Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 50th club hat-trick to drag Manchester United to a win over last placed Norwich at Old Trafford.
United’s 3-2 win kept their lowkey top 4 hopes alive after Arsenal and Tottenham stumbled to damaging defeats.
The match itself took place after United fans staged a protest against the ownership outside the clubs Carrington training ground and that continued before the clash with Norwich as thousands of supporters marched outside the ground.
But when the game began, United -who had won just one of their last seven games coming into this match- looked set to run away with it as they went 2-0 ahead inside the first 32 minutes.
Ronaldo scored his first after just seven minutes as Anthony Elanga caught defender Ben Gibson in possession on the edge of the Norwich box to tee up the Portugal forward who finished off from close range.
United’s No. 7 got his second just after the half hour mark as he headed past Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul from a corner.
But Norwich pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage time Teemu Pukki picked out an unmarked Kieran Dowell to head home from just inside the six-yard box.
And the Premier League’s bottom side were level on 52 minutes as Dowell set up Pukki on this occasion with the Finland international beating the offside trap and keeping his cool to find the back of the net off the inside of the post.
But on 76 minutes, another Ronaldo hat-trick was completed as he sent a superb free kick past Krul for his second treble for United this season.
United are now only three points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth in the race for Champions League qualification, but United coach Ralf Rangnick was not overly confident of getting the job done, especially with title-chasing Liverpool up next on Tuesday.
