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An injury-ravaged Manchester United had to dig deep to secure a 0-2 victory against Nottingham Forest at the City ground on Sunday.
The Red Devils took advantage of their top-four rivals — Newcastle and Tottenham dropping points, thus climbing up to third in the Premier League table.
United scored through Antony in the first-half but the visitors should have grabbed a lot more if not for some wasteful finishing from the attacking players and some superb goalkeeping from Keylor Navas.
Antony & Bruno were excellent
The insurance goal finally came from Diogo Dalot, who had to play as the left-back due to the absence of both Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia.
Injuries could play spoilsport for United in their season finale with Marcel Sabitzer joining the list on Sunday.
With top-scorer Marcus Rashford and electric winger Alejandro Garnacho out, it is imperative that the forward players share the burden of goals.
Anthony Martial tried his best but him remaining injury-free remains more important than him scoring, such is United’s injury situation.
The Brazilian winger grabbed his first assist along with a goal while Bruno Fernandes was excellent the entire game, with the Portuguese having a shoot-off with Navas at times.
Sancho needs to step up
But once again Jadon Sancho was a disappointment. He looked timid going forward and hardly took risks. What was even more concerning was his averseness to shooting when put through on goal.
The England international had two chances to have a shot but instead tried to find a teammate, which drew groans from the away supporters.
With the Austrian loanee’s injury along with Fernandes’ suspension means the Dutch boss will need someone to step up ahead of the Europa League return leg against Sevilla and that could well be Sancho.
Manager Erik ten Hag will be happy with the resilience shown despite the injury crisis at the club. He will be hoping for plenty more of the same on Thursday.
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