Man United make Erik ten Hag sack decision ahead of Aston Villa Premier League clash

Unai Emery will face Erik ten Hag in the dugout at the weekend after Man United decided to keep him in charge for their game against Aston Villa.

According to various sources including the BBC, and Express Sport are reporting that INEOS have given the Dutchman the next two games at least to turn things around. The Red Devils face FC Porto in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday (October 3) and then travel to Villa Park on Sunday (October 6).

United suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat to Spurs on Sunday at Old Trafford, and that has left them 12th in the Premier League. They are eight points off of Liverpool in top spot and six behind Villa ahead of their final fixture before the international break.

Despite their poor start to the season, it’s seemingly business as usual according to the BBC, with senior sources saying the club is focusing on the next two matches. No official comment has been made by the club, but Ten Hag did address the sack rumours at the weekend.

“No, I am not thinking about this,” responded the 54-year-old to the media on Sunday.

“We all made in togetherness in this decision to stay together, as an ownership, a leadership group in the summer.

"We are all on one page or in one boat together, the ownership, the staff and the players as well. I don’t have that concern [about being sacked]."

This is the joint worst start to a Premier League season for United. Only in 2007/08 when they won the league title did they score fewer goals after six games. United's shutout on Sunday was the first time in nearly three years they had failed to score at home in a league match, and that was a sequence of results which brought an end to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign.

Villa will be hoping that they can continue to pile the misery on United, and end their poor record against them. They're winless against United in their last four games, and lost both home and away in the Premier League last season.

In their last 10 meetings, they have won just twice, but that's better than before, as Villa went through a 12-year spell of being unable to defeat United. The last Villa won over United was in November 2022 with Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne, and Jacob Ramsey all on target.