Marouane Fellaini establishes himself as a Jose Mourinho favourite as Man United beat hapless Crystal Palace

Nobody expected a team that has made the worst-ever start to an English top-flight campaign to come to Old Trafford and beat an in-form Manchester United, of course. It was thought that Jose Mourinho’s side would win at a canter and they did just that, through Juan Mata, a Marouane Fellaini brace and a customary goal for Romelu Lukaku.

After this, a seventh straight defeat without even a single goal scored, relegation looks less a possibility and more an inevitability. The last side to lose seven consecutive games at the start of the season was Portsmouth’s class of 2010, who at the very least won their eighth game before slipping into the second-tier.

Palace, meanwhile, welcome champions Chelsea to Selhurst Park after the international break. It will probably get worse before it gets better.

A week earlier and while on the other side of Manchester, Hodgson’s side had put up a respectable 44 minutes of stiff resistance but here, their resolve lasted for just three.

Marcus Rashford toyed with Joel Ward momentarily after collecting the ball out on the left flank, but then turned him inside out with embarrassing ease. The teenager squared for Mata, who had time and space to place his composed effort past Hennessey.

Up came the sarcastic chants from the away end, claiming: ‘We score when we want’. Somebody should have told Mamadou Sakho, who looked keen enough to break Palace’s duck when he met Yohan Cabaye’s free-kick yet headed over.

That was the visitors’ first real sight of goal and though United were in control, Palace conjured up a few fleeting moments of promise. A spell of corners in quick succession tested Mourinho’s defence but the best opportunity came when Bakary Sako, playing up front in lieu of a recognised striker, slipped in behind. His rushed effort from a tight angle forced David de Gea into a sharp save down at his near post.

Any faint hope Palace establishing a foothold vanished, however, minutes later when Fellaini doubled United’s lead, volleying in Ashley Young’s delightful cross from close range at the far post. In the away dugout, Hodgson offered only a bleak, blank thousand-yard stare. He and his players were now looking into the abyss.

The only question now was whether United would match their neighbours by putting five past this hapless Palace outfit. Fellaini, a player whose status among the Old Trafford faithful continues to soar, notched his second in a similar fashion to his first after just three minutes of the second half.

He did not need to do much to divert Marcus Rashford’s ferociously whipped free-kick past Hennessey and simply allowed the ball to cannon off his forehead from inside the six-yard box. It was not the most refined of goals but then it did not need to be. Do the simple things well and teams as poor as Palace will have little in the way of a response.

With victory assured, the only disappointing aspect of United’s performance was Lukaku’s lack of involvement. The Belgian started the game despite late fears over his fitness and he was hardly firing on all cylinders, badly. But as it becoming the norm, he eventually found his goal.

After flicking the ball on to Ander Herrera in midfield, Lukaku waited patiently while Anthoyn Martial went to work down the left. When the winger’s drilled cross evaded every Palace defender and left Hennessey stranded at the front post, Lukaku tapped in for his seventh goal in his first seven United league appearances.