(Football news) Manchester United closed the gap to two points with fourth placed West Ham after a 3-1 win over Brentford in the Premier League. The result meant that the club won their 300th Premier League away game, becoming the first team to do so with second place Chelsea on 259. Cristiano Ronaldo was reintroduced into the starting XI after recovering from a hip problem while Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were on the bench. For Brentford, Jonas Lossl was handed a debut in goal while Sergi Canos, Mathias Jensen and Mads Sorensen also featured in the starting lineup. Thomas Frank opted to drop Shandon Baptiste, Kristoffer Ajer, Alvaro Fernandez and Rico Henry on the bench for one of the biggest matches the Brentford Community Stadium has seen in a very long time.
It was all about luck and David De Gea for Manchester United in the first half as Brentford completely dominated the proceedings but were very unlucky to not score a goal. The hosts also came close to scoring the opener in the 13th minute when Bryan Mbeumo passed to an unmarked Jensen but De Gea was quick to react and saved the ball with his feet. Victor Lindelof was forced to make two blocks in quick succession, denying Vitaly Janelt while Alex Telles stopped Mads Sorensen's shot from resulting in a corner. Christian Norgaard’s effort from Jensen’s pullback hit the crossbar soon after and the stadium grew louder with every attempt at Manchester United’s goal.
Despite having the majority possession, Ralf Rangnick’s team failed to create opportunities with their first attempt coming from Diogo Dalot whose shot from distance failed to hit the target and test goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. It was evident that while Brentford didn’t have as big names as Manchester United, they worked harder and ran 4.5 kms more than the visitors in the first half. It was evident that Rangnick was unhappy with the first half performance and the players responded appropriately with the second half beginning with Ronaldo’s header from Fernandes’ cross grazed the crossbar. The visitors then broke the deadlock when Fred’s cross found Anthony Elanga who found the back of the net with his second touch.
Manchester United almost scored their second goal when Scott McTominay’s long-range effort was parried unconvincingly by Lossl. However, the Red Devils scored their second of the night when Ronaldo chested the ball into Fernandes’ pass who unselfishly passed to Greenwood in front of goal and the 20 year old tapped the ball into the net. With the game quickly slipping away from Brentford, Thomas Frank made three substitutions but Manchester United’s momentum provided them another goal as Fernandes provided the assist for substitute Rashford who scored the third goal for his side and his first since October.
Brentford did manage to score a consolation goal when Fred failed to clear a long throw by Sorensen and Toney capitalized on the opportunity to score from two yards out. Speaking after the match, Thomas Frank said “"It was one of those nights, fair play to David de Gea. We get those chances again, one will go in the back of the net. Our intensity killed them, we showed that in the first half. We played the Brentford way. It was a miracle they weren't two goals down by half-time. He was by far the best Manchester United player today. Their first goal changed the momentum of the game. Of the three goals, the second is most disappointing and difficult to come back from. The way we smashed them in the first half was fantastic. I'm so proud of my team."
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