Yeovil 0 Manchester United 4: Alexis Sanchez marks debut with an assist to send Jose Mourinho's Red Devils into FA Cup fifth round

1/128
Tom Doyle27 January 2018

Manchester United eased into the fifth round of the FA Cup as Alexis Sanchez helped Jose Mourinho's Red Devils to a 4-0 win at Yeovil on Friday night.

Despite a spirited Yeovil display, Marcus Rashford capitalised on poor defending to give United a first-half lead before Sanchez teed up Ander Herrera to make the game safe after the break, with Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku netting late on.

All eyes were on former Arsenal star Sanchez at Huish Park as he made his United debut against Yeovil, but it was Darren Way's League Two side who made the better start of the two teams.

Mourinho's defence was put under early pressure, with Sergio Romero - in for David De Gea - looking a little shaky in goal.

As Arsenal fans will know, Sanchez struggled with his passing as he hit a few wayward cross-field balls out of play to spark joyful chants of "What a waste of money!" from the Yeovil fans.

Getty Images

But while Sanchez was not at his best on his first outing as United's new number seven, he had a part to play in both of United's goals.

Rashford initially played a one-two with Sanchez which the Yeovil defence should have cut out, but Tom James dallied when he should have cleared and allowed the young England striker to nip in and finish from close range four minutes before the break.

Getty Images
Getty Images

The goal was a gift from Yeovil after nearly a half of fine work, though the League Two side were just short of the quality on the night to really get at United.

Way's side went in search of an equaliser and were caught on the counter just past the hour-mark with Sanchez breaking at pace. The 29-year-old had men either side, and played in Herrera- who scored on this ground in an FA Cup win back in 2015 - to score on his 150th appearance for the club.

Getty Images

Sanchez had come in for some rough treatment from Yeovil's defenders throughout the game, and was substituted off with over 15 minutes to go as Mourinho protected his new signing.

But United weren't done there, as substitute Lingard provided a timely reminder of his qualities with a fine solo effort before fellow sub Lukaku netted with the last kick of the game.

Bigger tests await Mourinho, Manchester United and Sanchez, but the coach will be pleased with his side's professional display on a night where Yeovil initially looked capable of causing a huge upset.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in