Martial, Rooney leads United to 2-0 win at Burnley in EPL

Anthony Martial gave United the lead with his 25th United goal, completing a terrific counter-attack with a cool finish after swapping passes with Ander Herrera.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s magical season with Manchester United is over, and there are fears his career might be too after the club announced he suffered a serious knee injury in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Anderlecht.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said he was prioritising the Europa League despite his team being able to jump above Manchester City into the fourth Champions League qualification spot with a win in Thursday’s derby.

It is debatable whether Manchester United would have beaten Chelsea or Burnley so comprehensively had Ibrahimovic been playing.

Rooney’s deflected shot from Herrera’s cutback was claimed by Heaton and Marouane Fellaini headed straight at the former United goalkeeper as a high-tempo start continued at a sunny Turf Moor. Therefore, if Mourinho’s team defeat Manchester City in a midweek when Liverpool have no fixture, the two most successful clubs in England will be locked together on 66 points by midnight on Thursday.

Burnley had no answer and could not reply in the second half, meaning it was Manchester United who took all three points with a 2-0 win.

Another indicator of what Mourinho is building is that his team are now 23 league games unbeaten, the best sequence in six seasons. They came into this game with a better home record than Manchester United and must have had ambitions of beating them at Turf Moor for only the second time since 1968. His contributions are one of the main reason behind the club’s success in the Europa League this year.

At the back, Eric Bailly has played virtually every minute since the global break, and as United’s only fit senior center back, he’s likely to continue again today. If they are safe thinking and they are surrounded by people with the same mentality they have, it is more time, more cautious.

It was a game of relatively few chances, with the last chance falling to Marcus Rashford, who was played through on goal from the right hand side, but he couldn’t beat Heaton on his near post.

Jose Mourinho acknowledged Zlatan Ibrahimovic faces a hard road to recovery given his age but the Manchester United boss stressed he is focused on that rehabilitation rather than thoughts about whether he would ever play again.

The 31-year-old England global could have scored as early as the ninth minute when he had a close-range shot blocked by Ben Mee and Burnley keeper Tom Heaton was able to clear up.