Free-scoring, tight at the back and confidence oozing through the side, Manchester United might already be the team to beat in the English Premier League.
United hasn’t challenged for the title since winning its record-extending 20th championship in 2013, Alex Ferguson’s last year in charge, but back-to-back 4-0 wins sent a powerful early-season message to its rivals.
Swansea was on the end of United’s power and new-found clinical edge on Saturday, with Eric Bailly scoring in the first half before Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial all netted in a devastating four-minute passage from the 80th.
“There was happiness in our play,” United manager Jose Mourinho said. “There was no need to close the door. Just let the horses run freely.”
As United’s attackers poured forward in the final 10 minutes, scoring at will and in stylish fashion too, memories flooded back to the entertaining teams that Ferguson molded. United was profligate last season, the lowest scorer by far in the top seven with 54 goals, but that seems to be a thing of the past in Mourinho’s second year in charge.