Manchester United suffered a humbling 3-1 Premier League loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday and have picked up three defeats in the first five matches of a league campaign for the first time since 1989-90.
Despite making a bright start at Old Trafford, United fell behind in the 20th minute when Danny Welbeck slotted home against his former club when left unmarked in the penalty area.
United responded well and thought they had levelled just before the break through big-money signing Rasmus Hojlund, on his full debut, but the ball was adjudged to be out of play when Marcus Rashford pulled the ball back to the Dane.
Brighton fully capitalised on that VAR reprieve, however, as fine goals from Pascal Gross early in the second half and a Joao Pedro strike brought groans of dismay all around Old Trafford.
Substitute Hannibal Mejbri did get one back for the hosts with 18 minutes left but Brighton held on with ease to move up to third in the standings on 12 points from five matches. United dropped to 12th on six points.
There were boos all around Old Trafford as Hojlund was replaced by Anthony Martial, but it was a Brighton change that put the game to bed, with record signing Pedro arrowing a fizzing effort into the net.
Brighton became only the third side to win four consecutive Premier League games against United, after Liverpool between 2000 and 2002, and Manchester City from 2013-14.
Liverpool triumph
Liverpool beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 away thanks to two late goals.
The hosts dominated the first half at Molineux against a sloppy Liverpool, Hwang Hee-chan stroking in a seventh-minute goal after a brilliant run from Pedro Neto, before Wolves missed a string of further chances.
Liverpool came out transformed in the second half, however, and Mohamed Salah set up fellow striker Cody Gakpo for a tap-in equaliser in the 55th minute.
Wearing the captain’s armband on his 200th Premier League appearance, Andy Robertson slid in Liverpool’s second from another Salah pass in the 85th minute as the visitors poured forward.
Liverpool made it three in time added on, with Wolves’ Hugo Bueno deflecting the ball into his own net from a shot by Harvey Elliott.
Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland scored second-half goals as Manchester City fought back from a goal down to beat West Ham United 3-1 at the London Stadium.
City should have gone ahead in the seventh minute, but a goal-line clearance by Tomas Soucek kept the game scoreless.
Written with inputs from Reuters
