Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was delighted by Manchester United’s winning start to 2021 but knows there is plenty of work to do after edging past Aston Villa to go level on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool.

The second-placed Red Devils made it eight wins in 10 unbeaten top-flight matches on New Year’s Day.

Anthony Martial’s opener was cancelled out by a second-half Bertrand Traore effort at an empty Old Trafford, where Bruno Fernandes’ penalty sealed a hard-fought 2-1 win against Dean Smith’s impressive Villa side.

Douglas Luiz’s challenge on Paul Pogba led to Fernandes’ match-winning penalty and Smith could not understand why the video assistant referee did not send referee Michael Oliver to watch a replay.

“I have sympathy with Michael,” the Villa boss said. “From where I was standing, it looked a penalty.

“I thought Douglas Luiz got too tight to Paul Pogba and it looked like as he turned he pulls him down.

“I felt it was a penalty at the time and I could see why the referee certainly did as well. But then going into the dressing room and seeing it again, very, very dubious. It appears to me that he trips himself over. There’s very, very minimal contact.

“If that’s the case, if there’s that much doubt, then the idea of VAR is to send the referee over there to have a look for himself, so a little bit dumbfounded to why he wasn’t sent over to have a look at it.”