Rogers rocks United as Villa send out statement

Onanother evening of theatre at Villa Park, it was fitting that the matchwinner Morgan Rogers was last to leave the stage.

- Ben Fisher

There is simply no stopping this Aston Villa machine, cylinders pumping, handcrafted by Unai Emery, who reacted to Rogers’s second goal against Manchester United by launching his jacket into the night sky. “Birmingham, are you listening?” came the chorus from the home support but this was a victory with far wider implications.

Approaching the halfway stage of the season, Villa, third and three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, are ensconcedin the title race, twomore Rogers goals earninga 10th straight win in all competitions andrendering Matheus Cunha’s welltaken equaliser a consolation. The discourse and debate will run wild after this latest Villa win, aseventhin arowin the league, butit was one that undoubtedly belonged to Rogers’s individual brilliance. After his second goal, Rogersspread hisarms, screwed up his face and shrugged as ifto say: “Well, what am I supposed to do?”

Amadou Onana pretended to place a crown on his head, though, remarkably, Emery revealed he was notentirely happy with Rogers until that moment. The England midfielder’s divine opener had been and gone; this is Emery, fastidious and demanding.

The last time Villa won seven in arowin the top flight was between December and February in the 198990 campaign, another run during which they also dispatched United and went on to finish second under the late Graham Taylor. If Villarecord avictory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday they will equal their club-record 11 wins in a row from 1897, when Villa Park was still known as Aston Lower Grounds.