LONDON: Manchester United moved within eight points of Premier League leaders Manchester City as Mason Greenwood’s double inspired a 3-1 win over Burnley, while Eddie Nketiah’s last-gasp goal gave Arsenal a 1-1 draw against struggling Fulham on Sunday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are unlikely to catch City, but Greenwood’s late winner puts a little pressure on their bitter rivals with six games left.
Greenwood had opened the scoring early in the second half at Old Trafford before James Tarkowski equalised moments later.
Greenwood’s second made him the joint-top scoring teenager in Premier League history for United, level with Wayne Rooney on 15 goals.
Edinson Cavani grabbed the third goal in stoppage-time as second placed United won six consecutive Premier League games for the first time since January 2019. Although they have probably left it too late to overhaul City, United are on course for a second place finish and could still win the first silverware of Solskjaer’s reign. They face Roma in the Europa League semi-finals after easing past Granada in the quarter-final second leg on Thursday.
United were beaten in three of their opening six league matches this season but have lost only one of their subsequent 26.
Amid talk of United being one of six Premier League teams who have agreed to join a proposed European Super League that would replace the Premier League, Solskjaer’s team looked far from elite in a scrappy first half.
They were fortunate not to fall behind in the opening minute when Chris Wood’s header was disallowed for offside after keeper Dean Henderson failed to reach Matt Lowton’s cross.
Greenwood opened the scoring in the 48th minute with a clinical close-range finish after Bruno Fernandes cleverly dummied Marcus Rashford’s pass.
Arsenal were seconds away from a first ever home defeat against Fulham as they laboured to find a response to Josh Maja’s second half penalty.
But Nketiah’s leveller pushed Fulham closer to relegation deep into stoppage-time.
It was a major setback for third bottom Fulham, who are six points from safety and have just five games left to beat the drop.
Fifth bottom Brighton travel to Chelsea on Tuesday and, like fourth bottom Burnley, will still have a game in hand on Fulham after that match.
Ninth placed Arsenal are nine points adrift of the top four and their best hope of reaching next season’s Champions League is winning the Europa League.
Mikel Arteta’s men face Villarreal in the semi-finals after cruising to a 4-0 victory at Slavia Prague in the quarter-final second leg on Thursday.
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