On the first day of 2021, Manchester United had a golden opportunity to play a point with arch-rivals Liverpool and thus move up to a shared first place in the Premier League. It required a win over Aston Villa, which has been one of this season's big surprises in English.

Nevertheless, it was United who got the best from the start and created the most chances in the first half. And therefore it was not undeserved that it was the home team that, thanks to a nice header from Anthony Martial, could go to the break with a 1-0 lead in the back.

After the break, Villa got better into the match. In fact, the visitors from Birmingham came out so strong from the locker room that in the 58th minute was equalized by Bertrand Traore. The former Lyon player received the ball in a completely free position on the back post, from which he had no trouble kicking it in behind a relegated David de Gea in the United cage.

At this point in the game, Villa looked like the best and most insistent team on the pitch, yet it was United who, a few minutes after the equalizer, suddenly found themselves back on the winning course when Paul Pogba fought for a penalty kick committed by Douglas Luiz. Bruno Fernandes surely wishes he could do that free kick over again. 2 - 0!

It all ended with a wealth of chances at both ends, but in the end the "Red Devils" managed to hold on to the victory, which means that Liverpool has now got a quite interesting company at the top of the Premier League.