 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
An second-half goal from Gabriel Jesus earned Premier League champions Manchester City a deserved 1-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday and inflicted a first defeat of the season on Thomas Tuchel's side.
Jesus pushed the ball home with a deflection off Jorginho after a goalmouth melee in the 53rd minute following City's 10th corner of the game. It was the game's first shot on target.
The goal sparked the match into life, forcing Chelsea to attack, after a first half of intense pressure from City and attritional defending from the home side.
It was Jesus's 52nd goal for City and they have never lost a Premier League game in which he has scored.
"We prepared to play well," he told BT Sport. "We came to play against one of the best teams in Europe. They play so good and have a lot of amazing players. We knew it was going to be difficult for us...
"Sometimes we don’t play well, but if we suffer a little bit we can attack. We have a lot of top players to create chances and try to score goals."
The victory also broke a three-match losing streak for the Manchester side against Chelsea, the most recent in the Champions League final in Porto in May.
The visitors had pressed Chelsea from the outset and enjoying 70% possession in the first half with Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden buzzing round Chelsea's area.
There were chances for Grealish in particular to get on the scoresheet as the game opened up, but his attempts flew wide or were blocked by well-timed interventions from Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy.
At the other end Timo Werner and Marcos Alonso had chances, and Ederson had his share of goalkeeping duties to keep out crosses from Cesar Azpilicueta and snuffing out goalmouth challenges.
Ruben Dias also had an important hand in preserving City's clean sheet, keeping control of Chelsea target man Romelu Lukaku who found little space to strike.
"We’re disappointed with the result," Azpilicueta said. "It was not our best performance. Especially in the first half it was hard to get out. We didn’t create chances and lost the ball too easily. After the goal we had a good reaction, but it was not enough to get something from the game."
City climbed to second in the table, level on 13 points with third-placed Chelsea.
Liverpool held by battling Brentford
Striker Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool but the league leaders were still held to a draw by Brentford as the two sides played out a 3-3 thriller on Saturday.
Both sides had efforts cleared off the line in a lively opening before Ethan Pinnock gave Brentford the lead, stabbing the ball home at the back post after a clever free kick routine caught the Liverpool defence flat-footed in the 27th minute.
That lead was short-lived as Diogo Jota headed home Jordan Henderson's cross to put the Reds level four minutes later, and Salah put his side in front in the 54th with his 100th goal in 151 league appearances for Liverpool.
The Bees refused to give up, levelling in the 63rd minute when defender Pontus Jansson swivelled in the box and hit the crossbar before Vitaly Janelt reacted quickest to head home the rebound.
Curtis Jones put Liverpool back in front four minutes later, cutting in from the left and unleashing a rocket that took a slight deflection before flying into the net as the visitors stepped up to a pace that Brentford struggled to match.
Salah could have put the game out of reach in the 77th minute but he lofted his chip just over the crossbar with only the keeper to beat. It was to prove a costly miss as Brentford snatched a dramatic equaliser through substitute Yoane Wissa in the 82nd minute.
There was still time for more drama as David Raya pulled off a superb save to deny Roberto Firmino and Ivan Toney had what looked to be a late winner for Brentford ruled out for offside.
"It's what we dream for as kids," Brentford goal-scorer Janelt told Sky Sports. "Before the game we said we try the best against Liverpool, one of the best teams in the world, and now we draw 3-3."
The draw means Liverpool climb to 14 points after six games, one ahead of Manchester City, who beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier in the day. Brentford are ninth on nine points.
"At 2-1 up we had one or two chances to finish the game off. It gives them that little bit of hope. That's football sometimes, we're disappointed with the result but we have to give credit to Brentford," Liverpool captain Henderson told Sky Sports.
Fernandes misses last-gasp penalty as Villa stun Man United
Bruno Fernandes blazed a stoppage-time penalty over the crossbar as Aston Villa earned a shock 1-0 victory at a below-par Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.
Kortney Hause's 88th-minute header put Villa on course for their first league win over United since 2009, but the defender's handball gifted United an opportunity to steal a point, only for Fernandes to miss the target.
Since Cristiano Ronaldo re-signed for United, there has been much debate over who will take penalties and free kicks this season – last term's spot-kick taker Fernandes or his fellow Portuguese.
It was Fernandes who took the first direct free kick on Saturday, firing into the wall, with Ronaldo getting the next one, and Fernandes, following Hause's handball, never looked back as he placed the ball on the spot in the 92nd minute.
But last season's top scorer missed only his second spot-kick for the club to the dismay of an expectant crowd.
"First of all the way they (Villa players) get round the penalty spot, get round Bruno and that, that's not to my liking," United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.
"Bruno is usually very good in those positions and unfortunately he missed this one."
In truth, United got what they deserved. Villa had two great opportunities to break the deadlock in the first half with full back Matt Targett blazing over from two metres out, before Ollie Watkins was denied by a fine save from United goalkeeper David de Gea.
The home side, encouraged by a frustrated Old Trafford crowd, stepped it up late in the match, but Hause climbed highest to stun the hosts before Fernandes' miss and United tasted league defeat for the first time this season.
That second successive home loss in all competitions means United dropped to fourth in the standings on goal difference, with the top four sides all on 13 points. Villa climbed to seventh.
Solskjaer called for a fast start from his side in his programme notes having seen his team often struggle to get going, and that is exactly what he got as Fernandes wasted a great chance inside two minutes.
However, the hosts tailed off and really should have gone behind at halftime as Targett and Watkins missed great opportunities.
The home fans were getting restless as the Premier League’s top goalscorers struggled to create clear-cut chances, with two headers as close as United came to breaking the deadlock before the break.
The game opened up as the second half wore on with Mason Greenwood going close, before De Gea denied Watkins with another fine save.
But the Spanish stopper could do nothing as Hause powered his header home, sparking wild scenes of celebration in the away end.
The headlines, however, went to Fernandes, as his miss gave Villa a famous and thoroughly deserved success.
"It (a Villa win at Old Trafford) has been a long time coming," Villa coach Dean Smith said. "Our performance levels have been good the last couple of times we've been here.
"What that does is it gives an awful lot of belief to the players now."
Leicester's Vardy scores at both ends in 2-2 draw with Burnley
Burnley were denied their first Premier League win of the season at Leicester City as Jamie Vardy scored an own goal before following it up with a brace in a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors took the lead when Leicester striker Vardy attempted to clear a Burnley corner at the near post, but his glancing header beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to find the back of the net.
After missing two opportunities to score in the first half, Vardy redeemed himself with an equaliser when he ran into space to receive Youri Tielemans' pass and beat Nick Pope with a low, angled shot that found the bottom corner.
Burnley reclaimed the lead three minutes later when Ivorian midfielder Maxwel Cornet volleyed home from a Matej Vydra cross, giving Schmeichel no chance of making a save as he dived to the right.
However, with five minutes left in the game, Vardy made the breakthrough again when he used his pace to entice Pope into no man's land before rounding the keeper and side-footing the ball into an empty net from a narrow angle to make it 2-2.
Chris Wood nearly won it for Burnley at the end with a stoppage time goal but it was disallowed for offside. The result leaves Sean Dyche's side in the relegation zone in 19th with two points from six games while Leicester are 12th.
Everton condemn Norwich to sixth straight defeat
Andros Townsend and Abdoulaye Doucoure were on target as Everton condemned Norwich City to their sixth straight Premier League defeat with a comfortable 2-0 win at Goodison Park on Saturday.
A subdued first half sprung to life in the 28th minute when Norwich loanee Ozan Kabak was adjudged to have brought down Allan in the box following a lengthy VAR check and Townsend dispatched the spot-kick.
Norwich offered little going forward in the first half and their only notable attempt came from Mathias Normann, whose shot from distance was palmed away by Jordan Pickford.
The visitors were better in attack after the break, with Normann and Ben Gibson going close but Everton crushed any hopes of a comeback when Doucoure finished smartly in the 77th minute after being played in by Demarai Gray.
Everton climbed into sixth place and Norwich stayed bottom of the table.
Late Antonio strike gives West Ham win at Leeds
An 90th-minute goal by in-form striker Michail Antonio gave West Ham United a comeback 2-1 win at Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday to complete a perfect week for the East London club.
West Ham, who knocked Manchester United out of the League Cup with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Wednesday, were worthy victors at Elland Road where a Junior Firpo own goal cancelled out Raphinha's 19th-minute opener for Leeds.
The result left West Ham in seventh place on 11 points from six games while Leeds, who are still looking for their first league win of the season, slipped to 18th on three points.
Antonio, who took his tally to six goals from as many games in all competitions, said West Ham had needed to dig deep to overcome an adventurous Leeds side, adding that he had no doubt he would score the winner.
"That's one thing that Leeds make you do -- run," he told the BBC. "Run and run and run until you can't run anymore. They are a quality team and you know it's going to be end-to-end.
"We always believe that we can keep going and if we keep pushing and working hard we are going to create opportunities, especially the way we play counter-attacking football.
"When it opened out for me one-on-one I had the whole goal to pick from. I always believe I will score especially in the form I am now. That's six in six; let's keep going and let's keep scoring."
West Ham had made a bright start with Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier denying Antonio and Said Benrahma before Raphinha fired the home side ahead against the run of play.
The Brazilian winger drilled a first-time shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area after he was teed up by Mateusz Klich and then hit the post from the same spot in the 35th minute as Leeds gained the upper hand.
Meslier kept Leeds in the driving seat with two more superb saves when he denied Pablo Fornals and Tomas Soucek before West Ham levelled when Jarrod Bowen's wayward shot ricocheted into the net off Firpo's back in the 67th minute.
With the clock ticking, West Ham carved Leeds open when Declan Rice fed Antonio from the right flank and the towering striker rounded his marker down the middle before he planted a clinical finish past Meslier.
