Burnley vs Manchester United result: Five things we learned as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team go top

Burnley 0-1 Man United: An improved second-half showing from United saw Pogba earn the points

Paul Pogba celebrates (Getty Images)

Manchester United moved top ahead of Liverpool after beating Burnley 1-0 in the Premier League.

Half-chances at either end came and went before the big talking point of the first half, a foul at either end within a few seconds which went to the VAR and ended with no red cards when there could have been either one of two.

Harry Maguire had a header ruled out for a foul and Anthony Martial saw a shot tipped over as United had the better of the chances, but a goalless first half perhaps inspired the away team to take more risks and they came out to dominate the second period.

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It took until the 70th minute for the breakthrough to arrive, with Paul Pogba’s deflected volley flying through Nick Pope’s legs, while the Clarets’ only real chances came in the closing minutes with James Tarkowski and Matej Vydra unable to connect cleanly with shots from close range. Here are five things we learned from the game at Turf Moor.

Back and forth and a fortunate Shaw

A foul, a counter, a foul to deny a scoring chance. Manchester United were incensed that Robbie Brady was initially only shown a yellow card, though even their ire didn’t match the initial fume of the Burnley players.

That stemmed from Luke Shaw’s high and hard tackle on Johann Berg Gudmundsson, moments before Edinson Cavani was swiped down on the edge of the Burnley box.

Had that moment counted, an upgrade to a red card for Brady seemed probable after the VAR review - but when play was instead pulled back for the initial challenge at the other end, left-back Shaw can count himself extremely fortunate to not see a red of his own.

The next call was rather more straight-forward minutes later, when Harry Maguire headed in - but only after leveraging himself up off a defender.

Pogba performance

He was, without question, the driving force behind United’s second-half step-up in class.

Early on the No. 6 gave a hint as to why he can dominate games, shrugging off three challengers at once to burst free in the centre and make great use of space.

And Pogba had the vision and technique in the pass to open the Burnley defence, too - even before proving that he had the finishing touch when required, coming up with a goal at the big moment to give his team the points.

This showing came from a central role, in contrast to his recent displays out from the left. The question is now whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer trusts him to repeat the trick in a big clash at the weekend.

No Burnley bother

A home defeat is a disappointment like always, but this game won’t define Burnley’s season despite leaving them only five points above the drop zone.

But with a game in hand and a recent run which included three wins in five before this game, there’s no question of Sean Dyche panicking or looking over the team’s collective shoulder with worry.

One area of concern might be a lack of ability to fight back; Burnley haven’t won a point after falling behind, or scored a goal in the final 10 minutes of games this season.

It took 86 minutes for them to get a shot on target on home soil, with their one-dimensional attack proving incapable of opening up the gaps.

Wrong-wing Rashford

Manchester United’s summer transfer priority was said to be an elite right-sided wide forward, with the failure to land Jadon Sancho having an ongoing effect.

Mason Greenwood is quality, but inexperienced and still learning, while Dan James has proven mostly ineffective from that flank. It falls now to Marcus Rashford to fill that void, but he too is ill-at-ease playing as an outside-running outlet.

He got the assist for the winning goal, true, but otherwise it was over an hour of toil and discomfort and very little threat in the final third. He could well be swapped over to the left at Anfield, however, as Anthony Martial appeared to go off injured just before the final whistle.

Onto the top-two clash

A point here would have been enough to send United top; instead they took three and are clear.

Next up, it’s on to Anfield and perhaps the biggest Premier League game of the season so far: Liverpool against United, champions against challengers.

It’s likely to be, now, a game where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might opt to be more conservative in, even with United’s good away form this season.

Anfield might well be the stage where United prove whether they are genuine contenders for the title race this season, or if it’s still a step too far for a team who finished 33 points off the pace last year.