Dg

question mark continues to sit at the top of Manchester United's team-sheet as Louis van
Gaal's side prepare for their second Premier League fixture at Aston Villa.
With David de Gea's mooted move to Real Madrid locked in an impasse over the Spanish
club's refusal to meet United's valuation for the player or include centre-back Sergio Ramos
as part of the deal, British media reports suggest that United now expect the Spaniard to
remain at the club this season.
De Gea, 24, sat in the stands during United's 1-0 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur last
weekend after van Gaal said the link to Madrid had affected his "focus".
Apart from some wayward passes De Gea's deputy Sergio Romero performed well enough
against Spurs and with Victor Valdes and Anders Lindegaard frozen out, the Argentina
international will continue between the posts at Villa Park if De Gea is still unsettled.
While United's fans will be heartened by the prospect of De Gea staying, after voting him
their Player of the Year last season, the club's former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has been
critical of the way the situation has been handled.
"If the player is not happy, his agent, himself and the club that want him should have sorted
this a long time ago," the Dane told talkSPORT radio this week. "It's sad that it's dragged into
the season."
Putting the goalkeeper issue aside, United have traditionally had little to fear from visits to
Villa Park, where they have not lost in the league in 20 years.
However, with United having had to wait until November 22 last season before recording
their first away win, they will hope that it does not take quite so long to pick up points on the
road this term.
Van Gaal will expect to see signs of greater attacking cohesion than in the narrow win over
Tottenham, when United prevailed courtesy of an own goal and mustered just a single shot on
target.
The club's travelling fans, meanwhile, will be eager for another sight of Bastian
Schweinsteiger, who received a thunderous reception when he made his competitive debut as
a second-half substitute against Spurs.
The Germany midfielder struggled with a calf problem on the pre-season tour of the United
States, but he told club television channel MUTV: "Now I feel much better and also the game
was very important to play 30 minutes.
"The training sessions are very important for me, too. I'm getting better and I hope I will be
100 per cent fit in the next week."

Villa began the campaign with a 1-0 win at promoted Bournemouth and despite narrowly
avoiding relegation last season, a flood of new signings has raised expectations for manager
Tim Sherwood's first full campaign.
Rudy Gestede, the Benin international striker signed from Blackburn Rovers for 6 million
came off the bench to head in the winner at Bournemouth and he will hope to get a run at
United's new-look centre-back pairing of Chris Smalling and Daley Blind.
While the towering Gestede is pushing for a starting berth, attacking midfielders Jack
Grealish and Carles Gil are both doubtful due to hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.
Looking ahead to the game, Villa centre-back Ciaran Clark told the club website: "It's Man
United. It's the first home game of the season.
"We're back at Villa Park. It's a sell-out under the lights. I'm not sure it can get much better
than that."
AFP
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