For years, there has been a sense of inevitability about the visit of Manchester United to Villa Park. But in his first 90 minutes as Aston Villa boss, Unai Emery changed all that.

The Spaniard, taking charge for the first time since replacing Steven Gerrard at the end of last month, guided his new side to their first win at home to the Red Devils in any competition for 23 years.

It was their first Premier League win against Manchester United at Villa Park since 1995 – the match that prompted Alan Hansen to famously say about United’s up-and-coming side: “You can’t win anything with kids.”

Those kids have long since grown up, had illustrious careers and retired, underlining just how long the home fans have waited for this.

Sunday’s 3-1 victory has been long overdue for Villa, but Emery has made a big impact in a short space of time.

“Good times could be coming back for Aston Villa,” said former Premier League striker Clinton Morrison, who was watching the game for BBC Radio 5 Live.

“You always get the bounce, but this feels different.”

Emery hails ‘special day’

Erik ten Hag and Unai Emery — Emery was a constant animated presence on the touchline for his first Aston Villa game

There was certainly something different in the air in the build-up to this match.

While the weather was miserable, the mood was buoyant, despite Villa starting the day only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.

The appointment of Emery had clearly been welcomed by most Villa fans, and when he made his way to the dugout before kick off he was greeted by loud applause.

There may have been an element of new manager bounce as Villa raced into an incredible two-goal lead, but after that there were still 80 minutes to navigate and they did so superbly, with Emery adjusting his tactics to prevent the visitors from getting a foothold on the game.

“Huge credit to Emery and the players, they adapted so well,” added Morrison. “Emery tactically got it spot on. Aston Villa’s shape was brilliant.”

Afterwards, the former Arsenal and Villarreal boss said: “I am so happy. We have players with energy, with quick skills, and we wanted to be disciplined, and I think being together with our gameplan the players did it. It was a special day today.”

It is very early into Emery’s reign, but the victory moved Villa three points above the relegation zone and the talk from some of the fans coming out of the ground was not of avoiding the drop.

“We could get into Europe,” said one optimistic supporter, while another added: “Bring on Thursday” – looking ahead to when Villa make the trip north to play Manchester United again, this time in the League Cup.

Emery’s ‘dream’ is to win a trophy with Villa

‘Unacceptable’ Man Utd made ‘stupid’ decisions – Ten Hag

Cristiano Ronaldo’s first game as Manchester United captain under Erik ten Hag was a frustrating one

Thursday’s cup game provides United with a quick opportunity to make amends, with a disappointed Erik ten Hag clearly expecting much more from his side.

There has been enough improvement under Ten Hag to suggest this was probably just an off day, but even having that was not acceptable for the Dutchman.

“They are humans, not robots, and sometimes it is the way it is, but it is not acceptable,” he said. “We have to be ready for every game and not give a game away.”

One of the big talking points before the game was Ten Hag’s decision to give Cristiano Ronaldo the captaincy less than three weeks after the forward walked out of Old Trafford after refusing to go on as a late substitute against Tottenham.

After initially being dropped from the squad, the Portugal international has been gradually reintegrated, culminating in him taking the armband for the first time under Ten Hag on Sunday.

It was hard to judge Ronaldo’s performance given the whole team were off the boil, and Ten Hag would not be drawn into assessing how the 37-year-old superstar did in any significant detail.

Instead, he was critical of continuous attempts to find Ronaldo with crosses, something he said was not part of the gameplan.

“I think it was stupid to do that,” Ten Hag said. “We delivered some crosses in for too far. We have to bring in crosses in the right moment.”

He added: “It was collectively a bad performance.”

Manchester United have been producing some good performances of late, and Ten Hag will be hoping that form returns when they swiftly renew acquaintances with Aston Villa on Thursday.