Manchester United took a minimal win at Carrow Road on Saturday night. Ralf Rangnick’s team needed a late penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo to force Norwich City to its knees: 0-1. Tim Krul and David de Gea can call themselves the stars of the game with several excellent saves, in which Norwich deserved more. United climbs to fifth place, while the Canaries stay at the bottom.
Rangnick chose the same eleven names as last week against Crystal Palace (1-0 win). That meant that Ronaldo formed a striker couple with Marcus Rashford, while Donny van de Beek only made his entrance in the 88th minute. In the first half Norwich had to limit themselves to defending. Krul saw a free kick from Alex Telles hit the crossbar through the wall, while the goalkeeper was able to easily turn a shot from Diogo Dalot.
1-0 United! ?? Cristiano Ronaldo scores the penalty ????? Will United now take action or will Norwich react? ??#ZiggoSport #PremierLeague #NORMUN pic.twitter.com/nPE79nEV82
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 11, 2021
The most dangerous moments of the first half were yet to come. On the stroke of half-time, Ronaldo was released on the right side of the penalty area. The Portuguese cut out a defender twice in succession, but his shot wasn’t far enough into the corner to beat Krul. The the Dutch international made a more difficult save in the last minute on a dangerous header from Harry Maguire, which he beautifully tapped under the bar.
After the break Norwich crawled out of his shell. Teemu Pukki cleverly found space for himself in the penalty area for a vicious shot, which only stayed out of the goal thanks to a lightning-quick reflex from David de Gea. Immediately afterwards, Norwich defender Jacob Sörensen hit the top of the bar with a header from a corner. United barely created anything of their own, but were helped by a handy foul on Ronaldo.
The Portuguese was pulled down in the penalty area by Max Aarons and scored the opening goal with a devastating penalty: 0-1. Norwich sought even more forceful attack, forcing De Gea to make another brilliant save from a dangerous header by Ozan Kabak. Billy Gilmour was allowed to take a free shot from sixteen meters later and was unlucky that the ball went just wide through Eric Bailly’s block. Ronaldo should have decided on the other side with a close-up striker, who went over. De Gea again intervened in injury time with a wonderful reflex, again on a header by Kabak.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 38 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 37 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 36 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 27 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 27 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | -1 | 26 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | -1 | 25 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton W. | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | -2 | 21 |
| 9 | Brentford | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 20 |
| 10 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 15 | 4 | 8 | 3 | -2 | 20 |
| 11 | Leicester City | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | -4 | 19 |
| 12 | Aston Villa | 16 | 6 | 1 | 9 | -4 | 19 |
| 13 | Everton | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | -6 | 18 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 15 | 3 | 7 | 5 | -2 | 16 |
| 15 | Leeds United | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | -8 | 16 |
| 16 | Southampton | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | -10 | 16 |
| 17 | Watford | 16 | 4 | 1 | 11 | -10 | 13 |
| 18 | Burnley | 14 | 1 | 7 | 6 | -7 | 10 |
| 19 | Newcastle United | 15 | 1 | 7 | 7 | -13 | 10 |
| 20 | Norwich City | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | -24 | 10 |