EPL 2016/17: Sunderland 0-3 Manchester United, 5 talking points
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford scored as Manchester United tamed a sorry Sunderland 3-0 at the Stadium of Light to keep their chances of finishing in the top four alive. Zlatan opened the scoring with a brilliant curled-strike to score his 17th league goal of the season.
Sunderland were effectively dumped out of the contest late in the half when Seb Larsson was given his marching orders for a challenge on Ander Herrera. United doubled their lead seconds into the second half thanks to a low drilled effort by Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Substitute Marcus Rashford finished off a counter-attack late in the game to add further gloss to the scoreline.
Here are the talking points from a one-sided affair at Wearside:-
#1 Manchester United expectedly dominate proceedings
The first half saw Manchester United dominate proceedings against a Sunderland side completely bereft of confidence, 10 points off safety and having failed to find the net for over 10 hours of league football. Though the final pass was missing, it looked inevitable that United were going to attack the Sunderland goal for the best part of the game, with the likes of Lingard from the right wing and the under-fire left-back Luke Shaw adding width.
Apart from a five-minute spell early in the game, Sunderland’s dire form was fairly evident. They were struggling to string a series of passes in midfield and the service to Jermain Defoe was next to zero. In fact, Defoe didn’t get a touch of the ball until 20 minutes into the game. A routine victory for Jose Mourinho’s side was always on the cards.
You may also like