Andy Gray claims he'd 'fine' Aston Villa player for his role in Man Utd's equaliser

Andy Gray claimed he would fine one Aston Villa player for his role in Manchester United’s equaliser on Boxing Day.

Garnacho’s second-half brace and an 82nd-minute winner from Rasmus Hojlund saw United come from two goals down to beat an in-form Villa side 3-2 at Old Trafford.

The United players had returned to the dressing room at half-time to a chorus of boos after Aston Villa took a two goal lead courtesy of strikes from John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker.

However, Garnacho inspired United to level proceedings, before Hojlund scored his first-ever Premier League goal in his 15th league appearance.

The morale-boosting win would see United climb to sixth in the Premier League, while Villa were denied the chance to go level on points with leaders Liverpool and remain in third.

After the game however, beIN Sport pundit Andy Gray insisted he would fine Dendoncker for his role in Garnacho’s second goal.

After watching footage of the Belgian turning his back to the ball for United’s second goal, an exasperated Gray said: “I would fine him. I would fine him. Anyone who goes and turns their back on a ball.”

On Villa’s title prospects, Gray added: “I think the next two or three weeks are going to be key for Villa.

“And I mean that because having two poor performances - Sheffield United and tonight - they can’t have another.

“Good teams have a couple of iffy results but you immediately see a response from them.”

When Richard Keys asked if Villa were title challengers Gray added: “No. I think a lack of experience won’t help them.

“The other three are too strong for me - Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City - been there, seen it, done it and I don’t think Villa have.

“That’s why I’ve always said that Villa could finish top four, and that would almost be like winning the title for Villa. That’s how big a jump it would have been since Unai Emery took over.

“And that’s what I said to you earlier. The one thing I don’t want is for the season to just fade away and everyone to think, ‘What a great start but we finished eighth’”.

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Premier League

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.