Anthony Martial was the star man as United booked their place in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup with a 4-1 victory over Burton Albion at Old Trafford, courtesy of a brace from Marcus Rashford and goals from Martial and Jesse Lingard.
Both sides had made 9 changes from their victories on the weekend, with United changing the team who beat Everton 4-0 at Old Trafford and Burton after beating Fulham 2-1.
It was Jose Mourinho’s side of eleven full internationals who emerged victorious with a fairly routine victory at Old Trafford.
Although the Championship side managed the match’s first effort on target in the opening minutes as Luke Varney forced Sergio Romero into save, United promptly took an early lead through Marcus Rashford.
After 4 minutes, Michael Carrick lifted the ball to Jesse Lingard, who flicked it to Rashford inside the box and the striker calmly dinked it over Connor Ripley in the Burton goal.
Lingard had a chance to double his side’s lead just moments later when he was released by Herrera, but his low drive was well blocked by Ripley.
Following the early onslaught from the home side, Burton recovered well and were trying to get at the United defence. Burton winger Lloyd Dyer was giving Matteo Darmian a run for his money on the left wing in an interesting battle between the two.
Despite the slight revival from the visitors, Rashford doubled his and United’s tally after 17 minutes in some style. Daley Blind found Rashford on the edge of the box, and the 19-year-old swivelled on the edge of the box before firing into the corner at Riley’s near post to make it 2-0.
Burton’s first chance of the match fell to Joe Mason, whose dinked effort was met by the onrushing Sergio Romero, who just got enough on the ball to divert it wide.
Jose Mourinho’s side then made it 3-0 within the first half as Lingard got on the scoresheet after 36 minutes. Anthony Martial warded off several Burton players with some excellent close control, and the Frenchman threaded through for Lingard, who turned and shot goalwards and his effort took a strong deflection to beat the wrongfooted Ripley.
United were good value for their half-time lead of 3-0 as Burton struggled to find a way into the game after the early goal.
In the early stages of the second half, Luke Shaw, who came on during the break, had the ball in the back of the net after racing in behind the Burton defence, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
The start of the second half was a quiet affair the match over as a context and neither side was creating many openings.
Martial created a chance for himself out of nothing by skipping past two Burton defenders but Ripley was equal to his effort and parried it wide.
The Frenchman then finally got the goal his play had deserved with half an hour remaining. Rashford played it to Martial who raced clear of the defence before firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the box for his side’s fourth goal.
Hope Akpan had a chance to reduce the deficit after meeting with Matty Lund’s enticing ball to the back post but he headed over from close range after beating Victor Lindelof.
Martial continued to be a constant threat for the home side and was close to getting his second of the night on two occasions. He was released by Lingard down the left but his effort flashed across the face of goal just wide of the post, and he sent a free-kick whistling past the post from the edge of the box a few minutes later.
In the dying seconds Lloyd Dyer became the first opposition player to score at Old Trafford this season as he gave his side a late consolation goal. Substitute-goalkeeper Joel Pereira failed to gather the ball after Mason’s looping header struck the bar and Darmian’s clearance fell to Dyer, who fired low into the net.
United’s relatively straight-forward victory sends them into the draw for the last 16 of the competition as Mourinho aims to become the first manager to win the EFL Cup five times.
Burton won’t be too upset with the result as Championship survival will be their priority and Nigel Clough’s side will be looking to bounce back with a trip to QPR in the league awaiting them on Saturday.
Jose Mourinho’s side continue their positive start to the season and will hope to keep it going when they face Southampton at St. Mary’s on the weekend.