Player ratings as Red Devils cruise to thumping win

From Old Trafford – Manchester United cruised to a clinical 5-0 victory over Aston Villa in front of a club record 30,196 crowd at Old Trafford in Saturday’s early WSL kick-off.

The visitors ultimately struggled to compete and an early goal from United captain Katie Zelem was added to in the first half by Leah Galton, before Alessia Russo, Ona Batlle and substitute Rachel Williams racked up the score-line in the second half.

Using the size of the pitch to suit their style, the hosts were unsurprisingly dominant on the ball in the opening stages. Villa were content to sit in and try to spring counters, although there was no repeat of the shock early breakaway goal that Everton had scored in last season’s games here.

It was from out wide that the early opener was created. Full-back Batlle did what she does best, bursting down the right and putting a teasing ball into the box. Russo’s efforts to bundle it over the line were thwarted by Villa goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, but Zelem turned in the rebound.

United were held to a draw by Villa in the Continental Cup in October and were frustrated in their last league meeting. But a clinical first half performance produced a second goal before the half-hour mark through another well-worked move from the right.

Russo came short to receive the ball from a throw-in, with Ella Toone running beyond. Toone in turn put Galton through after her run off the shoulder of the last defender for a composed finish.

Villa weren’t generally making chances, but a good move saw Freya Gregory presented with a great chance at the far post. Her low shot was too weak to properly test Mary Earps, though. The visitors also thought they had pulled a goal back just before the break when Alisha Lehmann turned in a rebound after Freya Gregory’s shot was saved – but the latter was just offside.

United were aggrieved at not getting a penalty on the stroke of half-time when Hayley Ladd went down under pressure from Laura Blindkilde. Replays showed the defender didn’t win the ball.

Given that Villa had their best spell in the 10 or so minutes before half-time, the next goal was likely to be an important one. But United fans didn’t have to wait long after the restart for Russo to meet Toone’s cross at the far post to finish a simple but effective move – again from the right.

But Villa weren’t completely going down without fight and Earps made a fine save to deny Lehmann from range after the Swiss star had caught Zelem in possession….