Lukaku shines in Man United win

Romelu Lukaku scored twice on his Premier League debut for Manchester United as they overpowered West Ham 4-0 at Old Trafford.

Goals either side of half-time complimented a fine performance from the Red Devils, who struggled to put away sides at Old Trafford last season.

Jose Mourinho's side never looked in trouble throughout, limiting West Ham to minimal chances whilst looking a threat on the break, before Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba struck within two minutes of one another to lay down the marker early on in the season.

United will look to add to their impressive opening display when they face Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in August 19.

While West Ham face Southampton on the same date.

It was the hosts who started on the front-foot with Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic looking particularly impressive, pinning West Ham back without creating any meaningful chances within the first 20 minutes.

It was a matter of time before Mourinho's men penetrated the West Ham defence and they did exactly that in the 27th minute when a quick free-kick from Danny Blind found Mata inside the box, but the former Chelsea midfielder's shot was saved well by Joe Hart before the loose ball fell to Lukaku who failed to get the ball out from his feet.

Mata's diagonal runs proved difficult for the Hammers' back-four to deal with, and it was a superb dink from Pogba which once again seen the Spanish International played in on goal, this time the 29-year-old chose to square the ball to Lukaku at the back-post rather than shoot, ultimately the wrong decision as Slaven Bilic's side cleared their lines.

But the inevitable arrived in the 33th minute as Marcus Rashford finished his delightful run by playing an inch-perfect through ball to Lukaku, who smashed his shot past Hart and in off the post, opening his Premier League account for the season.

West Ham offered little in terms of an attacking threat in the opening 45, but could have snatched an equaliser just before the whistle as Edimilson Fernandes forced David De Gea into a save following fine build-up play from Mark Noble and Andre Ayew.

United, and Lukaku doubled their tally seven minutes into the restart after Henrikh Mkhitaryan's free-kick on the left flank picked out the Belgian who powered his header home to register his 11th goal in 13 appearances against West Ham.

And the former Everton man could have hit a hat-trick after more fine work from Rashford found Mkhitaryan before the Armenian international picked out the Belgian in space, but the number nine's shot was blocked by former Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta.

Rashford looked a danger anytime he received the ball on the left, taking on a tiring Zabaleta at every opportunity, and the 19-year-old came close to registering a deserved goal when he cut inside before seeing his shot bounce off the inside of the post.

And Martial did his chances of a starting place no harm when he tucked away the third after an impressive through ball from Mkhitaryan.

Pogba completed the scoring for United with a long-range finish which found the bottom right-hand corner, helping the Red Devils to their biggest win since September, 2014.

Source: ISNTV

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