Saturday afternoon was one of those incidents where it was a do-or-die situation for the Red Devils. The case for landing Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as the permanent manager of Manchester United is slowly taking into a shape. It was one of those rarest afternoons when Southampton was troubling Manchester United for a point at Old Trafford. But Romelu Lukaku had other ideas as he scored twice in Manchester United’s 3-2 victory.
Red Devils Come Back Twice in Win
Going into the Match
Before the match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men knew if they win here tonight, they can regain their place in the top four. United started the match in a positive note completely dominating the first quarter of an hour. It required some brilliant saves from Saints goalkeeper, Angus Gunn to keep the visitors level. Southampton took the lead against the run of play when right back Yann Valery pumped a stunner from 25 yards! The goal came out of nowhere. A flurry of easy chance misses saw the home team go into the break, a goal down.
Uphill Task for Red Devils
The second half started with United desperate to come back on level terms and they responded brilliantly. Andreas Pereira scored a beautiful curler outside the box at the 53rd minute. It was a sensational goal by the Spanish youngster after having an impressive performance against Liverpool at the weekend.
United started dominating after the first goal and Rashford’s header missed the goal by inches from a Diogo Dalot cross. Romelu Lukaku completed the breakthrough within six minutes of the first goal when The Belgian’s powerful shot from the left rattled the net to make it 2-1.
With still 30 minutes into the clock, both coaches went to finish the game. Hasenhuttl substituted Stuart Armstrong for Charlie Austin for some fresh legs in the play. The substitution proved futile as Armstrong would be a victim of foul from Ashley Young from which James Ward-Prowse levels the score. It was a beautiful free-kick which curled over the bar and into the top corner; miles out of David De Gea’s outstretched hands.
The Elegance of Fergie Time
However, United struck late in regulation time as they came back to winning ways in elegance. The Old Trafford crowd embraced in The beauty of Fergie time once more as Lukaku scored from a clever pass by Fred making it 3-2.
It was a moment of relief for Solksjaer and United fans as The Red Devils comfortably sealed all three points. Paul Pogba missed a penalty late at the added time as Gunn proved invincible once again among the posts. Manchester United climb to the fourth spot with 58 points from 29 matches. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer will be proud of his Premier League record as the Norwegian stretches his impressive league run to ten wins and two draws.
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