Villa were facing a long and arduous 90 minutes, and their situation was not helped when striker John Carew limped off with a groin injury before half-time, to be replaced by Maloney.

BBC: Man Utd 4-0 Aston Villa

His list of injured defenders includes England internationals Gary Neville and Wes Brown, who both limped out of Saturday's game, plus longer-term defensive casualties Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea and Jonny Evans.

CNN: Vidic setback adds to Man United worries