BIRMINGHAM: Manchester United’s winless run stretched to five games in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday that did little to ease the pressure on Erik ten Hag.

Bruno Fernandes hit the crossbar with the best effort from either side from a second-half free-kick but United have now failed to score in their last three Premier League games. A point leaves Ten Hag’s men still down in 14th, having won just two of their opening seven league games of the season.

“We know in this moment we have a lack of goals,” said Ten Hag. “In that perspective it’s not a good start, we have to step up. That’s an area we have to improve.” Fifth-placed Villa missed the chance to move into the top four as they were unable to repeat their heroics of beating Bayern Munich in midweek.

United’s 3-0 humiliation on home soil by Tottenham last weekend had plunged Ten Hag’s job back into peril. A 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday did the Dutchman’s case little favors as United blew an early two-goal lead to trail 3-2 before Harry Maguire’s injury-time leveller.

Ten Hag reacted by dropping centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt after their chastening night in Portugal with Maguire and veteran Jonny Evans brought back in to the starting line-up. Villa had a far more memorable European night in midweek when Bayern were beaten 1-0 as the Champions League returned to Birmingham for the first time in over 40 years.

Both sides showed signs of fatigue as the match failed to spark into life. “We missed some energy, but I am happy because the draw was not the worst result,” said Villa boss Unai Emery. “In the second half we corrected some things to control the match.” Ten Hag controversially replaced Marcus Rashford at half-time in Porto after he had scored and set up Rasmus Hojlund’s second for United inside the opening 20 minutes. The United boss said that decision was motivated by managing the minutes of his wingers and Rashford was the visitors’ biggest threat.

Bruno hits bar

The England international cut inside and forced Emi Martinez into the only save of the first half with a powerful strike after five minutes. Morgan Rogers fired wide at the other end, but United’s reshaped defence held out with little problems until the break.

Ten Hag was forced into another defensive reshuffle at half-time as Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui were forced off injured as De Ligt and Victor Lindelof came on. Rashford forced Martinez into another good save with a blistering shot from outside the box. But he was lucky not to be sent-off for two bookable offences just minutes apart. Rashford had been booked when he brought down Leon Bailey and was swiftly substituted by Ten Hag to avoid a United dismissal for the third consecutive game.

Fernandes’ red card against Tottenham had been rescinded to allow him to play and the United captain came as close to anyone to scoring a winner with a free-kick that came back off the bar. Emery turned to Villa’s super sub Jhon Duran to win the game.

Nottingham Forest earned a 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Sunday despite going down to 10 men in the 78th minute, after they kept the hosts at bay in an often frenzied Premier League encounter involving a host of second-half chances and a pitchside melee.

After a slow-burn first half with the visitors’ well organized defence keeping Chelsea at arm’s length, it was Forest who scored first when a classic James Ward-Prowse free kick found defender Nikola Milenkovic at the back post in the 50th minute and the Serbian nodded the ball across goal and Chris Wood tapped it home.

The match sprang into life and six minutes later Chelsea exploited a rare crack in Forest’s highly-disciplined defence when the ever-busy Noni Madueke latched on to a Cole Palmer ball, cut inside and sent it into the bottom corner. The result kept Chelsea, who enjoyed more than 66% possession, in fourth place, but dropped them three points behind Arsenal in third. Nottingham Forest are 10th.

Forest were reduced to 10 men when Ward-Prowse grabbed the ball on the ground to stop Nicolas Jackson running free on goal and received a second yellow card. The Midlands side did not just sit back and defend, however, instead taking the game to Chelsea. Robert Sanchez kept out a series of chances, notably from substitutes Neco Williams and Jota Silva as the game opened up. Williams sparked the pitchside confrontation after his challenge on Marc Cucurella sent the full back sprawling into the technical area upending his coach Enzo Maresca. Players from both sides and from the bench rushed to the scene jostling and pushing each other. — Agencies