What a turnaround! Villa led twice at Old Trafford, but Emery tasted his first defeat upon returning to England

Manchester United twice came from behind to claim a 4-2 win in an eventful EFL Cup third round tie against Aston Villa on Thursday night. Unai Emery's new team thrashed United just five days earlier in the Premier League and looked good value for repeating the feat, but inspired Red Devils found a way to exploit Villa's defensive flaws and turn the match around.

Falling over, elbowing your fellow man, diving into tackles, foul here, foul there... That's what the EFL Cup match between Manchester United and Aston Villa looked like for most of the first half.

But thankfully - the match had two halves.

The match sprung into life after the break. Barely two minutes after the restart, Ollie Watkins raced onto a forward pass and lifted the ball over Martin Dubravka, Newcastle United's on-loan goalkeeper, who was making his first appearance for Erik Ten Hag's team.

The visiting fans were still celebrating the opening goal when Anthony Martial swept home Bruno Fernandes' low cross into the net to level. We were right back where we started in terms of result, but the energy level and the enthusiasm around Old Trafford were suddenly soaring.

Leon Baily restored the Villans' lead just after the hour mark. Fresh from coming off the bench, Baily headed towards the goalmouth, only to see Diogo Dalot divert it into his net. Emery punched the air on the touchline, but it was too soon to celebrate.

Marcus Rashford made the most out of a Tyrone Mings slip and hammered it beyond Robin Olsen to level yet again with around 25 minutes to go.

Fernandes had a good turn and shot from the centre of the box minutes before he finally got his goal. Olsen was previously unpunished for his wayward passing, but the punishment was brutal when he inexplicably passed the ball into the feet of Alejandro Garnacho. The youngster played it straight to Bruno, who fired into the net via a heavy deflection off Mings. For the first time, United were ahead and never looked back.

Scott McTominay sealed the win deep in added time, poking in a lovely inviting left-wing cross from the inspired Garnacho.

This time, it was United who celebrated after a proverbial game of two halves. Hopefully, both teams deliver performances resembling their second-half efforts from tonight.