Man Utd took a stranglehold on the race for Champions League football after inspirational performances from Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes helped them to a 3-1 win against Aston Villa.
Manchester United celebrate against Aston Villa
Manchester United's win against Aston Villa was inspired by Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes
View Image
Legends have been few and far between at Manchester United recently. It has been a fallow few years in the history of this club and there have been more greats rolling back the years in the dugout than there have been on the pitch.
But in Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, this squad has two players who will stand the test of time. As the displays of flags on the Stretford End grow by the week, the Brazilian and Portuguese will find themselves immortalised on banners long after they have left Old Trafford.
For Casemiro, we have a date for the goodbye and there is unlikely to be a dry eye in the house when the curtain call comes. His affection for United pours out of him on days like this.
HEREHEREHEREHERE.
In transfer fees and wages, his four years at Old Trafford will cost United around £140 million. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already made the case that's not value for money, but just try telling the Stretford Enders who chanted for the Brazilian to do one more year that.
'One more year, one more year Casemiro, one more year, one more year, I pray' they chanted after the 34-year-old had stood before them and soaked in the applause for a seventh goal of the season, five of them assisted by Fernandes.
He made a point of pointing to the badge after heading in Fernandes' corner and then clapped all four sides of the ground when he was withdrawn in the last minute. He has eight games left as a United player and looks like he wants to savour them all.
Staff who deal with him around Carrington insist you can tell how much he cares, but paying a player of that age £350,000-a-week isn't in the Ineos business plan.
They were happy to give Fernandes a pay rise 18 months ago, but then the 31-year-old is clearly worth every penny and more. He has considered his future in the previous two summers and, as recently as December, gave the impression he could call it a day this summer.
United's renaissance under Michael Carrick looks to have quelled that possibility and a return to the Champions League gives him the stage he deserves. His team might not win any trophies this season, but there is an argument that no footballer in England has had a better campaign than the brilliant Fernandes.
His corner to set up Casemiro was his 15th assist of the Premier League season. His 16th came with a sublime through ball to Matheus Cunha than restored the lead after Ross Barkley had equalised. After Cunha had scored, Fernandes turned to the bench and nodded his head. He is playing as if he knows everything he touches is turning to gold.
He is now just four assists behind the record of 20 held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. Fernandes has eight games to break it, and with eight assists in his last 10 games, he is on course to do just that.
He has inspired United's turnaround under Carrick, who took another step towards keeping the job permanently by engineering a response to the first defeat of his reign.
United were 11 points behind Villa when Carrick was appointed. In the space of nine games, that has been turned into a three-point advantage, and Champions League football is within reach.
That will be a significant boost to the summer's transfer kitty and it might give Carrick a few more options. He rotated his front three again against Villa and Benjamin Sesko could feel aggrieved at being dropped after just two starts, even more so when he watched his teammates spend the first 20 minutes fizzing in the kind of crosses on which he would have feasted.
Twice Cunha sent in dangerous deliveries from the left, only for Amad and Bryan Mbeumo to prove incapable of challenging for them. Then Diogo Dalot sent in the kind of cross strikers dream of, only to see none of the front three attacking the six-yard box.
United were struggling to create through the middle and finding it difficult to get Mbeumo in the game. His first chance came after a turnover, with Fernandes driving forward and passing to Mbeumo in what felt like a carbon copy of their combination against Manchester City. This time Emiliano Martinez made the save.
But the reprieve was only temporary. Fernandes' near-post corner was met by Casemiro, whose contact had enough to divert it past Martinez and in off the far post. He savoured his moment in front of the Stretford End.
When Barkley slammed in an equaliser 11 minutes later it threatened to spoil the party, but Fernandes' moment of brilliance set Cunha up and he slid his finish past Martinez.
There was still time for Sesko's customary goal off the bench, turning sharply to get a shot away that deflected past the Villa goalkeeper to seal a vital victory.
United's return to European football's top table is within reach.