Aston Villa 0-3 Man United: Welbeck's double eases pressure on Moyes

Danny Welbeck's brace eased the pressure on David Moyes as Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 win over an abject Aston Villa side.

The England striker showed good timing as he notched two goals in the space of three minutes and international and club colleague Tom Cleverley put the result beyond doubt with a sweet second-half finish.

Paul Lambert's side created a few early opportunities as Marc Albrighton went close but it was the visitors who looked the more threatening going forward and it took little time for them to go in front.

Rafael put in a teasing cross and Adnan Januzaj's powerful header ricocheted off the post and into Welbeck's path who had the simplest of jobs of tucking the ball in after 15 minutes.

The goal silenced Villa Park and two minutes later their despair was doubled as Welbeck notched his second when he slid in to meet Antonio Valencia's fantastic cross.

The lead was just the tonic United needed and Moyes' team looked in total control as they sought a third strike to put the game to bed.

Villa, on the other hand, were flustered and the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor resorted to trying their luck from distance, with little reward for their attempts.

Things didn't get much better for the hosts after the break as United went through the paces easily and Cleverley added a much deserved third.

The midfielder timed his run perfectly as he took Rooney's cute through-ball in his stride and put the ball past Brad Guzan at his near post on 52 minutes.

Villa offered close to nothing in attack with Christian Benteke performing like a shadow of the man he was last season.

Instead time and time again Valencia and Januzaj romped down the wings and peppered the Villains box with cross after cross.

United's day got better as they introduced a beaming Darren Fletcher off the bench after the Scot had missed nearly a year due to a chronic bowl condition.

Eventually the hosts began to take charge of possession but produced little with it. There was one chance of note as Karim El Ahmadi tested the gloves of David De Gea with a curled free-kick but that was it.

Cleverley had the opportunity to grab his second when he was played in but his fizzing strike was well tipped over by Guzan as United played out the rest of the game comfortably to get all three points.-- Camisetas De Futbol