Manchester United made it three wins in a row at Old Trafford as they eased the pressure on Ruben Amorim with a 2-0 win over Sunderland.
Mason Mount, selected ahead of Matheus Cunha, scored a fine opening goal before Benjamin Sesko netted at Old Trafford for the first time in front of his home supporters. Sunderland struggled to cope and even switched to 3-4-3 in a bid to alter the flow.
There were flashes from Regis Le Bris' side that hinted at their confident start to the campaign, Bertrand Traore almost opening the scoring and Granit Xhaka firing off a shot. They also thought they had a penalty against Sesko but VAR rightly overruled it.
But United were the better side and could have punished the visitors even more but for Robin Roefs pulling off some good saves, including a fingertip effort to deny Bruno Fernandes. Senne Lammens, making his United debut, was less busy at the other end.
The victory lifts United up to eighth in the Premier League table, still one point behind Sunderland in sixth. The next chance for Amorim to win back-to-back Premier League games in charge comes after the international break against Liverpool at Anfield.
How did Lammens do?
Lammens' best save came late in the game when he kept out a Chemsdine Talbi effort with his legs but the Belgian goalkeeper was hardly overworked. There were bigger cheers when he claimed a cross in stoppage time, his second good claim of the game.
How United need that sort of commanding presence in goal with supporters unconvinced by the performances of Altay Bayindir. Lammens, signed from Antwerp late in the window, also looked composed when kicking with his right and left foot.
There was one hairy moment when he chased out of his goal on the angle only to see Traore get there first amid some uncertainty with Fernandes. But as debuts go, this was a fine effort from a 23-year-old goalkeeper with a huge task ahead of him.
Amorim praises Lammens display
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim in the press conference:
"I think he looked confident in the first game. But the important thing is that the teammates helped Senne to have a good game. Because everyone was focused, not a lot of mistakes against a team that was really comfortable playing football."
Asked why he delayed starting him, Amorim added: "He arrives and you can feel it that he needs to adapt. New country, new training, the pressure that you guys put on the goalkeepers are massive. So it was like a little preparation for the guy to be ready to start his first game.
"But now it's just one game and he needs to work. Because he needs to be prepared that in our club things are really hard. But he did well in the game. He was comfortable during the game and that is a very good sign."
Amorim: They don't want to change the coach
Asked whether the international break denies United the opportunity to build momentum, Amorim joked that "there is no momentum with our team" - a reference to the fact that they are still looking for back-to-back Premier League wins under him.
But Amorim was encouraged by the performance. When asked about Mount's comments that the players were 100 per cent behind their coach, the Portuguese suggested that the performance was proof of that.
"I saw it today. And I know they want to do the best and I know they don't want to change the coach all the time.
"We need to show with actions. Sometimes when we look at our team, I know for sure that when we see the games in the end I know sometimes we can do better. I feel it during the week but we need to show it on the pitch."
Reality check for Sunderland
Analysis by Sky Sports' Lewis Jones:
It is easy to talk about heart, about shape, about defending with your lives - something which has provided the platform for some impressive results for Sunderland against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. But resolve only gets you so far.
At some point, you have to hurt teams and possess quality in the final third. And at Old Trafford, Sunderland looked woefully short in that department, creating just 0.71 worth of expected goals and rarely testing Lammens, who would have been feeling it ahead of his United debut.
And while it's fair to say United were efficient rather than exceptional once racing into their 2-0, the gap in quality was undeniable. This was a bit of a reality check. A performance that strips back the optimism and lays bare the challenge ahead of survival.
