10-man Manchester United see off tough Burnley in a 2-0 victory at Turf Moor, Burnley.
Just prior to kick off, a banner aimed at Manchester United owner Ed Woodward was flown over the stadium saying “Ed Woodward is a specialist in failure.”
United’s Jesse Lingard impressed in the first 10 minutes taking on quite a few chances, but none that had the telling touch. Burnley’s first chance came from a free kick which was struck into the box, but the Clarets could not take advantage from there as their attempt was blocked.
However, it was United who got the initial breakthrough after Alexis Sanchez crossed the ball into the box and despite keeper Joe Hart rushing off his line, he could not get to the ball before Romelu Lukaku leapt and headed the ball into the back of the net, to give Manchester United the lead.
Sanchez and Lukaku almost teamed up to double United’s lead when Sanchez laid off the ball to Lukaku, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Hart to deny Lukaku’s second.
United doubled their lead just before half-time after a beautiful set up by Luke Shaw saw Lingard’s shot rebound off a defender before being smashed into the goal by Lukaku, giving United and Lukaku their second goal.
Half Time: Burnley 0 – 2 Manchester United
Both teams seemed to be attack minded in the second half, with a number of chances coming at either end, but none that produced a goal. Burnley’s first major chance of the second half came in the 62nd minute when a cross into the box was headed towards the bottom corner of the goal by Chris Wood, but David De Gea managed to get to it in time to make the save.
The 68th minute brought drama when Marcus Rashford went down inside the box following a challenge by Aaron Lennon and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Paul Pogba stepped up to take the spot-kick with his usual slow run up, but another brilliant bit of goalkeeping by Hart saw the effort saved.
Two minutes later more drama followed when Rashford rashly went head to head with Phil Bardsley following a challenge on him, which resulted in Rashford being shown a straight red and sent off.
Lukaku had two more brilliant opportunities, the first which was yet again well saved by Hart and second which came from a brilliant over the top through-ball that saw him round the keeper but Captain Ben Mee recovered brilliantly to slide in and deny his hat-trick.
Burnley got another golden opportunity early into added time through a header inside the box, but a brilliant reflex save by De Gea denied Burnley, and the rebound effort was blasted well over.
ThePapare.com Player of the Match – Romelu Lukaku
Goal Scorers
Manchester United – Romelu Lukaku 27’& 44’
Bookings
Yellow Cards
Burnley – Dwight Mcneil 52’, Phil Bardsley 71’
Manchester United – Alexis Sanchez 18’, Romelu Lukaku 74’, Luke Shaw 74’
Red Cards
Manchester United – Marcus Rashford 71’
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