Sir Dave Brailsford has taken sportsmen to Olympic gold medals and Tour de France wins. It would be an exaggeration to say a new face in the Old Trafford directors’ box was a galvanising force but as regime change is coming, Manchester United could at least savour a shift in their fortunes. Wretched in the first half, revived in the second, they produced a comeback that was both spirited and timely: not least, perhaps, for Erik ten Hag, who had endured the Aston Villa fans’ taunts that he would be sacked and then oversaw his best win of the season in front of a new powerbroker.
It was timely, too, for Rasmus Hojlund, who has endured a traumatic start to life in the Premier League, but whose belated first goal – 15 matches and 1,027 minutes on the pitch into his top-flight career in England – was a winner against an in-form side near the top of the table.
