Magical Mkhitaryan earns Man Utd win

A superb strike from Henrikh Mkhitaryan earned Manchester United a deserved 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

After a very slow start to his career in England, the Armenian opened his account for his new club with a virtuoso individual goal against Zorya in the Europa League on Thursday and he made it two-in-two to ensure Jose Mourinho's side registered a first home league victory since September.

Although the visitors enjoyed the bulk of possession in the first period, it was Utd who looked the most threatening in attack and just before the half-hour mark Ander Herrera's inch-perfect pass released Mkhitaryan and the former Borussia Dortmund playmaker's first touch was sound with his second firing the ball past Hugo Lloris and into the roof of Spurs' net.

The game ended in disappointment for man-of-the-match Mkhitaryan however, leaving the pitch on a stretcher late on after injuring his ankle when being tripped by Danny Rose.

Mauricio Pochettini's side started relatively slowly, failing to pressure high up the pitch with the same intensity for which they have become renowned.

Even still, they should have drawn level not long after the restart when Victor Wanyama was free eight yards out from a set-piece but the midfielder, under no pressure, completely miscued his header and the chance was gone.

Paul Pogba almost doubled the home side's lead when he unleashed a stunning free-kick which beat Lloris all-ends up but unfortunately for the world record signing the ball bounced back off the intersection of the bar and post and away to safety.

Pogba had nearly scored with the first chance of the match in the second minute when he thought he'd finished off a lovely passing move when he sidefooted goalwards but Lloris did well to dive across to his right to tip the ball away from goal.

Spurs began to get some joy down the left-hand side after the introduction of Moussa Sissoko, the France international brushing off the challenge of Matteo Darmian on more than one occasion.

Such was the dominance which Sissoko was enjoying over Darmian that Mourinho reacted by introducing Marcus Rashford for Anthony Martial - who had a decent game - in order to help the Utd left-back cope with the former Newcastle midfielder's powerful runs.

Harry Kane got precious little change out of Marcos Rojo but he did earn a free-kick in a dangerous position on 70 minutes when he rolled the Argentine before drawing the foul; from the set-piece David de Gea won the battle of wits with Christian Eriksen to dive low to his right to save.

As a consequence of the late equalisers they conceded to Arsenal and Everton in recent weeks, the home crowd began to get a little nervy as the game drew to a close but on the pitch the Utd defence - well-marshalled by the impressive Rojo and Phil Jones - managed to keep Spurs at bay.

The result means Utd halve the deficit to fifth-placed Spurs to three points, with the gap to fourth-placed Manchester City reduced to six points.

Mourinho will be praying that Mkhitaryan's injury is not a serious one because with him beginning to hit top form, Utd could begin to finally mount a serious challenge to the current top four.

A spectacular second-half strike from Sofiane Boufal proved the difference as Southampton edged Middlesbrough 1-0 at St Mary's.

The Moroccan – who became the club’s record signing after signing for a fee of £16m from Lille - swept home from outside the area in the 53^rd minute following a precise pass from James Ward-Prowse, to grab a deserved lead for hosts, who went into the game off the back of a 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

Aitor Karanka’s side were denied by a Jose Fonte goal-line clearance after the 32-year-old blocked Viktor Fischer's effort from close-range, but they failed to penetrate a sturdy Saints backline for most of the match.

Southampton had late chances to extend their lead but had to settle for a slender win, a result which now sees Claude Puel’s side sit in 10th spot.

Middlesbrough meanwhile are in16th place, three points above the drop zone.

Source: ISNTV

Photo- Getty Images/Matthew Peters

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