By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Manchester United’s midfielder, Paul Pogba, 71st minute classical strike at Burnley on Tuesday night was only what the Red Devils needed to climb on top of the Premier League since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012.
With the goal, assisted by Marcus Rashford, Manchester United is now three points ahead of the closest rival, Leverpool, who will play the Red Devils on Sunday.
United dominated a contest in which Burnley failed to register a single shot on target until stoppage time.
But they were struggling to make a breakthrough until Rashford picked Pogba out with an excellent cross to the edge of the area.
The Frenchman’s connection was perfect, although it took a deflection off Matthew Lowton to ensure the ball went past Nick Pope and into the Burnley net.
Although Burnley had three decent chances in a frantic ending, United secured the win to head the table after 17 rounds of matches.
Recall that in the seven seasons since Ferguson retired, United have never been higher than second at this stage of the season.
But they were already well adrift of Manchester City during that 2017-18 campaign under Jose Mourinho.
Surprisingly, in points terms, the nearest they have been to the top at this stage was under David Moyes, when they were eighth but only eight points behind the leaders after 17 games.
They made hard work of their ninth win in 11 Premier League games. On his return from a three-match ban, Edinson Cavani wasted two excellent chances and Bruno Fernandes fired a first-half effort straight at Nick Pope.
Anthony Martial was off target with two first-half chances before failing to convert in the final seconds after he had been sent clean through.
