NEWSCASTLE — A turbo-charged start yielding two goals in the opening 15 minutes and a spectacular effort by Tom Cleverley led Manchester United to a 3-0 victory at Newcastle United in an English Premier League football match on Sunday.
Report by Reuters Elsewhere, English Premier League chalked up their fourth successive league win by beating Aston Villa 2-0 with goals from Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon.
Liverpool’s struggles continued when they were held to a goalless draw by Stoke City at Anfield and promoted Southampton needed a last-gasp goal from defender Jose Fonte, his second of the game, to rescue a 2-2 draw with Fulham.
Manchester United, desperate to bounce back from last weekend’s surprise 3-2 home defeat by Spurs, made a high-tempo start at Newcastle and were rewarded in the eighth minute when defender Jonny Evans scored with a towering header from a corner.
Newcastle had a lucky escape four minutes later when keeper Steve Harper was robbed as he tried to dribble around Danny Welbeck on the edge of the penalty box and the United striker slid the ball wide of an empty net.
Harper then dived full-length to deny man-of-the-match Wayne Rooney, but Patrice Evra made it 2-0 when he nodded in a corner at the near post.
Newcastle raised their game in the second period and twice went close to pulling a goal back in the 50th minute.
Demba Ba shook the post with a header before goalkeeper David de Gea clawed away Papiss Cisse’s follow-up attempt with the ball perilously close to going over the line.
