First league win
SOUTHAMPTON, England -Southampton tasted victory for the first time in the Premier League this season as Armando Broja’s second-half goal saw them win 1-0 against Leeds United on Saturday.
The win lifted Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side to 15th in the table with seven points, while Leeds are one point and two places behind.
The hosts came close to opening the scoring early on when Broja flicked on a Nathan Redmond corner towards the back post but Mohamed Elyounoussi failed to meet it.
And it would be Redmond and Broja who would combine for the Saints to break the deadlock in the second half when the former squared it to the on-loan Chelsea forward who netted his first Premier League goal, side-footing the ball into the roof of the net.
Netting on his maiden top-flight start, it capped off a perfect week for the 20-year-old striker, who a week ago had scored the winner for Albania against Hungary.
“It was amazing to get my first start in the Premier League, I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was three years old,” he said after the game.
“Scoring on my first start is a dream come true, I couldn’t ask for anything better. The guys put in a great shift. It was an amazing moment.
“This is the favourite moment of my career so far, hopefully there are many moments and goals more to come.”
The visitors had few real chances, but Dan James should have levelled the scores when he poked wide after a lapse from the hosts’ defence, but that was as close as Leeds would come. Despite a late surge in intensity, Marcelo Bielsa’s men were uncharacteristically flat, failing to create any real chances, and the Saints won with relative ease.
LEICESTER, England -Leicester City fired on all cylinders late on to beat Manchester United 4-2 at home in the Premier League yesterday, ending a four-match winless run and piling more pressure on visiting manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The result also ended United’s record 29game unbeaten away run in the league as they collapsed in a frantic five-minute spell in the closing stages, having taken an early lead and then pulled themselves back to 2-2.
With Cristiano Ronaldo putting in a subdued performance up front for United, it was shambolic defending that stretched their own winless run to three games in which they have taken one point from a possible nine.
Vardy was delighted after the game as Leicester bounced back from their barren spell.
“It was massively important,” Vardy told the BBC. “The most important thing was the performance because we had let our standards slip. We had the international break to reflect on things.”
Visiting midfielder Paul Pogba conceded United were well below par and pointed out the team lacked energy and confidence.
“We deserved to lose,” he said. “To be honest, we have been having these kind of games for a long time. We have not found the problem, conceding easy goals, stupid goals.
“We need to be more mature, play with more experience and arrogance in a good way. We need to find something, we need to change.”
United had made a perfect start as Mason Greenwood fired them into a 19th-minute lead when he unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 metres that flew into the far corner as it shaved the inside of the post.
But the visitors were punished for sloppy passing in the danger zone in the 31st as Kelechi Iheanacho robbed Harry Maguire of the ball and squared it for Youri Tielemans to hit the top corner with a looping shot over goalkeeper David De Gea.
A tame second half came to life with De Gea tipping a sublime Tielemans ball onto the woodwork before Ronaldo, who spurned a first-half chance with United ahead, saw home keeper Kasper Schmeichel palm over his shot from inside the area.
It was rip-roaring action from there on as Caglar Soyuncu turned the tide with a close-range effort in the 78th minute before Marcus Rashford, returning after shoulder surgery in August, levelled for United in the 82nd.
Less than 60 seconds later, however, substitute Ayoze Perez chipped the ball into Vardy’s path and the striker gave De Gea no chance with a superb volley with the outside of his foot, delighting the home fans in the King Power stadium.
Substitute Patson Daka put the icing on the cake for Leicester in stoppage time as more poor defending gave the Zambian striker time and space to tap the ball in from point blank range at the far post.