Spread himself smartly to deny Kayode at full stretch and handled a relentless Brentford threat with the calm we have come to expect. The Jensen strike off the far post is the one mark against him: long shots remain the obvious gap in his game. Still, three saves you would not bet on every goalkeeper making.
Up against it in the first half as Damsgaard, Schade and Kayode kept finding pockets around him, but the team did not concede a goal from his side. The half-time switch to a back five took the pressure off and Dalot was steadier from there. One or two passes found touch in transition, but a competent shift on a night when any wobble looked likely to be punished.
Old-school captaincy on his 600th career club appearance. The headed ball back across the six-yard box for Casemiro to nod in was set-piece intelligence from a corner he has won countless times before, and minutes earlier he had drawn a Kelleher clearance off the line from another Bruno delivery. Brave in the air at both ends, and the cooler head when Brentford's set pieces came back the other way.
A mixed first half. The high line kept fracturing and Damsgaard repeatedly found Thiago behind him; on another night the Brazilian punishes United two or three times. The redeeming side was the recovery defending: the outstretched leg that turned a likely Thiago equaliser into a save was as good a piece of last-ditch work as you will see, and he got a vital touch a minute later when the striker threatened to go through again. Less troubled once the supply lines were cut. Still rough around the edges, still emerging.
An early yellow for hauling down Schade forced him to play the rest of the night with one foot tucked away, but he managed it without giving Brentford a second bite. Got across to spoil one dangerous low ball into Thiago in the first half. Withdrawn on 73 to a deserved ovation as United's only ever-present this season; the bigger question is whether the change was tactical or precautionary, and the closing four games will need him either way.
Gary Neville's player of the match, and rightly so. The opener was vintage Casemiro on a corner: timing, technique and the unhurried steal in behind the defensive line for his ninth league goal of the season, level with Dwight Yorke's 1999-2000 mark for the most headed Premier League goals by a United player in a single campaign. The substance came everywhere else too: snapping into Damsgaard and Yarmoliuk in the second half, shielding the back four when Brentford committed numbers, and going to ground in the right places to win the late free kicks that ate up the clock. Replacing this output, when the time comes, will not be straightforward.
Two strong performances on the bounce now, in two very different shapes. The early dribble through Brentford's midfield in the second minute, past Damsgaard and inside Yarmoliuk and Collins, was the kind of carry that has been missing from this side for most of the season; the square ball should have been buried by Amad. The defensive contribution was just as good: a crunching challenge on Kayode, the hooked clearance from a corner, recovery runs whenever Mbeumo got pulled out of position. If he keeps this up, the summer's incoming midfielders will arrive into a fight.
Worked hard against his former club without finding the bigger moments. Drifted onto a ball in front of goal that, taken cleanly, becomes the third goal that ends the contest, but the touch let him down. Useful when sliding inside as Bruno's partner in the 3-4-3, with the defensive work-rate honest throughout. The goals have not come since the first week of February, though, and the team needs that contribution back across the run-in. Withdrawn on 74 for Mount.
Has played half this season in deep midfield, much of it without a settled centre forward to finish his creations, and still finds himself one assist short of an all-time Premier League record. The corner for the opener was characteristically dangerous, but the pass for Šeško was the moment of the night: the body shape that pulled Collins and Van den Berg into the wrong half-step, the slide-rule weight that took two defenders out of the picture in a single touch. Nineteen league assists and counting.
A mixed evening that, on balance, came down on the right side. Ragged defensively in the first half, with Brentford's left flank one of the threats Carrick had to address at the break. Should have had a goal of his own in the second minute when Mainoo squared for him; the shot was hit low and clipped Van den Berg's heel rather than going up and over the man on the line. The redeeming moment was enormous, though: the challenge on the edge of his own box that fed Bruno started the three-on-two break for the second goal. Withdrawn at half-time as the shape shifted.
Quiet in the opening half-hour with not much service, then ruthless when the moment came. The held run for Bruno's pass was as well timed as the touch that lured Van den Berg sliding past him, and the finish high inside the near post had Kelleher diving the wrong way. Eleven goals for the season. The partnership with Bruno is starting to look like the thing United have spent most of the past decade trying to find.
