Manchester United thrashed Newcastle 4-0 at St. James’ Park on Saturday.
It was the champions’ fourth straight Barclay’s Premier League win, taking their points on the road to 33 from a possible 51- the best in the English division this season.
David Moyes’s men play Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday in a Champions League quarter-finals second leg tie, and the Scot mindfully listed a second string side with eight changes from the side that drew 1-1 with the German and European champions in the midweek for the Magpies.
Juan Mata, who is cup-tied for the trip to Munich, scored a brace as Javier Hernandez- filling in for the injured Wayne Rooney, and Adnan Januzaj completed scoring for United.
The win takes the ‘Red Devils’ to sixth in the table, a point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who plays at home to Sunderland on Sunday.
Newcastle produced a lacklustre display and fell behind on 39 minutes when Mata curled a superb free-kick into an acute angle at the very top corner of the post.
Hernandez should have doubled the lead five minutes later but his curled shot came off the base of the post after beating goalkeeper Rob Elliot’s fingertips, in place for the injured Tim Krul.
Mata doubled his tally within five minutes of restart, slotting in from close range a rebound from a Hernandez’s low shot. Fabricio Coloccini will have to wait for extra talks for gifting Kagawa the ball in the vital area in the build up to the second goal.
The Mexican then made it 3-0, sweeping home from a Shinji Kagawa neat pass six yards of goal.
Newcastle’s closes sight at goal was a Papiss Cisse’s shot, which was saved at point-blank range by goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
Januzaj rounded off scores for the visitors as a classy Mata back-heel allowed him to pick his spot and slot home a left-footed shot to make it 4-0.
The victory moved United within seven points of fourth place and restored confidence ahead of the trip to Bayern, whose record 53-game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga ended with a 1-0 defeat at Augsburg on Saturday.
Saturday’s English Premier League Results
Norwich 0-1 West Brom
Cardiff 0-3 Crystal Palace
Aston Villa 1-2 Fulham
Hull 1-0 Swansea
Manchester City 4-1 Southampton
