Aston Villa vs Manchester United - Match preview

The new head coach turned 51 on Thursday but had little time to mark the occasion while deep in preparations at Bodymoor Heath for his first match in charge.

Villa have not beaten United in a home Premier League fixture since 1995 and Emery said: “My birthday will be on Sunday, if we win.

“If we beat Manchester United I am going to celebrate after this match. On Thursday I didn’t have time to answer a lot of messages.”

Emery’s last meeting with the Red Devils was in the 2021 Europa League final when his Villareal team prevailed following a mammoth penalty shoot-out.

The Spaniard famously claimed to have watched United 17 times in preparations for that match, yet his focus this week has been on his new team and he has reviewed every game of Villa’s season so far.

But he and his coaching staff have watched United’s last visit to Villa Park in January, when late goals from Jacob Ramsey and Philippe Coutinho secured a 2-2 draw for the hosts.

“The result was very close,” said Emery. “I have confidence and the players have confidence as well.”

He added: “I watched every match they (Villa) played, because the first information I have is watching matches.

“I watch only to have some information from them, from each player. Really I want to start now and the message is a new message.

“Maybe the positions are going to be different and I want to use each training session to improve, to test, to take information from them and for me Sunday is the first match in my mind for use with them.”

In what is a significant boost for Emery, midfielder Boubacar Kamara could return to the squad after recovering from a knee injury, while Ludwig Augustinsson (hamstring) is available for the first time in a month.