchester United’s winless run stretched to five games in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday that did little to ease the pressure on Erik ten Hag.

Bruno Fernandes hit the crossbar with the best effort from either side with a second-half free-kick but United have now failed to score in their last three Premier League games.

A point leaves Ten Hag’s men still down in 14th, having won just two of their opening seven league games of the season.

Fifth-placed Villa missed the chance to move into the top four as they were unable to repeat their heroics of beating Bayern Munich in midweek.

United’s 3-0 humiliation on home soil by Tottenham last weekend had plunged Ten Hag’s job back into peril.

A 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday did the Dutchman’s case little favours as United blew an early two-goal lead to trail 3-2 before Harry Maguire’s injury-time leveller.

Ten Hag reacted by dropping centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt after their chastening night in Portugal with Maguire and veteran Jonny Evans brought back in to the starting line-up.

Villa had a far more memorable European night in midweek when Bayern were beaten 1-0 as the Champions League returned to Birmingham for the first time in over 40 years.

Both sides showed signs of fatigue as the match failed to spark into life.