The FA Cup Heritage Of Aston Villa-Man Utd

Today's meeting, at 17:15 at Villa Park, is the second in consecutive seasons, and the twelfth overall between the two clubs in this competition.

Villa have lost nine of the previous 11 meetings, so will be aiming to rectify that statistic today.

Last season, United's 2-1 victory at Old Trafford owed much to two Scandinavians. On-loan Swedish star Henrik Larsson put United ahead on 55 minutes, before substitute Milan Baros equalised for Martin O'Neill's Villa (74th minute). But in the final minute, Larsson's replacement, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from Norway netted the winning goal. United went on to reach the final, but were beaten at Wembley by Chelsea.

Sunday, 7 Jan 2007: Man Utd 2-1 Aston Villa
United: Kuszczak, G Neville, Evra, Park (Fletcher), Ferdinand, Brown, Ronaldo, Carrick (O'Shea), Larsson (Solskjaer), Rooney, Giggs.
Villa: Kiraly, Hughes, Bouma, Osbourne, Cahill, Ridgewell, Petrov (Samuel), McCann, Angel (Baros), Agbonlahor, Barry.

United also reached the final in 2003-04, beating Millwall to lift the Cup for a record 11th time, after disposing of Villa in the third round. The game was at Villa Park and Gareth Barry put the hosts, managed by David O'Leary, ahead on 19 minutes before a second-half double from Paul Scholes - two goals in four minutes - settled the tie 2-1 in United's favour.

Sunday, 4 Jan 2004: Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd
Villa: Sorensen, De la Cruz, Samuel, McCann, Johnsen, Mellberg, Hendrie (Hitzlsperger), Barry, Angel, Vassell (S Moore), Whittingham.
United: Howard, G Nevile, O'Shea (Keane), Brown, Butt, Silvestre, Kleberson (Fletcher), Scholes, Forlan (Van Nistelrooy), Giggs, Fortune.

In 2001-02 the teams also met in the third round, again at Villa Park, with United shading a five-goal thriller - but coming back dramatically from a two-goal deficit to do so. After a goalless first-half, Birmingham-born Ian Taylor put John Gregory's Villa ahead on 52 minutes, and two minutes later it looked like curtains for United when Phil Neville put through his own goal.

Then the United comeback began. Solskjaer halved the deficit with 13 minutes remaining, and Ruud van Nistelrooy struck in the 80th and 82nd minutes against ex-United legend Peter Schmeichel to complete the remarkable turnaround and break Villa hearts. Dutchman Van Nistelrooy had come on as a substitute for Luke Chadwick, who had himself substituted Nicky Butt.

Sunday, 6 Jan 2002: Aston Villa 2-3 Manchester United
Villa: Schmeichel, Samuel, Wright (Stone), Mellberg, Staunton, Boateng (Barry), Taylor, Hendrie, Angel, Vassell, Merson (Hadji).
United: Carroll, P Neville, Silvestre, G Neville, Keane, Blanc, Beckham, Butt (Chadwick) (Van Nistelrooy), Solskjaer, Veron, Scholes.

Villa fans have to go way back to 1957 for their last triumph over United in the FA Cup. But it was a memorable win - arguably the most memorable of the lot as it was at Wembley in the final, and was achieved in controversial circumstances which would, within nine months, prove to be exceptionally poignant too.

United's famous 'Busby Babes' had just won the Football League Championship for the second successive season and were bidding to become the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and Cup 'double' - since Villa did it 60 years earlier in 1897.

But United's plans were thrown into disarray early on by a notorious incident. A foul charge by Aston Villa's Northern Ireland international winger Peter McParland on Ray Wood left the United keeper concussed and with a broken cheek-bone after only six minutes. Wood had already caught the ball from McParland's header and was standing still, four yards from his goal-line, when the winger continued his run and crashed into the keeper. McParland, who was not even cautioned in that different era, would have seen red instantly today for such a challenge, but he stayed on to play a crucial role.

Wood could not continue, so in those pre-substitute days, centre-half Jackie Blanchflower (brother of Tottenham's Danny) went in goal, and actually played a blinder.

The majestic Duncan Edwards switched to centre-half from attacking left-half, and was another United hero. But Liam 'Billy' Whelan had to drop back to left-half and it left United's attack unbalance. Whelan was United's leading League scorer with 26 goals.

A groggy Wood returned for 10 minutes half-an-hour later, but was virtual passenger out on the wing. United kept a good Villa side at bay until midway through the second-half, when two goals from McParland effectively ended their chances. However, Tommy Taylor headed home an Edwards corner to give Busby's team hope, and then Wood returned in goal as United attempted an unlikely salvage operation.

But Jimmy Dugdale was outstanding at the heart of the Villa defence, which held out solidly to ensure captain Johnny Dixon lifted the Cup for Villa for what was then a record seventh time. Dixon had had a fine game, but the Villa star was unquestionably and ironically McParland.

The following February, that outstanding United side was decimated by the Munich air disaster, which killed eight players as well as club officials and journalists. Several of the players who performed at Wembley against Villa were among those who died.

Saturday, May 4, 1957: Astion Villa 2-1 Manchester United (at Wembley)
Villa: Sims, Lynn, Aldis, Crowther, Dugdale, Saward, Smith, Sewell, Myerscough, Dixon, McParland.
United: Wood, Foulkes, Byrne, Colman, Blanchflower, Edwards, Berry, Whelan, Taylor, Charlton, Pegg.

Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Billy Whelan, Tommy Taylor and David Pegg would all lose their lives in the Munich disaster (along with Mark Jones and Geoff Bent), while Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry sustained injuries that prevented them from ever playing again. Villa's Stan Crowther joined United in the aftermath of Munich as they sought to patch together a team, and in fact Crowther played at Wembley the following May for United as they lost 0-2 to Bolton in the 1958 final.

Villa's one other FA Cup victory over United came in January 1920, when they won a second round tie 2-1 at Old Trafford.