Manchester United came away from Turf Moor with what was eventually a comfortable victory against Burnley, and centre-back Harry Maguire is not underestimating the importance of the win.
Goals from Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford helped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side take all three points following their short trip to the heart of Lancashire, and move the Red Devils up to fifth in the Premier League table.
Maguire was pleased with the win, and also the defensive performance he and his team-mates put in.
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“We maybe could have been better on the ball in the second half and killed the game off, but it’s a big three points for us,” he told BT Sport.
“We’re a team who haven’t been conceding many chances, but set-pieces and other basic things have been letting us down. It’s nice to come here, get a clean sheet and get the win.
“On our day we can beat anyone, but we’ve been far too inconsistent this year. We didn’t perform at all at Watford, so it was important to come here, do the basics well and keep the clean sheet.”
It is only United’s third clean sheet of the season and meant one goal was all they needed to claim victory.
But Rashford added a second deep into second-half stoppage time. This was his 12th of the season and takes him to second in the scoring charts level with Danny Ings and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The English forward is in good form, and had praise for his team-mate Martial, though he also thinks his side could have racked up a few more goals.
“We could have been more clinical,” Rashford told BT Sport. “Their centre-halves were heading away every single ball that came in and it wasn’t easy, but we did well to get the win.”
“He [Martial] was brilliant again today. For a forward, there’s nothing better than scoring goals. Hopefully it keeps his confidence high and this can continue until the end of the season.”
United are just a point behind fourth-place Chelsea and look to be at least mounting a challenge for the European spots.
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