MANCHESTER : Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini struck to give Manchester United a 2-0 victory over injury-ravaged Hull City in Wednesday\u00a0s League Cup semi-final first leg at Old Trafford.
\nAll eyes were on United captain Wayne Rooney, who is chasing a record 250th goal for the club, but it was Mata who broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before substitute Fellaini added a late second.
\nIt puts Jose Mourinho\u00a0s men in the driving seat ahead of the return leg on January 26, although it was not until Fellaini headed home in the 87th minute that they finally put the game beyond Hull.
\nNevertheless, they have now won nine games in succession and look in fine fettle ahead of arch rivals Liverpool\u00a0s visit in the Premier League on Sunday.
\nHull\u00a0s new manager Marco Silva, taking charge of his second game, was able to name only six substitutes and lost both Markus Henriksen and Josh Tymon to injury. Liverpool, last season\u00a0s beaten finalists, visit Southampton in the first leg of the second semi-final on Wednesday.
\nDespite Mourinho making seven changes to the team that had outclassed Reading 4-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday, United picked up where they had left off, peppering the Hull goal with shots.
\nHull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic had to produce a one-handed save to thwart Mata inside two minutes and moments later Andy Robertson stopped Rooney applying the finishing touch to Marcus Rashford\u00a0s shot.
\nThe presence of David Meyler and Tom Huddlestone in defence and the fact there were only six players on the Hull bench told the story of the visitors\u00a0 injury problems and there was more to come.
\nHenriksen was left clutching his right shoulder in agony after being knocked over by Paul Pogba and had to go off in the 16th minute, with Abel Hernandez taking his place.
\nUnited, missing the ill Zlatan Ibrahimovic, continued to swarm forward, Mkhitaryan twice shooting wide, Rashford lashing over and Jakupovic shovelling a long-range Pogba effort over the crossbar.
\nBut Hull, the Premier League\u00a0s bottom club, began to offer an attacking threat of their own as half-time approached in the club\u00a0s first ever League Cup semi-final match.
\nAdama Diomande gave United a scare when he headed against the post, only for an offside flag to then go up, and both Snodgrass and Hernandez tested David de Gea before the interval.
\nRooney\u00a0s moment of history looked to have arrived in the 51st minute when Pogba\u00a0s fine, flighted pass set him racing in on goal from the right, but he drilled his shot inches wide of the far post.
\nInstead it was Mata who provided the breakthrough, stabbing in on the volley at the back post after Antonio Valencia\u00a0s cross from the right was headed back across goal by Mkhitaryan.
\nAfter Diomande had volleyed over acrobatically for Hull, Pogba came within a whisker of doubling United\u00a0s lead, his curling free-kick clanging against the left-hand post and bouncing away.
\nIt seemed Hull would escape with only a one-goal deficit, but with three minutes remaining Fellaini met Matteo Darmian\u00a0s cross with a looping header that Huddlestone could only help over the line.
\nSilva\u00a0s injury woes mounted yet further in stoppage time when 17-year-old left-back Tymon had to limp off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANCHESTER : Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini struck to give Manchester United a 2-0 victory over injury-ravaged Hull City in Wednesday\u00a0s League Cup semi-final first leg at Old Trafford. All eyes were on United captain Wayne Rooney, who is chasing a record 250th goal for the club, but it was Mata who broke the deadlock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n