Tottenham rout Man United as Leicester’s perfect start ends
MANCHESTER, England, Oct 4, (AP): Tottenham tore apart Manchester United for a 6-1 victory on Sunday, exposing the defensive weaknesses in Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side by inflicting the team’s joint-heaviest Premier League defeat at home.
Only once since 1930 have United conceded six at home – to Manchester City nine years ago. Not since 1986 have United opened the league season with back-to-back home losses.
This was a crushing defeat to a Manchester side managed by Jose Mourinho, who was fired in 2018 to make way for Solskjær. And against a team that have played eight games in 22 days across three competitions and were trailing after two minutes at Old Trafford.
But after Bruno Fernandes’ penalty, United’s wretched defense allowed Tanguy Ndombele to level in the fourth minute and Son HeungMin to net again inside three minutes.
United can be aggrieved that Erik Lamela’s apparent playacting led to Anthony Martial being sent off in the 28th minute. But the team were already being run ragged by Tottenham.
Harry Kane scored his first on the half-hour, Son netted again in the 37th, Serge Aurier was on target in the 51st and Kane wrapped up the rout from the penalty spot in the 79th.
West Ham 3, Leicester 0 Leicester’s perfect start to the Premier League season ended with a 3-0 loss to West Ham in their fourth match.
With manager David Moyes still isolating with coronavirus, West Ham took the lead in the 14th minute through Michail Antonio.
The forward took a quick free kick after he was fouled by Caglar Soyuncu out wide on the right. He switched play with a cross-field pass to Aaron Cresswell and made a run for the far post, where he was on hand to head home Cresswell’s curling cross.
Pablo Fornals doubled the lead in the 34th. Cresswell’s long, high clearance forward was brought under control by Fornals, allowing him to advance into the penalty area and
SOCCER
beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel down by his near post.
Fornals set up the third in the 83rd. His pass behind the defense cut Leicester open again and Jarrod Bowen darted through to finish neatly past Schmeichel and ensure another emphatic victory for West Ham, following a 4-0 success against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.
They denied 2016 champions Leicester the chance to open a season with four league wins for the first time in their history.
Leicester’s day was summed up in stoppage time when Jamie Vardy, who was largely anonymous for the entire match, finally got some decent service but clipped his finish over goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski. Harvey Barnes then had a goal ruled out by VAR for a marginal offside.
West Ham have six points from four games.
Arsenal 2, Sheff United 1
Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe scored within three minutes of each other to give Arsenal a 2-1 win and leave Sheffield United without a point so far this season.
Arsenal broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when Mohamed Elneny burst into the box and found PierreEmerick Aubameyang, whose ball in to Hector Bellerin saw the fullback cross for Saka to head home at the back post.
Bellerin was again the provider for the second as he slipped the ball through to Pepe. The Ivory Coast forward broke into the box unchallenged and fired low past Aaron Ramsdale for his first goal since he turned home a penalty in the 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win against Sheffield United in June.
As is often the case with Arsenal, things were not all plain sailing as David McGoldrick curled in a late fine goal from 20 yards to claim Sheffield United’s first league goal of the season.
But the Blades could not find a way to pick up their first points of the campaign after four games.
Wolves 1, Fulham 0
Pedro Neto scored the only goal as Wolverhampton condemned Fulham to another Premier League defeat.
The forward’s strike earned the
hosts a 1-0 win as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side rediscovered their form.
Alphonse Areola’s double save denied Neto and Nelson Semedo, while Aboubakar Kamara missed a great chance to level for the visitors.
It meant Fulham slipped to a fourth straight loss to remain bottom of the Premier League.
Despite a tireless display, it has been a chastening return to the top flight for Scott Parker’s side, who have let in 11 goals so far – the highest number they have conceded in the opening four league games since 1960.
Wolves, smarting from their recent loss of form, were cautious but still had too much for Fulham to end their run of three straight defeats.
United States defender Antonee Robinson made his league debut for Fulham and the left back tested Wolverhampton goalkeeper Rui Patricio early on after a strong run.
Wolves broke through 11 minutes after the interval when Leander Dendoncker’s shot was blocked by Robinson. As Fulham failed to clear, the ball ricocheted to Neto, who drilled into the bottom corner from 16 yards. Southampton 2, West Brom 0 Southampton secured their second Premier League success of the season with a 2-0 victory over winless West Bromwich Albion.
West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone had made three diving saves before Moussa Djenepo put Southampton ahead in the 41st minute with a shot into the bottom corner.
Just as West Brom looked to be gaining a foothold in the game, Southampton doubled their lead, with the ball looping to Oriol Romeu who sent a powerful volley into the net in the 69th for his first Southampton goal since February 2019.
West Brom have collected only one point in four games since returning to the Premier League.