Owen Hargreaves says Aston Villa could have a field day against £43m Manchester United player

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Aston Villa will fancy their chances against Manchester United in their Premier League meeting at Villa Park this Sunday.

Villa go into the 2pm kick-off against the Red Devils on the back of arguably their biggest win this century, a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Conversely, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is on increasingly thin ice at Old Trafford in wake of a disastrous Europa League encounter with Porto on Thursday.

The Red Devils let a 2-0 lead slip and very nearly lost 3-2, only for substitute Harry Maguire to spare Ten Hag’s blushes with a late equaliser.

Now, Owen Hargreaves has urged the Red Devils boss to drop a player who “struggled really badly” on Thursday, or he risks Villa making light work of him.

Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt ‘struggled really badly’ ahead of Aston Villa clash

The player in question is Mathijs de Ligt, who was beaten on the ball by Samu Omorodion for two of Porto’s goals on the night.

Hargreaves believes Maguire needs to replace the £43million Dutchman at the back, as it’s “not going to get any easier” against Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran.

“Harry will play on the weekend against Villa – he’ll have to,” Hargreaves told TNT Sports, as transcribed by Metro. “De Ligt has struggled really badly today.

“Obviously Samu is a super explosive and powerful player but against Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran that’s not going to get any easier so he’s got some big calls to make.”

READ MORE: What members of Manchester United’s hierarchy think about the standard of Erik ten Hag’s training

How did the media rate De Ligt’s midweek display?

The Manchester Evening News gave De Ligt a mere 3 out of 10 for his efforts against Porto.

“Days after his positioning was dissected by Jamie Carragher, De Ligt was all over the place for Porto’s opening goals,” they wrote. “Came off in the 78th minute.”

Manchester World were even more critical of De Ligt, giving him a 2 out of 10 rating.

“He was terrorised by Samu all night and at fault for both of his goals,” they wrote.

“The ultimate humiliation when he was replaced by another centre-back with his side trailing in the match.”

Needless to say, Ten Hag certainly has some thinking to do against an Aston Villa front line full of quality and confidence.