5 star United hammer poor Newcastle again

Manchester United cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League to just three points after they hammered Newcastle 5-1 at St James’ Park.

Reds duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were again the stars of the show as they both grabbed a brace to seal a second emphatic win over the Magpies this season after the last month’s 6-0 drubbing at Old Trafford.

The home side started brightly and didn’t allow United to settle into their pace with Nicky Butt in particular biting into a number of crunching tackles.

It was left to a moment of brilliance from Ronaldo to open up Newcastle as the winger curled in a beautiful ball into the box and Rooney stole a march on Charles N’Zogbia to smash the ball in.

In the absence of Paul Scholes and Anderson, it was left to Michael Carrick to pull the strings for United and it was the midfielder’s through ball which Ronaldo latched onto and slid passed Shay Given to double his side’s lead.

United all but secured the points at the start of the second-half when a misplaced pass from Abdoulaye Faye fell to Ronaldo who again used his pace to drive at the Newcastle goal and score pass replacement keeper Steve Harper.

In the lead up to the match, Newcastle fans talked about the famous 5-0 win they had over United under Kevin Keegan in 1996, but they created very little in this match and though they did get a goal through Faye – it was United who scored five today.

Rooney added his second of the match with a delightful curling effort from the edge of the box. The England man then setup sub Louis Saha to add the fifth goal.

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