For its last match of the year, Manchester United easily won at home at the expense of its poorly classified neighbor Burnley (3-1), Thursday night on behalf of the 20th day of the English Championship.
Manchester, which has not lost in the Premier League for six meetings (4 wins, 2 draws), goes from seventh to sixth place, tied on points with West Ham (5th) who won 4-1 at Watford on Tuesday.
But the Red Devils are still nineteen lengths behind (and two games less) on the leader Manchester City.
Under the eyes of his legendary ex-trainer Sir Alex Ferguson, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on Friday, Manchester United opened the scoring in the 8th minute, by the Scottish midfielder Scott McTominay, with a flat foot at the entrance to the surface.
Two minutes earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo had had a first big opportunity, on a ball deep Luke Shaw, but his shot from the flat foot in the middle of the race went over the goal of Wayne Hennessey.
Dominating in the rain of Old Trafford, the Mancuniens doubled the score in the 27th minute in favor of a goal against his camp from the defender of Burnley Ben Mee, who deflected a shot from Jadon Sancho.
Then the inevitable Ronaldo went there with his personal touch: his eighth goal of the season in the Premier League after receiving a ball pushed back to the post by Hennessey after a nice strike from McTominay (35th).
While at that moment the worst was to be feared for Burnley, the 34-year-old striker Aaron Lennon reduced the score on a counter-attack punctuated by a cross shot at ground level (38th).
Four goals in the first period… then nothing in the second!
Manchester United will host Wolverhamton on Monday January 3 for their first game of the year.
