Football: Marcus Rashford wakes up Manchester United; Manchester City held by Everton in English Premier League

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford celebrates after scoring against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Photo / AP

After sleeping in late, Marcus Rashford helped Manchester United come awake in the Premier League. Manchester City couldn’t find a similar spark as its title defense took another stumble despite Erling Haaland scoring yet again.

Rashford was dropped to the bench for disciplinary reasons after being late for a team meeting but responded by coming off the bench to give a sluggish United side the spark it needed, scoring the only goal in United’s 1-0 win at Wolverhampton today.

It was enough to lift United into the top four for the first time this season, with Erik ten Hag’s side ending the year on a high after three straight wins.

Another goal from Haaland wasn’t enough to prevent second-place Man City from dropping more points, however, as the defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton thanks to a stunning equaliser from Demarai Gray.

Arsenal responded by stretching their lead to seven points with a 4-2 win at Brighton in the later game. Third-place Newcastle were held to a 0-0 draw by Leeds.

Ten Hag’s decision to drop Rashford looked to have backfired as United struggled in attack, but the England forward came on after halftime and scored a well-taken goal in the 76th minute. And, unlike Cristiano Ronaldo earlier in the season, he had no problems with the manager’s decision.

“I was a little bit late for a meeting. I slept in, overslept, but it can happen,” Rashford said. “I’m obviously disappointed not to play but I understand the decision and I’m happy we managed to win the game anyway. I think we can draw a line under it and move on.”

Ten Hag also seemed ready to move on, having seen once again how important Rashford is to his team’s attack.

“Everyone has to match the standards and rules. We have to have consequences and it is what I expect on the pitch. He gave the right answer,” Ten Hag said of Rashford. “I was not satisfied with the performance in the first half. We have to be more clinical and we know Rashy can score the goals and that’s what he did.”

Rashford netted his 11th goal of the season after he collected the ball on the left before cutting inside and swapping passes with Bruno Fernandes, then dribbled his way past two defenders to sweep it past goalkeeper Jose Sa.

It was a rare bit of quality for United, with striker Anthony Martial and winger Antony both struggling to make an impact. But after a terrible start to the season, United has now lost just one of its last 15 games since a humiliating 6-3 derby loss to Manchester City in October. And with the Ronaldo saga finally concluded — the Portugal star joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on Friday after being released by United in November — Ten Hag’s team looks ready to challenge for a Champions League place again.

“It’s the first time we are in the top four,” Ten Hag said. “But it means nothing because it’s a long way to go.”

Fulham climbed to seventh place with a 2-1 win over Southampton, while Crystal Palace earned a 2-0 victory at Bournemouth.

Arsenal extend lead

Arsenal couldn’t have asked for a much better end to the year.

Perhaps it’s really time to start believing for a team that hasn’t won the league title since the unbeaten “Invincibles” did so in 2004.

“Of course at the start of the season if you asked us if we wanted this (position at New Year’s) we would bite your hand off,” said Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, who netted the first goal against Brighton after little more than a minute. “It is a great opportunity we have, and it’s a great place we have put ourselves in.”

Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah also scored to put Arsenal 3-0 up by the 47th and seemingly cruising to an easy win, but the visitors still endured an unnecessarily nervy finish as Brighton’s resistance only ended when an 89th-minute goal that would have made it 4-3 was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.