Four star United ease past Swansea

Eric Bailly’s first goal for Manchester United helped the Red Devils to a comfortable 0-4 win against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

The Ivorian opened the scoring at the stroke of half time, before Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead in the 80th minute. Paul Pogba added a quick third, before substitute Anthony Martial completed the rout six minutes from time.

The win sees United maintain their position at the top of the table, having won two games in two.

“We have a very good result, 4-0 again with a clean sheet,” Pogba said after the game. “We have to carry on like this,” he added.

The game started on a fantastic note, with both sides coming close to opening the scoring early on.

Jordan Ayew had Swansea’s chance, while Lukaku’s solo run was stopped as he tried to pick out Henrikh Mkhitaryan with a pass inside the box.

In the 14th minute, United had a chance, as defender Phil Jones’s header came off the bar off a Juan Mata corner kick.

Marcus Rashford had another United chance in the 22nd minute, a Swansea defender for pace, before recovering excellently to make a timely tackle.

Six minutes later, it was Rashford again with another chance for the Red Devils, but after making  space for himself, his shot was weak as Fabianski saved easily. It was the first shot of the match.

Swansea finally had a chance in the 33rd minute, with Ayew breaking down the right side before sending in a low cross that Bailly did well to clear before it got to Tammy Abraham.

Rashford was presented with another golden opportunity, the best of the half, bursting through the middle following a poor headed clearance by Swansea.

However, despite being one-on-one with Fabianski, the youngster’s decision making let him down as he tried to chip the Polish goalkeeper, and the chance went begging.

But just before the break, United had a breakthrough, as Bailly gave them a 1-0 lead.

Blind’s corner was met by Pogba, whose header was parried to the bar by Fabianski, falling loosely but Bailly reacted quickest to stamp home his first goal for the club, as United went into the break with a 1-0 advantage.

After the break, the game became a bit dodgy, as was played at a very low tempo.

Swansea began to grow in confidence and were controlling the game, as they began to ask more questions of United.

Just after the hour mark, Swansea came close when Ayew’s cross failed to find any Swansea team mates, just after Abraham came close earlier on with a header.

With the Swans on the ascendency, United manager, José Mourinho decided to ring some changes, as Martial and Marouane Fellaini replaced Rashford and Mata, with about 15 minutes left to play.

Five minutes after coming on, Martial was involved as Lukaku doubled the Reds’ advantage, after combining with Mkhitaryan, who found the Belgian with a lovely through pass, which the 24-year-old buried for his second goal in as many PL matches for his new club.

United were three goals up a minute after Lukaku’s, as Pogba breaks from the far right before passing to Mkhitaryan, who returned the favour when he threaded a lovely through ball for Pogba, who chipped the on-rushing Fabianski.

Three minutes later, United were looking unplayable as they made 4-0, as Martial repeated his feat against Westham last weekend when he came off the bench to score a goal.

Pogba intercepted a pass at the middle of the pitch, breaking down the middle as United counter attacked with pace, before passing to Martial beside him, and the 21-year-old, as cold as ever, took the entire Swansea defense on his own before calmly side footing home to make it 4-0.

The win sees United beat Swansea at the Liberty Stadium back-to-back for the first time, and keeps them top of the table on six points, after winning their first two PL games.

Up next for the Red Devils, the host 2016 champions, Leicester City at Old Trafford on Saturday.