Mata works his magic to take some

Finally there was a semblance of normality for Manchester United in a season of chaos. They made short work of bottom-of-the-table Fulham to record their biggest league win for 13 months.

True, Fulham were woeful, but the victory puts United back in the top six and the goal difference back in the positive column. This was more like the type of display that manager Jose Mourinho wants and he insisted this was the blueprint his United side need to maintain for the rest of the season.

“The first half was really, really good at every level,” he said.

“The players understand that when we have 11 players sticking together, we can be a much better team. The team was clearly there to win and give everything and when you give everything no one can point the finger at you, even when the opponent is better.

“What I want is not one single United fan to point the finger at us and say we do not give everything.”

In his search for a winning formula, Mourinho had brought up a half-century as he made four changes from the line-up that had drawn with Arsenal in midweek.

That made it 50 changes in 16 games, but for the third time in four games, Paul Pogba started on the bench. However, the manager revealed afterwards that the Frenchman would be in the side for Wednesday’s Champions League game in Valencia.

“Paul has to play with the same mentality as the team is playing,” he said. “Paul can be a fantastic player. He has the potential. He is going to start against Valencia and he is going to show everyone how good he is.” With Pogba watching from the bench, Ashley Young got things going when he cut inside the weak challenge of Denis