Manchester United may yet avoid their lowest ever Premier League finish after securing a 3-2 win over Newcastle United in their final home game of the season at Old Trafford.
An entertaining match full of high quality goals was a great advert for the competition, as Kobbie Mainoo drew first blood for those in red and Anthony Gordon cancelled it out to leave things finely balanced by the early stages of the second half.
But the home United eventually pulled ahead through Amad Diallo, for whom it was a maiden Premier League goal, and Rasmus Hojlund, who actually began the game on the bench in order to preserve his fitness ahead of the FA Cup final later this month.
Lewis Hall gave Newcastle late hope of mounting a stoppage time comeback, but his great strike proved to be a consolation and no more in the end.
How the game unfolded
Newcastle began the stronger of the two sides, pushing early on. Within the first few minutes, only a last-ditch sliding tackle from Sofyan Amrabat and then a brave block from Jonny Evans prevented the visitors from testing Andre Onana inside the penalty area.
It took around ten minutes for the hosts to stir, first as Casemiro sent an ambitious overhead kick clear of the crossbar, followed by a precise but tame Scott McTominay header and then a powerful effort from Amad Diallo that was poorly parried by Magpies stopper Martin Dubravka.
Erik ten Hag had changed up his system, initially resting Hojlund and playing Bruno Fernandes up top. But the skipper didn’t operate like a ‘number nine’, instead moving all over to make it difficult for Newcastle to pin him down. That movement and his vision served to play Alejandro Garnacho through in the left channel, with Dubravka quickly out to spread himself and block.
The visitors were fully in the game, but there was a sense that the opener from Mainoo had been coming. The teenager drifted too easily through the middle unmarked and, played onside by the slow to react Kieran Trippier, kept his cool to literally to pass into the bottom corner.
Casemiro, widely slaughtered for his culpability in the Crystal Palace defeat earlier this month, came up big twice in the closing stages of the first half. The Brazilian hooked the ball away from Anthony Gordon on the slide, although the Magpies wanted a penalty for Amrabat’s involvement from behind, and moments later cleared off the line with his head to keep his team in front.
There was a warning sign from Newcastle just minutes into the second half…
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