GABBY AGBONLAHOR seems to be loving Manchester United’s miserable decline as much as Aston Villa’s astonishing rise.
The former England striker is envious of his old club’s current stars, who he believes boss Unai Emery has transformed into the best Villa team of his lifetime.
And he, like most Premier League fans, is lapping up United “playing like strangers” after sucking up years of defeats during Sir Alex Ferguson’s trophy-laden era of dominance.
Agbonlahor says Villa, sat third in the league, have “nothing to be scared of” when they go to Old Trafford chasing a victory which would fire them to the summit, 14 points clear of United.
The Red Devils’ woeful 2-0 defeat to West Ham on Saturday means they have gone four games without netting for the first time since 1992, while the 13 games Erik ten Hag’s flops have lost this season is the club’s worst pre-Christmas tally in 93 years.
Agbonlahor, Villa’s 74-goal record Prem scorer, said: “The mighty have fallen at Manchester United. This game is massive and Villa have got nothing to be scared of.
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“United are not the team they used to be and you’ve got sides like Bournemouth going to Old Trafford and winning 3-0, with opposition players nutmegging theirs.
“United’s owners, the Glazers, look like they’re hiding in Florida and the fans despise them.
“They are playing like strangers and the manager has got problems left, right and centre.”
Agbonlahor’s 13-year Villa career brought 17 painful defeats in 22 games against United — with just one victory in 2009 at Old Trafford clinched by his own header.
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Villa went an agonising 23 seasons without a home league win over the Red Devils until Emery shattered the hoodoo in his first game in charge 13 months ago.
Spaniard Emery’s remarkable 88-point haul in 43 Prem games — with a club-record run of 15 league wins at home — is eight more than United boss Ten Hag has chalked up over the same period.
Agbonlahor has previously said he believes only Red Devils skipper Bruno Fernandes is good enough to get in Villa’s current XI.
He added: “They’re 11 points behind Villa. That shows you, especially with the money United have spent, the difference between both clubs.
“Villa are on the up and United are on a decline.
“Villa are flying. We’ve got one of the best managers in the league and positive energy from top to bottom. The owners, manager and fanbase are all together.
“The mighty have fallen at Manchester United. This game is massive and Villa have got nothing to be scared of.”
Gabriel Agbonlahor
“In 2023, nobody in the league has got more points than Villa, other than Manchester City.”
Agbonlahor, 37, was a key part of Martin O’Neill’s thrilling team which fell just short of a Champions League place between 2008 and 2010.
It was the last Villa side that had their fans pumped up and dreaming — before a steady decline which bottomed out with three seasons in the Championship.
Emery, heavily backed by billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, now has the club back in Europe for the first time since O’Neill’s days and battling with the elite.
Agbonlahor added: “This is the best Aston Villa team that I’ve seen.
“I played in a good side, finishing sixth for three seasons in a row. But now, technically, especially the centre-halves like Pau Torres, they look very good.
“I would have loved playing in this side. I look at Ollie Watkins and the way Unai Emery has got the team playing for him. They find his runs in behind so quickly.
“When I watch them, I’m a bit jealous. It’s exciting, attacking football.
“Fans that are older than me would have been used to Villa being up there and winning the European Cup in 1982.
“It’s exciting times, with the football they’re playing, beating Manchester City and Arsenal at home and going toe-to-toe — Aston Villa haven’t done that for years.”
Agbonlahor fired Villa to their first win at United since 1983, with the club’s only other Old Trafford victory coming under Dean Smith in 2021 — also 1-0.
Remembering his goal, 14 years ago, he said: “United were still a top team then. It was the season after Federico Macheda got that winning goal — I scored in that game as well.
“We were probably the better team so we were determined a year later, thinking ‘let’s have a go at Man United’.
“We were pouring forward and Ashley Young put in a great cross. We all knew about the record. It shows that if you go there and have a go, you can get something.
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“Normally you’d be parking the bus, defensive, counterattack but this Villa team are not scared of anyone.
“That comes down to the manager. He has put that faith in the players to say ‘we’re not scared of anyone, we’re Aston Villa’.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
