Why Manchester United Should Be Hot Favourites to Crush Aston Villa

On Sunday afternoon, Manchester United take on Aston Villa as they look to repair their charge towards the Premier League title.

Despite Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini claiming the five-point gap is "too much," the pressure is very much on for the Red Devils to get their season back on track.

The slip-up at Wigan Athletic served as a timely reminder that the race is far from over. With United still to travel to local rivals City, Sir Alex Ferguson's side can afford no further detours on their path to glory.

In an attempt to heal wounded egos and bounce back from an untimely defeat, what better fixture is there than to host Aston Villa?

History

Over the last several decades, Aston Villa's trips to Old Trafford have rarely been easy on the eye.

Except for their shock 1-0 win under Martin O'Neill in 2009, the Villans have left Manchester without three points with too familiar a regularity.

Time and time again, we've seen the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney destroy the Birmingham-based club. The bottom line is, it doesn't matter who's on the pitch, Sir Alex Ferguson has always found a way to get a consistent six-point haul out of these fixtures.

Injuries and squad depth

While Manchester United are chugging along without long-term absentees Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher and Michael Owen, they still have a deep and talented squad to utilise for this fixture.

Paul Scholes was rested in the midweek loss to Wigan. Scholes has been one of the most influential players in the side this season, despite being dragged back from retirement last November.

Aston Villa, on the other hand, are on the verge of a crisis. Darren Bent, Richard Dunne, Fabian Delph and—perhaps most critically—inspirational skipper Stiliyan Petrov are all out of action.

With Chris Herd and Stephen Warnock also in doubt ahead of this weekend's showdown, manager Alex McLeish has one seriously depleted squad.

We're currently seeing players in Villa's first team that many have never heard of. That being said, Gary Gardner, Nathan Baker and Andreas Weimann et al have been doing a fine job in a desperate time.

Fergie's hair-dryer treatment

The rollicking Sir Alex Ferguson will have given his dressing room after an inexcusable slip-up at the DW Stadium this week will still be ringing loud in the ears of the players.

The Red Devils will look to comprehensively crush the Midlands side and get their Premier League title challenge back on track.

I wouldn't be surprised if we even saw a repeat of last season's encounter—a goal in the very first minute from Wayne Rooney to set the tone for a comfortable evening at Old Trafford.

Prediction: Manchester United 3-0 Aston Villa (Rooney to grab at least one)

Follow @stighefootball