Rasmus Hojlund ended his 21-game goal drought as Manchester United won 0-3 at struggling Leicester City to sink the Foxes further lower the relegation zone.
The Danish striker had not scored since 12 December but seized on poor defending to claim the 28th-minute opener, before Alejandro Garnacho added a second after the break – his first goal in 24 appearances.
The impressive Bruno Fernandes, who assisted two goals, added a 90th-minute third to underline United’s dominance.
Victory, though, was tainted by a potentially serious injury to defender Ayden Heaven, who was stretched off in the 51st minute in just his second career start, after falling awkwardly.
The result changed little in United’s troubled Premier League season, lifting them from 15th to 13th, but it maintained its momentum after Thursday’s thumping of Real Sociedad to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
Leicester, however, look doomed to an instant return to the Championship after a 13th defeat in 14 games kept them second bottom and nine points from safety.
The Foxes become the first team in top-flight history to lose seven successive home games without scoring, having now not found the net in the league at the King Power Stadium since 8 December.
Apart from late efforts from Facundo Buonanotte and Jamie Vardy, they rarely looked like ending their own drought and could have fallen behind before Hojlund’s strike when Christian Eriksen’s curling effort hit the post.
There was relief too for Garnacho. Having earlier had a goal disallowed for offside, the Argentine made it 2-0 in the 67th minute when he pounced on more wretched defending.
Fernandes swept in a third from the edge of the area as United cruised to victory, while Leicester, managed by former Red Devils striker and interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, were booed off.
Dutchman Van Nistelrooy put on a show of defiance as he said: “We can’t and we won’t give up – we will fight ’til the end.
As I said, mathematically until it’s impossible, we keep going. We want to show that we can score goals, that we can get a clean sheet at this level and pick up points.”
