Morgan Rogers the ‘protagonist’ of Villa surge towards title tilt – Unai Emery

Unai Emery heaped praised on Morgan Rogers after the star’s delightful double helped Aston Villa overcome Manchester United and extend their winning run to a 10th match.

The 23-year-old followed up last week’s impressive double at West Ham with another brilliant brace as Villa fought back from Matheus Cunha’s avoidable leveller to triumph 2-1.

Villa’s 10th straight win in all competitions was their seventh in a row in the Premier League, leaving them third in the standings and just three points behind leaders Arsenal heading into Christmas.

“The result was fantastic, and this is the most important thing,” boss Emery said.

“Then how we compete as well was fantastic because Manchester United faced us with their qualities, their ideas as well.

“We competed fantastically. We struggled, it was a tough match, but our momentum in 90 minutes showed our qualities through different players.

“Emiliano Martinez saved with fantastic actions and Morgan Rogers played brilliantly, scoring goals, but overall we did a fantastic job tactically and in our game plan.”

Villa round off 2025 with tough trips to Chelsea and Arsenal, where England international Rogers is sure to play a key role.

“We need the numbers of the players and today and last week Morgan Rogers is performing fantastically, but he has started the season not getting (goalscoring) numbers but playing well,” Emery said.

“Always doing his task, always with the commitment he’s showing, with the attitude he has, played each match. Today he did the same and scored goals, of course. He is the protagonist.

“I’m so, so happy because he’s a fighter. He’s a good guy, very good guy. His commitment with Aston Villa is massive, and his attitude every day is really fantastic.

“And when he’s getting numbers like today, of course we are very proud of everybody, but especially today with him.”

United return to action on Boxing Day at home to Newcastle, when Ruben Amorim expects to be without Kobbie Mainoo and skipper Bruno Fernandes.

The latter limped off midway through the match and the Red Devils boss was pleased by the way they played before and after his withdrawal.

“I think we did really well,” Amorim said. “I think we were the better team today. “If you take the first minutes of the game, I think we create our chances.

“We have been really consistent in the way we play and create chances. We defend well, we left one against one most of the times, especially when Martinez had the ball. We tried to recover really fast.

“Again, I think we play well but the feeling is that the frustration is still there, so we need to take the good things and to prepare the next one.”