Manchester United Continue Their Winning Ways With a 2-0 Victory Over Burnley

Manchester United visited the Turf Moor looking to close the gap to top 4 with a win in their final game of 2019. The come back from Old Trafford where they defeated Newcastle United 4-1. Burnley, on the other hand, is safe above the relegation zone but they lost their last outing to Everton 1-0.

No side has kept fewer clean sheets in the Premier League than David De Gea (2). Burnley has just one shot on target in their last 2 Premier League games. Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes have both scored 7 and 6 goals respectively. Marcus Rashford has scored 12 goals in the Premier League this season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named a new squad with 4 changes in their lineup as Nemanja Matic, Ashley Young, Brandon Williams, and Daniel James were included in the playing 11 again. The absence of Pogba did raise some questions from the fans. Sean Dyce made just 2 changes as he brought Jeffrey Hendrick and Ashley Barnes in the squad.

The first half was a slightly one-sided affair as Manchester United kept the possession and kept looking to threaten the Burnley defenders. Burnley kept playing balls throughout the game but due to the lack of better service, they were not able to look as aggressive as they wanted.

Rashford tried a freekick on the 13th minute of the match which was swerving towards the bottom right corner but Nick Pope made a decent save. Harry Maguire kept manhandling the defenders as he pressed his body against the attackers to stop the counter-attack from being built.

Brandon Williams whipped in a wonderful cross that landed at Dan James’ feet but was blocked by Taylor which then lands at Martial. He takes a shot at the open goal but is denied by Bardsley with a well strongly stood block. Later in the half, Taylor is caught in possession by Andreas Pereira who slides in a low cross to Anthony Martial. The Frenchmen doesn’t miss this time as he calmly finished a one on one with Nick Pope with a low shot in the bottom right.

This ends the first half with United leading with 1 – 0 at Turf Moor.

The second half showed a more confident Burnley as they kept more possession and built their attack steadily. Bardsley registered their first shot on target when he met a volley just outside the penalty box area. De Gea got down quickly to make that save.

Burnley started to turn on the heat as their constant attacks kept on coming. In the final few minutes, Burnley kept those crosses in and the ball in the opposition half as United held on to their 1 goal lead.

At the very last minute of the match, Daniel James took a sprint on the counter as he put in a superb weighted pass to Marcus Rashford. Getting one on one with the goalkeeper, Rashford dribbled the ball away from him and he stumbled home the 2nd goal for the visitors. It was the last kick of the match as he scored his 12th of the season

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Manchester United won 2-0 against Burnley at their home turf. The win placed them 5th on the table, just a point below Chelsea who face Arsenal in their next match. Burnley went down to 13th with 6 points above the relegation zone. This was the first clean sheet for United since Mid-September which they secured against Leicester City.

All in all, United gets close to playing the Champions League as they visit Arsenal in their next match. Burnley will hope to finish in the middle of the table as they go up against Aston Villa at Turf Moor.