Manchester United overcame a dreadful pitch and a potential FA Cup banana skin as they cruised into the fifth round with a 6-0 demolition of Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park.
Six different players were on the scoresheet as United made light work of overcoming the League One side to record their first away win of 2020 and seal their place in Monday night’s draw.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named a strong side in a 3-5-2 formation that partnered Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood in attack, while the likes of Diogo Dalot and Phil Jones were handed chances to impress.
The tie had all the makings of an upset, with United arriving out-of-form and the playing surface belonging to a different era, but the nerves were settled by a burst of three goals inside the opening 16 minutes to all-but end the game as a contest before it had begun.
First, Harry Maguire scored his first goal for the club, sending a rocket dipping over the dive of Scott Davies with the help of a slight deflection, before Dalot doubled the advantage with another peach of a strike, drilled low into the far corner after a smart turn.
Jesse Lingard made it three, easily picking his spot in the right-hand corner from just inside the box.
A relatively fallow period ensued, but on 41 minutes Phil Jones added his name to an unlikely list of goalscorers, sending a looping header into the back of the net, and Martial added a fifth on the stroke of half-time, seeing a cracking effort helped on its way into the top corner by a touch off a Tranmere defender.
Solskjaer took the chance to rest Nemanja Matic and Martial, sending on Fred and Tahith Chong at the break, and when the latter was cleaned out by Davies, Greenwood slotted home with his supposedly weaker right foot from the spot to make it six.
