There was a time when talk of winning three in a row at Old Trafford referred to the hat-trick of league titles Sir Alex Ferguson secured in successive seasons, whether between 1999 and 2001 or 2007 and 2009. Ruben Amorim’s three consecutive Premier League wins amount to matches, not trophies. But for a manager who waited 11 months for back-to-back victories, this is progress nonetheless.
So, too, a league table that, however fleetingly, showed Manchester United in fourth, and above Liverpool. For a club who have spent almost all of the last year in the lower half of the standings, it made a welcome change. And if the last 20 minutes, when United threatened to give up a three-goal lead and a position of utter dominance, was scarcely proof they will remain in the upper echelons, there should be genuine encouragement from both the display of the team and the identity of the United scorers.
