ERIK TEN HAG was left thanking the unlikeliest hot shot in town as United took another stride towards nailing down a top four finish.
Scott McTominay would never be anyone’s idea of a prolific midfielder, yet his killer first against Everton took his tally to FIVE in the past fortnight.
McTominay spun and drilled in the 36th-minute strike which finally broke the Toffees’ resistance and kept United in the box seat for the Champions League.
That followed four in two games for Scotland over the international break and matched his tally over the previous 18 months for club and country.
It was no more than United deserved, after battering the Blues from the off, with Anthony Martial’s point blank second rubber stamping a win that never looked in doubt.
Yet it wasn’t all roses for manager Ten Hag, as Marcus Rashford limped off with ten minutes to go, casting doubts on him making Thursday’s Europa League clash with Sevilla.
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At least Martial has finally swapped the treatment table for the pitch again, if Rashford isn’t fit for the first leg of the quarter-final.
United will certainly need the Frenchman’s eye for a goal, because it took them an age to kill off a game they should have wrapped up long before the break.
They probably would have done had it not been for Jordan Pickford as well, as time and again the Everton keeper kept them out.
He scooped away one Rashford drive, got down smartly to deny the same man, and made it a treble by blocking his half-hit effort after initially dithering.
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A strong right arm pushed a fierce Antony strike behind and then Ben Godfrey got back to nick it off the Brazilian’s toe just as he was about to pull the trigger.
It was just about the only time the Everton left-back won his own personal battle on a nightmare afternoon which eventually saw him hooked at half-time.
Godfrey seemed to spend the entire 45 minutes he was on the pitch turning and chasing back after being caught out by yet another 50-yard ball.
Safe to say he didn’t learn his lesson, and Sean Dyche’s decision to replace him with the more mobile Vitalii Mykolenko at least saved him further punishment.
By then United were a goal to the good, and Everton were merely fortunate that it wasn’t a whole lot more.
As it is, McTominay’s strike was all they had to show for it – and they had to wait until the 36th minute for that.
Rashford laid the foundations, by dancing and darting his way across the box looking for an opening.
When none came, the ball broke to Jadon Sancho on the right, who took a couple of touches and slid a precision pass through a packed area for McTominay.
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And the Scottish midfielder raced behind the backline before spinning and letting fly with a shot that finally left Pickford standing.
With Everton lacking any threat up top, that was always going to be enough – and when Seamus Coleman slipped, and Rashford slid it right, sub Martial was on hand just to make sure.
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