Manchester United moved up to fifth place in the Premier League table with a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia secured the victory, with Rudy Gestede netting for the hosts to end a wait of over eight hours for a league goal.
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In an entertaining game, there was a fair share of blunders too with Chris Smalling guilty of one in the build-up to the Boro goal before the best was saved till last as Victor Valdes gifted Valencia the third.
Nevertheless, there were some top performances across the pitch for the visitors, namely Lingard who received the man of the match award from BT Sport as he was a constant threat for United with his clever play on the ball and runs off it.
Jose Mourinho will be pleased with the effort from his players as well as the victory having bemoaned the club’s fixture list earlier this week, but after advancing in the Europa League and winning on Sunday to keep the pressure on their rivals for a top-four finish, he must be content with what he has seen in the last few days.
Whether his mood changes moving forward remains to be seen as he’ll hope to avoid seeing any more players pick up problems with his squad certainly being tested.
Middlesbrough player ratings: Valdes 5; Barragan 6, Bernardo 5, Gibson 6, Fabio 6; De Roon 7, Clayton 6, Leadbitter 6; Downing 6, Negredo 6, Ramirez 6.
Substitutes: Gestede 7, Traore 6.
Manchester United player ratings: De Gea 7; Valencia 7, Jones 7, Smalling 5, Bailly 8, Young 7; Fellaini 7, Carrick 6; Mata 7, Lingard 8, Rashford 7.
Substitutes: Rojo 6, Martial N/A, Darmian N/A.