Monday Briefing: United news from the weekend

MILESTONE FOR MOURINHO
Three goals and three points were the most important numbers for Jose Mourinho on Saturday as Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and finally Alexis Sanchez all found the Stretford End net to give United an incredible 3-2 comeback win over Newcastle United. But another stat he may have savoured when the dust settled was his 400th league victory as a manager of clubs in England, Italy, Portugal and Spain. That means he has an impressive win-ratio of 67 per cent, with 124 draws and 73 defeats making up the remaining third of his 597 matches so far.

ALEXIS OFF THE MARK
All of our scorers in Saturday's superb second-half fightback opened their Premier League accounts for 2018/19. Mata and Martial had previously netted in the Carabao Cup and Champions League respectively but Alexis's match-winning header was his first goal in any competition since last April's Emirates FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

INTERNATIONAL BREAK BEGINS NOW
A pause is perhaps not perfect when you've just won in scintillating and morale-boosting style but the players who haven't been called up by their countries could benefit from the time between games. Some rest and recuperation will be welcome before our return to action with an arduous fixture - Chelsea away at 12:30 BST on Saturday 20 October.

TWO POINTS GAINED ON TWO RIVALS
United were always going to get a bit closer to Liverpool or Manchester City in the Premier League table by winning this weekend, but to do it to both arch rivals was perhaps an unexpected bonus. The sides who started Sunday in first and second place served up a bore draw at Anfield, with Riyad Mahrez blazing the Blues' 86th-minute penalty over the bar to leave the score locked at 0-0. On the flip side for United, two more of last season's top six teams both won convincingly away from home. Arsenal flattened Fulham 5-1 and Chelsea moved ahead of Liverpool on goal difference by beating Mark Hughes' Southampton 3-0.

ACADEMY BOYS ALSO BEAT NEWCASTLE (AGAIN)
The Reds saw off the Magpies in two league fixtures on Saturday, the other one being the Under-18 Premier League clash at the Aon Training Complex. As in the evening's senior match, our team scored all its goals in a single half but at youth level, they came in the first 45 instead of after the break. Ethan Galbraith's pair of strikes were separated by an Aliou Traore effort as Neil Ryan's Reds made it back-to-back home wins over Newcastle United after beating them 1-0 in the Premier League Cup a week ago.

WEEKEND LOAN WATCH
Axel Tuanzebe played at centre-back for Aston Villa, in their first match since United legend Steve Bruce was sacked as their boss, but he couldn't prevent home side Millwall winning 2-1 in the Championship. In the same division, Dean Henderson made at least two important saves and kept a clean sheet as Sheffield United beat Hull City 1-0 at home. In League One, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was booked as Scunthorpe United lost 3-2 at Luton Town and Kieran O'Hara was also on the losing side with winless Macclesfield Town in League Two. Unfortunately the young goalkeeper gave away the 82nd-minute penalty that Jon Stead converted for visitors Notts County.

James Wilson and Matty Willock both missed the Scottish Premiership action as their loan clubs met, with the former's Aberdeen thrashing the latter's St Mirren 4-1. Demi Mitchell played for 79 minutes, and received a yellow card, as league leaders Hearts had their unbeaten run ended emphatically by Rangers with a 3-1 defeat at Ibrox. Finally, in Portugal's Primeira Liga, Joel Pereira shut out Moreirense as his namesake Hildeberto Pereira scored a hat-trick in their 3-0 victory. The defeated visitors had two players sent off.