Lukaku ruins Rooney Man U return – Arsenal hold Chelsea

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MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Sept 17, (AFP): Romelu Lukaku showed little room for sentiment on Sunday scoring one and creating another as Manchester United ran out ultimately comfortable 4-0 winners over his former club Everton to ruin Wayne Rooney’s Old Trafford return.

Right-back Antonio Valencia gave United an early lead with a spectacular half-volley before late goals from midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan — set up by Lukaku just before he got on the scoresheet himself — and an Anthony Martial penalty sealed the win.

With United’s rivals Manchester City having clinched a dominant 6-0 victory over Watford 24 hours earlier there was an expectation from United fans for Jose Mourinho’s side to keep pace with the Premier League leaders.

They are now only behind them in the table by virtue of C coming before U in the alphabet as they have identical records — Everton by contrast are in a crisis as they lost for the fourth successive match without scoring and are in the bottom three.

The Red Devils, without the injured Paul Pogba, were not as fluent and free-flowing as they have been in the early part of the season and three goals in the final seven minutes flattered them a little.

Rooney, United’s all-time leading goalscorer, was afforded a generous reception by the United fans and carried Everton’s main goal threat before he left to a standing ovation from the home supporters after being substituted with eight minutes left.

United asserted their authority in the fourth minute as Valencia showed superb technique to score a magnificent opening goal.

Nemanja Matic swept a cross field pass to Valencia on the corner of the penalty area and the Ecuador international, albeit afforded time and space by a flat-footed Everton defence, struck a sweet half-volley which arrowed high into the net.

Rooney flickered into life midway through the first half when he sent Cuco Martina scampering down the right flank and then burst forward in search of the return ball.

Martina’s low cross picked out Rooney on the edge of the penalty area but the former England captain could only strike a low effort wide of the post.

United squandered an opportunity just before the half-hour mark when Juan Mata seized on Michael Keane’s misplaced pass and sent Lukaku clear but he shot wide.

Koeman had demanded a reaction from his players before this contest having seen them slip to three consecutive defeats.

And Everton’s confidence slowly returned as the game wore on with Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin rising to the midfield battle.

Rooney’s tenacity moments after half-time saw him skip into the penalty area at the Stretford End and on to a pass from Tom Davies but David De Gea kept out the striker’s low effort with his legs.

Despite Everton’s improvement United remained a threat and went close when Juan Mata curled a free-kick around the Everton wall and against the post shortly after the hour mark.

United finished the contest strongly and clinically, though, as three goals after Rooney’s 82nd minute substitution saw Everton capitulate and conceded three goals.

Ashley Williams carelessly gave the ball away which allowed Lukaku to slide in Henrikh Mkhitaryan who showed composure to guide the ball past Pickford.

United netted their third when Lukaku, who joined United from Everton in July, capitalised on Everton’s failure to clear from a free-kick and stabbed home at the back post.

Martial put the gloss on the win in injury time when he confidently sent Pickford the wrong way with a penalty after Schneiderlin was deemed to have handled.

Chelsea defender David Luiz was sent off for an ugly foul on Sead Kolasinac as Arsenal finally emerged unscathed from a trip to Chelsea with a 0-0 draw against the champions on Sunday.

The Brazilian saw red in the closing minutes at Stamford Bridge and he could have no complaints about his dismissal after lunging into a crude two-footed challenge on Arsenal defender Kolasinac.

It was the third sending-off for a Chelsea player in their last three meetings with Arsenal.

Victor Moses got his marching orders in last season’s FA Cup final, while Pedro was dismissed in the Community Shield.

The Luiz flashpoint — Chelsea’s fourth red card this season — was the most memorable moment of a hard-fought London derby that was high on perspiration but low on inspiration.

“We have great respect for officials, but it is strange to finish a third game in a row against Arsenal with 10 men,” Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said.

“You need to see what happened before the tackle.”

After losing on their last five visits to Chelsea, Arsene Wenger’s side had the better of the few clear-cut chances.

But Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette all squandered good opportunities to hand Arsenal their first win at the Bridge since October 2011.

Luiz’s moment of madness came too late for Arsenal to capitalise on their numerical advantage, so they had to settle for a first clean sheet at Chelsea since 2005.

“It was about mentality and a response from our last away game. We could have won it. It was an intense game,” Wenger said.

It was another frustrating encounter with Arsenal for Conte’s men, who were beaten in both the FA Cup final and the Community Shield.

Arsenal weathered an early storm before Welbeck wasted a golden opportunity when Hector Bellerin’s cross picked out the unmarked forward, who couldn’t adjust quickly enough to keep his header on target.

Wenger’s men threatened again when Ramsey’s pass left Marcos Alonso isolated and put Bellerin in behind the Chelsea defence.

Bellerin crossed low for Lacazette, but the France striker’s shot was too close to Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Arsenal were sweeping forward with real purpose and Kolasinac tested Courtois with a stinging drive that the Belgian parried away.

The Gunners’ rearguard remained as creaky as ever and Cesc Fabregas sprung their offside trap with a precise pass to Pedro, whose tame shot at Petr Cech let the visitors off the hook.

Encouragingly for Wenger, Arsenal were still picking holes in Chelsea’s usually rock-solid defence.

They should have taken the lead just before half-time when Ramsey had only Courtois to beat after weaving his way past Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz.

However, Ramsey stabbed his shot against the far post before Lacazette somehow contrived to scuff the rebound over from close range.

Chelsea continued to lack a cutting edge after the break and Willian shot straight at Cech, then blazed over from long range as another attack petered out.

Shkodran Mustafi had the ball in the net for Arsenal, but the defender’s header was correctly ruled out for offside.

As Chelsea’s frustration mounted, Luiz shrugged off Alexis Sanchez — on as a substitute — and launched into a needless lunge on Kolasinac in the 87th minute. He was immediately shown a red card by referee Michael Oliver.

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