Man Utd produced a professional performance to beat struggling Southampton 3-0 and once again ease the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
Victory on the south coast meant United avoided a run of three straight Premier League defeats for the first time since 2015.
Russell Martin’s Saints fearlessly took the game to United – after three straight losses of their own – and came close to the opener inside 10 minutes when academy product Tyler Dibling – on his full Premier League – embarked on a mazy solo run and forced Andre Onana into a sprawling save.
They had the chance to capitalise on a positive start just after the half-hour when Dibling was chopped down in the box and referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot, but Cameron Archer’s weakly-struck penalty was saved by Onana. That miss turned the game.
Having survived what had been, at times, intense spells of pressure, United did take the lead after 35 minutes, though, when Matthijs de Ligt headed in Bruno Fernandes’ corner after it had passed over Jack Stephens’ head unchallenged.
St Mary’s was stunned into silence when Marcus Rashford picked up a ball on the edge of the area and curled a low shot past Aaron Ramsdale, who probably should have done better, within six minutes.
Save for a couple of Ramsdale saves, the remainder of the game was pedestrian. There was one late flashpoint, when Stephens needlessly chopped down Alejandro Garnacho on the touchline and received a red card as a result, but it served to do nothing more than compound Southampton’s misery.
Until the 96th minute, that was. Casemiro’s clever pass split open the Saints defence to find Diogo Dalot surging into the box and, from his perfect pull back, the unmarked Garnacho smashed home from six yards out.
