Mkhitaryan: Man Utd win over Sunderland important

United, moved ahead of Arsenal and is four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City with one game in hand over its neighbours.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic wheels away after scoring Manchester United’s first goal in a 3-0 win at Sunderland.

As Mourinho pointed out, “it’s the only competition we can win now”, but it’s not simply about getting a trophy. We did the Community Shield, we did the League Cup.

Injuries to Phil Jones and Chris Smalling leave Mourinho mean Shaw is likely to feature in a big week for United, with the trip to Anderlecht for Thursday’s Europa League quarter final followed by Chelsea’s arrival at Old Trafford on Sunday. He was taken off just after the hour-mark following an early caution.

“He played really well, played solid”, said the Portuguese.

“We were hanging in the game and staying in the game and trying to do our best”. I think Shaw is doing a great job. Against a team that is sad, if you score before then it’s hard for them to react.

Moyes on Ibrahimovic: “We don’t get tight enough for the first two goals”.

Mourinho was pleased his side had secured three points after Liverpool and Manchester City – the teams in third and fourth in the table – both won on Saturday.

The visitors seemed happy to play at a pedestrian pace and Sunderland began to grow in confidence, with Bryan Oviedo and Lee Cattermole both shooting straight at Romero from outside the area. “De Gea will probably be fit for Chelsea – yes, if he’s in good condition”.

Sunderland’s afternoon would worsen before half-time, though, when Larsson was dismissed for a somewhat reckless challenge on Herrera, though he was perhaps unfortunate not to receive only a yellow given how little contact there was with the United man.

“We keep fighting, we keep going”, he said after suggesting he will consider attempting to overturn Larsson’s impending suspension by appealing against the sending-off. “So it’d be a worry, if I were a United fan”. We want to fight for trophies. In fact, Defoe didn’t get a touch of the ball until 20 minutes into the game. There’s no contact at all, so it’s not even a booking. I believe in what I do and I just play my game and try to enjoy it. The game less means it’s tougher.

“At the end the best team will win so the game was good and we got the 1-0 and the red card”, he said.