Marcus Rashford Winner Confirms Aston Villa Relegation

 

Aston Villa's relegation to the Championship has been confirmed after a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Marcus Rashford's seventh goal of the season, turning in Antonio Valencia's low cross on 32 minutes, proved the winner in Villa's 24th defeat of the season, which leaves them an insurmountable 15 points short of safety with four games left.

The West Midlands club end their 28-year stay in the top-flight with one of the poorest campaigns from any Premier League side - and they went out with a wimper. Substitute Rudy Gestede went closest late on when he hit the post from a corner but United should have scored more, with Memphis Depay hitting the post in stoppage time, as Wayne Rooney made his first start in over two months after injury. Villa's fate has appeared a foregone conclusion for some time, with the club sitting bottom of the division since November 2 and winning just three games all season, but that will do little to soften the blow to one of England's biggest clubs.

The hosts were buoyed by the return of Rooney, making his first start since February 13 as one of five changes to the side that won at West Ham in midweek, with boss Louis van Gaal mindful of another game against Crystal Palace on Wednesday and an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley next weekend. Rooney was lively and influential from the start and his side bossed the opening 20 minutes, with Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling both heading wide from corners before Juan Mata danced into the area and should have found the target from 12 yards.

At the other end, Jordan Ayew and Kieran Richardson smashed speculative efforts over the bar from distance as Villa struggled to cope with United's movement, and Valencia found space on the right to pick out Rashford for a well-taken opener. Villa had a debatable case for a penalty as Ayew was brought down in the box, but got nothing, and the forward continued to be a rare live-wire for the away side, almost finding the net on the stroke of half-time when a close-range shot was blocked by Smalling