Having reached the final day of the Premier League season, it’s Aston Villa, not Manchester United, who are under the spotlight at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Villa are chasing a Champions League place and need to beat the Red Devils at the Theatre of Dreams to have a realistic chance of a top-five finish.
They sit sixth coming into the weekend, level on points with both Newcastle and Chelsea but a significantly inferior goal differential, thus leaving them needing to beat at least one of their results to leap up the table.
United will be eager to put a disastrous season behind them, with Wednesday’s defeat in the Europa League final leaving them with nothing tangible to take from this miserable campaign. They sit 16th in the standings entering the final day, only within reach of 14th with a win plus help.
The Sporting News runs through the latest team news and injury updates for both sides as the match draws nearer.
Man United vs. Aston Villa lineups, predicted starting 11, team news
With nothing left to play for but pride in this final match of the season in front of the home fans, it’s unclear how much Ruben Amorim will look to rotate.
His players left everything on the pitch just three days ago in Bilbao for the Europa League final, so the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, and Harry Maguire may have earned some kind of rest, it’s just hard to predict who exactly will be sat.
The only absences due to injury for Man United are Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt, with the latter nearing a recovery but unlikely to be risked in a meaningless game. Lenny Yoro, Joshua Zirkzee, and Diogo Dalot all returned on Wednesday from various injuries.
Man United predicted XI (3-4-3, right to left): Onana (GK) — Yoro, Maguire, Shaw — Mazraoui, Mainoo, Fernandes, Dorgu — Diallo, Hojlund, Garnacho.
Injured: de Ligt (knock, doubt), L. Martinez (ACL).
Suspended: None.
MORE: All the latest Man Utd news | 2024/25 Premier League top goal scorers list
The biggest question of the match for Aston Villa from a squad perspective will be the fitness of key midfielder Youri Tielemans, who has been absent for the past two matches due to an unspecified muscle injury. In April he became the first Aston Villa player to make 50 appearances for the club in a single season since 1996, but he may not be available to partake in the season finale.
Upon suffering the injury, David Ornstein of The Athletic said Tielemans’ chances of featuring here at Old Trafford were “remote” as John McGinn lamented the injury to “our best player this season, by a mile.”
That leaves just Marcus Rashford as the only other injury absence, and even if he were fit, he’d be unable to partake in this match against his parent club.
Aston Villa predicted XI (4-2-3-1, right to left): E. Martinez (GK) — Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen — Kamara, Onana — Rogers, Asensio, McGinn — Watkins.
Injured: Tielemans (muscle, doubt).
Suspended: None.
Ineligible: Rashford (loan).
Man United vs. Aston Villa live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
| Date | Time | TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | Sun, May 25 | 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT | CNBC | Fubo USA |
| Canada | Sun, May 25 | 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT | — | Fubo Canada |
| UK | Sun, May 25 | 4 p.m. BST | TNT Sports 1 | discovery+ |
| Australia | Mon, May 26 | 5 a.m. AEST | — | Optus Sport |
| India | Sun, May 25 | 8:30 p.m. IST | — | Disney+ Hotstar, JioCinema |
