Another day, yet another 4-0 win for Manchester United, who, along with their city rivals have set the pace at the top of the English Premier League. Lowly Everton were demolished 0-4 on Sunday, piling on the pressure on their under-fire boss, Ronald Koeman.
Before kick-off, though, the theme that reverberated around the contest was Romelu Lukaku and veteran Wayne Rooney, both of whom had reunions with their former colleagues at Old Trafford. Any hopes of the Liverpool-based side trying arrest their poor run of form were put to rest as early as the third minute by Antonio Valencia’s exceptional strike:
Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels’s thumping 40-yard screamer against Manchester City last month has been widely tipped to end up as the goal of the season, barely a month after the start of the season. Where does Valencia’s goal stand at this juncture? Suffice to say, it ranks right up there.
The play started when midfielder Nemanja Matic, from the left-wing, floated a ball into the Ecuadorian’s path. The 32-year-old, not particularly known for his technique, connected with the ball on the first bounce, smashing it to the roof of the net. The strike startled Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, leaving him no chance even though the ball was well within his reach; the power on the shot was that fierce.
The Red Devils held on a 1-0 goal lead for much of the game before running riot in the last 10 minutes with Lukaku scoring his seventh goal from as many games for the Red Devils as well as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Antonio Martial adding gloss to the scoreline.
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