Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan kept Manchester United in the top-four hunt and pushed Sunderland towards the Premier League drop.
Manchester United kept their hopes of a Premier League top-four finish alive with a routine 3-0 win over 10-man Sunderland on Sunday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 28th goal of the season set the visitors on course at the Stadium of Light before Henrikh Mkhitaryan doubled the lead after Sebastian Larsson’s red card.
Jose Mourinho made one or two surprising choices in his starting line-up, with Luke Shaw involved despite public criticism from his manager in the past week and Sergio Romero replacing the injured David de Gea in goal.
United nonetheless controlled things from the off against a home side with just five league wins all season and took the lead after 30 minutes through a brilliant Ibrahimovic strike.
Larsson was controversially dismissed for a tackle on Ander Herrera and United made their extra advantage count early in the second half, as Mkhitaryan struck to kill the game before Marcus Rashford had the final say late on.
United are back to within four points of fourth-place Manchester City, having played a game more, and now turn their attentions to a Europa League quarter-final first leg against Anderlecht on Thursday.
David Moyes’ side remain 10 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table, though, and are looking almost certain to drop into the Championship with eight games remaining