Luke Shaw and Odion Ighalo (2) scored the goals that have teed up a quarter-final tie against Norwich City later this month, as the Reds maintain the pursuit of a 13th success in the historic competition.
United’s performance on a bitterly cold night in Derbyshire was accomplished and, as a result of the victory, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men are now unbeaten in nine fixtures across all competitions, which is an encouraging run of form heading into this weekend’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
The manager admitted he had one eye on that fixture when he made six changes to the starting XI against Derby, although two of those alterations were enforced by injury after Aaron Wan-Bissaka picked up a knock against Everton last time out and Harry Maguire rolled his ankle in training.