Old Trafford
Saturday, 29 March
Kick-off: 1715 GMT
Coverage on the BBC Sport website, BBC Radio Five Live & highlights on Match of the Day
Mancheser United's Darren Fletcher is out for six weeks after damaging his knee ligaments playing for Scotland.
Striker Louis Saha (hamstring) is also sidelined while Nani is doubtful because of a thigh problem.
Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg is set to return from suspension and replace Craig Gardner.
Martin O'Neill has to decide whether to keep faith with on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson who has looked short of confidence in recent games.
Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, 0'Shea, Ronaldo, Scholes, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Rooney, Tevez, Kuszczak, Foster.
Aston Villa (from): Carson, Taylor, Mellberg, Gardner, Laursen, Knight, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Osbourne, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Barry, Berger, Maloney, Young, Carew, Harewood, Salifou.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson:
"I need to have one eye on Roma when it comes to team selection tomorrow because it is such an important fixture.
"But that must not lessen our thoughts about the match against Villa.
"The most consistent team will win the league and we have to prove that consistency in the coming weeks."
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill:
"The long and the short of it is we have got ourselves in this predicament and we have to do something about it.
"To me, there is no sense of the season fizzling out. We've got to get back to winning.
"We've got seven games left, we're on 49 points, which means we're not a phenomenal distance away from the other teams and it's still worth chasing."
BIG-MATCH FACTS
Victory from the 150th league meeting with Aston Villa will send Manchester United eight points clear at the summit, and would see retain that margin on Saturday night, if Arsenal lose at Bolton in the 1500 hours kick-off.
United are looking for their 700th win under Sir Alex Ferguson (counting cup ties decided on penalty shoot-outs as either a win or a defeat). The Red Devils boss is also looking to add to the 18 major titles he has masterminded for the Old Trafford club.
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is chasing a 25th win in his 70th Premier League match in charge. Villa also need only a draw to total 100 points under O'Neill.
The Midlanders have lost their last two, without scoring, and are eight points short of fifth place. They're facing United for the third time this season and first since losing 0-2 at home in the third round of the FA Cup.
United are defending an unbeaten home Premier League record against Villa. They are chasing a 14th league and cup victory over the Villans home and away, and 11th in a row in the league.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 27 goals in 25 league starts for United, and needs 13 more from the minimum of nine remaining games, and maximum of 12, to break Denis Law's club record of 46 in a season.
CLUB FORM
MANCHESTER UNITED
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 1st
Lowest could fall: 1st
All statistics and sequences refer to the Premier League only, unless otherwise stated.
1. Lost one of nine (all competitions).
2. Won nine of the last 11, including the last five against Newcastle (a), Fulham (a), Derby (a), Bolton (h) and Liverpool (h).
3. Secured 23 victories, dropped 20 points, scored 64 goals, at one every 44 minutes on average, and conceded 15, at one every 186 minutes (three hours six minutes); the best in all four categories.
4. Registered the joint fewest draws, alongside Reading; four each.
5. Not conceded in 371 minutes (six hours 11 minutes), since Abdoulaye Diagne Faye's consolation for Newcastle in the 5-1 home win over the Magpies on 23 February. Kept more clean sheets than any other club; their 19 shut-outs, is two ahead of the next nearest, Chelsea.
6. Opened the scoring in an unmatched 25 games (won 22, and lost just one of them); and allowed the opposition to score first in five matches - that's fewer occasions than any other club.
7. Scored 16 goals in the last 10 minutes, 10 of which were in the last five minutes, seven of those being in stoppage time; no club can beat those, although Arsenal and Reading can match their stoppage time return.
8. On the longest current run since a goalless draw of 30 matches; and the longest since failing to score of 17 matches.
9. Lost two of 32 home league games.
10. The next fixture after this is the Champions League quarter-final, away to Roma next Tuesday. The league run-in is:-
Middlesbrough (a)
Arsenal (h)
Blackburn (a)
Chelsea (a)
West Ham (h)
Wigan (a)
ASTON VILLA
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 6th
Lowest could fall: 9th
All statistics and sequences refer to the Premier League only, unless otherwise stated.
1. No win in four; drawn two and lost two since winning 1-2, away to Reading on 24 February.
2. Not lost three in a row since 16-30 December 2006 when four successive losses were suffered.
3. On the longest current sequence without a clean sheet of 17 matches; the 0-4 away win over Blackburn on 28 November being their last shut-out.
4. Not finished higher than sixth since their fifth placing in 1996-97. The current tally of 49 points after 31 games is their best return to this identical stage in 11 years.
5. Come from behind on an unequalled 13 occasions, and recovered 17 points from losing positions. Won three, against Fulham (h), Wigan (a) and Newcastle (h), and drawn eight, in which they were behind.
6. Scored more headed goals than any other club in the division (13), while 31 of their 52 goals have been scored from set pieces (corners, free kicks and penalties), and a league high 56% of their total have from come from within the six-yard box (29).
7. Fielded fewer players than any other club, with the exception of Blackburn (21 each).
8. Won one of the seven against the 'Big Four' this season; drawn the last three.
9. Won one of the last five away; 1-2 over Reading at the Madejski Stadium on 24 February.
10. The run-in is:-
Bolton (h)
Derby (a)
Birmingham (h)
Everton (a)
Wigan (h)
West Ham (a)
KEY PLAYER NOTES
MANCHESTER UNITED
Cristiano RONALDO is Manchester United's top scorer with 34 goals.
The Portuguese is also United's leading Premier League marksman with 25 from 25 starts, and is leading the race for the Barclays Golden Boot.
Wayne ROONEY needs one goal to total 50 in the Premier League for Manchester United.
If on the field from the outset:-
Chris EAGLES will be making his 50th club league start (Manchester United, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday).
Long term injury, Gary NEVILLE will be making his 350th Premier League start for Manchester United.
ASTON VILLA
John CAREW is Aston Villa's top scorer with nine Premier League goals.
Wilfred BOUMA and Martin LAURSEN have started every one of Villa's Premier League games this season.
If on the field from the outset:-
Nigel REO-COKER will be making his 200th career league start (Wimbledon, West Ham and Aston Villa).
HEAD TO HEAD
Manchester United are unbeaten in 22 home league games against Villa, and have not lost to them in a league clash at Old Trafford since a 1-2 reverse on 5 November 1983, with the aid of a brace from Peter Withe.
Villa have lost more Premier League games against the Red Devils than any other club
Villa were one of 12 clubs United did the double over last season; United were the only club to do the double over Villa last term.
United are on course to double the Villans for the 10th time in the Premier League and fifth season running.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Man United 73 wins, Villa 42, Draws 34
Prem: Man United 22 wins, Villa 2, Draws 7
at Man Utd only
League (inc PL): Man United 48 wins, Villa 10, Draws 16
Prem: Man United 11 wins, Villa 0, Draws 4
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Manchester United 3-1 Aston Villa
13 January 2007 - Ref: Hoeard Webb
Man Utd scorers: Park 11, Carrick 13, Ronaldo 35
Villa scorer: Agbonlahor 52
THIS SEASON'S REVERSE FIXTURE
Aston Villa 1-4 Manchester United
20 December 2007 - Ref: Rob Styles
Villa scorer: Agbonlahor 13
Man Utd scorers: Rooney 36, 44, Ferdinand 45, Giggs 75
Sent Off: Reo-Coker 60, Carson 66 (both Villa)
REFEREE
Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
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