Michael Owen is tipping Aston Villa to knock Manchester United out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on Monday night in the third round.
The Red Devils head into the game looking to return to winning ways following the disappointment of their 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League last time out.
Ralf Rangnick’s side have struggled to find consistency in recent games despite the German’s appointment at Old Trafford as the club’s interim boss until the end of the season.
Manchester United are gearing up for back-to-back games against Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side – they host them in the FA Cup third round on Monday before travelling to Villa Park in the Premier League on Saturday 15 January.
Former Manchester United and England star Owen has not been particularly impressed by the impact Rangnick has had at Old Trafford so far and he is tipping Gerrard’s Villa side to cause an upset and dump the Red Devils out of the FA Cup on Monday night with a narrow victory.
Writing in his column for BetVictor, Owen said: “He’s only been in the job for a short time, but pressure is on Ralf Rangnick. Performances haven’t been good, and the club is desperate to win some silverware.
“Villa will be up for this and there’s no way Steven Gerrard will play a weakened side here. United might, and I can see Villa edging this. 2-1 Aston Villa.”
Red Devils interim boss Rangnick insisted that his side are eager to bounce back with a strong performance against Villa following the disappointment of their loss to Wolves last time out.
“Obviously everybody was very disappointed after the game, not only about the result, but also about the performance, especially in the first half,” said Rangnick when previewing Monday’s game.
“Now we have four days of training, yesterday, today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, before the Aston Villa game. My job, our job is to make sure we show a different performance on Monday against Aston Villa.”