Ruben Amorim says Manchester United were ‘better team’ despite defeat at Aston Villa, gives Bruno Fernandes injury update

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Ruben Amorim saluted Manchester United's performance against Aston Villa despite suffering a 2-1 defeat in the Premier League. Amorim said his side were the "better team" in the contest despite falling to just their second league loss at Villa Park since 1995, meaning they will spend Christmas seventh in the table. The Red Devils' evening was worsened by an injury to Bruno Fernandes.

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Ruben Amorim insisted his Manchester United team "deserved more" against Aston Villa and were "unlucky" to lose 2-1 as The Red Devils fell to two wonder goals from Morgan Rogers.

Amorim said "everybody could see" they were the better team after Aston Villa celebrated just their second home league victory over Manchester United at Villa Park in 30 years, with the visitors enjoying more shots, shots on targets and slightly more expected goals (xG, according to Opta).

However, Rogers hit two sensational strikes to cancel out Matheus Cunha’s goal, ending United’s four-game unbeaten run and leaving them seventh in the Premier League table at Christmas.

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To make matters worse for Amorim, captain Bruno Fernandes left the game at half-time with a "soft tissue" injury, meaning the Red Devils are now without their skipper, the injured Kobbie Mainoo and Matthijs de Ligt, plus Africa Cup of Nations players Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui.

"I think everybody saw that we were the better team today, we were unlucky," Amorim told Sky Sports.

"Even with the injury of Bruno [Fernandes], but during the game even without Bruno we were the better team.

"The transitions, one against one the whole time, so I think we did a very good job that no one is going to remember tomorrow because what matters is the result.

"We knew that Aston Villa play with everybody inside, and we needed to overload that situation. We have been working, training like that, so different options. We can use different starting 11s for any game, so I think we are improving. Again, I think we deserved so, so much more today."

Amorim reveals Fernandes set for spell on the sidelines

The one saving grace for Amorim may be United’s fixture list, which includes Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and Leeds United in the next three weeks.

The former Sporting boss gave senior debuts to midfielder Jack Fletcher and wide player Shea Lacey at Villa Park, after recently criticising academy players Harry Amass and Toby Collyer (who are both out on loan), and Chido Obi.

With 19-year-old Ayden Heaven already starting in defence, Amorim may need to embrace youngsters even more given Fernandes’ injury, which he said was "soft tissue".

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"I will see what we’re going to do," Amorim said in his press conference. "I think Kobbie Mainoo is out and Bruno is out. So we will see.

"We are going to find solutions. No excuses. We need to win the next game and we will try to win the next game."

Amorim added that United's recent injury issues would not lead to panicking when the January transfer window reopens.

He explained: "What we cannot do is to reach January and try to do everything in urgency and make mistakes and then [it’s] ‘here we go again’ with a lot of mistakes.

"I’m not going to get [together] with Jason and Omar and say: ‘We need a lot of players.’ Because we have a plan.

"If we have to suffer, the club comes first. Of course, we are in a moment where we need points but we need to find solutions and we are going to continue with our plan.

"You can feel in this moment that we are going to struggle, but we will see. We have to deal with it."

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