Manchester United line-up: Van Der Sar, Evra (Rafael, 87'), Vidic, O'Shea, Evans, Nani (Giggs, 71'), Scholes, Fletcher, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney (Hernandez, 63)
Newcastle line-up: Harper, Coloccini, Enrique, Williamson, Perch, Nolan (Ameobi, 71'), Barton, Routledge, Gutierrez (Xisco, 80'), Carroll, Smith
With Chelsea already laying down a marker against West Brom, Newcastle's re-entry into the Premiership was always going to be the toughest one. However Newcastle could have taken the lead early on when Andy Carroll got a free header but it sailed over. From there Manchester United got hold of the ball and just dominated, although at first it was rather pedestrian in and around the mid way point of Newcastle's half without threatening the goal mouth. But as the half wore on Manchester United gained extra territory pushing Newcastle back and the breakthrough came in the 31st minute; Valencia pressuring the defence into a mistake where he played it to Fletcher who played Berbatov through one-on-one with Harper and the Bulgarian made no mistake. Newcastle would have liked to have been able to go in at half-time one down and re-group but Manchester United weren't going to allow them; Nani found Evra breaking down the left wing, Evra flashed a ball across the box that hit an un-influential Rooney and deflected to Fletcher who, from six yards, wasn't going to miss and United were 2 up with four minutes of the half left.
The second half continued where the first half had left with Man United just dominating the possession and when they did lose Newcastle could only clear to a United defender on the half way line and United attacked again. Berbatov had a great chance to get another two goals but he fluffed his lines twice, looking like the same Berbatov that has been on show for the last two seasons. Manchseter United had a decent penalty claim turned down when Scholes was brought down by Coloccini just inside the box but Chris Foy waved it away. New Mexican Hernandez replaced Rooney with quarter of an hour left and had some decent touches and might have scored on his home debut if Berbatov hadn't took it off his toes. However United were to get a third with five minutes to go when the majestic Scholes fed another thirty yard ball over to Giggs, who was inside the box, and his first time volley couldn't be stopped by the sprawling Harper and United set their stall out for the rest of the season.
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