Alexis Sánchez off the mark to help Manchester United sink Huddersfield

The good news for Manchester United is that Manchester City’s lead has been cut to 13 points. The bad news, apart from the fact that 13 points is still a lot, is that this performance was not a vast improvement on the one against Tottenham at Wembley. While Huddersfield were overcome in the end they were hardly put to the sword, and though the points were welcome United would not frighten any of their top-four rivals playing like this.

Considering José Mourinho now believes he has an unimprovable front line the wow factor is taking its time to return to Old Trafford. Long stretches of the first half were positively stodgy, with most of the game passing Romelu Lukaku by and Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard only occasionally looking threatening. While the one-man entertainment industry that is Alexis Sánchez was eye-catching throughout, it was not always in a good way. The way he made space for a right-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area that forced a scrambling save from Jonas Lössl was sublime, as were a couple of his passes to Mata and Antonio Valencia. Yet he ended the first half furious that the referee had not awarded him a free-kick in the middle of the pitch and lost his cool to the extent that he was booked in stoppage time for an unnecessary foul on Florent Hadergjonaj.

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