With a crushing 4-1 victory over struggling Chelsea on Thursday, Manchester United officially qualified for the Champions League of the following season.
The Red Devils scored goals from Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes, and Marcus Rashford as they climbed to third place in the Premier League.
Despite spending more than £500 million on transfers, Chelsea’s season was unpleasant as they lost for the eighth time in their last ten games under temporary manager Frank Lampard.
Erik ten Hag, in contrast, has had a great debut season in command after leading United to a top-four finish and ended their six-year trophy drought with the League Cup victory in February.
If United can stop Manchester City from winning the triple in the FA Cup final, more victories might be on the way next month.
But when Ten Hag took over after a catastrophic 2021/22 campaign in which United finished sixth, he set one of his main objectives as returning to Europe’s top league the following season. Arriving from Real Madrid, Casemiro has been essential to United’s comeback.
When matched up against a young Chelsea team, who were penalised for their ineffectiveness in both boxes, the 31-year-old’s class and experience stood out.
When Mykhailo Mudryk missed a wonderful opportunity to score his first Chelsea goal after five minutes, the Ukrainian should have done so.
The visitors were down just 60 seconds later as Casemiro was given a clear header to turn in a Christian Eriksen free-kick.
Chances kept coming from both sides as Fernandes and Martial both made terrible first touches, leaving Kepa Arrizabalaga as their only opponent.
At the other end, Conor Gallagher flashed a shot across David De Gea’s net and Kai Havertz headed wide.
Then, United winger Antony was carried away on a stretcher after suffering an ankle injury that puts him in serious jeopardy of missing the FA Cup final in ten days.
However, the home team ended the game as a battle in first-half stoppage time when Casemiro’s no-look ball allowed Jadon Sancho to get behind the Chelsea defense and set up Martial.
In the second half, Ten Hag’s team should have scored more goals to round off a strong performance, but Fernandes hit the crossbar and Eriksen strangely missed turning in Tyrell Malacia’s cross from close range.
After being fouled by Wesley Fofana, the Portuguese midfielder Fernandes did eventually score from the penalty spot.
More disastrous Rashford was given the opportunity by Chelsea’s defence to become the first United player to achieve 30 goals in a season in ten years.
