With Chelsea having secured a comfortable 4-0 victory in Saturday’s early kick-off, Manchester United were under pressure to maintain their gap above the Blues with a victory at Burnley and that is exactly what they did with an Anthony Martial inspired 1-0 win.
Much of the pre-match talk was about Alexis Sanchez’s impending arrival however a resilient Burnley defence made things difficult for the visitors with Ben Mee starring.
Possession was controlled by Manchester United, Paul Pogba was given license to roam in midfield and spray passes to either flank, however there wasn’t a chance of note for either team in a dull first half.
It took just eight minutes after the half time interval for United to take a lead, one which hadn’t looked like coming prior to Martial’s strike.
A fantastic piece of hold-up play from Romelu Lukaku created space for the French forward to make a run into the left hand side of the box, Lukaku played a sublime pass despite being off balance with the former Monaco goal-scorer firing a powerful shot in off the crossbar, using the last defender as a perfectly placed aiming aid.
As Jose Mourinho commented to Sky Sports after the full-time whistle, Manchester United weren’t brilliant, yet they spurned three chances to ensure the final moments of the encounter wouldn’t be a slog.
Pogba had two opportunities to play Martial into the penalty area but elected to take a hopeful shot both times, much to the chagrin of the Portuguese coach.
Then it was Marcus Rashford’s turn to do the same with the Reds breaking from defending a Burnley corner, the pass went straight into a defender despite both Martial and Lukaku free on either side.
Sean Dyche’s side put pressure on in the final five minutes, the aerial passes were somewhat negated by Marouane Fellaini’s introduction and the equaliser couldn’t be found.
United will move on with the three points although on the evidence of proceedings at Turf Moor, the arrival of Chilean international Sanchez can’t come soon enough with fixture congestion likely to increase once the FA Cup resumes on Friday evening.
