United seals Champions League spot with dominant 4-1 win over struggling Chelsea

MANCHESTER: Manchester United sealed a spot in next season’s Champions League after it hammered Chelsea 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford scored once each for United, which needed only a point from its final two league matches to officially end Liverpool’s fading hopes of securing a spot in Europe’s premier club competition.

Three-time European champion United, which failed to qualify for the Champions League this season, is third on 72 points from 37 games, six points clear of the fifth-placed Liverpool. Chelsea, struggling all season, is 12th on the table with 43 points.

“It is important, this club belongs to the Champions League,” manager Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports. “But it is not easy in the Premier League, it is a tough competition, so it is a massive performance when you get this done,” added Ten Hag.

United, which caps its Premier League season on Sunday by hosting Fulham, had won the Carabao Cup in February and will be aiming to complete a domestic double when it faces rival Manchester City in the FA Cup final on June 3.

Commenting on the season so far, Fernandes said: “It has been decent, it is not perfect because we want more. But for what we did this season, I think it is great. Won one trophy, we get to the top-four, that was our goal after we saw that we could not go for the Premier League [title].”

Defensive midfielder Casemiro opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a close-range header off a long free-kick. Just before the half-time interval, the Brazilian helped set up Martial’s goal with a no-look chip into the path of Jadon Sancho. The French forward was there to slot the ball into the empty net.

Interim manager Frank Lampard’s Chelsea side collapsed in the final quarter of the match. After Fernandes made it 3-0 with a penalty conversion in the 73rd minute, Rashford scored his 30th goal of the season in all competitions, cutting the ball around visiting goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Joao Felix pulled one back for Chelsea in the 89th minute. The one negative on the night for the home side was the loss of Antony, who was left in agony with an apparent foot injury and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Ten Hag said post-match that he did not yet know the extent of the winger’s injury.

RESULT: Manchester United 4 (Casemiro 6, A Martial 45, B Fernandes 73 (P), M Rashford 78) bt Chelsea 1 (J Felix 89)