Valencia Thunderbolt Helps United Return to Winning Ways

Manchester United continued their unbeaten start to the season with an emphatic 4-0 win over Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday evening.

Jose Mourinho made three changes to his team after their draw with Stoke last weekend, with Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata, coming in for Matteo Darmain, Ander Herrera and the injured Paul Pogba.

Wayne Rooney led the line for the Toffees on his return to Old Trafford, with Ronald Koeman making two changes after their disappointing 3-0 defeat to Tottenham last Sunday. Captain Phil Jagielka returned to the side along with Tom Davies meaning Sandro and Davy Klaassen dropped to the bench.

United got off to the best possible start when Antonio Valencia's thundered home a Nemanja Matic cross from the edge of the box, leaving Jordan Pickford with no chance. The away side struggled to settle until Rooney fashioned Everton's first chance of the game drilling his effort wide after good work from Cuco Martina.

Five minutes later former Toffees striker Romelu Lukaku was put through on goal after Juan Mata capitalised on Michael Keane's mistake but saw his effort go wide when it looked easier to score. Before Davies was thwarted by David de Gea following more good work from Martina down the right hand side.

Lukaku was presented another opportunity to score when Marcus Rashford slipped the Belgian in but saw his goal bound effort blocked by Jagielka, as the Red Devils went into the break with a narrow lead.

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Within a minute of the second half Rooney had a glorious chance to equalise when he dispossessed Eric Bailly in the box, but the Manchester United record goalscorer's left footed effort was denied by de Gea.

The game began to open up as Rashford's attempt went harmlessly wide of Pickford's goal in a lively start to the second period. Everton then had another golden opportunity to level the scores when the ball fell to Gylfi Sigurdsson but the summer arrival could only put his effort straight at the United number one.

Juan Mata then rattled the post with a free kick after the Spaniard was fouled by Ashley Williams, following an error from Pickford as Mourinho's side looked to increase their lead. With 20 minutes to play Jesse Lingard found himself with a good chance following good work from Ashley Young, but the substitute could only blaze his shot over the bar.

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Matic then tried his luck from distance but the Serbian saw his low strike go wide, as Koeman introduced Dominic Calvert-Lewin for Idrissa Gueye, to give his side a more attacking approach as they searched for a way back into the match.

The lively Lingard then had a penalty appeal turned down as he appeared to be clipped whilst getting his shot away. Henrikh Mkhitaryan then sealed the victory in the 82nd minute when Williams gave the ball away to Lukaku who played in the Armenian and made no mistake when finishing low beyond Pickford.

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Lukaku then added further gloss to the scoreline when he finished at the back post from a Lingard flick on, scoring against his former club in the process. Sandro then was denied his first goal for the club as he saw his long range effort tipped over by de Gea.

Anthony Martial then added United's fourth in injury time from the penalty spot after Morgan Schneiderlin handled, as Mourinho's saw his side return to winning ways. With Everton losing their fourth consecutive game as pressure mounts on the big spending Merseyside team.