Manchester United beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Boxing Day. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side came from 1-0 down in the 17th minute to score three first half goals to lead the game. Anthony Martial scored a brace – a goal in either half with Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford scoring too. Solskjaer will be looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to Burnley now.
United started the match and soon started to play the possession game but not doing much with the ball. In the 17th minute of the match, after a period of promising play, Newcastle took the lead through Matty Longstaff, scoring his second goal against United this season, assisted by Joelinton after Fred lost the ball in midfield with Miguel Almiron and finding Joelinton, who passed to Longstaff.
The lead was short-lived for Newcastle as Anthony Martial equalised in the 24th minute for United. Luke Shaw made progress down the left for United, finding Andreas Pereira with the ball, who then found the Frenchman who blasted his shot low into the back of the net beating Martin Dubravka to get his side level with the visitors. United now need to find a goal to put them ahead and ensure a victory at home.
United put themselves ahead in the 36th minute of the match through Mason Greenwood, scoring his eighth goal of the season so far, matching Martial, who scored his eighth goal to put United level earlier in the match. Greenwood pounced on a loose ball after Fabian Schar made a defensive error, unleashing a fierce strike on goal and beating Dubravka. United were ahead and seeking to punish Newcastle.
United scored their third goal of the match in the 41st minute with Marcus Rashford finding his 15th goal of the season, his best season in first team football in his career so far. United had the ball out wide through Aaron Wan-Bissaka and his cross into the box was headed at the far post by Rashford. It started to look like a good performance for United, after conceding the opening goal in the 17th minute.
It was a good half of football from United, seemingly with them needing to concede a goal before getting into the game. It was good to see Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood, and Marcus Rashford finding goals again and United heading into the second half of the game leading. The ingredients are there to get results such as this one and with a bit more depth in the team, in terms of experience, things could be much better.
Six minutes into the second half, United strengthened their lead in the game with Martial scoring his second goal of the game, United’s fourth. The Frenchman capitalised on a back pass, using his pace to win the ball before finishing cutely past Dubravka to put United 4-1 up, the third time they have scored four goals in a game this season. United could well be stepping up their game at the halfway point of the season.
Paul Pogba got himself 45 minutes of football after playing for less than half an hour at the weekend, which will be good ahead of the next two big matches coming up starting with Burnley away on Saturday and the trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal on New Year’s Day. The Frenchman had three attempts on goal, all of them pressuring the Newcastle defence and goalkeeper, sadly none of them turning into goals.
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Goals: Anthony Martial 24′, 51′, Mason Greenwood 36′, Marcus Rashford 42′; Matty Longstaff 17′
Assists: Andreas Pereira 24′, Aaron Wan-Bissaka 41′; Joelinton 17′
Manchester United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay (Pogba 46′), Fred; Greenwood, Pereira, Rashford (Lingard 63′); Martial (Mata 67′)
Substitutes Not Used: Romero; Jones, Young; James
Bookings: Scott McTominay 1′, Andreas Pereira 35′; Fabian Schar 38′
