Kobbie Mainoo celebrated signing his new Manchester United deal with a winning goal against Liverpool at Old Trafford to secure UEFA Champions League football next season.
Former Man Utd star Michael Carrick was tasked with qualifying for the UEFA Champions League when he took over as interim head coach in January and it was fitting that the academy graduate he brought back into the team completed the job.
Mainoo, 21, admitted “it was difficult” under former United head coach Rubin Amorim, who suggested he might need to move on loan in December. He did not start a single game under Amorim, but has started 13 out of 13 since he left.
The midfielder’s extraordinary transformation has mirrored Man Utd’s under Carrick.
“He’s played a huge part, the confidence that he puts in not just me but all the players, you want to follow him, fight for him, die for him on the pitch,” Mainoo said of Carrick, a predecessor in the United midfield.
Man Utd took a two-goal lead within 14 minutes – the quickest they had done so against Liverpool in the Premier League.
But Liverpool scored twice within nine minutes of the second half as Dominik Szoboszlai continued to shine. The Hungarian scored a fine solo goal and set up Cody Gakpo, making him the club’s first midfielder to reach double figures for goals and assists since Steven Gerrard in 2014.
For a brief spell a phenomenal Man Utd run was seemingly at risk: the club had not lost a home league match they had been winning at half-time since May 1984.
But Mainoo’s goal – his first goal in the league in 718 days – settled the match and put a six-point gap between them and fourth-placed Liverpool, with only three games to play.
Watch: Mainoo's goal and highlights v Liverpool
Man Utd are due to make a permanent managerial appointment in the summer and Carrick’s audition could barely have gone better.
Since he took over, Man Utd have won 32 points – five more than the next best side, Arsenal.
Spurs moving on up
Tottenham Hotspur's players showed they are beginning to understand Roberto De Zerbi’s high-intensity system as they climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time in almost a month.
Six points from successive matches – after beating Wolverhampton Wanderers the weekend before – are more than the five they accumulated in the 14 Premier League games before them.
De Zerbi cautioned “it’s not finished yet” and does not want his players to forget how they have suffered. “Before Wolverhampton was a very sad situation,” the Italian told TNT Sport. “These memories have to stay in our head every day.”
This win remarkably means they now have the third-best away record this season, with 29 points, behind only league leaders Arsenal (32pts) and Manchester City (31pts).
West Ham’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford on Saturday handed Spurs the opportunity to escape the bottom three, though few would have predicted how well they took it.
The win moved them one point above West Ham into 17th place. And, perhaps significantly, they have a far superior goal difference to their relegation rivals: minus nine to minus 19.
Conor Gallagher picked an ideal moment to score his first Spurs goal to open the scoring – almost two years to the day since his last in the Premier League.
“It’s always a bit of a relief to get that first goal,” Gallagher told TNT Sport. “It’s exactly what we needed. It’s been a perfect night. Hopefully it’s only the start.”
Gallagher said he “can’t speak highly enough” of De Zerbi and his influence on their revival. “He's been so good. Every player in the squad has taken to him; he makes you feel so good. He brings the best out of you.”
De Zerbi returned the compliment: “When Gallagher plays well, we play with 12 players.”
Watch: Full-time reaction by Spurs' players
Villa are still six points above sixth-placed Bournemouth and are almost guaranteed fifth place and UEFA Champions League qualification.
But they struggled in the aftermath of Thursday’s UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg defeat at Nottingham Forest, becoming the first team this season not to have a touch in Spurs’ penalty area in the first 30 minutes of a match, and managing only one in over an hour.
It took until 61 minutes for a first shot and Villa fans had to wait until the sixth minute of stoppage time to see their team’s first shot on target – a goal from Emiliano Buendía.
“We still have work to do in the Premier League but we still have an advantage to get our huge target to be in the top five,” a disappointed manager Unai Emery said.
Bournemouth dreaming of Europe
A 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace means it is now in AFC Bournemouth’s hands to finish sixth, which could qualify them for next season’s Champions League in a remarkable season underpinned by the savvy recruitment of young players.
Teenagers Junior Kroupi and Rayan, both signed within the last 12 months, scored in a comfortable victory against Palace. Bournemouth are the only side to have two teenagers score in a game this season.
From having never played in Europe, UEFA’s premier competition has become a tantalising prospect after they extended their unbeaten run to 15 games.
Even if Chelsea beat Forest on Monday, Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth side will remain a point clear of seventh place.
For sixth spot to earn a Champions League place, Villa must finish in the top five and win the UEFA Europa League.
Kroupi, 19, signed from Lorient last year, scored his 12th Premier League goal of the season, equalling the record for a debutant teenager set by Robbie Fowler, at Liverpool, and Robbie Keane at Spurs.
Watch: All of Kroupi's goals this season
European qualification would be the perfect send-off for Iraola, who leaves in the summer.
Palace, back in action after a Europa Conference League first-leg semi-final victory 800 miles away in Poland against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday, found it difficult to get into the game.
Head coach Oliver Glasner made five changes to rest players but was frustrated by a series of errors.
“Let’s say you have a friend's birthday and your wedding [a few days later], you are more excited for the wedding. This is the same," he said. "Bournemouth’s semi-final was today — ours is Thursday."
Palace failed to have a shot in the first half for the first time in a league game in five years. Even if they had more touches in Bournemouth’s penalty area in the first 45 seconds of the second half than in 45 minutes of the first, it was not enough to get back into a match.
Indeed, Rayan, also 19, sealed it late on with his fourth goal since signing from the Brazilian side Vasco da Gama in January.