Aston Villa v Manchester United: live 46 min A change at the break from Sir Alex Ferguson. Off goes the ineffective Young to be replaced by Hernandez. HT WRAP Villa have earned that lead. Not through style but through substance. And effort. And just giving it a go, basically. A break down the left saw Benteke one-on-one with Smalling, whom he twisted and turned in front of before using his strength to put his marker on his backside. United wanted a foul for that. And had a bit of a shout. But no matter, once he'd got clear Benteke picked out the perfect pass to Weimann in space on the edge of the box and his first time sidefooted shot was a peach, giving De Gea no chance at all. Second half should be interesting. 45 min Aston Villa 1 United 0 A cracking goal for the hosts on the stroke of half time. It's (sort of) been coming. Weimann with the emphatic finish from the edge of the box. 44 min Valencia in space wide right but he still couldn't pick his cross. Sums up United's half really. 42 min United continue to try and work the ball down the centre but to no avail. Rooney gets bored and tries his luck from 40 yards. Guzan has time to scratch his backside, wave to a friend and then catch it in both hands (he had the time, he didn't do those things, but he had the time). 39 min Ferdinand is very, very, very upset. Like a toddler denied a go on a swing, or a slug of Sunny Delight. He stomps his feet and swings his arms. Very, very upset. Because he fouled Benteke and the referee told him so. I'll scream and I'll scream and I'll scream, he might have mouthed to the official, but didn't. Free kick launched to the back post where it was easily cleared by the army of white shirts assembled there. 37 min United struggling to get a hold in the middle here. Villa players snapping at heels and the visitors lacking the patience or the guile to work around that. Lambert will be pleased enough with this as it stands. 35 min Ireland, who has had a good game in the centre of things for Villa this evening so far, has a crack at goal from distance. Not too far away either. That is the home side's first effort apparently, which suprises me, they seem to have been in and around the United goal quite a bit. Underlines their lack of end product though. 32 min I've taken exception to the goon who is within earshot of one of Sky Sports' microphones. It's not so much his potty mouth, as the inconsistency and incoherence of his sweary anger. Almost sounds as if he's watching another game. Quite off putting. 31 min Crowd take exception to an Evra block on Westwood that killed a potential break. No foul says the referee, who is now promoted to Young levels of animosity. 29 min Carrick feeds Rooney who then finds Evra overlapping down the left. He gets within sniffing distance of the gaol but his cut back was punced on by the Villa defence and the chance went begging. A real end to end flavour to this match now and a pleasing watch it is for it. 27 min Villa travel at pace in to United territory again - that seems to be the game plan - and Benteke hits the byline before crossing. He overcooked it worse than my dear old Mam does the Christmas turkey though and the next touch was off a ball-boy. 24 min Big call by the referee. Ireland nicks the ball off Scholes when he was receiving a pass from his goalkeeper. The ball ran to Benteke unmarked in front of goal but before he could let fly the whistle sounded for a foul. It probably was but there wasn't too much in it. Scholes has done a lot, lot worse to many, many players than that in the past. But admittedly that's a pretty high bar to judge by. 22 min United enjoying some dangerous looking possession that loses its sting, in terms of goal threat anyway, when Valencia fires a rocket of a ball high over the bar. If that was intended as a cross, as he indicated it was, I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to stick a head on it, could have broken someone's neck. 19 min Huge round of applause engulfs Villa Park. No one has scored, they are just showing their love for Stiliyan Petrov, Villa's No 19, as he continues his battle against leukaemia. Nice touch. 17 min Another fine move from Villa but with no end product. Ireland the fulcrum, playing a lovely ball behind the back for Agbonlahor to run on to. He might have thought about a shot but instead pulled it back first time towards Benteke, just not close enough to his team mate to do anythign productive with. Villa on top here. 14 min Another, less presentable, chance for the Villa, Benteke finding himself in space for a moment with a tight angle to work with. Too tight, it proved, with his little stab of a shot pretty weak and easily defended at the near post. Villa fans involved in this one. And they're not booing (except when Young has the ball, obviously)! 13 min Villa had three on three in a smart break. Weimann carried the ball forward at pace and had options either side, the best of which was Benteke to his right. Whether he couldn't make his mind up or fancied a pop at goal himself I don't know (not sure he did either) but the moment was lost and his shot was never worth any more than a corner. A waste that, but promising signs for the hosts. 11 min Pretty even so far with Villa palying a high tempo pressing game to deny United time and space. Effective so far, too. 08 min A period of pressure would be overstating it a touch, maybe, but Villa playing in the United box just now. The best that comes from a free kick and two corners is a Benteke shot from 10 yards that looked promising until Young got enough contact to pinch it off his toes. Hurt himself in the process, too. 05 min Young cuts in from the left and takes a slightly hopeful shot on goal. Wasn't all that far away mind, curling towards the back stick with Guzan either untroubled by it (it went a foot wide in the end) or not aware of the potential danger. We'll give him the benefit and say it was the former. 03 min Valencia has the first shot in anger, but it is blocked at the expense of a corner. Carrick meets it at the near post and turns it towards goal but Guzan is right behind it and collects comfortably. 02 min Ashley Young will be appearing as today's pantomime villian, the locals displeased that he left them to join United. Boo ... hiss ... down with this sort of thing ... etc ... and so on. 01 min Villa get us started, Benteke the target of a long punt up field but he is muscled out of it before United put their collective foot on the ball in their own half. 17.28 The teams and both sets of fans pause for reflection on Remembrance weekend. A couple of loons break the mood, naturally, but by football's recent standards that went well enough. On with the sport... 17.23 While we're on the subject of United enjoying their trips to Villa Park, it would be remiss of me not to dig out this (and for you not to take a moment to enjoy it, either): 17.21 Team News Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Stevens, Weimann, Westwood, Ireland, Bannan, Agbonlahor, Benteke. Subs: Given, El Ahmadi, Albrighton, Holman, Delph, Bowery, Williams. Manchester United: De Gea, Da Silva, Ferdinand, Smalling, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Rooney, van Persie. Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Hernandez, Welbeck, Cleverley, Fletcher, Buttner. 17.17 Manchester United have enjoyed a productively quiet start to this season. While all around them have been embroiled in controversy and inconsistency they just keep plugging away and getting results with little fanfare or fuss. This week they confirmed they would progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League as group winners. And today they have the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points, at leats for 24 hours. Things are not so rosy down at the Villa. Paul Lambert is the latest manager to discover that waking a sleeping giant in the Midlands takes more than good intentions and a positive mental attitude. Dangerously flirting with the relegation places, a win today could kick start a moribund season. Though the odds are against them. Villa Park is like a second home to United. Points have been easy to come by here for the visitors down the years. The last time they lost in the league was in 1995 when Alan Hansen wrote his punditry epitaph with his comments about the failings of the young folk. There is nothing in either side's recent form to suggest anything different today ... but then who among you cleaned up by backing Celtic to beat Barcelona the other night, eh? Think on ... Match Notes United overcame a floodlight failure in Braga to record their seventh win in eight games on Wednesday and the fact they are yet to dazzle this season represents an ominous message to their rivals.