ASTON VILLA 0, MANCHESTER UNITED 3
Danny Welbeck scored his first Premier League goals since the opening day of the season after snatching a double at Villa Park after being handed a central striking role for United with Robin Van Persie injured.
United have always enjoyed a good record at Villa Park and put their recent troubles behind them with a rousing win to prevent what could have been a third successive league defeat in a row.
Welbeck set United on their way after poaching a rebound from Adnan Januzaj’s shot which came back off the post after a quarter of an hour.
Nathan Baker gave the ball away for Villa and Welbeck converted Antonio Valencia’s cross to make it 2-0 just three minutes later. Valencia was a constant threat down United’s right flank and had the beating of Antonio Luna who failed to get protection from midfield.
Tom Cleverley beat Brad Guzan at his near post when he took Wayne Rooney’s through pass and slotted in United’s third goal to bury the Villa resistance early in the second half.
Darren Fletcher made a long awaited return to first team action when he replaced Ryan Giggs in midfield.
Welbeck might have taken the match ball home but his attempted chip was too high.