Player Ratings: Newcastle 0-2 Man Utd

Goals from Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford in the final half hour made it four wins from four games for Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United this evening.

In what had been a close game that saw Christian Atsu miss several opportunities for the hosts, Lukaku poked us into the lead within a minute of entering the field as Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka spilled Marcus Rashford’s free kick.

Rashford killed the game off with 11 minutes to go, finishing one-on-one on a counter attack with substitute Alexis Sanchez providing the assist.

As Chelsea were held 0-0 at home by Southampton this evening we have moved to within six points of the top four.

Here are how our players fared:

David de Gea 7 – Not forced into anything of great difficult and dealt with what was thrown at him. David de Gea kept only his third clean sheet of the season.

Antonio Valencia 6 – Christian Atsu caused us a lot of problems down the right all evening as Antonio Valencia was forced out wide by Matt Ritchie and we lacked cover in the middle. Our captain didn’t venture too far forward compared to Ashley Young in this role under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.

Phil Jones 9 – A rock at the back today that included a last ditch challenge to deny Salomon Rondon a one-on-one opportunity in the first half.

Victor Lindelof 9 – Read the game excellently and made some important blocks and interceptions. A clean sheet at St James’ Park this evening wouldn’t have been possible but for Victor Lindelof.

Luke Shaw 8 – Saw a lot of the ball bombing forward from left-back once again but didn’t put any crosses into the box nor create any chances. Fairly comfortable game defensively.

Nemanja Matic 8 – Played an important role in us dominating possession before we took our foot off the accelerator after taking the lead. Nemanja Matic won numerous aerial battles and tackles to win the ball back for us too.

Ander Herrera 7 – Tidy game in midfield without being spectacular. Got stuck in when Newcastle had the ball in the middle of the park.

Paul Pogba 7 – Recipient of a nasty foul from Jonjo Shelvey.  A quiet game from Paul Pogba by the standards he’d set in his first game under Solskjaer.

Juan Mata 6 – Struggled to break down the Newcastle defence from out on the right wing. We scored seconds after Juan Mata was replaced.

Marcus Rashford 9 – A cracking free kick that Martin Dubravka spilled to set up Romelu Lukaku’s winner. Marcus Rashford worked hard running the lines and got his just reward on the counter attack in the final 15 minutes, finishing fine one-on-one after an excellent pass from Alexis Sanchez.

Anthony Martial 6 – On the fringes of the game down the left wing and ultimately substituted for the final half hour.

Substitutes

Romelu Lukaku (29 mins) N/A – Scored within seconds of coming on as Romelu Lukaku showed great instinct to follow up Rashford’s spilled free kick to poke home the winner.

Alexis Sanchez (29 mins) N/A – Excellent through ball to set up Rashford to kill the game off.

Jesse Lingard (4 mins) N/A – A late introduction to give Marcus Rashford a rest.