Trending
Manchester United’s winless run reached nine matches after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday. Manchester City also endured a difficult day, losing 1-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
United started brightly at Stamford Bridge but failed to convert their first-half chances. Chelsea punished them after the break through Morgan Rogers and a Cole Palmer penalty.
Lisandro Martinez made United’s task harder when he received a red card and conceded the penalty. Palmer converted from the spot in the 64th minute.
United avoided a place in the relegation zone because Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace also lost. Forest suffered a 2-0 defeat at Brentford, while Tottenham beat Palace by the same score.
Michael Carrick’s side have collected only seven points from their opening nine league matches. The defeat also marked United’s fourth consecutive Premier League loss.
Despite the poor run, travelling supporters applauded Carrick after the final whistle.
Bruno Fernandes returned to United’s starting line-up as captain after missing the previous match against Bournemouth. His return helped United produce a stronger first-half performance.
Matheus Cunha thought he had scored, but officials ruled out his effort. Amad also missed a promising opportunity after firing over the crossbar.
AC Milan Beat Inter 3-1 in Derby as Roma Close in on Serie A Leaders
Chelsea took control after the interval. Morgan Rogers broke through United’s defence and scored to put the hosts ahead.
Martinez then received two yellow cards within three minutes. His second booking followed an incident involving Wesley Fofana during a corner.
The dismissal also resulted in a penalty, which Palmer calmly converted to seal Chelsea’s 2-0 victory.
Carrick acknowledged that his team had failed to maintain its first-half performance.
“I think I take away a lot of the positives from the first half,” he said.
“But the game unravelled and got away from us. It’s happened too often really so we’ve got to learn from that and we’ve got to do something about it pretty quickly.”
Manchester City suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Brighton, ending their perfect Premier League start.
Yasin Ayari scored the only goal in the 11th minute. A misplaced clearance from Matheus Nunes gave Ayari the opportunity to finish from close range.
City pushed hard for an equaliser but could not break down Brighton’s defence. The hosts attempted 21 shots but failed to score for the first time in 25 Premier League matches.
Brighton produced a disciplined defensive display to protect their lead. The victory also avenged their midweek League Cup defeat against City.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler praised his players’ defensive effort.
“There’s an old phrase — defence wins you battles and wins you championships,” he said. “It’s always a togetherness when you defend like we did.”
City remain on 21 points after nine matches. Arsenal also have 21 points but have played one fewer game. They can move clear at the top if they avoid defeat against Liverpool on Sunday.
Brighton climbed to third place with 19 points, while Chelsea moved into fourth with 16.
Nottingham Forest extended their winless league run to five matches after losing 2-0 at Brentford.
The defeat kept Forest in the bottom three. Brentford secured the points with goals from an own goal by Nikola Milenkovic and Igor Thiago.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth moved into seventh place after a 2-0 victory over Leeds United.
Evanilson scored for the fourth consecutive league match. Amine Adli added Bournemouth’s second goal late in the game.
Coventry City moved out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 home win over Sunderland.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni scored for Coventry. Sunderland remain bottom of the table.
Hull City and Ipswich Town shared the points in a 2-2 draw.
In the late match, Aston Villa drew 1-1 with Fulham. Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki turned a corner into his own net to give Fulham an equaliser.
Tottenham secured their third consecutive victory with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Palace suffered an early setback when Jean-Philippe Mateta received a red card in the 13th minute for a challenge on Micky van de Ven.
Archie Gray headed Tottenham into the lead in the 25th minute.
Jan Paul van Hecke added the second goal with a header after his initial effort struck the crossbar.
The victory lifted Tottenham to eighth place, while Palace remained in the lower half of the table.
[…] Manchester United’s Winless Run Reaches Nine as Man City Lose to Brighton […]