Norwich City caused an upset of sorts by beating Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Alex Neil's Canaries led by two goals early in the second half after Cameron Jerome had found space after beating off a challenge before firing beyond David De Gea before he fed Alexander Tettey who rifled low into the bottom right corner.
United fought back through Anthony Martial's opportunistic close range finish in the 66th minute but that did not alter the result as Norwich moved up to 16th by ending a four-game winless run.
Louis van Gaal's Red Devils were unable to deliver in captain Wayne Rooney's 500th appearance and dropped to fifth with a second straight defeat.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Manchester United: 1 (Anthony Martial 66')
Norwich City: 2 (Cameron Jerome 38', Alexander Tettey 54')
Old Trafford, Manchester - 75,320
TALKING POINTS
- A morale booster for Norwich. Can a win like this be the catalyst to see them kick clear of the relegation zone?
- United in trouble having not won in their past four league matches. Does LVG need to change his game style in order to produce more positive results?
WHAT'S NEXT?
Man Utd travel to Stoke City on Boxing Day as Norwich get set to make the trip to London to meet Tottenham.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Disappointed yesterday we lost but we had to win the next game.. And thank you so much for this… https://t.co/YRCUD4Pi8a
— Anthony Martial (@AnthonyMartial) December 20, 2015
What a result today all round top performance from all the boys huge effort! Great away support #ncfc get home safe all
— cameron jerome (@camjerome33) December 19, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Van Gaal on the possibility of the Man Utd squad losing faith in him:
"Yes of course I am worried about that because I know that belief in a manager is very important, and when you lose the games you play then the belief in a manager shall decrease. That is happening now. I cannot close my eyes to that."
Norwich's Neil on his side's hard-working effort:
"I thought the players' work ethic was incredible. Many a team have come away from home against bigger sides and sat behind the ball and ended up being done by four or five. I wanted it so badly for them and I thought we deserved it. I'm really pleased."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
2 - Cameron Jerome is only the second player to score an away goal in the Premier League against Man Utd at Old Trafford this season. Stun.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 19, 2015
7 - Manchester United have hit a total of seven shots on target in their last four Premier League home games. Dour.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 19, 2015