Premier League: West Brom 1 Manchester United 2

New signing Ashley Young made up for David de Gea’s blunder in goal as Manchester United opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over West Brom.

But the victory came at a cost with United losing both central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic on their way to claiming an early advantage over their title rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – who all dropped points.

Last season’s champions started off brightly, with Young exploiting the left-wing as the former Aston Villa winger looked to get off the mark for his new employers.

But rather than becoming goalscorer, Young became creator just after the 10-minute mark. After being found by fellow England international Wayne Rooney as he broke the West Brom offside trap, Young in turn repaid the compliment to the Manchester United striker, giving him the ball just outside the area before Rooney turned and placed it beyond Ben Foster’s outstretched right hand and into the bottom corner.

United should have gone two up as a top-quality passing move involving Danny Welback and Rooney cut open the West Brom defence, before the latter found Nani wide open in the Baggies penalty area, but unfortunately for the Portuguese winger, his shot landed with the home fans behind the goal.

With nine minutes remaining in the first half, young Spaniard de Gea was left with his head in his hands as Shane Long, who was signed from Reading during the week, received the ball on the left before beating United right-back Chris Smalling and hitting a shot towards the back post which crept through the keeper’s hands and into the net.

Five minutes after the start of the second half the visitors were forced into a change as United captain Vidic limped from the field, to be replaced by Jonny Evans.

And with just over 15 minutes left the visitors lost Ferdinand with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

As West Brom continued to attack, de Gea’s uncertainty crept back into the game as a free kick from the right wing arrived at the back post and once again the Spanish stopper looked fragile as he failed to stop the ball going out for a corner.

But United finally claimed a winner with less than 10 minutes left as impressive new signing Young raced in from the left wing and his shot deflected off both Gabriel Tamas and then Steven Reid, before finding the bottom of Foster’s net.