Mason Greenwood capped another impressive performance with two superb goals to help Manchester United crush Bournemouth 5-2 in the Premier League on Saturday and stretch their unbeaten run to 16 games in all competitions.
Anthony Martial also netted a cracker while Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes added one each for United, who climbed into fourth place on 55 points from 33 games, one more than Chelsea who were at home to Watford in the 10pm kick-off.
Bournemouth, who have now lost 17 of their last 22 league games, stayed 19th on 27 points and face a mountain to climb if they are to avoid relegation from the top flight.
Junior Stanislas fired the visitors into a 16th-minute lead but United hit back through Greenwood before Rashford converted a penalty and Martial rifled a screamer into the top corner to give the home side a 3-1 half-time lead.
Josh King pulled one back for the visitors with a penalty shortly after the break but United came storming back again as 18-year-old Greenwood made it 4-2 with another clinical finish and Fernandes curled in a free-kick on the hour.
Rashford and Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke had efforts disallowed for marginal offside and visiting goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale made several fine saves in a rip-roaring clash at Old Trafford.
Elsewhere, Jamie Vardy netted his 100th Premier League goal as Leicester notched their first victory since the league resumed, beating Crystal Palace 3-0 to keep up their drive for Champions League football next season.
Leicester swarmed all over Palace from the first whistle, but it took until the fourth minute of the second half for Kelechi Iheanacho to finally put his side ahead with a close-range effort.
Having missed some earlier chances, Vardy made no mistake when Harvey Barnes set him up for a tap-in in the 77th minute to notch a century of goals in the Premier League, and he added a superb solo second in stoppage time to make it 3-0.
In Saturday’s early kick-off, Brighton beat rock-bottom Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road thanks to Leandro Trossard’s first-half strike.
REUTERS