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Alexis Sanchez Nets First Man United Goal as Romelu Lukaku Silences Critics

Manchester United got back to winning ways in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory against Huddersfield Town as Alexis Sanchez scored on his Old Trafford debut after Romelu Lukaku ended his goal drought.
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Manchester United got back to winning ways in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory against Huddersfield Town as Alexis Sanchez scored on his Old Trafford debut after Romelu Lukaku ended his goal drought.

The Red Devils fans remembered those that lost their lives in the Munich air disaster of 1958 by observing a minute's silence before kick-off for the 60th anniversary of the tragic plane crash.

All the pre-match amble was about Jose Mourinho dropping four star players. Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Ashley Young and Phil Jones were all excluded after the horror show against Spurs midweek, with Scott McTominay, Juan Mata, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rojo replacing them. 

David Wagner made three changes himself as captain Tommy Smith, Collin Quaner and Rajiv van la Parra all returned to the starting line-up.

Jesse Lingard had a fantastic chance in the eighth minute to put the Red Devils in the ascendancy as he burst through the Huddersfield defence from the half way line but Jonas Lossl got down well to hold onto his shot. 

Terriers defenders were growing increasingly angry at the lack of offside calls they were getting but they were lucky to have a stonewall penalty not given against them. McTominay rose highest in the penalty area to win his header and was then absolutely clattered by Terence Kongolo in an extremely dangerous aerial challenge.

Sanchez was looking up for his Old Trafford debut and he unleashed a venomous strike in the 27th minute but Lossl was able to palm it away. Shortly after, Aaron Mooy came on for Huddersfield in place of Sam Billing who had received an early yellow card.

Straight after the restart, Smith put in a fantastic block in front of goal to deny Sanchez but was then yellow carded a few moments later for wiping him out. It only took ten minutes for United to break the deadlock though...

Mata raced down the left-hand side and swung a cross into the near post for Romelu Lukaku - who has faced his fair share of stick in recent weeks - to run onto and emphatically turn home with his favoured left foot. The devastating finish had the Stratford End on their feet with the substitutes warming up racing over to congratulate the Belgian striker.

Michael Hefele came on for The Terriers but was yellow carded and gave away a penalty for two separate fouls on Alexis within ten minutes. Stuart Attwell adjudged Hefele to have tripped the Chilean in the box and Sanchez duly dragged himself up and scored on the rebound despite missing the initial spot kick.

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David De Gea played his 300th game as Manchester United no.1 but had virtually nothing to do all game but watch the scintillating attacking football in front of him.

The win means the Red Devils close the gap to 13 points at the top of the table after Manchester City dropped points at Burnley, while Huddersfield continue their free fall down the table into the relegation zone.