Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s avowed intent to rebuild Manchester United based on a youthful nucleus continues apace although, into a mix of precocious attacking and midfield talent, the manager can now point to a defensive product making his mark with the club.

A 2-0 victory at Burnley, delivered thanks to goals from Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, two emerging stars already well known, moved United up to fifth after the weekend’s fixtures, and reinvigorated hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

But it was Brandon Williams, starting just the fourth Premier League game of his career, who caught the eye as part of a defence who kept a clean sheet for the first time in 15 league games.

There was a major caveat to add to that statistic, with Burnley possessing an attack without much imagination, pace or guile and having mustered a grand total of two shots on target in their past three games.

Still, Sean Dyche’s team presented a threat from set-pieces, from which David de Gea had to make his only save when flying to keep out Phil Bardsley’s strike, and £80 million defender Harry Maguire certainly drew optimism from a first clean sheet since the win over Leicester City in September.