Lukaku stars as Man U beat Chelsea

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Romelu Lukaku chose the visit of former club Chelsea to end his scoring drought against the Premier League's top teams and produce his best performance for Manchester United.

Shrugging off his tag as a so-called 'flat-track bully,' Lukaku scored the equaliser, set up Jesse Lingard for the second-half winner, and delivered a mature, hard-working, all-round display as United came from behind to beat the champions 2-1 at Old Trafford yesterday.

In a crowning moment in the third minute of injury time, Lukaku relieved some pressure by spinning his marker, Antonio Rudiger, inside his own half and driving forward with a 60-metre run. United fans gasped and rose to applaud in appreciation.

The goal Lukaku did score - a neat, side-footed strike in the 39th minute - was his first against any of the Premier League's leading eight sides this season and took him on to 22 in all competitions in his first year at United. He didn't overtly celebrate the goal against a club where he played from 2011-14 and nearly joined again last summer.

The win lifted United back up to second place, above Liverpool, and opened up a six-point gap to fifth-place Chelsea with 10 games remaining.

Chelsea are two points off the fourth and final Champions League qualification position, leaving manager Antonio Conte to acknowledge that not reaching Europe's top competition "could be a possibility, for sure".

FROSTY HANDSHAKE

There was a frosty handshake between the managers before kick-off and they avoided any confrontation during the game, which Chelsea started well and took the lead through the latest scorcher from Willian.

The Brazilian began a counter-attack from his own box after heading clear a free kick. Bursting forward, Willian exchanged passes with Eden Hazard before running into the box and firing in a shot that was near to David De Gea but was so powerfully struck that it flew past the goalkeeper.

United hadn't committed many players forward up to that point. Once they did, the equaliser arrived. Alexis Sanchez fed a pass to Anthony Martial, who laid the ball across for Lukaku to control and side-foot home from 10 metres.

Chelsea faded after the break, with Willian and Hazard less effective and Paul Pogba - recalled to United's starting line-up - growing into the game for United.

Lukaku had a shot off a scissor kick tipped over by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, then showed a different facet of his game to create the 75th-minute winner by curling over a cross that was headed home by Jesse Lingard. The midfielder had only been on the field for 11 minutes.