Man United beat Bournemouth 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium this evening thanks to goals from Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku, a result that saw the Red Devils stretch their lead over rivals Liverpool to four points in the race for second place.
The away side opened the scoring through England international Smalling, after some fine work from Jesse Lingard and Ander Herrera allowed the former Fulham man to tap home midway through the first half.
Jose Mourinho’s side then doubled their lead midway through the second half, as Paul Pogba put through Romelu Lukaku, with the Belgian finishing emphatically to effectively wrap up the win for the away side.
The win now means that United are four points ahead of Liverpool, a lead that may be too much for the Reds to turn over given that there’s only four games left this campaign.
We’ve picked out the Good, the Bad and the Unusual from United comfortable win over the Cherries on the south coast today.
The Good
Ander Herrera was an absolute joy to watch for Man United this evening, with the Spanish international controlling the game from start to finish to help Jose Mourinho’s men come away with all three points.
The former Athletic Bilbao star was always calm and composed in possession, with his passing range allowing United’s forwards to get in behind constantly against the Cherries defence.
Herrera has proven to be a worthwhile signing since joining United, with this performance today showing exactly why he’s regarded by some as one of the club’s best players.
This fan certainly seems to agree with our thoughts on Herrera’s display today
Herrera was class today, just proves that the Carrick replacement shouldn’t be top priority this summer. Him and Mctominay can easily play that role if needed
— Mourinho in (@skksdjdbdbbd) April 18, 2018
The Bad
Let’s talk about Anthony Martial for a minute. A lot of big things were expected of the Frenchman when he completed his big money move to Man United in 2015, however since then, the youngster has generally failed to deliver.
There have been recent rumours that the French international is the happiest of Red Devils players at the moment, something that may very well cast his future with the club into doubt.
Despite impressing fans during his brief cameo appearance today, the former Monaco man had to settle for a place on the subs bench in a match he should really be starting giving his ability.
This fan certainly seems to be on the same wavelength!
Martial won't start Saturday. He wasted his opportunity. Was poor on the ball a lot. Had some good moments but didn't impress enough to start over Sanchez
— Mark (@RuthlessLukaku) April 18, 2018
The Unusual
Having scored today, Chris Smalling now takes his away goal tally to three in three away games, an unusual occurrence given that the England star had only scored once in his last 101 games away from Old Trafford before this run.
Now it seems like the former Fulham defender is adding goals to his game, it may only be a matter of time since we see the centre-back holding down a permanent place in the England team.
This fans definitely made his views on Smalling’s performance known
There seems to be a popular agenda for Smalling to be binned in the summer. He may be dodgy, but he's put in some brilliant performances this season. Maybe we should keep him just as a squad player? #mufc
— Joe (@JoeLyons__) April 18, 2018