Tuesday 16 / April / 2024
LONDON: Manchester United's start to the new season under Erik ten Hag went from bad to worse on Saturday when they followed their 2-1 opening day defeat at home to Brighton with a 4-0 thrashing away to Brentford.
Any hope of a reaction was quickly dashed when Jose DaSilva put Brentford ahead after just 10 minutes after Cristiano Ronaldo had lost possession of the ball.
That was the signal for another chaotic collapse and Matthias Jenson made it 2-0 after 18 minutes. Ben Mee added a third after half an hour and Bryan Mbuemo made it 4-0 in the 35th minute.
It was arguably Manchester United's worst 45 minutes in many years and there was little improvement after the break as the side of Ten Hag's task was made painfully clear.
Manchester City made light work of newly promoted Bournemouth on Saturday to maintain their impressive 100 percent start to the season with a 4-0 home win.
If Bournemouth had gained confidence from their opening day win, they were given a quick reality check when Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring for the league champions in the 19th minute, before further strikes from Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden had the game sewn up with just 37 minutes on the clock.
Jefferson Lerma's own goal with 15 minutes left to play ended the scoring as Pep Guardiola's side eased up after the break.
Although Man City don't appear to miss striker, Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian showed he is going to be important for Arsenal, when he scored the first two goals in their 4-2 win at home to Leicester City.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring with an excellent 22nd-minute finish and doubled his tally 12 minutes later.
William Saliba's own goal after 53 minutes gave Leicester hope, but that was immediately canceled out by Granit Xhaka making it 3-1 and although James Maddison threw Leicester another lifeline in the 74th minute, Gabriel Martinelli netted Arsenal's fourth a minute later.
Brighton and Newcastle United canceled each other out in a tactical match where Brighton had more chances but failed to provide a finish, while Fulham claimed their second draw of the season as they held on for a solid 0-0 draw away to Wolves, who again look short of firepower.
It would have been a better result for Fulham, but striker Aleksander Mitrovic had a penalty saved with 10 minutes left.
Southampton looked to be out for the count after trailing 2-0 at home to Leeds United, who led thanks to Rodrigo Moreno's goals in the 46th and 60th minute, but a late fightback saw Jose Aribo pull a goal back in the 71st minute before Kyle Walker Peters equalized from a tight angle with nine minutes left to set up a frantic end to the match. ■
