Manchester United recover from back-to-back defeats

Manchester United recovered from back-to-back defeats to beat Burnley despite Paul Pogba missing a penalty and Marcus Rashford being sent off.

Manchester United returned to winning ways in the Premier League following a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.

Jesse Lingard missed a succession of chances to give United a comfortable lead towards the halfway point, but he failed to make any of them count. United got off the mark after Romelu Lukaku leaped highest to head home a cross from Alexis Sanchez on 26 minutes.

The Belgian closed in on a second but the quick reflexes of an on-rushing Joe Hart stopped the effort from taking flight on the half and hour mark.

Burnley showed a bit of promise to get on the score-sheet, however low-cut shots was easily picked out by David De Gea. United grabbed a second a minute to halftime, with Lukaku completing his brace after a ricochet off a defender allowed him to volley home.

For the second half, both sides came out of the tunnel unchanged, with Burnley having to do the chasing to salvage something from the encounter. The offensive approach the Red Devils started with in the first half took a slide early on in the second period due to a heavy Burnley defence.

The Red Devils had a chance to seal the win midway through the second half after being awarded a penalty. Paul Pogba took responsibility but his spot-kick was saved by Joe Hart.

The Englishman’s evening would end short after 71 minutes when he head-butted an Phil Bardsley following an off-the-ball incident. David de Gea made his first save of the second half, collecting a header straightly directed at him by Sam Vokes.

In the last 10 minutes, Pogba managed to get on the right shoulder of the defenders and found space to score from acute angle but fired across the face of goal instead.

In the last minute of regulation time, Vokes again tested the resolve of De Gea with a looping header but the Spaniard showed off his renowned reflexes to keep him out.

The win eased the pressure on Mourinho after Monday’s horror show at home to Tottenham, whilst elevating them off the bottom standing. – bbc.com