Anthony Martial proved to be the match-winner for Manchester United as they beat Burnley 1-0 on Saturday.
A fine finish in the 54th minute from Martial saw the visitors cut Manchester City‘s lead at the top of the Premier League table to nine points ahead of their clash against Newcastle at the Etihad stadium later in the day.
Here’s what we learned from United’s narrow win against Burnley.
MARTIAL FORM DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR RASHFORD
Anthony Martial is in scintillating form at the moment, scoring in three consecutive league games now and providing an assist over that time as well. However, it’s not just about the stats, the Frenchman has turned a corner of late and shown real maturity, becoming United’s chief threat in attack.
His goal on the day was well taken as well but he could’ve had more. While he was rotated with Marcus Rashford for much of the season, he appears to have now overtaken the Englishman in Jose Mourinho’s eyes.
It’s going to be a daunting task for Rashford to earn his place in the first eleven now given the impending arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.
Jesse Lingard’s position could also be under threat with Sanchez capable of playing in behind the striker. Either way, Martial has done well to establish himself in the first team and perhaps even be rendered indispensable.
Marcus Rashford
SERIOUS COMPETITION AT LEFT-BACK
After been left out in the cold for the first half of the season, Luke Shaw has been a regular for United over the last month with Ashley Young out injured. Mourinho even went as far as to claim that there aren’t many better left-back’s around than the young Englishman.
Despite that proclamation, Shaw was dropped to the bench for the Burnley game as soon as Young returned to fold with the Portuguese explaining his preference for ‘experience’ in such a fixture.
He wasn’t wrong. Young came in and did an exceptional job, hardly putting a foot wrong, especially towards the end when the visitors were under the cosh.
The 32-year-old hasn’t lost his effectiveness in attack either, going closest to scoring for United in the first half with a fine effort that went agonisingly wide.
Having said that, Shaw’s recent performances won’t be forgotten in a hurry and we can expect a real battle for that full-back spot, especially with the youngster gunning for a place in England’s World Cup squad this summer.
Mourinho: “I’m really happy with Luke. As I said yesterday I don’t need to go to the transfer market to get a left-back because I’m really happy with Luke and the adaptation of Ashley Young.” #MUFC
— Manchester United (@MUFCScoop) January 20, 2018
UNITED STILL LACKING KILLER INSTINCT
Mourinho has moaned about United lacking the ability to kill off games for 18 months now and it’s something they continue to struggle with.
They had numerous opportunities to wrap up the three points in the final 15 minutes but were sloppy with the final ball and made poor decisions.
On one occasion, Paul Pogba did ever so well to stride forward with the ball, beat a defender on the edge of the box but then with Martial on his own to his left, he chose to shoot and saw his effort blocked by the Burnley defender closing him down.
United were left clinging on to their slender one-goal advantage in the closing stages and had to endure some nervy moments. Perhaps the arrival of Sanchez will help in terms of them being more ruthless in front of goal?
Paul Pogba
