Manchester United got back on track as Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire enjoyed sweet moments of redemption in their side’s 4-1 win at Newcastle on Saturday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side suffered a humiliating 6-1 defeat against Tottenham at Old Trafford just before the international break.
But they made partial amends for that embarrassment with a much-needed second win of the Premier League season.
After Luke Shaw’s own goal gave Newcastle an early lead, United captain Maguire scored the equaliser just days after he was widely criticised for his red card in England’s Nations League defeat against Denmark at Wembley.
Maguire’s first Premier League goal since February was a cathartic moment after a troubled few months marred by poor performance on the pitch and his Greek court case off it.
Fernandes also went from zero to hero as the midfielder’s second-half penalty was saved by Karl Darlow, before he hit a superb strike to put United ahead in the closing minutes.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka made it three with his first goal for United and Marcus Rashford wrapped up the late goal blitz in stoppage-time.
Although United left it late to finish off Newcastle, the result was no more than they deserved and Solskjaer will hope it is the start of a better period for his team after their troubled opening to the campaign.
After labelling the Tottenham rout as the “worst” day of his career, Solskjaer made five changes for United’s return to action.
Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial were replaced by Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay, Fred, Daniel James and Juan Mata.
