Elsewhere, Arsenal lost to Southampton courtesy of Jan Bednarek's lone goal in the 44th minute at St. Mary's stadium.
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Manchester United beat Norwich City 3-2 courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick at Old Trafford on Saturday. The win helped the Red Devils to leapfrog Arsenal into the fifth spot in the Premier League standings, just three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who lost 1-0 to Brighton, earlier in the day. Ronaldo scored two goals inside the opening 32 minutes before Kieran Dowell pulled one back for the visitors in first-half injury time. After the break, Teemu Pukki equalised for Norwich, but Ronaldo’s thunderbolt free-kick helped the Red Devils secure all three points.
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BIG. THREE. POINTS.#MUFC | #MUNNOR
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 16, 2022
United goalkeeper David de Gea was forced into early action when he denied Teemu Pukki from a one-on-one situation. However, the hosts put their nose ahead inside the opening seven minutes. Norwich defender Ben Gibson was caught in possession by Anthony Elanga and the winger set up Ronaldo for a simple finish.
Two minutes after the half-hour mark, the Portuguese international scored his second of the night. Ronaldo made an excellent near post run and headed home from Alex Telles’ corner. Norwich halved the deficit on the stroke of half time through Dowell’s header home from Pukki’s cross.
Although United are not playing great football as a team, Ronaldo is looking hungrier as ever and is sniffing a hat-trick and fires wide after swift exchange of passes with Jesse Lingard. Seven minutes into the second half, Pukki beat the offside trap to smash home past De Gea into the back of the net and made the score 2-2.
United didn’t play a defensive midfielder from the start and Norwich have done exceedingly well to exploit the space in the middle of the park. Therefore, after conceding two goals, United boss Ralf Rangnick introduced Matic in place of Lingard.
Just when it looked like it would turn out to be another frustrating night for the United fans, Ronaldo restored the lead with a brilliant free-kick. The 37-year-old legendary striker’s right-footed shot from 25-yards out went past Tim Krul into the back of the net in the blink of an eye.
It was Ronaldo’s 60th career hat-trick and the six-time Ballon D’Or winner has once again dragged his side to result almost single-handedly. It was his 15th league goal of the season in 26 appearances. His goals could prove vital in the team’s race for a Champions League qualification.
Elsewhere, at St. Mary’s Stadium, Arsenal failed to capitalise on Spurs’ loss to close the gap on top-four as they lost to Southampton. The Gunners came into the match knowing a victory would move them level on points with rivals Tottenham.
But Jan Bednarke slotted home from Elyounoussi’s cross in the 44th minute to secure victory points for the hosts. Mikel Arteta quickly introduced Emile Smith-Rowe to add a bit more attacking threat.
But Southampton keeper Fraser Forster had a brilliant game between the sticks to keep a clean sheet. The 34-year-old made a string of saves in the second half, with Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette missing after testing positive for COVID-19, to give hosts their first victory in six matches.
Forster’s best save of the match came from a Southampton mistake when the hosts conceded ball possession inside their own half. Eddie Nketiah intercepted and played the ball to Gabriel Martinelli whose cross found Bukayo Saka in front of goal. But the Englishman’s close-range effort was brilliantly denied by Forster. The result helped Southampton to 12th spot with 39 points from 32 games, while Arsenal fell to sixth spot with 54 points from 31 games.
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