Larsson starts for United

Manchester United were looking to complete a hat-trick of victories against Aston Villa in the space of three weeks and cement their place at the top of the table.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson made three changes to the team that defeated Martin O’Neill’s side in the FA Cup last Sunday.

Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic and Paul Scholes all returned while Henrik Larsson retained his place after scoring on his debut.

Villa boss O’Neill also made three changes with Thomas Sorensen replacing the hapless Gabor Kiraly between the posts. Olof Mellberg and Milan Baros were also included.