Wayne Rooney ended a run of 1,000 minutes without a Premier League goal as Manchester United leapfrogged rivals City to go top with a 3-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford.
Memphis Depay put Louis van Gaal’s men in front on the stroke of half-time, before Rooney finally ended his longest Premier League goal drought, and Juan Mata scored in stoppage-time to seal the points.
Sunderland offered very little as an attacking force, and the victory was comfortable in the end for United, who top the table for the first time since August 2013.
United traded places with City at the summit after they slipped to a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham in Saturday’s early kick-off and, despite a laboured first-half display, fans may start dreaming of title success once more.
The game was slow to get going as neither side created many openings, but United were comfortable in possession.
David de Gea was the first goalkeeper called into action, keeping out a fierce Fabio Borini drive with his legs as the visitors pressed.
However, in first-half stoppage time United found that killer pass, and got themselves in front.
Daley Blind showed great vision to pick out Juan Mata over the top of the Sunderland defence, who then delightfully played the ball across into the path of Memphis, who beat Billy Jones to the ball to tap in his first Premier League goal.
Then, less than a minute into the second-half, Old Trafford breathed a huge sigh of relief as their captain finally found his scoring boots.
This was all about Anthony Martial. The French forward used his pace and power to get to the byline, fired the ball across goal, and Rooney managed to bundle the ball home – albeit scruffily – via his knee.
Sunderland had a great chance to get back in it, but De Gea stood tall and blocked Patrick van Aanholt’s strike to keep United in a comfortable position.
Mata brought the best out of Costel Pantilimon from the edge of the box but he was more clinical in stoppage-time to make sure of the three points for United.
Ashley Young got himself one-on-one with Jones, beat him to the byline and whipped the ball into Mata, who killed the ball brilliantly with one touch, before firing into the roof of the net.
United may not have been overly convincing but this victory was one to remind rivals of their credentials as title contenders.
“It is not the scintillating stuff we’ve seen [United] play down the years; it’s fairly functional but it’s working, so you can’t criticise that.
“They did alright defensively. [Chris] Smalling was outstanding. Everything he did was tidy, even when he got put in positions where he was one-on-one he came out with the ball so I thought he was excellent.
“There wasn’t a great deal to be enthused about [Sunderland], they weren’t really that threatening, didn’t have any long periods of sustained possession, they gave the ball away cheaply at times. There weren’t too many positives for Dick Advocaat to take from that.” – Skysports.
