- Manchester United were made to wait before beating Derby County
- Jesse Lingard scored again and Romelu Lukaku ended his personal drought
- United are through to the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-0 victory
- READ MORE: Man Utd sent CRYPTIC message over sealing stunning £140m transfer
Manchester United are through to the FA Cup fourth round after goals from Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku sealed a 2-0 win over Derby County.
The Red Devils were made to wait in a tight game at Old Trafford, scoring both their goals in the final ten minutes of the game after a resilient showing from the Championship side.
Here’s our round-up of the action…
Man of the match
Paul Pogba gets our vote, running the game from midfield throughout.
Of course, that’s the least you’d expect from such an expensive player in most games, not to mention against lower-league opposition.
Still, Pogba shone in an advanced role and seemed behind most of United’s best moves even during frustrating periods of the game for them.
Flop of the match
Dragged off at half time, it has to be Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The Armenian was handed a rare start at Old Trafford but certainly didn’t make the most of his opportunity, with Jose Mourinho deciding he’d seen enough after just 45 minutes.
With Mkhitaryan unable to influence games even against this level of opposition, it’s hard to imagine him having much of a future at the club.
Stat of the match
Well it would be wrong not to mention Lingard. The in-form United winger did it again tonight with a fine goal, and this stat just sums up his improvement this season:
11 – Jesse Lingard has scored 11 goals in all competitions for Manchester United this season – as many as he scored in 2015/16 and 2016/17 combined. Talent. pic.twitter.com/Ft3R3Ovsuu
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 5, 2018
Player ratings
Manchester United: Romero 7, Smalling 7, Blind 6, Lindelof 6, Shaw 7, Herrera 6, Pogba 8, Mata 6, Mkhitaryan 5, Lingard 8, Rashford 8 / Subs: Lukaku 7, Martial 7, Fellaini 6
Derby: Carson 7, Keogh 6, Pearce 6, Wisdom 6, Olsson 6, Thorne 6, Russell 6, Huddlestone 7, Weimann 6, Lawrence 7, Winnall 6 / Subs: Hanson 6, Vydra 6, Bennett 6
Reaction
There’s a lot of love for Lingard, whose goal lit up an otherwise frustrating night for United fans.
One supporter got a bit carried away, though, tipping the England international to win the 2018 Ballon d’Or if he carries on like this!
Lingard with 11 goals now this season, 9 in last 14 apps. Form of his life. Zidane turns and all – confidence bursting out of him. First name on our team sheet right now. Martial, Lukaku and Rashford front 3 with Lingard just behind? Our best front four right now all day long. pic.twitter.com/hhHrKMvveo
— The Peoples Person (@PeoplesPerson_) January 5, 2018
Jesse Lingard will win Ballon d’Or in 2018
pass it on #JLingz
— Adam Doležálek (@Aidam95) January 5, 2018
Lingard is looking like the new Ronaldo with some of the goals he’s scored lately. Should be a definite starter for club and country now I reckon
— Carl (@wobblethron) January 5, 2018
Lingard scoring screamers for fun #MUFC
— joeY (@jnRjoeY) January 5, 2018
Lingard actually deserves to be one of the first names on the team sheet now. I can’t believe it.
— Chibisuke. (@Ope__) January 5, 2018