There was pace, power and panache all on show again as Manchester United continued to show they mean business this season, picking up their second win in as many games in the English Premier League.
After dismantling West Ham 4-0 to open their campaign, more of the same would have been the cry from the United fans, and while, for large parts of the game, Jose Mourinho's men ran into a disciplined Swansea City side, they cut the home side apart in the final ten minutes to saunter to a second 4-0 victory.
Swansea, wings clipped with the sale of Gylfi Sigurdsson, just couldn't find enough creativity up front, and United took advantage, and how, with Eric Bailly opening the scoring just before halftime, before Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial scored three goals in a devastating four minutes.
Mourinho, before the game, warned his players this game wouldn't be as easy as the West Ham one, and so it proved to be, with Swansea City giving the Red Devils a real scare inside the first five minutes.
Jordan Ayew charged down a Baily clearance, allowing the Ghana international to run into the United box unchallenged. His clipped cross-shot then beat David De Gea completely, but hit the crossbar, with Tammy Abraham unable to react in time to turn the ball into an empty net from point-blank range.
At the other end, almost immediately, Lukaku broke free, but couldn't get his shot on target.
Manchester United, like Swansea, also struck the woodwork, with Phil Jones shouldering one onto the crossbar, although he was in an offside position when the free-kick was played in.
As Swansea stayed resolute, Manchester United grew frustrated and that was evident when Pogba hacked Tom Carroll down for no reason. The Frenchman, scorer of the final goal against the Hammers, was then a little lucky not to get a second yellow, as he went in late on Martin Olsson, with Jon Moss, rightly, giving the midfielder a talking to instead.
Mourinho would have been relieved to see his key midfielder stay on the pitch, and it turned to joy just before the break, with Pogba rising high and unchallenged to power a header on target off a corner. Lukasz Fabianski made a great save onto the crossbar, but Bailly reacted to turn the ball in with Federico Fernandes at fault for trying to just wait for Fabianski to gather the ball a second time, rather than clearing.
Swansea gave it a decent go in the second half, but when you lose your best attacking player and also have your main striker – Fernando Llorente – out injured, you really run out of ideas up front. Ayew and Abraham did well in patches, but if Swansea are to stay up this season, they are going to have to find goal threats from somewhere.
With the Swans now growing tired and frustrated as they searched for the equaliser, Manchester United went into top gear, finding three goals in the space of a few minutes through three of their most expensive players.
First, Lukaku, quiet for pretty much the whole game, found space in behind, took a nice pass from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and showed all the composure needed to slot the ball in.
Then, Pogba won the ball in midfield, gave the ball to Mkhitaryan on the right, before getting the ball back from the Armenian to produce a delightful chip over the goalkeeper.
Finally, substitute Anthony Martial took a pass from Pogba, cut in and eased the ball into the bottom corner to send the away crowd into delirium and send an ominous message across to the rest of the title rivals.
Result:
Swansea City 0-4 Manchester United.
Scorers: Manchester United: Eric Bailly 45, Romelu Lukaku 80, Paul Pogba 82, Anthony Martial 84.
Other results: Bournemouth 0-2 Watford; Burnley 0-1 West Bromwich Albion; Leicester City 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion; Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace; Southampton 3-2 West Ham United.
