Another two points will do it for sure, but this felt like the night when Manchester United booked their place in next season’s Champions League.
Victory in a right ding-dong at Old Trafford mathematically ended Brentford’s chances of catching Michael Carrick’s team. Only Brighton and Bournemouth can stop them now, but it would take a collapse of Devon Loch proportions, to borrow one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite analogies.
Yet again, United were inspired by their captain Bruno Fernandes whose claim to the Player of the Year award is being propelled by an incredible assist record this season.
He could have had a few more here, but the one for Benjamin Sesko to make it 2-0 to United was Fernandes’ 19th of the season, just one behind the record held jointly by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
It will be another busy summer in the transfer market for United, but no piece of business will be as important as tying the Portugal star down to a new contract.
Fernandes and Casemiro aside, this wasn’t a particularly convincing performance. United rode their luck at times against a spirited Brentford side who refused to go down without a fight and will justifiably still have aspirations of playing in Europe.
Casemiro opens the scoring with a smart header at the back post to beat Caoimhin Kelleher
But Champions League qualification was always the target, and Carrick looks to have delivered it. Will it be enough to land him the head coach’s job full-time? Let’s see, but it appears to be his to lose now.
Carrick will want to finish strongly and hold onto third place to reinforce his claims. Let’s not forget that United were sixth and in the Champions League mix when they sacked Ruben Amorim in January, so optics are everything.
He made two changes to the side that secured a crucial win at Chelsea last time out, Harry Maguire returning from suspension to replace Noussair Mazraoui and Amad Diallo coming in for Matheus Cunha who hadn’t recovered from a minor hip injury sustained at Stamford Bridge.
Patrick Dorgu was also back in the squad for the first time since he was injured at Arsenal in late January, and he was joined on the bench by Leny Yoro after a one-match absence as Carrick’s problems in central defence eased.
Keith Andrews kept the same line-up for the third game in a row, but was able to name midfielder Josh Dasilva in his squad for the first time since he suffered a serious knee injury in January 2024.
Brentford were on a run of five straight Premier League draws, but they were soon under the cosh as United made a flying start.
Kobbie Mainoo led the way inside two minutes with some incredible footwork to get away from Nathan Collins, Mikkel Damsgaard and Yehor Yarmoliuk before slipping the ball wide of goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Diallo – who had the whole goal to shoot at but somehow managed to hit Sepp van den Berg.
Benjamin Sesko now has 10 goals for United in his debut Premier League season
The rest of the half became a story of Fernandes chasing the assist record with some quite exquisite link-up play to put United two goals ahead, and Brentford striker Igor Thiago somehow failing to find a way past Senne Lammens at the other end.
Twice in quick succession, Fernandes released Bryan Mbeumo down the right and twice his team-mate had to be satisfied with winning a corner off his marker.
Fernandes delivered the first on to the head of Maguire whose effort was two thirds of the way over the line when Kelleher did brilliantly to claw it out again.
When Fernandes crossed from the same corner in front of the Brentford fans in the 11th minute, however, Maguire had dropped deeper to meet it with a header guided to the back post. Casemiro was waiting to rise above Dango Ouattara and nod the ball under the crossbar for his ninth goal of the season with Kelleher helpless to keep it out again.
The worrying thing for United is that should have been the moment to take control of the game. Instead, it sparked Brentford into life as the two sides traded blows for the rest of the half.
How Thiago didn’t end it with a hat-trick, only he knows. Keane Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard and Mathias Jensen all presented the Brazilian with chances in front of goal, but he failed to convert due to the combined efforts of Senne Lammens, Luke Shaw and Ayden Heaven as United hung on.
When Damsgaard picked out another Thiago run and Heaven inadvertently forced Lammens into a superb save shortly before half-time, the shake of the head and smile from Brentford’s No 9 said it all.
This simply wasn’t his night. Fernandes, on the other hand, was in his element.
One great pass picked out Diallo who headed straight at Kelleher, and another led to the Ivorian firing in off the far post from an offside position.
Bruno Fernandes now has 19 league assists this season after providing for Sesko’s goal
When Diallo made a fantastic interception tackle on Kevin Schade in the 43rd minute to stop another Brentford attack in its tracks and set United on the counter, Fernandes had options right and left in Mbeumo and Sesko.
He chose the latter with perfect timing and Sesko cut inside Collins before burying his shot to give United a two-goal advantage they hardly deserved.
Carrick sent on Mazraoui for Diallo at half-time, recognising the need for more protection down the United right. It helped but Ouatarra headed against the post from a corner, before Jensen finally beat Lammens with a marvellous effort from 20 yards in the 87th minute.
But victory – and with it a Champions League place no doubt – belonged to United.
