Manchester United showed newly promoted Newcastle the harsh realities of life in the top flight as they eased to a 3-0 win at Old Trafford. Ironically, for all the Reds dominance it was Newcastle who should have opened the scoring as early as the 10 minute, but Andy Carroll wasted a free header.
After that it was one way traffic as the hosts attacked at will and were rewarded with two goals before the break.
Dimitar Berbatov scored the opener taking advantage of a static Magpies defence, then four minutes before half time Darren Fletcher turned quickly in the penalty area to score from close range.
Little changed in the second half and United had to wait until five minutes from time to add some gloss to the scoreline.
Ryan Giggs came off the bench to volley home number three and maintain his remarkable record of scoring in every Premier League season.
MAN UTD
01 Van der Sar
03 Evra (Rafael Da Silva 87)
15 Vidic
22 O'Shea
23 Evans
17 Nani (Giggs 71)
18 Scholes (yellow card)
24 Fletcher (yellow card)
25 Valencia
09 Berbatov
10 Rooney (Hernandez 63)
Substitutes
29 Kuszczak,
12 Smalling,
21 Rafael Da Silva,
11 Giggs,
16 Carrick,
14 Hernandez,
27 Macheda
NEWCASTLE
01 Harper
02 Coloccini
03 Jose Enrique
06 Williamson
14 Perch (yellow card)
04 Nolan (Ameobi 71)
07 Barton (yellow card)
10 Routledge
18 Gutierrez (Xisco 80)
09 Carroll
17 Smith
Substitutes
26 Krul,
16 Taylor,
44 Tavernier,
29 Vuckic,
19 Xisco,
23 Ameobi,
30 Ranger
Goalscorers: Berbatov 33, Fletcher 41, Giggs 85
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 75,221
Referee: Chris Foy
Assistant referees: Robert Pollock & Andy Garratt
Fourth official: Lee Mason
