December 11, (THEWILL) –Â Ralf Rangnick’s second win in two league games as Manchester United manager, as well as a second consecutive clean sheet, came via a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.
The second consecutive 1-nil win means United have risen to fifth place and have again climbed above north London side Arsenal, while Norwich remain locked at rock bottom in the English Premier League standings.
The first half was tasteless football as two unimpressive sides played unimpressive football in an unimpressive fixture.
And, though an Alex Telles free-kick was deflected onto the bar by Josh Sargent, Norwich controlled the majority of the play in the first 20 minutes without generating anything, and United did not look like scoring either, even after they grabbed control of the game around the 20-minute mark.
After the break, those who believed the quality of the encounter will improve with tactical input from both benches were disappointed as things did not get much better.
Indeed, Norwich had a flurry of corners but without really threatening the United goal, and for that wastefulness, they were duly punished because, in the 73rd minute, Max Aarons panicked and grabbed Ronaldo on the wrong side of the pitch.
Naturally, the veteran Portuguese shrieked and went to the ground leaving referee Darren England the liberty to award the visitors a spot-kick. Ronaldo rose to bury the penalty, and despite Norwich’s best efforts, United held on to win with much of the credit going to David De Gea for an outstanding performance between the sticks.
Rangnick’s charges are next in action against Brentford on the road on Tuesday while Norwich also play against Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa on the same day at home.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
