Erik ten Hag hailed Bruno Fernandes after his 100th career goal nudged Manchester United a step closer to a top-four finish and the Champions League.
United skipper Fernandes struck just before half-time, with Ten Hag's side preserving their lead to see out the win over fellow top-four rivals Aston Villa. Ten Hag praised United skipper Fernandes, who played through the pain barrier in Thursday's 2-2 draw at Tottenham, and saluted him again for leading by example.
“I emphasised it on Thursday, he’s so tough,” said Ten Hag. “A few weeks ago there were questions about his captaincy - it’s crazy, he’s such a big leader, he gives so much energy to the team.
“His determination, his passion, his resilience. You need such players if you want to win games and win trophies.”
Fernandes has now scored seven goals against Villa, his latest the perfect riposte to their travelling fans who booed him early on for going down under a heavy challenge. “Obviously they probably don't like to play against me, but it is what it is,” said Fernandes.
“It's football, I'm okay with that, they can enjoy the game in the way they want. I would prefer for them to come and support their players, instead of focusing on me, but if they think it's better to be focused on me than their own players, then I don't mind that at all.
“There's still some work to do for us. Obviously we're in a great position, we're in the top four, we have to be there. We have to maintain our position and keep winning games to be in the Champions League next season, because it's what this club deserves.”
Unai Emery accused his Aston Villa players of a lack of consistency as their top-four hopes were all but ended. Defeat at Old Trafford was the first time in 21 games under Emery that Villa have failed to score, with only one shot on target against United.
The loss also ended Villa's impressive run of eight wins and two draws, which had given them outside hope of staging a late push for a Champions League spot. “In 90 minutes you have to be more consistent and try to control the game like we are trying to build,” said Emery.
“But, of course, we're playing against Manchester United, they were pushing us, playing in their stadium with their supporters. We didn't have our usual personality that we have in the first-half.
“In the second-half we improved and were better to reduce the distance. We didn't get a lot of good chances, but the second-half was better for us and we could have scored a goal. We tried to be strong in our gameplan.
"We were trying to progress quickly and trying to avoid risk, but in football you have to take risks to improve. We were competitive in the second-half and I think today was a bad result, but the match gave us a lot of information.”
