Manchester United moved up to third place in the Premier League and confirmed their spot in next season’s Champions League after beating Chelsea4-1 on Thursday.
Manchester United’s goal was scored by Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes – by way of penalty, and Marcus Rashford.
“It’s important; this club belongs in the Champions League,” manager Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports. “But it’s not easy in the Premier League. It’s a tough competition, so it’s a massive performance when you get this done.”
Man United, who has won the European champions title three times, failed to qualify to for the Champions League last season. Currently, they are third on 72 points with one game remaining, six points clear of fifth-place Liverpool.
“[The season has been] decent, it’s not perfect because we want more,” Fernandes said. “But for what we did this season, I think it’s great. Won one trophy, we get to the top four — that was our goal after we saw we couldn’t go for the Premier League [title].
“Now it’s about finish the league well and go to the FA Cup and win.”
Casemiro scored the first goal in the sixth minute with a close-range header off a long free kick, and Anthony Martial added a second from close range in first-half stoppage time. Chelsea’s interim manager Frank Lampard had it to the full when Fernandes scored a penalty, raising the tally to 3-0 for Ten Hag’s side.
Marcus Rashford returned after being absent for two games to score the 4th goal for the match and his 30th goal for the season when he took the ball around Chelsea’s goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Joao Felix scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 89th minute but it was already too late to salvage “The Blues” who are set to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time since 1995-96.
Despite contributing further to Chelsea’s stream of losses, Manchester United will have to focus more on his coming match against Manchester City, after Antony Matheus dos Santos and Luke Shaw sustained injuries during the game. Lisandro Martinez and Marcel Sabitzer will also not play in the match.
