MAN UTD 3 X 1 NEWCASTLE
Wayne Rooney continued his fine record versus Newcastle United as Manchester United made it eight Barclays Premier League matches unbeaten with a 3-1 win.
Having been held to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa last Saturday, Louis van Gaal's side will have been eager to get back to winning ways in the Boxing Day clash at Old Trafford.
Man Utd had little difficulty in doing so, cruising to victory despite the absence of winger Angel Di Maria - who was left out after picking up an injury in their previous training session.
England captain Rooney was the architect of a routine triumph that solidified their position in third, with a brace taking the 29-year-old's league tally against Newcastle to 12.
He opened the scoring in the 23rd minute via a close-range finish at the end of a wonderful Man Utd move, before adding a second in very similar fashion nine minutes before half-time.
The points were made safe eight minutes into the second period as the skipper set up Robin van Persie to head home a third, although Newcastle did net an 87th-minute consolation thanks to Papiss Cisse's penalty.
The match sprung into life in the 12th minute following a quiet start as both teams spurned chances.
Firstly, Ayoze Perez failed to connect with a volley from Adam Armstrong's cross after the 17-year-old - brought into the Newcastle side as one of two changes by Alan Pardew - did well to keep the ball in play.
Radamel Falcao was unable to get any purchase on a delivery from the left with the goal seemingly at his mercy, yet the hosts could have conceded a penalty when Juan Mata challenged Yoan Gouffran as the Frenchman chased a long ball over the defence.
David de Gea pulled off a fine diving save to his right to keep out Daryl Janmaat's fierce drive from long range, and Newcastle were made to pay for not taking advantage of their early pressure by a clinical move from the hosts.
Mata was heavily involved again as he lifted a clever ball over the top to Falcao, who stretched to sweep a low cross into the path of Rooney to slot past a helpless Jak Alnwick.
Newcastle continued to show ambition to get forward, although Manchester United's quality was evident throughout.
And it was defensive carelessness that led to Rooney's second, when he latched onto Mata's clever pass and confidently found the bottom-left corner after Gouffran had given the ball away.
Rooney turned creator eight minutes into the second half, his expertly lofted pass nodded into the bottom corner by Van Persie to effectively end the match as a contest.
With a busy period of fixtures to negotiate, Man Utd understandably took their foot off the gas in the second half. Still, Rooney went close to completing his hat-trick by curling a free-kick narrowly over the crossbar.
The third goal did not arrive for Rooney as Newcastle instead restored some pride through Cisse's confident spot-kick into the top-right corner following Phil Jones' foul on Jack Colback.
Yet that strike came too late for a comeback and proved to be little more than a footnote in a result that should give Man Utd plenty of hope going into a tricky trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
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