Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford were on target as Manchester United stretched their winning run in all competitions to six games with a comfortable victory over a hapless Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Rashford tapped into an empty net after a Bruno Fernandes pass to score in three successive Old Trafford league games for the first time.
His goal rounded off the scoring after Casemiro and then Luke Shaw had put Erik Ten Hag’s red-hot Red Devils in the front seat against the Cherries.
United had started slowly, having a lot of possession in their defensive third but, once they found the opener, a seventh successive home win in all competitions never felt in doubt.
They stay fourth, but join third-placed Newcastle on 35 points, and, perhaps most importantly, have opened up a five-point cushion on fifth-placed Tottenham.
One negative for United was a first-half injury sustained by midfielder Donny van de Beek, with Ten Hag saying “we need to wait 24 hours, but it is not looking very good”.
Bournemouth, who failed to have a shot on target until the 57th minute, stay 15th, two points clear of the relegation places.