Manchester United took control of the race for Champions League qualification after beating Aston Villa 3-1 at Old Trafford to open up a three-point buffer on their Midlands rivals.

When Michael Carrick took over at Old Trafford in January the gap to Villa was a whopping 11 points. Two months on and the picture has changed dramatically in United's favour, now surely favourites to clinch third place.

While Unai Emery's side have accrued fewer points than bottom club Wolves since the turn of the year, United are flying, with Carrick masterminding his fifth home win since taking charge - and seventh overall.

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Bruno Fernandes, so often the creative genius, was at it again, assisting Casemiro from a corner and then Matheus Cunha with a beautifully weighted line-breaking pass. Ross Barkley had levelled just before Cunha broke to score but that was Villa's only moment of an otherwise drab display. They look completely spent.

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As the game stretched, the hosts made good on their dominance. Benjamin Sesko delivered instant impact from the bench, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after Cunha's cross was blocked. If three points were not certain before, they were now.

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Fernandes sent Sesko racing away to put the gloss on another fine performance - and bag himself a hat-trick of assists - late on, but the super-sub fluffed his shot. "Giving joy to the others is very good," Fernandes reflected afterwards. "I'm more proud and pleased because I'm serving my team-mates."

Man Utd will hold a six-point gap on sixth in the Premier League regardless of other results on Sunday, while Villa are forced to look nervously over their shoulders.

Unai Emery's side have won just three of their last 12 league outings and look devoid of the spirit needed to stay the pace in this fascinating European race.

Keane: United certs for CL spot

Sky Sports' Roy Keane:

"Yeah, I think certs for it.

"No distractions, just focus on the games, get some recovery. Villa looked a bit flat today [after playing in the Europa League on Thursday], United in the second half were pretty comfortable.

"If you give players like Bruno time and space, you're going to be punished. I think United are absolute certs for that Champions League spot."

Level of performance pleases Carrick

Man Utd head coach Michael Carrick:

"It feels good. It was a good performance in the main. We did a lot of things we were really happy with in the game and to finish it the way we did, we knew it was a big game coming into it and getting back to winning ways, the boys responded so well.

"I was quite happy with it at half-time, it was just a tight game. Sometimes you have to be a bit measured. The game opened up for us in the second half and we had the players to make the difference."

Speaking about the contribution of captain Fernandes, he added: "He's had so many big moments, to score or make a pass, and he's always there. He always puts himself forward, whether it's training or games.

"The pass to Matheus was fantastic."

Emery 'so motivated' to stay in top four

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery:

"My expectation before, more or less, was on the field. First half we were competing well.

"We defend well the first half, it was equal, we were feeling good. But we needed to get something more offensively. The second half we lost it, first 10 or 15 minutes. In transition they are a very good team, maybe better than us.

"The idea was to take calm, get our positioning to dominate, stay tight, but with the emotions we conceded. To react it was more difficult for us, we try it. They had good momentum. Overall, I can feel we did things good, but it was not enough.

"In the last two months we are struggling more. We're working on things on our structure. It was a bad result for us, we must accept it and analyse for the next challenges. We have to do more, to show more, more capacity to compete. Now the balance is very important. We must be stronger.

"I am so, so motivated to achieve our objectives."

Story of the match in stats

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