Manchester United got their top-four bid back on track with a solid 1-0 victory over Brentford on Wednesday evening, with Erik ten Hag's side banishing some demons following the early season drubbing at the hands of the Bees back in August.
Unlike that grim summer's day in west London, it was United who were largely in control of proceedings this time around, with talisman Marcus Rashford ending his recent mini goal drought in the Premier League with a close-range finish midway through the first half.
Despite an improved display from the visitors after the break, long-serving stopper David De Gea was largely untroubled between the sticks at Old Trafford, with a handful of nervy moments only stemming from the Spaniard's typically erratic distribution.
The 32-year-old was able to recover from those 'sloppy' moments, however – as per GOAL's Richard Martin – to produce a big save to deny substitute Kevin Schade late on, with that fine intervention helping to seal what was a vital three points for the Carabao Cup winners.
Following the weekend aberration at St James' Park, there were undoubtedly far more positives to take from yesterday's performance for Ten Hag, albeit with the Dutchman still likely to be concerned with the limited impact of £73m man, Jadon Sancho.
How did Sancho perform against Brentford?
There had been reports ahead of the match from Manchester Evening News that the former Ajax boss is becoming 'increasingly impatient' with the 23-year-old, with the fleet-footed forward having struggled to nail down a consistent role in the side this season, while providing just five goal involvements in the top-flight.
On what was just his 13th league start of the campaign last night, the former Borussia Dortmund man was unable to truly take his chance down the left flank, having been reinstated in the starting lineup after Wout Weghorst dropped to the bench.
Although it was a 'more assured performance' than usual for the £350k-per-week flop, as per MEN's Samuel Luckhurst, the Red Devils will likely still be expecting more from the playmaker, as he simply went "missing" against Thomas Frank's men, according to journalist Thomas Alencar.
That was evidenced by the fact that the Englishman's tally of 54 touches was actually fewer than what teammate Luke Shaw racked up (56), despite the latter man having been withdrawn in the first half due to an injury issue.
As per the aforementioned Martin, Sancho was 'slow and indecisive on the ball' as he failed to create anything of any real note in his 71-minute outing, having registered just one key pass and lost possession on 11 occasions.
While the 33-pass enigma 'worked hard' – in the words of 90min's Jamie Spencer – after winning four of his six ground duels, there was little end product to mirror that solid work ethic, having recorded an underwhelming 6.9 match rating, as per Sofascore.
At a time when a rampant Rashford simply has the golden touch in front of goal, his international colleague continues to look like something of a spare part.