Romelu Lukaku Scores as Manchester United Beat Everton in Wayne Rooney's Return

Manchester United defeated Everton 4-0 on Sunday to move back level with rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League standings.

Antonio Valencia registered a goal-of-the-season contender early on to set United on the path to victory before Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial piled on three goals in the final 10 minutes.

Former Red Devils Wayne Rooney, Morgan Schneiderlin and Michael Keane all started against their old club, while ex-Toffees Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini also lined up in United's XI.

Rooney returned to his former stomping ground motivated to reinforce his place as an Everton talisman, but OptaJoe detailed how it was his old club that had the last laugh:

United could look forward to opportunities as Everton travelled to Old Trafford having lost their last two games 3-0—to Tottenham Hotspur and Atalanta—and a quick start suggested another one-sided scoreline could emerge.

Valencia was found in acres of space on the corner of the box from a Nemanja Matic pass in the fourth minute, and the Ecuadorian swung at a ball that rolled across his body.

The defender reaped the benefits with a terrific strike, which arced its way past Everton stopper Jordan Pickford at an unstoppable pace. That goal played a part in a more complete man-of-the-match performance, per Sky Sports Statto:

The Toffees struggled to respond and didn't look as though they were set up to do much more than absorb and counter, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Rooney floating centrally in front of the midfield and no wide options present.

The bonus of Ronald Koeman's Everton formation, however, was that it restricted the home outfit in their forward forays, as described by ESPN's Rob Dawson:

Both Lukaku and Marcus Rashford had their moments with space in front of goal as the half wore on, but neither could dig the ball out from under their feet to test Pickford.

Save for a moment of magic from Valencia, the two teams went in at the break separated by the finest of margins, although Rooney looked like Everton's most likely source of an equaliser.

Rashford made way for Jesse Lingard on the hour mark, and Pickford almost handed United their second on a plate shortly after, tossing the ball to Juan Mata straight from goal and welcoming a free-kick on the edge of the box.

Mata then came within a whisker of punishing Pickford for his error and whipped the set piece off Everton's post, yet another indicator it would be the hosts who were more likely to grab the second, per BBC commentator Ian Brown:

Everton looked more composed in the second period and matched their hosts in many regards, but it was another lapse in defence that caused their demise in the 83rd minute, this time from centre-back Ashley Williams.

The Welshman's wayward pass went straight to Lukaku in his own half, and the Belgian bore down before squeezing a pass to the incoming Mkhitaryan, who got his first goal of the new season, per blogger Liam Canning:

Not content with watching his team-mates do all the scoring, Lukaku had his chance to notch United's third from a free-kick on the corner of Pickford's box approaching full-time, but his effort hit the wall.

But as fate would have it, he got his goal against his former club in the 89th minute after Matic sent back in the rebound, and the Belgium international side-footed into the bottom-right corner to continue his dominant United streak:

The misery didn't end there for Everton, though, as Schneiderlin grazed the ball with his dragging arm when he attempted to slide in on the attacking Martial, who came on minutes earlier for Mkhitaryan.

The Frenchman maintained his impressive record of coming on to make a difference for Jose Mourinho's side, slotting home his spot-kick to Pickford's left and completing another hammering on United's behalf two minutes into injury time.

Not only are United again level on points with City, but a 4-0 scoreline means their goal difference also looks just as healthy despite the Citizens' 6-0 demolition of Watford on Saturday.

Things look bleak for Everton manager Koeman, though, having now watched his side concede 10 goals in their past three games while scoring none, with the Toffees in dire need of a turnaround in form.