United pulls off win, minus Rooney
LONDON — By reeling off a sixth successive English Premier League victory on Saturday, Manchester City underlined just how formidable it is under Pep Guardiola.
But Jose Mourinho might finally have found the way to stop Manchester United being eclipsed by City this season — drop Wayne Rooney.
Having fended off mounting criticism of his captain, Mourinho left Rooney on the bench and the reward was a 4-1 victory over champion Leicester.
“Sometimes, when I read you, I feel I know nothing about football,” Mourinho said. “But there is one thing I know: the rules of the game. And I can only start with 11, until … there is a change.”
United’s win ensured City, with a 3-1 victory at Swansea, couldn’t pull farther away from Mourinho’s side, which is six points behind its neighbour.
The most impressive performance of the day came from Arsenal, which marked the 20th anniversary of Arsene Wenger’s appointment by ruthlessly beating Chelsea 3-0.
MAN U 4 LEICESTER 1
United goals all came in a sparkling first-half display. Juan Mata — Rooney’s replacement in the No. 10 role — Marcus Rashford, and Paul Pogba scored in a rampant five-minute spell. United took the lead through Chris Smalling, subbing as captain. United ended a run of two straight league defeats, but Leicester has lost three of its opening six games, as many as in its 38-game titlewinning campaign last season.
SWANSEA 1 MANCHESTER CITY 3
Back from suspension and immediately back in the goals, Sergio Aguero scored twice to take his tally to 11 in six games. Raheem Sterling grabbed the other goal for City and the only blot was the sight of playmaker Kevin De Bruyne limping off late on with an apparent hamstring injury.
ARSENAL 3 CHELSEA 0
Chelsea’s defensive frailties were exposed as Antonio Conte’s team was left with one point from three league games in September. Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil provided the goals in the first half that gave the Gunners their first league win over Chelsea in five years. Chelsea hadn’t conceded a league goal to Arsenal since January 2013 before this capitulation.
LIVERPOOL 5 HULL 1
With nine goals in its first two home games, a new-look Anfield is becoming a fortress for Liverpool under Juergen Klopp. Liverpool was already on its way to a third straight league win when Ahmed Elmohamady was sent off in the 29th minute. James Milner converted the resulting penalty to double the lead already set by Adam Lallana. Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho added further goals before Milner was on target again from the penalty spot.