Swedish star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores his 28th goal of the season as Manchester United beat Sunderland 3-0 to close in on Top Four berth
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Manchester United forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates his goal against Sunderland during an English Premier League tie at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland yesterday. Man Utd won 3-0. Pic/Getty Images
London: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 28th goal of the season as Manchester United closed on the Premier League Top 4 with a routine 3-0 win at relegation-threatened Sunderland yesterday.
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Jose Mourinho's side extended their unbeaten run to 21 league games at a sun-drenched Stadium of Light, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and substitute Marcus Rashford also on target. United closed to within four points of fourth-place Manchester City, on whom they retain a game in hand, but will drop back to sixth if Arsenal win at Crystal Palace today.
Contentious send-off
Sunderland, who had Seb 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 quarter-finals of the Europa League, a competition which guarantees a Champions League place to the eventual winners.
Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock with a bolt from the blue. The 35-year-old took a pass from Herrera on the edge of the Sunderland area, easily held off Billy Jones and fired a low shot into Jordan Pickford's bottom-left corner.
Mkhitaryan scores again
Mkhitaryan had scored with a scorpion kick in the victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford. He got his name on the scoresheet again in just 46 seconds after the restart. From the kick-off, Sunderland failed to touch the ball as the Armenian was afforded space to send a low angled drive past Pickford from 15 yards to notch his ninth goal of the season. Paul Pogba should have made it three, but produced a wayward volley from an Ibrahimovic flick, before the France midfielder aimed a long-range free-kick narrowly wide.
Rashford put a more realistic slant on the final score a minute from the end as Sunderland were stretched to breaking point by a swift counter-attack. It ended with Rashford swapping passes with Ibrahimovic before finding the bottom-left corner with a confident finish.
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