Rashford ends his Premier drought
SUNDERL AND . 0 MAN UTD ...... 3
dashes of flair. The visitors didn’t have to go through the gears against a Sunderland side who had accepted their fate a long time ago and are just waiting for a disastrous season to end.
Their stats are horrendous. One win this year, 10 points adrift of safety and their worst drought since 1981... Barnsley, Burton and company will hardly be quaking in their boots at the prospect of trips to Wearside next term.
The first half may have featured a wonderful goal, a stunning save, a penalty that never was and a controversial sending off but, those moments apart, it was a lifeless affair.
Cricket weather and, for the most part, a contest played at cricketing pace.
With a quarter of an hour gone, Sunderland clocked a dubious milestone – 10 hours since their last goal.
That was in their 4-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace two months ago, a result which has looked more and more freakish with each passing week.
Yet, for all United’s early possession, the visitors looked sluggish, almost disinterested, no-one more so than Ibrahimovic.
Great players, however, have that knack of being anonymous one minute and inspirational the next and so it was as the Swede notched up his 28th goal of the campaign.
Space
Jesse Lingard had just brought the very best out of Jordan Pickford after dancing his way through a static Sunderland backline when the 35-year-old pounced.
There looked little on when he received Ander Herrera’s pass with his back to goal on the edge of the area.
But his strength proved too much for Billy Jones and Lamine Kone, creating the space to turn and shoot powerfully across Pickford.
Strength was an asset which did the Black Cats no favours nine minutes later.
Eric Bailly clearly tripped Victor Anichebe as he turned the centre-half following Jones’ inswinging cross but the striker stayed on his feet, forcing Sergio Romero into a fine save at point-blank range.
Had he gone down it was a stonewall penalty and referee Craig Pawson should probably still have given it after playing advantage.
The match official did Sunderland no favours moments later sending off Larsson, the Swede never having been red-carded in 278 Premier League appearances.
It was a harsh decision. Larsson’s challenge on Herrera was not a good one and studs were up but he made contact with the ball first, only catching his opponent with his follow through.
Within a minute of the restart, United were two up without a Sunderland player touching the ball.
Luke Shaw, who will not have annoyed his manager on this afternoon, found Mkhitaryan who easily lost Lee Cattermole before shooting through Kone’s legs and past Pickford.
That was that. The service-starved Jermain Defoe had two efforts on goal but United conserved energy for more arduous challenges ahead.
Rashford did end his drought, though, swapping passes with Ibrahimovic before beating Pickford.