Under-pressure Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim marked his 50th game in charge with a crucial victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford.

Mason Mount gave the hosts a perfect start with a well-taken goal after just eight minutes.

It was the earliest United had scored in the Premier League since Marcus Rashford’s second-minute effort at Ipswich in Amorim’s first game last November.

Benjamin Sesko doubled the home side’s lead with a close-range finish for his second goal in as many games while United’s first clean sheet of the season was Amorim’s reward for handing a debut to £18.1m goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

Sunderland were awarded a penalty just before half-time but it was overturned after a video assistant refereee (VAR) check confirmed Sesko did not catch Trai Hume in the face with a high boot, as initially thought.

In a tenure littered with negative statistics, Amorim finally has some positive ones to look back on as United recorded a third-straight home win for the first time in over two years.

They have lost just once at home to Sunderland in 31 meetings and Amorim becomes the first United boss since Sir Alex Ferguson to win his 50th game at the helm.

It was enough for the home fans to go through a rendition of their catchy ‘Ruben Amorim’ tribute song which, amid such intense scrutiny over his longevity at Old Trafford, must at least have been some comfort for the Portuguese coach.

After leaving Lammens on the bench for the first three games since his deadline-day move from Royal Antwerp, Amorim finally decided it was time to put the Belgian into the Premier League fray ahead of Altay Bayindir.

The decision went down well with the United supporters, who cheered his name when it was read out over the tannoy for the first time an hour before kick-off and did the same again just before the teams came out.

Lammens proved his value in a 90-second period just before the break.

First, he flung himself to the left to make a low save from Sunderland skipper Granit Xhaka, whose long-range effort was possibly creeping in by the post. Then he came confidently to collect Noah Sadiki’s high ball.

The 23-year-old did something similar at the end of the game too, keeping out Chemsdine Talbi’s low shot with his legs before rising high to claim a ball that was looping into a danger area.

By no means was Lammens perfect.

Bertrand Traore was convinced he was taken out by a combination of Lammens and United skipper Bruno Fernandes after he nicked the ball between them and went down just outside the box.

If he had been, Lammens might have been in trouble. As it was, referee Stuart Atwell booked Traore for diving and VAR Neil Davies agreed.

It still did not take away the fact Lammens had dashed out of his goal and not got the ball, the kind of moment that would have drawn huge criticism had it featured Bayindir or Andre Onana.

But results can mask all manner of mistakes and United got one – and a clean sheet – thanks to Mount, whose left-foot control and right-foot finish were exceptional, and Sesko, who only needed quick reactions and one touch from three yards to score his second goal in as many games.

It is the respective sizes of the clubs that mean Sunderland boss Regis le Bris is able to go about his work without the same intense scrutiny and external analysis they have to deal with at Old Trafford.

Maybe it will pass more or less unnoticed that the French manager, who has gained such plaudits for his work on Wearside, had to make a change after 37 minutes because he got his formation wrong and needed to find a way of stopping United getting straight through his team.

The decision to Introduce defender Daniel Ballard for winger Simon Adringa allowed Le Bris to revert to a back five, after which Sunderland were not opened up quite so much.

By then though, the visitors had Robin Roefs to thank for still being in the game.

Roefs made replica saves to turn away shots by Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo, both of which were heading for the bottom corner.

The Dutchman did even better to deny Fernandes, who found space inside the box and curled an excellent shot towards the top corner, that Roefs, at full stretch, managed to push onto the post.

What’s next for both teams?

Manchester United face a trip to old rivals Liverpool on Sunday, 19 October (16:30 BST). Sunderland are at home to Wolves on Saturday, 18 October (15:00 BST). (BBC)

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