Benjamin Sesko came to Manchester United’s rescue as Michael Carrick’s side recorded another thrilling 3-2 victory over Fulham on Sunday, while Aston Villa’s Premier League title challenge fell into disarray with defeat to 10-man Brentford.
Since Carrick took charge at Old Trafford, United have won three games in a row, beating Chelsea and Liverpool to return to the top four.
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A week on from their 3-2 win over Arsenal, United returned to the glory days of Michael Carrick’s career, grabbing a dramatic victory after a Fulham counterattack.
Casemiro opened the scoring from Bruno Fernandez’s free kick, giving United a perfect start in the 19th minute.
The Brazilian then became the provider of United’s second goal, but Matheus Cunha had plenty of work to do before he got past Bernd Leno.
A second defeat in nine league games dealt a blow to Fulham’s hopes of European football next season.
The visitors showed plenty of fighting spirit, with Raul Jimenez’s penalty halving the deficit and Kevin’s fine finish five minutes later appearing to save a point.
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But United attacked directly from the other end, with Sesco turning and firing into the top corner after receiving a pass from Fernandez.
– Villa’s dream of winning the championship is shattered –
Villa had hoped to move four points behind Arsenal at the top of the table but were unlikely to be in contention for a first league title since 1981, but they fell into trouble with a second consecutive 1-0 defeat at home.
Brentford dealt a huge blow to Unai Emery’s side despite trailing by a man for more than half the game.
Kevin Shedd was sent off in the 42nd minute for kicking Marty Cash.
But in first-half stoppage time, Dango Ouattara’s shot from a tight angle gave the Bees the lead.
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After the break, Villa laid siege to the Brentford goal but lacked the creativity to break down the visitors.
Tammy Abraham did have the ball in the back of the net, but his first goal since returning to Villa was denied after a VAR review found the ball had gone out of play during the build-up.
Crystal Palace also failed to make full use of its personnel advantage in the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest and was worried about being dragged into a relegation battle.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s early goal gave Forest the lead but Neco Williams’ decision to hit the ball over his own goal line just before half-time was the breakthrough the visitors needed.
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After Williams was shown a red card, Ismaila Sarr converted the penalty kick into the net.
However, Palace failed to end their 12-game wait for victory, sitting just three points above Forest and nine points ahead of the bottom three.
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