Manchester United have proven they can impact the latter stages of the Premier League title race by beating Newcastle to win the Carabao Cup. After a bright start to the game from the Magpies, United scored twice in the space of six first half minutes through Casemiro and Marcus Rashford before putting on an extremely professional second half performance defensively to win the first domestic trophy of the season.
With both teams away from Premier League duties, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham all took advantage by extending their respective gaps between the two teams. United are now eight points off the top and six away from their Manchester rivals, and a four-point gap has now opened between Newcastle and the top four, although they have two games in hand over Tottenham.
Under Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils have transformed their fortunes from last season with talk of a possible title charge that was unthinkable even at the start of the campaign. United have shown they are capable of impacting what looked to be a straight shootout between City and Arsenal, but Gary Neville has remained pessimistic about his former clubs title chances.
