Sluggish Man Utd beaten by Palace

Manchester United were well off the pace in their first English Premier League game of the season yesterday, losing 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace in a match featuring a converted retaken penalty following an intervention by VAR.

After a short and disjointed pre-season, United were sluggish throughout as Wilfried Zaha’s two second-half goals earned Palace a win at Old Trafford for a second straight season.

Zaha’s first goal came from the penalty spot after the referee ordered a spot kick to be retaken because of encroachment from United goalkeeper David de Gea before he saved an attempt by Jordan Ayew. De Gea didn’t have at least one foot on the goal-line as Ayew struck his shot.

That made it 2-0 in the 74th minute, after Andros Townsend put Palace ahead in the seventh minute, and although Donny Van de Beek’s goal six minutes later gave United hope, Zaha shrugged off his marker before firing home Palace’s third goal in the 85th.

Meanwhile, Dominic CalvertLewin scored a hat-trick and James Rodriguez netted his first goal in English football as Everton beat West Bromwich Albion 5-2 in an incident-filled match at Goodison Park featuring two red cards – including one for visiting manager Slaven Bilic.

It was Everton’s second straight win to open the season – Carlo Ancelotti’s side also beat Tottenham last weekend.

The Colombia star scored from outside the area to make it 2-1 just before halftime and was then involved in the game’s key incident moments later, when he was shoved in the face by Kieran Gibbs to earn the West Brom left back a red card.

Bilic was also sent off for protesting against the decision to referee Mike Dean as the teams went off at halftime.

Everton took advantage of their numerical advantage after the break as Calvert-Lewin added two more goals to his initial equaliser.

There was another seven-goal thriller at Elland Road, as Leeds were this time on the right end of a 4-3 scoreline. A week after losing to defending champions Liverpool by the same score, Leeds were involved in another wild contest in their first home game back in the top division, against fellow promoted team Fulham.

Helder Costa scored in each half for the hosts, the second goal proving to be the winner in a match which featured goals from the penalty spot for each side.

The day’s other match saw Arsenal score a late 2-1 win against West Ham at Emirates Stadium, with Eddie Nketiah’s 85th-minute goal breaking the deadlock.