Manchester United further cemented their place in the top four today after they secured a hard-fought 2-0 win over Leeds United at Elland Road.
Just like in Wednesday’s match between these two great rivals Leeds flew out of the blocks and almost took an early lead once again but Dutch attacker Crysencio Summerville fired over from inside the six-yard box.
Manchester United struggled to find any fluency in their play although they were handed a golden chance to open the scoring on the stroke of half-time. Bruno Fernandes pounced on a loose pass from Leeds defender Max Wober, however, after finding himself one-on-one the Portuguese playmaker was denied by a fine save from Illan Meslier.
Just after the hour mark United full-back Diogo Dalot came within a whisker of putting his side ahead when he hammered a shot off the crossbar from the edge of the area.
Summerville went close again on 77 minutes when he forced David de Gea into a decent stop with a low shot from a tight angle.
Just three minutes later Man United finally clicked in the final third and broke the hearts of the raucous Elland Road crowd. January signing Marcel Sabitzer spread the play out left to Luke Shaw and on-fire attacker Marcus Rashford headed home the left-backs tempting cross.
MARCUS RASHFORD DELIVERS AGAIN 👉😤 pic.twitter.com/y7VFfKea1X
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 12, 2023
Substitute Alejandro Garnacho then killed off any hopes Leeds had of staging a comeback when the 18-year-old raced through on goal and fired a clinical finish past Meslier.
United move up to second in the table at least temporarily – with Man City in action against Aston Villa this afternoon – and speaking afterwards manager Erik Ten Hag admitted it was a tough win for his side.
“It was a hectic game, which you expect,” Ten Hag told BBC Sport.
”At the start we were not calm enough, we made bad decisions on the ball and were not calm enough on the ball, too hectic, and after the subs we were a little calmer, we dictated the game a bit more.”
When asked about Rashford, the Dutch coach was understandably full of praise.
“He is a great striker, he scores with left, right and head. It is about keeping focus for the whole game, and it is about the finishing and he has the capabilities to do that.”
