Lethal Man Utd hit four again, Arsenal lose at Stoke

REUTERS: Manchester United netted four goals for the second consecutive week in the Premier League to rout Swansea City 4-0 on Saturday and ensure their highest-scoring start to a season for 110 years.

Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku celebrates scoring their second goal – Reuters

United manager Jose Mourinho said he “let the horses run freely” at the Liberty Stadium but his old foe Arsene Wenger was left frustrated after his Arsenal thoroughbreds were shackled in a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City.

Liverpool struggled to squeeze past Crystal Palace 1-0 and promoted Brighton and Hove Albion suffered their second defeat in two games, 2-0 at Leicester City.

Goals flowed at Southampton, who snuffed out an astonishing comeback by 10-man West Ham United to win 3-2.

Mourinho’s United completed their victory with a devastating late burst in which Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and substitute Anthony Martial scored between the 80th and 84th minutes after Eric Bailly had netted late in the first half with his first goal for the club.

United, who scored twice late on to beat West Ham by the same score last weekend, have one of the strongest benches in the league and it was Martial’s 75th-minute introduction that began the mayhem.

“It was 1-0 and we thought let’s go for more and exploit the fragile morale of the opponent. Our bench is really good - the players have a lot to give,” Mourinho said.

Martial capped the rout with a delightful strike after he picked the ball up 35 yards out, cut inside and thumped the ball past a despairing Lukasz Fabianski.

“There was happiness in our play,” Mourinho said. “There was no need to close the door.”

Swansea badly missed the departed Gylfi Sigurdsson and injured Fernando Llorente and look to be in desperate need of reinforcements in the transfer window.

Arsenal’s early-season optimism after their opening day win over Leicester was dissipated quickly after Jese, Stoke’s new loan signing from Paris St Germain, capped a fine debut by scoring the winner 90 seconds after the break.

The home side, revelling once again in being Arsenal’s bogey team, then produced a magnificent rearguard action to keep out the Gunners, who had an equaliser from Alexandre Lacazette ruled out for a fractional offside.

Mane strikes as Liverpool scrape 1-0 win over Palace

REUTERS: Liverpool ground out their first Premier League victory of the season after winger Sadio Mane scored an opportunistic goal to give them a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield on Saturday.

Liverpool’s Sadio Mane scores their first goal – Reuters

The pacy Mane took advantage of a double mistake by Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic and steered the ball past Wayne Hennessey in the 73rd minute, after the Wales goalkeeper had made a string of good saves. Liverpool enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession but the visitors missed the best chance of the match shortly after the break as the home side’s former striker Christian Benteke blazed his shot over the bar from six yards.

The opening period was a scrappy affair with passes going astray at either end. The best action came inside a minute as Hennessey denied Roberto Firmino before opposite goalkeeper Simon Mignolet kept out a fiercely struck Jason Puncheon effort.