Premier League: Man. United 2 Burnley 2

Jesse Lingard was United's saviour on Boxing Day, as the half-time substitute scored twice to cancel out a shock advantage gleaned for Burnley by Ashley Barnes's second-minute opener and Steven Defour's free-kick.

Lingard pulled the first goal back with a clever backheeled finish from a low Ashley Young cross in the 53rd minute but the Reds were made to wait until injury time for his point-saving second strike, a low finish arrowed into the net after the Clarets failed to clear a corner.

There has always been a fierce rivalry between United and Burnley and games have invariably been feisty occasions. This latest encounter against one of Lancashire’s most famous clubs got off to an explosive start when the Clarets took the lead in only the third minute.

Marcos Rojo received a yellow card after stopping Jeff Hendrick in his tracks and when Johann Berg Gudmundsson swung the resulting free-kick into David De Gea’s penalty area, United’s defence failed to clear and Ashley Barnes gleefully hooked the ball home.

It was dream start for the visitors and for the next few minutes they matched United in every facet of game as the Reds took a little time to get into their stride. However, Juan Mata, Luke Shaw and Paul Pogba all raised the home fans' hopes of an equaliser as the chances started to stack up in front of the East Stand.

This was unquestionably a full-blooded North-West clash that was generating one of the noisiest atmospheres of the season inside Old Trafford. On the balance of play, United certainly looked the most likely to score next, but in the 36th minute, Burnley shocked the majority of the crowd when they scored again to double their lead.

The second goal came as a result of another free-kick just outside United’s box at the Stretford End, a set piece which was clinically despatched past De Gea by Burnley’s Belgian international Steven Defour.

Romelu Lukaku almost halved the deficit in the moments before the half-time whistle was sounded, but his blistering drive was narrowly wide of the post.

Mourinho freshened up his team up at the interval, introducing Lingard for Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Rojo. Both the incoming players took up midfield places with Nemanja Matic dropping back into defence to replace the Reds' Argentinian centre-back.

United’s supporters were in good voice and urging their favourites to push forward and in the 53rd minute they really had something to shout about when Burnley’s defence was finally breached. The Reds were certainly looking determined and when Young’s cross from the right found Lingard, the half-time arrival deftly back-heeled his side back into the game.

Jose Mourinho's men, who’d enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and attacking prominence throughout the game, were now hunting for the equaliser against a Burnley team fighting hard to preserve their lead.
The pressure on the visitors' defence was almost continuous, but credit to the Clarets, they were battling hard to keep a grip on their one-goal lead.

Nick Pope, in the Burnley net, was probably involved more than any other player on the field as the Reds hammered away in search of a second vital goal. The clock seemed to be ticking ever quicker and the Burnley supporters, who had been in good voice for most of the afternoon, were a little quieter and perhaps holding their breath and keeping their fingers crossed.

The ninety-minute mark was reached and the fourth official held up his illuminated board to indicate that there would be five extra minutes. Old Trafford roared its approval in the hope that a second home defeat of the season could still be averted.

Two minutes into added time, and with some fans already making for the exits, United finally saved the day when Lingard grabbed his second goal of the match to give his side what was looking like an increasing unlikely share of the spoils.

This was perfect Boxing Day fayre and an indication of the ferocity of the contest can be assessed from the fact that there were ten yellow cards, seven of them for Burnley players, shown by referee Martin Atkinson.
He’ll certainly have a heavy load of paperwork to deal with on the back of his afternoon’s work in the middle.

THE LINE-UPS

United: De Gea; Young, Jones, Rojo (Mkhitaryan, 46), Shaw; Matic, Pogba; Mata, Ibrahimovic (Lingard, 46), Rashford; Lukaku.

Substitutes not used: Romero, Blind, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Herrera.

Booked: Rojo, Shaw, Mkhitaryan.

Burnley: Pope; Bardsley, Long, Mee, Taylor; Arfield, Cork, Hendrick, Defour (Vokes, 66), Gudmundsson; Barnes (Walters, 80).

Substitutes not used: Lindegaard, Marney, Lowton, Westwood, Wells.

Booked: Barnes, Taylor, Bardsley, Pope, Gudmundsson, Cork, Vokes.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR UNITED?

After playing both Leicester City and Burnley in a period of less than 72 hours, the gap until the Reds' home meeting with Southampton will seem comparatively refreshing. Mauricio Pellegrino will bring his beleaguered Saints side to Old Trafford for Saturday's 17:30 GMT kick-off, on the back of a heavy 5-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.