Manchester United throttled Stoke City, as the Old Trafford faithful saw their side looking like a team that can challenge the Top Four after a 3-0 win on Tuesday.
Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard scored for Louis Van Gaal‘s Red Devils, who sit fifth with 40 points. United is five points back of Spurs and Arsenal.
Stoke sits ninth with 33 points.
United took the lead inside the first quarter-hour when Ryan Borthwick-Jackson crossed the ball through the six. Lingard beat Ibrahim Afellay in a 50-50 and stooped to head the ball past Jack Butland to make it 1-0.
David De Gea slid forward to collect a dangerous-looking through ball moments later, keeping things scoreless.
It wasn’t long before Martial scored his goal, and it was aesthetically pleasing. The young Frenchman was on the business end of a long cross from Wayne Rooney after Juan Mata dribbled to find the captain. Martial curled the ball around Butland to make it 2-0.
Rooney had a goal called back in the second half when he extended his arm to shove Glen Johnsonoff the pace before beating Butland from close range.
He got his goal moments later, when the Mata-Martial-Rooney combo put together another three-way goal. Rooney simply had to pass in the final ball from Martial.
