Greenwood burns bright as United keep City in sight
MASON Greenwood continued his fine run of form with a second-half brace which helped Manchester United to a 3-1 home win over Burnley in the Premier League yesterday and kept them on course for a top-four finish.
The result left United second in the standings on 66 points from 32 games, eight behind leaders Manchester City and 10 ahead of third-placed Leicester City, who have a game in hand.
Greenwood fired United ahead in the 48th minute and after James Tarkowski headed Burnley's equaliser two minutes later, he restored the home side's lead with a heavily deflected shot before Edinson Cavani sealed the win.
United enjoyed a huge let-off in the first minute as Burnley striker Chris Wood headed the ball into the back of the net after only 13 seconds, but his effort was ruled out for a marginal offside.
Visiting goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell did well to deny Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford in the first half before Greenwood fired the home side ahead when he capped a slick move with a clinical finish.
Tarkowski rose above Harry Maguire to head home an Ashley Westwood corner, but Greenwood struck again in the 84th minute and halftime substitute Cavani put the icing on the cake for United in stoppage time after another flowing move.
Meanwhile, Fulham manager Scott Parker said Arsenal's late equaliser should not have been allowed as Rob Holding was offside and interfering with play when
Eddie Nketiah's goal in second-half stoppage time earned his side a 1-1 draw.
Fulham lost to a late goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers nine days ago and they were denied again as Nketiah struck in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
"I've just seen it back. He (Holding) looks offside to me, he's standing in an offside position. As a consequence of where my keeper is, he's two yards away from the goal line and he's in an offside position that's what's disappointing," Parker, whose side are 18th in the table, told Sky Sports.
“We defended superbly, we limited them to few chances. The longer the game was going on I felt we had done well but the residing factor is that late decision and the rules on it.”
The result left Fulham six points adrift of safety with five games left.
"We wanted to win the game, we needed to win today, we need to win next week and the remaining games. We were so close today so it's been painful," Parker said.
"As disappointed as I am now and the team are we'll wake up tomorrow and we will fight again and keep going."
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side deserved more after having two first-half goals ruled out for offside.
"We took risks in the right way, we could have scored three or four, we totally deserved to win the match, but put ourselves in a difficult position," he said.