Sir Alex Ferguson's brave decision to drop Wayne Rooney from his starting line-up paid off as new boys Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa scored in Manchester United's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Fulham.
Rooney paid the price for a below-par performance in the defeat at Everton on Monday. And whilst it is viewed as a reminder from Ferguson that standards have to be higher, the respective performances of Van Persie and Kagawa were such that Rooney cannot be guaranteed a recall at Southampton next week.
United collected all three points as the first-half response of Van Persie, Kagawa and Rafael to Damien Duff's second-minute effort proved enough despite a Nemanja Vidic own goal.
