Paul who? Man United breeze past Middlesbrough without £89m man

It’s taken a while, but Manchester United have finally broken into the Premier League’s top five following a comfortable 3-1 victory over relegation-doomed Middlesbrough.

Boro’s first match since parting ways with former boss, Aitor Karanka, coincided with a Manchester United side playing without Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the first time since the pair joined in the summer.

The latter was serving the second of his three-game suspension, while Pogba was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

And that victory has seen them climb above Arsenal in the league table into fifth-place – a position they should be keeping hold of over the coming weeks while looking to break into the Champions League spots.

Having been defeated in the Emirates FA Cup last week, the Red Devils are now focusing on winning the Europa League while aiming to finish as high in the table as possible.

And in the absence of their star players, the rest of the squad have proved they’re certainly good enough to get the job done against a Middlesbrough side who are now five points off safety in 19^th place.

With 11 games still to play this season, United are just four points off Tottenham Hotspur in second-place – although a late title push seems incredibly unlikely given the fact that Mourinho’s men are a staggering 17 points off league leaders Chelsea.

Fans will have reason to be cheerful though, with their side once again looking ruthless in front of goal. It was just the sixth time the Red Devils have scored three or more goals in one game this season in the top-flight – and if they can start doing that on a more regular basis, there’s every chance of the Manchester outfit challenging for the title next year.

What do fans think about today’s performance? Is the future looking bright at Man United?

Have your say in the comments section below!

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing