MAN UNITED (4-2-3-1):

De Gea 7; Valencia 7, Lindelof 6, Smalling 6, Young 8; Matic 6, POGBA 8 (Fellaini 70, 5); Rashford 8, Mata 6 (Herrera 83), Martial 8 (Ibrahimovic 77); Lukaku 7.

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


NEWCASTLE (4-4-2):

6 Elliot: Was beaten four times, but still didn’t do an awful lot wrong despite suffering a knock after a collision in the first half

5 Yedlin: Delivered a superb pull-back for Gayle’s opener, but his defending was inadequate at times and he was out-jumped by Martial

4 Lejeune: Looked increasingly all at sea as Man United poured forward in the second half and defended abjectly as Lukaku scored

5 Clark: Recalled in place of the injured Lascelles, but never really looked comfortable as Lukaku pulled him out of position

4 Manquillo: Suffered one of his most difficult afternoons of the season and completely lost Smalling as the defender scored

5 Ritchie: Put in a shift down the right-hand side, but his through balls were largely ineffective and his set-pieces weren’t up to their usual standard

6 Hayden: Covered a lot of ground as he looked to get forward, but wasted a glorious chance on the stroke of half-time when he shot at De Gea

5 Shelvey: Suffered one of those days when his searching long balls don’t really come off – was bypassed as Man United dominated the second half

6 Murphy: Earned a surprise recall in place of the injured Atsu and went close with a couple of decent first-half efforts

7 Gayle: Claimed his first goal of the season with a clinical first-half finish and was always a threat to the Man United defence

5 Joselu: His hold-up play remains pretty decent, but his complete lack of a goal threat is now becoming a major issue


Subs:

4 Aarons (for Ritchie, 66): Made his first league appearance of the season from the bench, but never really looked like being a factor

Mitrovic (for Joselu, 71)

Diame (for Gayle 77)

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


Man Of The Match: PAUL POGBA – The Frenchman ended a two-month injury absence, and looked like he had never been away as he completely dominated the heart of midfield.