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Manchester United

Player Ratings: Burnley 0-1 Man Utd

Manchester United made it four successive wins in all competitions in 2018 with a 1-0 win at Burnley today.

After failing to produce a single shot on target in the first half, Anthony Martial scored what proved to be the winner with a fine finish inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

The result moves us to within nine points of Manchester City before their 17:30 kick off at home to Newcastle United, whilst we kept our league-high 14th clean sheet in the Premier League this season.

Here are how our players fared:

David de Gea 6

A couple of comfortable saves in a quiet afternoon for David de Gea who has now kept five successive clean sheets in all competitions since our 2-2 draw versus Burnley on Boxing Day.

Antonio Valencia 7

Comfortable game up against Scott Arfield defensively today.  Antonio Valencia pushed forward down the right but didn’t put many balls into the box himself.

Phil Jones 8

The two centre-backs were excellent today in intercepting the ball, winning aerial battles and preventing the hosts from causing David de Gea any serious problems.

Chris Smalling 8

A rock at the back in the second half after a couple of nervy moments in the opening 45 minutes, Chris Smalling headed away a number of long balls and crosses up against Ashley Barnes and co.  Also deflected an effort wide for a corner in the second half to prevent an equaliser.

Ashley Young 7

Pushed forward and put in a number of crosses on his return from suspension but Johann Berg Gudmundsson did give Ashley Young a couple of problems defensively.

Paul Pogba 7

Created a couple of half chances in the first half but Paul Pogba wasn’t at his best today coming off the back of a man of the match performance versus Stoke on Monday.  The French star certainly didn’t have his shooting boots on either after flashing a number of efforts off target and didn’t test the Burnley goalkeeper once today.  Conceded a couple of silly free kicks.

Nemanja Matic 8

Solid game in the centre of the park for Nemanja Matic who helped contain Burnley’s midfield three and looked after the ball when in possession.

Juan Mata 5

Quiet game for the Spaniard who did see a lot of the ball but didn’t create anything nor have an effort on goal himself.  Slow on the ball from a player who could lose his place to Alexis Sanchez next weekend.  Juan Mata was replaced by Marouane Fellaini for the final 20 minutes when leading 1-0.

Jesse Lingard 5

The number 10 was sensible with the ball in possession but didn’t create anything despite the position he was playing.

Anthony Martial 7

Scored a fine goal to give us another win.  Anthony Martial didn’t take Phil Bardsley on as much as expected but did create chances from both out on the left and when he cut inside.  Denied a second goal late on by a decent save from Nick Pope at his near post.

Romelu Lukaku 6

Some poor touches up front from Romelu Lukaku today who failed to test Nick Pope at all.  However, the Belgium international did well in assisting the match winner for Martial.

Substitutes

Marouane Fellaini (19 mins) N/A – A late substitute appearance again for Marouane Fellaini to help see out the clean sheet and victory.

Marcus Rashford (11 mins) N/A – Fresh legs in place of Jesse Lingard to give us a bigger threat on the counter attack as Burnley pushed for an equaliser, but Marcus Rashford wasn’t involved in anything significant.

Ander Herrera (0 mins) N/A – Brought on in stoppage time to help run down the final seconds.