The Red Devils left it late, but eventually progressed via a commanding scoreline!
Manchester United winger Alexis Sanchez (Photo: AFP)
Manchester United rode out a nervy opening period to eventually stamp their class over their FA Cup Fourth Round tie against Yeovil Town, beating the lower-league side with a 4-0 scoreline at Huish Park, with new boy Alexis Sanchez shining.
The Chilean started on Friday night for Jose Mourinho, in a heavily-rotated United XI, with club captain Michael Carrick starting for the first time this season alongside Ander Herrera and youngster Josch McTominay.
Marcus Rashford led the line for the visitors, with Sanchez and Juan Mata featuring just behind him and it seemed, initially at least, that the lack of coordination would hamper United’s chances of progressing to the next round.
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Yeovil were threatening to stretch United’s back-four from the off, with Sergio Romero getting called into action relatively early.
The hosts kept probing the Red Devils’s defence, especially on from set-pieces while United took a while to get into their groove.
Sanchez set up McTominay and the young midfielder came close to opening the scoring with a quickly-taken shot but the hosts’ custodian tipped the shot around the post as the half-hour mark neared and United began to exert their authority on the tie after a quarter of the game had been played.
United’s No.7 won a free-kick from 30-odd yards and while he kept his effort on target, there wasn’t enough power to beat the opponent keeper, who gathered without much fuss
As half-time approached, Sanchez flashed a shot just wide and it seemed the hosts would reach the interval with their clean-sheet intact.
Yeovil, however, shot themselves in the foot as a miscommunication between their defence and custodian allowed Rashford to nip in and score the opener four minutes before the interval.
United began the second-half in dominant fashion, eager to put the game beyond the hosts and Sanchez continued to draw plenty of fouls as the Yeovil players looked to close him down in a hurry.
Undeterred, the Chilean set up Ander Herrera to score a the second goal on what was the Spaniard’s 150th appearance for United barely a minute after the hour-mark.
Romelu Lukaku was introduced as Mourinho sought to get a combination between the burly Belgian and Sanchez going but with one eye on a mid-week Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur, hauled off the Chilean barely 10 minutes after Lukaku’s introduction.
United continued to boss proceedings and as is their wont this season, would score two late goals to add gloss to the scoreline.
Substitute Jesse Lingard would continue his fine goalscoring run with another memorable strike in the 89th minute before Lukaku tapped-in from close range in the third minute of injury-time.
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