Anthony Elanga: Man Utd have a new star!

Carlo Garganese

19 Jan 2022 21:53 GMT
3 min read

Much of the talk ahead of Man Utd’s trip to Brentford on Wednesday centred around the struggles of Jadon Sancho.

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Sancho has had a nightmare first season at Old Trafford since his big-money move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

And things hit a new low last weekend against Aston Villa when interim manager Ralf Rangnick dropped him to the bench in favour of 19-year-old Anthony Elanga.

Elanga was one of the better players on the night at Villa Park in a 2-2 draw – and that was enough for Rangnick to choose him from the start once again.

Sancho was not even in the match squad against Brentford after being given time off to attend a family funeral.

When he returns, he will find it difficult to make it back into the starting XI.

Elanga again impressed and broke the deadlock on 54 minutes by latching onto a fantastic chipped through ball by Fred, before heading home with aplomb.

The teenager is a player that Rangnick really believes in and it seems as if he will be an integral part of the squad between now and the end of the season.

At youth level for Sweden, the winger has a stunning record, with seven goals in eight appearances for the Under-21s.

Three points on the road! 👏#MUFC | #BREMUN
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 19, 2022

Until that point in the match, United had been fortunate to be level. Brentford had been the better team and missed a number of big first half chances – with David de Gea the best player on the pitch.

Elanga’s goal turned the tide of the match and United dominated thereafter. Bruno Fernandes delivered fine assists for Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford to score a second and third goal, respectively, for United.

Rashford had gone 11 games without a goal so this was a much-needed boost for him.

The game ended 3-1 with Ivan Toney pulling back a consolation with five minutes to go.

And it was a much-needed win for United in the race for a top-four spot.

United have now closed the gap to two points on fourth-placed West Ham with a game in hand.

They would have been in an even stronger position had Tottenham not scored twice deep into injury time to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 win at Leicester.

The big winner on the night, though, from an individual point of view was Elanga.