Premier League
MANCHESTER UTD SAVED BY INJURY TIME GOAL
An injury-time strike from Manchester United’s Jess Lingard ensured that the spoils were shared at Old Trafford as it had looked like a major upset was on as Burnley’s incredible season of results continued.
Both sides came into the fixture in decent, rather than spectacular, form. Jose Mourinho’s Reds had won four of their last six league games but were still a distant second behind runaway league leaders Manchester City.
Burnley, who have had a terrific season so far, were 7th and only two points outside the Champions League places. They had only lost two of their last six games, although their last match had seen Tottenham Hotspur dispose of the Clarets 3-0 at Turf Moor.
Mourinho made four changes to the United side that disappointingly drew against Leicester City with Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all starting in a 4-4-2 formation.
For Sean Dyche he kept to his tried and tested personnel with one enforced change for Burnley being Ashley Barnes replacing the injured Chris Wood in attack in a slightly more defensive 4-5-1 formation.
To the surprise of the boisterous home crowd, Burnley started brightly and earned a free kick after a foul by Marcos Rojo on Jeff Hendrick within the first few minutes.
A terrifically flighted ball by Johann Brag Gudmundsson into the United penalty area was clinically fired home by the recalled Ashley Barnes after United were unable to clear the first header.
The early goal sparked United into life and they began to impose themselves, but Burnley remained undaunted.
Gudmundssson was causing the hosts problems and delivered yet another quality ball into the penalty area that Scott Arfield deftly volleyed on to United’s bar, which left David De Gea in United’s goal stranded, but it sympathetically bounced away for a goal kick.
United were picking up the pace and created a few opportunities in a short space of time; Juan Mata had a shot blocked, Romelu Lukaku almost got on the end of an Ashley Young cross and then Young himself brought a first save of the match from Nick Pope with a rasping shot from 25 yards out – but the Clarets remained unbreached.
Sustained pressure continued from United with Paul Pogba dictating in midfield, a couple of free-kicks punched clear by Nick Pope, followed by a flurry of corners. Burnley showed their dogged resistance which has served them so well this season, although they remained a threat on the counter-attack.
Burnley extended their lead in the 35th minute after earning a free kick on the edge of the Reds’ area, 25 yards from goal.
Belgium international Steven Defour stepped up and sublimely curled the ball over the wall and into the top corner, past De Gea’s despairing dive. Temporarily, Old Trafford descended into a deafening silence.
The half drew to a close with United pressing, but Dyche’s side worked tirelessly to maintain their priceless lead.
United tactically reshuffled for the start of the second half as Nemanja Matic started at centre back partnering Phil Jones as Rojo and Ibrahimovic were replaced by Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but the Reds continued to press.
A wonderful Ashley Young cross along the six-yard line was guided purposefully towards goal by Jesse Lingard, which Pope did magnificently to deflect on to the crossbar and away to safety
Within minutes, United hauled themselves back into the match as Young crossed again and Lingard cleverly back-heeled into the corner of the net which sent the Theatre of Dreams into an eruption of noise.
United continued to work both flanks well with Shaw and Young looking threatening. The Reds were encamped in Burnley’s half, but the Clarets had numbers back to repel the waves of attack as they peppered Pope’s goal.
United had a free kick in a similar position to Defour’s in the first half after Bardsley had lunged at Mkhitaryan.
Pogba stepped up and went for the same corner of goal too, but his effort was slightly too high and flew disappointingly into the Stretford End rather than the net.
As the game wore on, United seemed to run out of ideas and their approach became more direct than using the subtle play they had adopted earlier to try to break down the resistance of the Burnley’s defensive rearguard. Ultimately, the pressure told as a late free-kick from Juan Mata in stoppage time was converted by Lingard on the half-volley for United’s equaliser and the England international’s second of the match.
For all United’s possession and continued pressing it is hard to begrudge Dyche’s men at least the draw as they tenaciously got through many challenging spells during an enthralling contest.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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