MANCHESTER UNITED VS NEWCASTLE 4-1

The gap to Manchester City remains eight points but Mourinho has the cavalry back and, perhaps no less significantly, appears willing to loosen the shackles a little as he bids to hunt down the Premier League leaders.

Paul Pogba proved just how sorely he has been missed on a liberating first appearance for 10 weeks and Mourinho’s joy at having his midfield talisman back was matched only by the sight of Zlatan Ibrahimovic making his return from the substitute’s bench after seven months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury

Victory extended Manchester United’s unbeaten run at Old Trafford to 38 matches but it was the manner of the response that resonated, and while no one should or could underestimate the influence of the returning Pogba, Mourinho’s decision to start Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in tandem for the first time in the Premier League this season was uplifting in itself.

A sign of things to come? It will probably depend on the opposition judging by Mourinho’s post-match remarks.

“We found them [Rashford and Martial] a certain balance … but we felt a bit of instability in our defensive areas and that was clearly not because of the defensive players but clearly because of our balance so to play them together gives us things but also takes some things from us,” Mourinho said.

It certainly makes United better to watch, although Pogba was United’s driving force. Mourinho called him “irreplaceable” and in terms of the impact the Frenchman has on the team and the individuals around him, that is hard to disagree with. Once they had recovered from a poor first half hour, United were unrecognisable going forward from the cautious unit of late. Lukaku, in particular, looked the happiest and hungriest he has been for weeks, clearly delighted to have his friend and creative fulcrum back.

His goal was his first in eight matches for United and another highlight for Mourinho, who celebrated it lustily. “Strikers like to score goals,” the Portuguese said. “It’s not a problem for me if he works like he always does and doesn’t score but for their self-esteem and self-confidence, strikers want to score goals and he wasn’t doing that for a few matches and I know that can affect striker’s confidence. So I was really happy that he scored that goal.”