Man U beat Palace, Casemiro sees red
Manchester United ............ 2 Crystal Palace .................... 1 LONDON – Marcus Rashford won a first-half penalty before scoring himself in the second half as Manchester United survived a straight red card for Casemiro to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The visitors found themselves behind early when a VAR check showed Will Hughes had handled a ball from Rashford in the box, and Bruno Fernandes sent Vincent Guaita the wrong way from the spot in the seventh minute.
Palace had their best chance just before the break when Jeffrey Schlupp struck a dipping, swerving shot from distance that David de Gea had to get down smartly to save, but other than that Palace struggled to threaten the United goal.
ABLE TO CLEAR
Rashford cut inside a curled a shot just over the bar 11 minutes into the second half, and shortly afterwards winger Antony sped into the box with the ball at his feet but he couldn’t find a teammate and Palace were able to clear.
The in-form Rashford was not to be denied and hemade it 2-0 in the 62nd minute with a simple finish after a move that featured some superb short passing as United looked set to cruise to victory.
However, Palace were thrown a lifeline when Casemiro was shown a straight red card for grabbing Hughes by the throat as both sides clashed following a tackle on Antony, and Schlupp pulled a goal back in the 76th minute to give them hope.
Wolves ....................... 3 Liverpool ................... 0
LONDON – Relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers humiliated Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Saturday with a 3-0 win over the misfiring Reds, who are yet to win in the Premier League this year.
Wolves cut through Liverpool’s shaky defence from the off, missing two good chances before a Hwang Hee-Chan cutback went in off the heel of Joel Matip for a 5th minute own goal.
Minutes later, Wolves debutant Craig Dawson lashed in the second unmarked from close range after the ball bounced off Cody Gakpo in another spell of sloppy defending by the visitors.
PRODDING THE BALL
A fired-up Liverpool started the second half strongly, but Ruben Neves effectively ended the contest in the 71st minute, controlling then prodding the ball in at the end of a scintillating counter-attack from the home side.
Defeat left Liverpool 10th on 29 points after a terrible start to 2023 in which they have won just one of seven matches - against Wolves in the F.A. Cup - in all competitions.
After coming close to a historic quadruple last season, where they won two domestic cups and were runners-up in both the Champions League and Premier League, Klopp’s injury-hit and confidence-shorn team are a shadow of their former selves.
The result was Liverpool’s third straight away loss in the league. It eased Wolves’ fears of a drop to the Championship, lifting them to 15th position on 20 points, two points ahead of the bottom three.