There was not too much for Aston Villa fans to get excited about during the 0-0 draw against Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
It was a poor game at Villa Park in which both sides were perhaps struggling after their European exploits in midweek.
Aston Villa enjoyed a famous win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night, whilst Manchester United battled out a 3-3 draw with Porto in the Europa League.
It was a game for the defenders as Unai Emery will have been left happy with Villa’s clean sheet but disappointed with their inability to threaten a United backline that changed in personnel on multiple occasions throughout the 90 minutes.
Worryingly, Ezri Konsa was forced off through injury after just 12 minutes holding his hamstring, but it was a player returning to the starting XI who made a key intervention late on.
Matty Cash makes crucial contribution for Aston Villa against Man Utd
Matty Cash returned to the Villa team for the first time since picking up an injury in the second game of the season against Arsenal.
In Cash’s absence Emery has played Lamare Bogarde or Konsa at right-back but Villa will be better for having a natural full-back playing the role following Cash’s return.
It was a steady return to the side for the Poland international who was directly up against Marcus Rashford before Alejandro Garnacho later moved to his flank, but it was a fine piece of defending with United looking threatening on the counter that was the best part of his performance.
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United were breaking at pace following a Villa set-piece and Garnacho had the ball for a two-v-one against Cash.
Bruno Fernandes was up in support and free but Cash positioned himself perfectly to block Garnacho’s pass to the unmarked Fernandes.
Villa journalist Jacob Tanswell was left impressed by Cash’s defensive work, comparing the Villa man to Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk, posting on X: “That Matty Cash interception – his timing of when to go over to Garnacho and cut the pass off to Fernandes – was fantastic.
“Van Dijk-esque, which was lauded for a long while.”
Cash’s return perfect timing for Aston Villa
Villa were desperate to sign Lutsharel Geertruida in the summer given the defender’s ability to play both right-back and centre-back.
They were unsuccessful in that pursuit as Geertruida instead secured a late move to RB Leipzig from Feyenoord and Villa decided they were well enough equipped with Cash and 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic.
Even with Cash absent, Emery did not trust Nedeljkovic with a Premier League start, though, and Cash’s return could barely have been timed better with Konsa’s injury.
Emery may still look to sign an upgrade on Cash in January, but for now the right-back is likely to have a massive role to play.
