Manchester United strengthen their hold on the top four after they secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday.

Bruno Fernandes scored just before halftime at Old Trafford, but fans had a nerve-wracking afternoon because United couldn’t score enough goals to win.

With the win, Ten Hag’s team moved nine points ahead of Tottenham, who were in fifth place and were playing at Liverpool later on Sunday.

United won the League Cup earlier this season, and it looks like they will join Manchester City, Arsenal, and Newcastle in the Champions League next season.

The Dutch manager praised his team, saying that they were “magnificent” with the ball, even though they had trouble scoring again.

The only team in the top nine with fewer Premier League goals than United is Villa, which has 49 goals. United is 35 goals behind the new leaders, City.

“We look from game to game and next we have Brighton so we need to work hard again,” said Ten Hag. “We need to show passion again and not worry about the table.

“We are totally in control (in the race for the top four). It’s all about us and it’s in our hands.”

United had most of the ball in the first half, and just before the half-hour mark, Casemiro hit the crossbar.

In the 39th minute, Fernandes scored for the home team at the far post after Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez had stopped Marcus Rashford’s low shot.

Villa couldn’t respond, and it was the first time under Emery that they didn’t score in a Premier League game. A late shot by Douglas Luiz was stopped by the impressive Victor Lindelof.