NEWCASTLE UNITED crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season as Manchester United’s attacking talent proved too hot to handle at Old Trafford.

Despite leading through Dwight Gayle’s first goal of the season, the Magpies were hammered 4-1 as Jose Mourinho’s side showcased their goalscoring abilities in some style.

Anthony Martial and Chris Smalling scored in the first half, with Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku also finding the target after the interval as the hosts kept up the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table.

Newcastle were the better side for the opening half-hour, but eventually finished well beaten as they suffered a third successive defeat.

Rafael Benitez was forced into two changes to his Newcastle line-up, with Jamaal Lascelles and Christian Atsu both unavailable because of injury. Ciaran Clark was an obvious choice to replace Lascelles, but Jacob Murphy was a rather more surprising option in place of Atsu.

The former Norwich midfielder has achieved little since making a £12.5m summer move from Carrow Road, but Benitez handed him a second Premier League start ahead of Ayoze Perez and Rolando Aarons.

Murphy’s selection meant Benitez was able to stick with the 4-4-2 formation he adopted in the 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth that preceded the international break, and his boldness was rewarded as his side caused problems from the off.

Manchester United had not conceded a Premier League goal at Old Trafford all season prior to kick-off, but that changed in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

Ciaran Clark had already threatened with a header that drifted wide when DeAndre Yedlin set off on an overlapping run down the right-hand side in the 14th minute.

Having surged past Ashley Young, the full-back intelligently picked out Gayle with an inch-perfect pull back, and Newcastle’s number nine swept home a superb first-time finish via the inside of the post. It was Gayle’s first goal of the season, and sent the sold-out away end into ecstasy.

Manchester United’s only effort in the opening 20 minutes saw Lukaku turn Antonio Valencia’s low cross over the crossbar, and rather than sit on their lead, Newcastle looked to throw as many counter-attacking players forward as possible in an attempt to add to their advantage.

Twice, the ploy almost worked. First, Gayle sent Murphy galloping into the right-hand side of the area, only for the midfielder to curl a tame shot straight at David De Gea. Then, a minute later, Murphy found himself in space in the area again following an excellent through ball from Jonjo Shelvey, but his shot whistled narrowly wide of the far post.

Nevertheless, the visitors had their opponents rattled, but to their credit, Manchester United steadied the ship and began to cause problems of their own.

Marcus Rashford curled wide of the post and Lukaku headed Victor Lindelof’s floated cross over the bar, before Martial showed his team-mates how it should be done eight minutes before the interval.

Pogba’s trickery was the key to the goal, with the returning midfielder dancing past Isaac Hayden before standing up a cross from the right. Martial out-jumped Yedlin, and planted a powerful header past Rob Elliot.

Joselu almost headed Young’s cross into his own net as Manchester United continued to press before the break, and the hosts completed a rapid turnaround with a second goal on the stroke of half-time.

It was a poor goal for the Magpies to concede, with Young swinging over a deep cross from the left and Smalling peeling away from Javier Manquillo to head home at the back post.

With the game continuing at a breathless pace, there was still time for Newcastle to go close again before the interval. Hayden shot straight at De Gea after breaking into the area, and Matt Ritchie’s rebound whistled narrowly wide via a deflection off Gayle.

Had Newcastle been level at half-time, the second half could have been a tense affair. Instead, Manchester United effectively put the game to bed when they opened up a two-goal lead nine minutes into the second period.

It was a wonderfully-worked goal, with Lukaku crossing from the right, Rashford guiding the ball back across goal with a downward header, and an onrushing Pogba slotting home from inside the six-yard box.

Whereas the first half had been a tight affair, the second was extremely one-sided, with Manchester United pouring forward and causing problems seemingly at will.

A fourth goal duly arrived with 20 minutes left, with Lukaku’s one-two with Juan Mata seeing him power into the box. Florian Lejeune missed his attempted tackle, and Lukaku steadied himself before hammering past a helpless Elliot.

Man United (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Valencia, Lindelof, Smalling, Young; Matic, Pogba (Fellaini 70); Rashford, Mata (Herrera 83), Martial (Ibrahimovic 77); Lukaku.

Subs (not used): Romero (gk), Shaw, Rojo, Lingard.

Newcastle (4-4-2): Elliot; Yedlin, Lejeune, Clark, Manquillo; Ritchie (Aarons 66), Hayden, Shelvey, Murphy; Gayle (Diame 77), Joselu (Mitrovic 71).

Subs (not used): Darlow (gk), Gamez, Mbemba, Perez.