Manchester United secured a third-place Premier League finish and a return to Champions League football on the back of a attacking trio that has delivered double-figure goal tallies — a feat the club has not managed for five years.

Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo both reached 10 Premier League goals for the season in United's 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest, joining fellow summer signing Benjamin Sesko in hitting that mark. The last time United boasted three players in double figures in a single Premier League campaign was under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in the season the club scored its most league goals since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure.

Goals transform United's season

The difference this campaign has been clinical — and dramatic. After a Premier League low of 44 goals last term, United have reached 66 with a game still to play, a 50 percent increase that represents the first such jump in a top-flight season since the Second World War. Their defensive record has remained broadly similar to the previous year; it is the attacking output that has propelled them 12 places up the table.

Each of the three forwards has had their complications. Cunha was hampered by niggling injuries in the first half of the season but delivered in the biggest matches. Mbeumo began brightly before dipping after the Africa Cup of Nations. Sesko's haul is arguably the most impressive given that he has been limited for minutes throughout. Yet United remain the only Premier League club with three players in double figures.

The trio have started together in just seven league matches, but with Bruno Fernandes now restored to his natural No 10 role, there is reason for optimism. Mbeumo and Sesko both rank among the top five in the division for off-the-ball runs per 90 minutes, while Cunha attempted over 100 dribbles — something no United player managed last season. He and Fernandes can unlock defences in ways the previous squad simply could not.

Work remains for Carrick this summer

Manager Michael Carrick will have a busy transfer window ahead. European football brings greater squad demands, the midfield requires rebuilding, and the defence needs freshening. However, the positions most difficult to fill — a reliable goalkeeper in Senne Lammens and a world-class playmaker in Fernandes — are already occupied. The forward line, this season's revelation, provides a platform on which to build.

Sunderland's second-half masterclass

Sunderland turned a first-half deficit into a commanding 3-1 victory at Everton, continuing a remarkable pattern that has defined their return to the Premier League under Regis Le Bris. No club in the division scores a higher proportion of their goals in the second half — 70 percent — and no team has won more matches when trailing at the break.

Le Bris' substitutions were the decisive factor at Goodison Park. The early introduction of Luke O'Nien stabilised the defence after Omar Alderete's injury, before a triple change added energy and cutting edge. Wilson Isidor, one of the three replacements introduced, scored the third goal to seal the result.