Manchester United will head into the new season on a losing note after Aston Villa beat them in a pre-season friendly.
Man Utd don’t begin their Premier League campaign until next week, when they will play Crystal Palace. They were given an extra week to prepare after being involved in the delayed Europa League over the summer.
However, things didn’t go to plan for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, as Villa – whose game against Manchester City was postponed because of their opponents’ European commitments in August – claimed victory.
Villa’s new signing Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game to give them a 1-0 win.
Solskjaer fielded a relatively strong side, although he was still without some first team regulars.
Dean Henderson, who is preparing to compete for the number one spot this season, started in goal instead of David De Gea.
Diogo Dalot, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw formed United’s back four.
New signing Donny van de Beek joined Scott McTominay in midfield, and Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Dan James played in behind Odion Ighalo.
Bruno Fernandes was not involved, having recently returned from Portugal, where he was attending the birth of his child.
However, United will still have been disappointed to miss out on the win, against a Villa side who also claimed the scalp of Arsenal in their most recent friendly before this one.