Morgan Rogers Delights As Aston Villa Beat Manchester United With A Two-Goal Display

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Aston Villa moved back within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal after a 2-1 victory over Manchester United, with Morgan Rogers scoring twice. Unai Emery highlighted the midfielder’s influence after another decisive display, as Rogers’ recent scoring run continued for a Villa side maintaining strong form near the top.

The 23-year-old produced two powerful finishes against United, following another brace against West Ham. That made Rogers the first Villa player to score at least twice in consecutive Premier League matches since Dion Dublin achieved three such games in November 1998, underlining the scale of this current output.

Villa’s success over United extended a sequence of 10 straight victories as a top-flight club, something last managed in a run of 11 wins that ended in March 1914. In Premier League terms, their Christmas points total of 36 trails only the 39 earned in 2023-24.

Despite those wider achievements, Emery underlined that the immediate result against Manchester United mattered most. "The result was fantastic, and this is the most important thing," Emery added. "Then how we compete as well was fantastic because Manchester United faced us with their qualities, their ideas as well. We competed fantastically. We struggled, it was a tough match, but our momentum in 90 minutes showed our qualities through different players."

Rogers has now scored 21 goals in all competitions since the beginning of last season. At 23 years and 148 days, Rogers becomes the youngest player to reach 20 or more goals for any Premier League team during that period, highlighting a rapid rise after a quieter early spell.

Aston Villa manager view on Morgan Rogers

Emery stressed that Rogers’ contribution extends beyond goals, pointing to consistent effort from the start of the campaign. "We need the numbers of the players and today and last week Morgan Rogers is performing fantastically, but he has started the season not getting [goalscoring] numbers but playing well," Emery said. "Always doing his task, always with the commitment he's showing, with the attitude he has, played each match. Today he did the same and scored goals, of course. He is the protagonist. I'm so, so happy because he's a fighter. He's a good guy, very good guy. His commitment with Aston Villa is massive, and his attitude every day is really fantastic. And when he's getting numbers like today, of course we are very proud of everybody, but especially today with him."

Emery’s comments reflect a squad delivering consistent results while relying on several key performers. Villa remain close to Arsenal in the title race, backed by historic winning form, with Rogers’ development and determination giving the team another reliable source of goals during a demanding Premier League schedule.