Scott McTominay and Mason Greenwood helped inspire Manchester United to their first routine win of the Ralf Rangnick era.
The former, who looked the kind of all-action central midfielder one might associate with a high-pressing team, opened the scoring with a smart finish from just outside the box within ten minutes before Ben Mee deflected into his own net following a Jadon Sancho shot.
While Greenwood did not get on the scoresheet, the forward looked comfortable playing out wide behind both Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani, dropping deep to evade his markers and causing all manner of problems.
Following another McTominay shot, Ronaldo tapped into an empty net ten minutes before half-time, although Aaron Lennon’s quick reply took the gloss off of what was an otherwise lethal first-half.
From there, while Sean Dyche’s side were competitive, the game largely fizzled out as United contained them with relative ease.
This was far from United at their best – whatever that may be – but is the kind of routine performance many would have expected against both Norwich City and Newcastle.
That, if nothing else, must be some kind of progress.
