Aston Villa v Man Utd
Ch 24 - 11:00 pm - (Live) - Villa Park



ASTON VILLA and Manchester United meet at Villa Park in a dress rehearsal for next month's FA Cup third round tie at Old Trafford. Villa are on the equal longest current winless run in the Premiership of six matches, as they prepare to face the League leaders in the pre-Christmas fixture. They will not want to hand too many presents to United, as defeat could see the Midlanders slipping out of the top half of the table, following an impressive opening to the campaign.
This is set to be a fascinating tactical duel between two of the most successful managers in British football, Martin O'Neill and Sir Alex Ferguson, and pits this season's Premiership specialists against the most prolific winners. Villa have lost only one more match than United, but are 19 points worse off.
Aston Villa : Sorensen, Mellberg, Cahill, Ridgewell, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Davis, McCann, Petrov, Barry, Osbourne, Whittingham, Djemba-Djemba, Agathe, Angel, Sutton, Baros, Gabor Kiraly.
Manchester United: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Silvestre, Evra, Heinz, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Richardson, Saha, Rooney, Park, Smith, Solskjaer.
REFEREE Steve Bennett (Orpington, Kent)
ASTON VILLAJuan Pablo ANGEL and Gareth BARRY are Villa's top scorers, with seven goals each. Five of Barry's have come from the penalty spot.
BARRY is the club's top Premiership marksman with six.
This match provides the opportunity of an "old boys' reunion" for Eric DJEMBA-DJEMBA.
MANCHESTER UNITEDLouis SAHA is United's leading scorer with 12 League and Cup goals.
SAHA and Wayne ROONEY are the club's joint top marksmen in the Premiership with eight each.
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAMEAston Villa 0-2 Manchester United
17 December 2005 - Ref: Mike Dean
Man United scorers: van Nistelrooy 10, Rooney 51
HEAD TO HEAD TOTALSat Villa only
League: Villa 32 wins, Man United 23, Draws 18
Prem: Villa 2 wins, Man United 9, Draws 3