Norwich City 1-3 Manchester United: Red Devils miss two penalties in comfortable win

Manchester United missed two penalties but still eased to a 3-1 win at Norwich City to end its miserable away run in the Premier League and move up to seventh.

Published : Oct 28, 2019 00:08 IST

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had not won any of their eight away league outings since February but were comfortable winners at Carrow Road on Sunday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had not won any of their eight away league outings since February but were comfortable winners at Carrow Road on Sunday.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had not won any of their eight away league outings since February but were comfortable winners at Carrow Road on Sunday.

Manchester United missed two penalties but still eased to a 3-1 win at Norwich City to end its miserable away run in the Premier League and move up to seventh.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had not won any of their eight away league outings since February but were comfortable winners at Carrow Road on Sunday.

Scott McTominay scored United's 2,000th Premier League goal with 21 minutes played before Tim Krul produced the first of two penalty saves to thwart Marcus Rashford, who redeemed himself with a good finish 30 minutes in.

Anthony Martial was next to be denied from the spot by Krul but the France forward went on to seal the points for United, with Norwich substitute Onel Hernandez's late strike solely a consolation.

Krul produced a superb save to keep out Martial's header from point-blank range, but United was ahead less than a minute later through McTominay's drilled finish into the bottom-right corner.

The visitor was awarded a contentious penalty with 25 minutes played, with VAR adjudging that Ben Godfrey barged Daniel James inside the box.

Norwich will have felt justice was done when Krul got down to his right to keep out Rashford's weak spot-kick, only for the England international to control James' searching pass and slot home for his 50th club goal in all competitions.

United could have extended its lead before the interval but Krul kept out Martial's penalty, again awarded by VAR after Fred's shot hit Todd Cantwell on the arm.

Martial was not to be denied in the 73rd minute after exchanging passes with Rashford and dinking over the onrushing Krul.

Norwich pulled one back with two minutes remaining when Hernandez took the ball from McTominay, raced through and fired past David de Gea, with Mason Greenwood unable to restore the three-goal cushion in stoppage time.

What does it mean? United slowly building momentum

Last week's 1-1 home draw with league leader Liverpool provided United with a platform to build on, and, following the 1-0 victory over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday, it has now recorded back-to-back away victories in all competitions for the first time since Solskjaer was appointed on a permanent basis in March.

This first top-flight win in five attempts lifts it back into the top half, seven points adrift of the Champions League berths.

United not made to pay the penalty 

Paul Pogba, Rashford and Martial have all missed penalties in the Premier League this season.

United's failure to convert from 12 yards has already cost them this season, but they had enough about them today to get the job done as they scored more than once in a game for the first time since the opening weekend of the campaign.

What's next?

Manchester United travels to Chelsea in the EFL Cup last 16 on Wednesday, while Norwich is not in action until heading to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

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