He had to be it. Rasmus Hojlund scored at the most important time after 15 Premier League games and 1,026 minutes without a goal. He cost £72 million to sign.

United put pressure on Villa, and Jonny Evans made a great save at the goal line. Hojlund took advantage of McGinn’s failure to clear the ball from inside his own box. The Danish forward scored a beautiful goal on the swivel, and the anger on his face as he ran toward the Stretford End said it all.

Manchester United finally scored a goal after 451 minutes, which is seven hours of football. This turned the game into a real battle. Rashford was at the center of another Red Devils attack when he sped off after Diego Carlos made a mistake.

The English player ran toward Martinez and just had to pass the ball to Alejandro Garnacho. The Argentine striker ended United’s long scoring drought, which had seen them drop to the bottom of the Premier League in terms of goals scored. Eleven minutes earlier, Rashford set up Garnacho for a goal, but VAR checked and ruled it out. It was their seventh offside call of the night so far.

They were lucky that their second selection worked. Soon after, there was more happiness when Garnacho scored after Carlos deflected the ball, setting up a fairy tale ending.

In a big return for Manchester United, Rasmus Hojlund scored his first Premier League goal in a home game against Aston Villa.

The Red Devils’ terrible Christmas Day night got off to a terrible start when they fell behind 2-0 after 26 minutes after giving up two ridiculously bad set-piece goals in front of a stunned Stretford End. Anyway, Alejandro Garnacho led a comeback in the second half and scored twice to tie the game again. That broke their seven-hour goal drought and set up Hojlund’s 15th game without a goal, which he did emphatically to seal a shocking 3-2 win.

Unai Emery’s team was still healing from a rare home loss before Christmas. Erik ten Hag, on the other hand, had been through four games without a win and no goals. Ten Hag’s Christmas Day got off to a rough start when Luke Shaw and Sofyan Amrabat were both ruled out with what the club called “minor issues.”

Five things to talk about from Old Trafford.

Two days after it was revealed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of INEOS, had finally reached a deal with the Glazers to buy a 25% stake in Old Trafford and run the football operations for the club, his company was at the game. People saw Sir Dave Brailsford, who is in charge of sports for INEOS, sitting in the directors’ box.

In the past few months, Brailsford has met with United executives several times, both in person and virtually. He is expected to play a key part in the changes coming to INEOS. As soon as possible, Ratcliffe wants to go to a home game himself. Tottenham on January 14 is one option.

“Have you kept the receipt, Jim?” The call from Brailsford at 8:26pm was read. But not really. If the first few minutes of Aston Villa’s game at Old Trafford didn’t show the INEOS boss what he’s up against, what will?

United quickly gave their opponents two late Christmas presents, both from set pieces. Leon Bailey did the right thing by standing behind Andre Onana. Onana was still after the Jamaican winger scarpered, and John McGinn’s cross went right past him and into the back of the net.

After four minutes, Villa had a 2-0 lead. Clement Lenglet, who was on loan from Barcelona, wasn’t marked and was able to pass the ball back across goal to Leander Dendoncker, who wasn’t marked either, even though there were seven red shirts in front of him.

It was another instance of the Red Devils giving up several goals in a short amount of time, which shows how weak they are. Two in six minutes against West Ham on Saturday and two in five minutes against Bournemouth two weeks ago. And that’s just this month.

Marcus Rashford, a local hero, is the best person to describe how bad things have been for United in recent months. The Mancunian’s lackluster performances have made even his biggest fans very angry, as they make him look unmotivated and poor.

But after Villa’s second goal, Rashford looked like he had more energy. Emiliano Martinez stopped him twice, and then he did well to beat Ezri Konsa down the left, but his shot went wide. There was fire in the eyes, but no bite. People booed the Red Devils off at halftime, and Villa fans loved their “sacked in the morning chants.”