Paez rescues
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 28th goal of the season as Manchester United closed on the Premier League top four with a routine 3-0 win at relegation-threatened Sunderland yesterday.
José Mourinho’s side extended their unbeaten run to 21 league games at a sundrenched Stadium of Light, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and substitute Marcus Rashford also on target.
United closed to within four points of fourth-place Manchester City, but will drop back to sixth if Arsenal win at Crystal Palace tonight.
Sunderland, who had Sebastian Larsson contentiously sent off in the first half, now lie 10 points from safety at the foot of the table and look destined for the Championship.
Victory set United up nicely for Thursday’s trip to Anderlecht in the quarterfinals of the Europa League, a competition which guarantees a Champions League place to the eventual winners.
Any hope Sunderland had of replying to Ibrahimovic’s 18th league goal of the season on the half hour were all but ended when his former Sweden teammate Larsson was sent off as the interval approached.
In the day’s other game, league top scorer Romelu Lukaku took his tally to 23 goals with a brace as Everton ended Leicester City’s six-game winning run with an entertaining 4-2 victory. - There was a bit of a scuffle after the game, but it was resolved before it got out of hand. Recently Mosimane almost had an incident with the Kaizer Chiefs security personnel at FNB Stadium, which prompted Amakhosi coach Steve Komphela to apologise.
“You saw what happened against Chiefs and you saw Masondo came to my technical area to cause a problem. Maybe there’s a plot against me. People putting their people to come at me. I feel unprotected and when I react, I’m a loose canon or I’m not thinking,” he said.