Manchester United 4-1 Chelsea: Four Things We Learned

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Manchester United are back in the Champions League, following their comfortable win against Chelsea. What used to be tough encounters, now looked as one-sided affairs, with United breezing past Frank Lampard’s side. Casemiro opened the scoring early on, while Anthony Martial doubled the lead just before halftime. Midway through the second half, in the span of just five minutes, Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot, while Marcus Rashford added another goal to his tally, before Joao Felix scored late to make it 4-1 for Manchester United.

Sancho Improvements Ahead Of FA Cup Final

In recent weeks, Jadon Sancho’s performances improved. This match was a good opportunity for the young Englishman to show Ten Hag why he should start in the FA Cup final at Wembley. While the injury Antony sustained in this match could be a ‘blessing in disguise’ for Sancho’s hopes of starting against Manchester City, he also deserved to be positive about it with his performance. Sancho was in his groove, setting up one goal and two more big chances for his teammates, creating five oppurtinities in total from the left wing. After the problems he went through earlier this season, hopefully this is a sign that the best from him is yet to come.

Rashford Gets To Goal Number 30

Marcus Rashford stood on 29 goals for a while there, but he ultimately managed to get to the goal number 30. His best season goal tally prior this one was 22, so we knew for months this was his best ever season. Now against Chelsea he capped it off with a late goal, but another stat shows just how much United missed having such a player. Rashford became the first Man United player to hit 30 goals in all competitions in a single season since Robin van Persie, which could be a nice way of realising this team could be onto something if they strengthen properly during the upcoming transfer window.

No Midweek Action Makes A Difference

This was Manchester United’s 60th match of the season in all competitions. They won one cup competition, reached the final in the other and played in three knockout double-headers in the Europa League. They still have two more games to go before the campaign ends. But it is in these late weeks when Ten Hag’s team did not have any midweek matches that the team has done really well to win three consecutive matches. That is not a coincidence. United looked fresh here again, there was no need for Ten Hag to tinker with his starting eleven either and now another goal has been achieved. This season showed United why they need more depth in their squad, since they were the hostages of their good cup runs. But it also highlights just how the FIFA and UEFA are failing to address the problem of playing too many games every single season.

Man United Qualify For Champions League

At last, Manchester United have qualified for the Champions League, mathematically booking their place in the next season’s elite competition. This means big rivals Liverpool will have to satisfy themselves with Europa League football on Thursday nights. A big impact from Ten Hag in his first season has been officially achieved and now this team should look to go after bigger things.

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