ENGLAND: Dalot, Fernandes goals inspire United to FA Cup progress [video] | OneFootball

Wigan Athletic 0-2 Manchester United

Manchester United avoided any prospect of an FA Cup slip-up by easily beating third-tier side Wigan Athletic on Monday evening, with Portuguese duo Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes scoring the goals to send the Red Devils through to the 4th round.

United came into the game off the back of an awful December, winning just two of their seven matches in all competitions and dropping to 8th place in the Premier League. Having already been knocked out of the League Cup and the Champions League, an upset in the FA Cup was unthinkable for Erik ten Hag’s side.

The visitors were comfortable for the majority of the match and should have won by more goals, but it was Luso duo Dalot and Fernandes who made the difference at the DW Stadium. Dalot, who was playing at left-back, opened the scoring with a perfectly-placed shot midway through the first half to give the visitors a deserved lead.

United missed a host of chances to increase their advantage, until Bruno Fernandes enticed a foul from Liam Shaw before converting a 74th minute penalty. There was much objection to the decision to award the spot-kick, but replays showed the Wigan man caught Fernandes’ trailing foot as he attempted to shift the ball onto his left foot.

Next up for United is a huge contest against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday. The Red Devils are 8 points adrift of Spurs in the battle for 5th place, which could be a passage into next season’s Champions League if England can secure a place among the top two European leagues in the UEFA Coefficient rankings.

“I’m happy, we did a very professional performance,” Dalot said. “Not perfect, otherwise we could have scored more goals. But overall I think we controlled the game, created a lot of chances and didn’t concede many. So we are happy with the performance. This was the first step for us to go to Wembley. We want to be there at the end of the season like last year. We know how special this competition is and how much we want to win it.”

By @SeanGillen9