Scott McTominay praises two 'immense' Man Utd teammates after late win vs Aston Villa

Scott McTominay heaped praise on Manchester United's centre-back pairing of Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane for their 'immense' performances against Aston Villa on Sunday.

McTominay was the match-winner once again as United beat Villa 2-1 to close the gap on their top-four rivals. Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring for the Reds at Villa Park before Douglas Luiz equalised with a little over 20 minutes to go.

The game looked to have petered out until the 86th-minute, when Diogo Dalot's excellent cross was met by McTominay to head home. United held strong to keep Villa at bay for large portions of the game and McTominay singled out the two central defenders after full-time.

"We started really well, but they are a really good team and came back into it and caused us problems," he told Sky Sports. "The guys at the back were immense, particularly Harry [Maguire] and Raphael [Varane]. It was a top-level performance and a deserved win in the end."

McTominay has been pushed onto the substitutes bench in recent weeks, having last started a Premier League match at West Ham on December 23. But the midfielder continues to make an impact, netting in the 4-3 win over Wolves and again at Villa on Sunday.

"I feel like as long as I'm fit and healthy I can come onto the pitch and perform," McTominay added. "I don't take [being benched] personally, I just want to come in and try and do the best I can for this team. Long may it continue."

And on his winning goal, the United midfielder added: "It was an unbelievable cross to be fair, whipped with a lot of pace. I just needed it to hit my head and get it on target. Full credit to the boys, we created a lot of good chances which may go unnoticed.

"Every game you win is massive for taking a step forward and confidence for the boys. It is all positive but it is about repeating it and not getting too far ahead of ourselves when we win a few. We've got to repeat it now."