Monday Briefing: Nine Key Points For Reds

Keeping up with the world of Manchester United over a weekend is always difficult, especially ahead of Christmas, which is why Your Monday Briefing is here to keep you up to date…

1: WEST BROM 1 UNITED 2
Jose Mourinho’s Reds secured a third consecutive away win in the Premier League by defeating Alan Pardew’s Baggies at The Hawthorns, and the result means there is still an 11-point deficit on leaders Manchester City following their 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Spurs are now down to seventh place and our north-west neighbours Burnley are remarkably up to sixth after 18 matches played. Meanwhile, rivals Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all chalked up wins of their own.

2: LUKAKU CHOSE NOT TO CELEBRATE
Romelu scored the opening goal with a devastating header from Marcus Rashford's cross and much was made of his decision not to celebrate against his former loan club. Speaking afterwards, Mourinho was bemused by the talking point. “I didn't celebrate,” he said. “Nobody was happier than me. Fifteen years ago I look at myself celebrating goals. With maturity you go into levels that you control your emotions better. Romelu was a happy kid at West Brom - maybe at the back of the mind it was his love for the club.”

3: LINGARD SET CAREER-BEST TALLY
Jesse doubled our advantage with a deflected effort before half-time, to register his seventh goal in all competitions this season. That is the highest amount he has ever recorded in a single campaign, with his previous best being the six goals he bagged in 2015/16. So, how many will he finish with?

4: VALENCIA OUT WITH 'DECEMBER INJURY'
Antonio was withdrawn after 66 minutes at The Hawthorns and Mourinho has confirmed the Ecuadorian has suffered a hamstring problem, which he blamed on the hectic fixture list in December. “This is what I call a December injury,” the boss said in his press conference. “It is an injury of accumulation of fatigue. It is a muscular one. Hamstring. Big, small, medium, I don't know.”

5: ROJO JOINED THE 100 CLUB
With every negative, we like to find a positive and that was the case when Marcos reached a century of United appearances by replacing Valencia. The Argentina international played at left-back and, on Instagram, later posted: “Happy and proud to have made my 100th appearance for this great club.”

6: MATIC WON MAN OF THE MATCH
The influential summer signing topped our Twitter poll by earning 71 per cent of votes, beating off competition from fellow nominees Chris Smalling and Phil Jones following their solid defensive displays. The tweet that announced his victory to the world described the performance as “classy”, which Gary Neville then retweeted to his 3.88million followers with the single word: “Agreed”.

7: POGBA IS NOW AVAILABLE
Paul has now served the three-match suspension in the Premier League that was dealt to him after his red card against Arsenal. It means he can feature in our next top-flight outing, at Leicester City on Saturday night, although the Frenchman may play beforehand in the Carabao Cup outing at Bristol City.

8: ANOTHER WIN FOR BRISTOL
The Robins warmed up for Wednesday's quarter-final tie at Ashton Gate Stadium by recording a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, thanks to goals from Marlon Pack and Joe Bryan. Lee Johnson's side, which has won eight of their last 10 fixtures in all competitions, is now up to third in the Championship table.

9: ROONEY DISMISSED CITY'S BEST-EVER CLAIM
In an interview with radio station TalkSport, Wayne rejected the amusing suggestion that Pep Guardiola’s team is the greatest in Premier League history – pointing out the Blues are yet to win a single trophy in his reign. “This City team needs to win trophies and needs to do it for a longer period to be in that bracket,” he said. “The best ever? I would go with the Man United team from 2008.”