Manchester United vs. Hull: Score, Grades and Reaction from Premier League Game

Manchester United continued its recent run of success Saturday, as it outclassed Hull City by a 3-0 score in an EPL clash at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils benefited from goals scored by Chris Smalling, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, and the Tigers simply weren't competitive from whistle to whistle, as evidenced by these stats courtesy of Squawka Football:

With another victory in the books for United, here is a rundown of how Saturday's match played out, as well as individual grades for every player involved.

Recap

Although Manchester United enjoyed a nearly perfect first half of play Saturday, it actually got off to a somewhat ominous start. That is due to the fact that superstar midfielder Angel Di Maria's day was cut short.

Early in the match, the Argentinian dynamo pulled up lame with an apparent hamstring injury, according to Mark Ogden of The Daily Telegraph:

With Di Maria unable to continue, he was replaced by Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera just 14 minutes into the match, per the Premier League's official Twitter account:

It would have been easy for United to have a woe-is-me attitude after losing such an important player, but that simply wasn't the case. In fact, just two minutes later, Smalling put the Red Devils ahead, 1-0.

While it wasn't initially clear that Smalling had scored—Hull goalkeeper Allan McGregor prevented the ball from going deep into the net, it was determined through goal-line technology that it was in fact a goal.

According to Squawka Football, Smalling continued his offensive success over Hull with the marker:

Although Smalling hadn't scored all season prior to Saturday's match, he hinted to Adam Marshall of ManUtd.com earlier in the week that a goal might be imminent:

Manchester United continued to dominate after taking the lead, and it was able to add to it 26 minutes later thanks to a long, accurate strike from Rooney. Per the Premier League on Twitter, the goal gave Rooney 178 in his illustrious career:

United took that lead into the locker room, and there is no question that manager Louis van Gaal had to be pleased with his squad's performance.

According to Squawka Football, the Red Devils dominated in essentially every key area over the first 45 minutes:

Little changed during the second half, as Hull simply couldn't get anything going. United threatened with a dangerous attack throughout, and that eventually paid dividends in the 66th minute.

After taking a pass from Herrera, RVP ventured toward Hull's box and unleashed a rocket that beat McGregor to make it 3-0.

According to ESPNFC's Kevin Palmer, it was a vintage Van Persie goal that found the back of the net in a hurry:

The Dutch star was taken off four minutes later in favor of Radamel Falcao, but he didn't leave the pitch before being showered with adulation from the Old Trafford faithful, per Stuart Mathieson of the Manchester Evening News:

United was happy to shut it down for the most part and preserve the victory after that point, although Falcao did have a golden opportunity on a pass from Juan Mata in the closing minutes that defender Michael Dawson turned away.

After the match, Van Gaal sounded pleased with his team's performance, according to Kevin Palmer of the Sunday World:

Rooney appeared to be shaken up just prior to the final whistle. It is unclear what the problem may have been, but that is something that is certainly worth watching leading up to Tuesday's meeting with Stoke City.

Grades

Starting XI	Grade
Substitutes	Grade
David De Gea	B
Marcos Rojo	B+
Chris Smalling	A
Ashley Young	A-
Antonio Valencia	B
Angel Di Maria	D
Juan Mata	A-
Michael Carrick	B+
Marouane Fellaini	A-
Wayne Rooney	A
Robin van Persie	A
Ander Herrera (for Di Maria, 14')	B+
Radamel Falcao (for van Persie, 70')	C
Darren Fletcher (for Valencia, 74')	C

Starting XI	Grade
Substitutes	Grade
Allan McGregor	B-
James Chester	D+
Curtis Davies	C-
Michael Dawson	B
Robert Brady	C
Jake Livermore	C+
Mohamed Diame	C
Andrew Robertson	B-
Ahmed Elmohamady	C
Nikica Jelavic	C-
Hatem Ben Arfa	D
Sone Aluko (for Ben Arfa, 35')	D
David Meyler (for Brady, 75')	C
Stephen Quinn (for Diame, 75')	C

Reaction

Manchester United entered Saturday's encounter as a decided favorite against a Hull City team that is struggling to avoid the relegation round. With that said, United certainly deserves credit for taking care of business.

The Premier League's top teams find ways to beat the cellar-dwellers, and that is precisely what the Red Devils did. The win was a particularly big one since Arsenal had surpassed United for fourth place earlier in the day with a victory over West Bromwich Albion.

United regained the fourth position, however, and remained within reach of both Southampton and Manchester City.

As for Hull, there is no question that it was overmatched, and it is quite apparent that the Tigers will be in for a battle when it comes to avoiding relegation.

The Devils' domination was the big story in this one, though, and there is no denying that they will be a force to be reckoned with near the top of the table if they maintain this form moving forward.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.