A hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United all three points at Old Trafford despite a battling performance from Norwich City.
The Canaries, battling to avoid the drop, created the first chance of the match but quickly found themselves 2-0 down in the first half. However, the showed great character to battle back and score on the stroke of half-time before then equalising through Teemu Pukki on 53 minutes.
They had the hosts rattled at that point but 15 minutes from time a Ronaldo free kick earned Ralf Ragnick’s side a crucial three points in their battle for a top four finish.
Head coach Dean Smith named an unchanged side from the team that had beaten Burnley 2-0 at home last time out.
However, there were two changes on the bench as Billy Gilmour and Przemysław Płacheta came into the matchday squad at the expense of Tony Springett and Brandon Williams, who was ineligible to play against his parent club.
The Canaries started the match brightly, creating the first meaningful chance of the game, as Pierre Lees-Melou threaded a pass into Pukki on the counter. The Finn tried to lift a shot over United keeper David de Gea but he was quickly off his line to block the shot.
Moments later Grant Hanley put in a brave block to deny Jadon Sancho before an error from Ben Gibson led to Cristiano Ronaldo tapping home the opening goal of the match and his 19th of the season. It could have been 2-0 after 11 minutes as Jesse Lingard, on a rare start, fired an effort an inch wide from inside the area.
The game settled after that moment, with Norwich only threatening through a well won free kick from Milot Rashica; that was fired wide by Mathias Normann.
United started to up the pressure around the half hour mark as Hanley had to cut a close range shot from Sancho out before Tim Krul saved well from a Lingard shot inside the box.
However, from the resulting corner, Ronaldo got away from his marker and planted a header into the back of the net.
Norwich responded well though as Dimitris Giannoulis got into a good crossing position, only to be denied by a superb sliding block from Victor Lindelöf, before Pukki fired over from the second phase of a corner, after Sam Byram had done well to keep the ball alive.
So, it was very much deserved when Norwich pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time. Pukki was the provider as picked up the ball in the box and chipped a cross to the back post where the unmarked Kieran Dowell headed home to give the Canaries hope going into the second half.
The Canaries, battling to avoid the drop, created the first chance of the match but quickly found themselves 2-0 down in the first half. However, the showed great character to battle back and score on the stroke of half-time before then equalising through Teemu Pukki on 53 minutes.
They had the hosts rattled at that point but 15 minutes from time a Ronaldo free kick earned Ralf Ragnick’s side a crucial three points in their battle for a top four finish.
Head coach Dean Smith named an unchanged side from the team that had beaten Burnley 2-0 at home last time out.
However, there were two changes on the bench as Billy Gilmour and Przemysław Płacheta came into the matchday squad at the expense of Tony Springett and Brandon Williams, who was ineligible to play against his parent club.
The Canaries started the match brightly, creating the first meaningful chance of the game, as Pierre Lees-Melou threaded a pass into Pukki on the counter. The Finn tried to lift a shot over United keeper David de Gea but he was quickly off his line to block the shot.
Moments later Grant Hanley put in a brave block to deny Jadon Sancho before an error from Ben Gibson led to Cristiano Ronaldo tapping home the opening goal of the match and his 19th of the season. It could have been 2-0 after 11 minutes as Jesse Lingard, on a rare start, fired an effort an inch wide from inside the area.
The game settled after that moment, with Norwich only threatening through a well won free kick from Milot Rashica; that was fired wide by Mathias Normann.
United started to up the pressure around the half hour mark as Hanley had to cut a close range shot from Sancho out before Tim Krul saved well from a Lingard shot inside the box.
However, from the resulting corner, Ronaldo got away from his marker and planted a header into the back of the net.
Norwich responded well though as Dimitris Giannoulis got into a good crossing position, only to be denied by a superb sliding block from Victor Lindelöf, before Pukki fired over from the second phase of a corner, after Sam Byram had done well to keep the ball alive.
So, it was very much deserved when Norwich pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time. Pukki was the provider as picked up the ball in the box and chipped a cross to the back post where the unmarked Kieran Dowell headed home to give the Canaries hope going into the second half.
Manchester United: De Gea; Dalot, Maguire, Lindelōf, Telles (Rashford, 74); Fernandes, Pogba (Mata, 74), Lingard (Matic, 63); Elanga, Ronaldo, Sancho.
Subs not used: Henderson, Bally, Jones, Wan-Bissaka, Mejbri, Garnacho Ferreyra
Goals: Ronaldo (7, 32, 75)
Norwich City: Krul; Byram, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis; Normann, McLean (Gilmour, 73); Dowell (Placheta, 74), Lees-Melou (Rowe, 82), Rashica; Pukki
Subs not used: Gunn, Aarons, Zimmermann, Rupp, Tzolis, Sørensen
Goals: Dowell (45), Pukki (53)
HT: 2-1
Venue: Old Trafford