Izuchukwu OkosiManchester United recorded an impressive 3-0 victory Tuesday night over Nottingham Forest in their first Premier League game post the Cristiano Ronaldo era thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford, Antony Martial and Fred to close the gap on the top four.
Rashford found the top-left corner of the net in the 19th minute following a clever set-piece routine in which Christian Eriksen delivered a low corner into the penalty area.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelUnited addded a second three minutes later, when Martial’s low effort from the edge of the penalty area was too hot for Wayne Hennessey to handle.
The Nigerian duo of Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis were not able to find the back of the net with the former starting and his compatriot coming off the bench.
Second half substitute Fred added the third on 87 minutes after converting from close range, sliding the ball into the right side of the net after being played in by Casemiro who intercepted the ball just as Forest threatened to counter.
Dennis had lost possession of the ball leading to the goal. The Nigerians played for 60 and 29 minutes respectively on Tuesday.
Man United’s victory means they are now within one point of fourth placed Tottenham Hotspur with a match in hand.
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Forest, meanwhile, drop to 19th in the table just above Southampton.
Speaking post match, Marcus Rashford has revealed that he’s aiming to beat his season-best tally of 22 goals during the 2022/23 campaign.
The Manchester United forward has been in fantastic form in recent months for both club and country, scoring three World Cup goals in Qatar and 10 for his club to boot.
Rashford was once again in the goals Tuesday night in Man Utd’s comfortable 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest – scoring the opener from a training ground routine corner kick.
Speaking about the goal to Amazon Prime, Rashford revealed that Man Utd worked on exploiting a weakness that was spotted while they were analysing footage of Forest playing, stating:
“We didn’t practice it too much but it was definitely one from the training ground. We seen from some of their clips that they’re very man to man so if you can shift them all to the back half of the goal and create an overload we can get a good chance on goal. I’m happy that it came off, it’s something that we did work on.
“I feel comfortable in that position and I want to put myself in those positions and I want to score goals. I’ve spoke to him [Erik ten Hag] about putting me in the box for corners as well because usually I’m on the edge of the box but, you know, I want to be in the box and I want to be where the goals are scored.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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