Marcus Rashford scored twice as Manchester United made it four wins in a row and ended Arsenal’s perfect start to the Premier League season with a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday. Arsenal remained top of the table on 15 points thanks to their opening five wins and while they will be disappointed to have ended that run, this was far from the kind of meek loss against Big Six opponents they have produced in the recent past.
United look to have found their belief again after starting the campaign with dreadful defeats by Brighton and Brentford and Dutch coach Erik ten Hag’s approach is bringing results.
Antony was handed a place on the right flank with Rashford central and Jadon Sancho on the left but Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench alongside Brazilian Casemiro.
Gabriel Martinelli looked to have given Arsenal a 12th-minute lead after finishing off a swift break but the effort was disallowed following a VAR review. Martinelli forced two saves out of United keeper David De Gea as the visitors began to dominate but it was the home side who drew first blood through debutant Antony. The Brazilian winger, signed from Ajax last week, was found on the right by Rashford and coolly drifted a shot into the far bottom corner.
Arsenal deservedly drew level when the outstanding Martin Odegaard threaded a ball towards Gabriel Jesus in the box and after a challenge by Raphael Varane the ball fell to Bukayo Saka who slotted home.
United restored their advantage in the 66th minute, however, when Bruno Fernandes found Rashford with a superb through ball and the England striker beat the advancing Aaron Ramsdale. It was another swift counter that led to United’s third with Christian Erkisen breaking clear and slipping the ball across to Rashford for a simple finish.
A four-game winning run, including victories over Liverpool and Arsenal, has totally changed the mood at Old Trafford and Ten Hag was rightly pleased with his players’ resilience. “The spirit from this team, they can deal with setbacks so we did, it is really great and shows your mentality — we have really improved on that,” he said. “We are happy and satisfied with the win, also the performance against a really good team — they played really well,” he said. United climbed to fifth in the standings, three points behind Arsenal.
Brighton cruise
Alexis Mac Allister scored twice as Brighton & Hove Albion deepened the crisis at Leicester City with an emphatic 5-2 Premier League victory at the Amex Stadium. Leicester have one point from their opening six games and despite taking the lead inside a minute, were outplayed in a performance that will add to the substantial pressure on manager Brendan Rodgers after a summer of discontent at the club.
Kelechi Iheanacho put Leicester in front and Patson Daka drew them level at 2-2 before half-time, but an own goal from defender Luke Thomas and strikes from Moises Caicedo, Leandro Trossard and Mac Allister, one from the penalty-spot and the other a superb free kick, sealed victory for the home side. Mac Allister was also denied what would have been a contender for goal of the season when his thunderous strike from 30 yards was ruled out after a VAR check that lasted almost five minutes.
Injury blow
Wolves striker Sasa Kalajdzic sustained a knee ligament injury on his debut. The Austrian was substituted at half-time of Wolves’ win over Southampton. “Sasa felt a pain in his knee... Unfortunately, scans reveal an anterior cruciate injury and he will see a knee specialist tomorrow,” Wolves wrote on their website.
