Manchester United vs Aston Villa: Premier League preview, predictions and bet builder tips

• Fixture: Manchester United vs Aston Villa

• Date: Sunday, March 15, 2026

• Kick-off: 14:00 GMT

• Venue: Old Trafford

Our prediction: Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa

Manchester United

Our predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Lammens / Dalot, Yoro, Maguire, Shaw / Casemiro, Mainoo / Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha / Sesko

Aston Villa

Our predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Martinez / Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne / Onana, Luiz / Bailey, Rogers, McGinn / Watkins

The appointment of Michael Carrick as interim manager of Manchester United has breathed life into the club, with a fine run of form moving them up to 3rd in the Premier League table. They suffered a disappointing first defeat of his reign last time out, losing 2-1 late on at Newcastle, despite the Magpies playing the second half with a player less.

Old Trafford has been a very unhappy hunting ground for Aston Villa over the years. Villa have won just four times here since World War Two. United have won five in a row against Villa at home, including on the final day of last season, a result which cost Unai Emery's side a Champions League place.

After a fine start to the season, Villa are in danger of throwing away a place in Europe's top tier again. They remain 4th, but have won just three of their last eleven league games, losing five. Back-to-back defeats to Wolves and Chelsea have been concerning performances for Emery to ponder. We're predicting that Villa's miserable record at Old Trafford will continue, with Man United picking up an important 2-1 win.

Villa's defence was carved apart with ease by Chelsea in their comprehensive 4-1 win, and the scoreline arguably could have been worse. Man United have kept just have five clean sheets all season, and their last ten home games have averaged 3.2 goals per game. Villa did pick up a solid 1-0 win in their Europa League tie at Lille in midweek, but have just three clean sheets away from home in the league this season. So to go with our 2-1 prediction, we're picking both teams to score in our Utd vs Villa bet builder.

Aston Villa could quite well have been playing Champions League football this season had Morgan Rogers' wrongly disallowed goal been allowed to stand on the final day of last season at Old Trafford. With Newcastle losing at home to Everton, ten-man Villa thought they had taken the lead and moved into 5th, but it was ruled out and they eventually lost 2-0.

After his breakout season last year, Rogers has continued his fine form this term, with eight goals and five assists in the Premier League. He bagged a brace in Villa's 2-1 win over United at Villa Park earlier this season. The attacking midfielder has at least one shot on target in four of his last five, and we're tipping him to feature heavily again at Old Trafford by testing the keeper at least once.

Bryan Mbeumo has hit the ground running since his move from Brentford in the summer, with nine league goals in his debut season despite missing most of the winter to play in AFCON for Cameroon. Mbeumo has featured in a range of positions for United, as a number ten under Ruben Amorim, up front for Michael Carrick and has returned to his most natural right-wing with the good form of Benjamin Sesko in recent weeks.

Mbeumo has started every game for Carrick, and is averaging 2.51 shots per 90 minutes this season. The forward has had two or more shots in 75% of his games, and for the last leg of our Man Utd vs Aston Villa bet builder, we're picking Mbeumo to have 2+ shots again.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.