Manchester United have ended their three-game winless run with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
Portuguese duo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, were on target in the second half as United saw off Graham Potter’s side to go fourth on the league table.
The Red Devils endured a sloppy start to the encounter at Old Trafford in a must-win game to revive their Champions League hope after playing two successive draws from winning positions against Burnley and Southampton in the Premier League.
Ronaldo scored his first goal of the year 2022 (his 804th career goal) to give Ralf Ragnick’s men a 1-0 lead over Brighton in the 51st minute.
Yves Bissouma was caught napping in the Brighton half by Scot McTominay who finds CR7 before the Portuguese blasts the ball past Sanchez into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.
Brighton’s woes were compounded three minutes later when Lewis Dunk was shown a red card for a cynical challenge on Anthony Elanga who was goal bound.
Dunk’s initial yellow card was overturned by the referee and replaced with a red card after a review of the incident by the VAR.
In Five of their last 11 games under Ragnick, United have seen their lead slip while Brighton have recently secured a point about times from a losing position.
United who last won a game in the league on January 22 when they defeated West Ham 1-0 were hoping to avoid a repeat of their last three matches, including the FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough, where they dropped valuable points from a winning position.
As usual, United had David De Gea to thank for a one or two brilliant save to keep them in the game as well as ahead of their Opponent.
On the other end, Ronaldo should have comfortably walked away with the match ball but for a few saves by Brighton’s Sanchez.
Brighton came close to spoiling the party for United through Moder and ex-Red Devil, Welbeck, but the former was denied by the woodwork as De Gea had no chance at saving his attempt.
Fernandes sealed the win with a late goal (90+7′) when he scored the much-needed second goal United have been reeling for in the past three matches to seal the win.
Ragnick’s men have now kept two clean sheets in their last three Premier League home games, as many as they had in their previous 18 at Old Trafford.
