Premier League round-up: Manchester United held to stalemate against Newcastle

Manchester United 0 Newcastle 0

Breathless and invigorating and a touch scrappy: this was the tale of a goalless draw contested in bright autumnal sunshine that Manchester United and Newcastle United will each feel they should have won.

Erik ten Hag stated his team wished to tell the story of the game but the visitors ensured they did not and, instead, the fare was akin to basketball in an end-to-end nature that largely bypassed measured midfield play. In the closing moments Casemiro released Marcus Rashford who rounded Nick Pope but on passing to Fred the midfielder’s radar was awry: it was as fair summation of what was on show all afternoon with Rashford somehow missing a point-blank header in added time.

Manchester United’s start was sharp. Fred, from distance, was the first to pull the trigger though his aim was askew. Lisandro Martínez stabbed the ball away from Miguel Almirón. The Reds roved forward and Cristiano Ronaldo, in for an under-the-weather Rashford, troubled Fabian Schar. Martínez illustrated further verve when covering off a Callum Wilson thrust, the latter thwarted by David De Gea, making a 500th United appearance, as he hoped to finish Jacob Murphy’s through ball.

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Newcastle soon counterpunched. Luke Shaw had to repel Kieran Tripper in a passage that led to Joelinton’s corner from the left. Wilson, earlier, had yelled for a penalty when Raphael Varane bumped him but Craig Pawson and the VAR were not interested.

The contest’s rhythm was jab-jab, thrust-thrust; one moment Fred sprinted on to a ball along the left, the next Trippier’s corner was headed by an unmarked Schar, United needing to tighten their dead-ball defending.

Antony, on three league goals, made a familiar cut inside and blasted over. This followed a smart no-look pass from Casemiro that splayed Newcastle. There was an invigorating muscularity on display: Antony crashed into Sven Botman, Joelinton and Casemiro bounced off each other. The latter tussle was ruled a Newcastle free-kick — Trippier smashed this into the wall, turned the ball back in, and Joelinton hit De Gea’s bar and right post and Dalot conceded another corner. Again United were second to Trippier’s delivery, Wilson’s header careering across goal.

The half was an ongoing incident-fest. Ten Hag upbraided David Coote for some on-field misdemeanour the fourth official might affect, Wilson yanked Martinez’s hand and received a Pawson lecture and, the referee moments later blew for treatment to a downed Joelinton.

Next, an errant Casemiro pass presaged Almirón making a mug of Fred, in for the ill Christian Eriksen. Trippier, cleverly, drove the dead-ball shin-high and United somehow remained intact. Shots from Antony and Bruno Fernandes, who also headed at Pope, failed to breach the No 22′s goal.

Each team missed ruthlessness and Ronaldo, oddly for the arch-predator, was often offside or caught away from the frontline where he had the best chance of adding career club goal No 701. There was more off-target shooting from Wilson to open the second half and when the Portuguese was in position and beat Pope the strike was offside. At the free-kick for this Ronaldo, believing Schar had touched it back to Pope, pilfered possession and scored. Pawson booked the 37-year-old, deciding the ball was merely given to the goalkeeper so he could execute.

Both Uniteds were unwilling — or unable — to slow the tempo and move the opponent around in a more chess-like manner. So when Antony, Dalot, Fernandes, Fred and Shaw did this suddenly Newcastle had a different problem. The move fizzled out yet here was a clue, maybe, regarding how Ten Hag’s men might prosper.

At the hour stage Manchester hogged possession with 61.6% but the old issue of being primarily a fast-breaking unit meant an ideas-surfeit when most of Newcastle were ahead of them. A lack of composure and calmness was a fair characterisation of the post-interval fare. Eddie Howe had replaced Murphy with Ryan Fraser so might Ten Hag shuffle his pack? Yes: off came Ronaldo as Rashford entered.

The home team, though, remained a side in search of a final ball as personified by Antony failing to pick out Jadon Sancho when he raced along the right. When Trippier did find Almirón with a low-driven corner the latter blazed over and, later, Rashford’s wild free-kick was another case-study in how not to aim true.

All of this meant a share of the points was only correct.

Aston Villa 0 Chelsea 2

The last thing Steven Gerrard needed was to encounter a goalkeeper who chose this occasion to produce the arguably best performance of his Premier League career. Kepa Arrizabalaga has not had too many such afternoons since his £72m arrival four years ago but denied Aston Villa with an outstanding exhibition of his art, two first-half saves from Jacob Ramsey and Danny Ings taking the breath away. Those were far from his only interventions and they meant Graham Potter, whose side put in the worst performance of his tenure, could hail a fifth straight win even if Chelsea hardly deserved it.

They prevailed because Villa, unable to apply the decisive touch at one end, self-destructed at the other. A glaring mistake from Tyrone Mings gave Mason Mount the opener on a plate; Mings and Emiliano Martínez then both had cause for dissatisfaction with their actions around the second-half free-kick, albeit superbly executed, from which the same player killed proceedings off. Chelsea’s revival continues apace but the embattled Gerrard saw the prospect of a transformative outcome slip away.

Gerrard could hardly legislate for the kind of individual error that devastates best-laid plans. Villa had begun brightly but looked unsteady when Ben Chilwell picked a path infield towards their penalty area. In attempting to rob his opponent, Ramsey sent the ball looping up into the air; it seemed to offer Mings a routine clearance but he misread the flight, his header skimming backwards and offering Mount, anticipating sharply, a sidefooted finish from close range.

Ings had been given his first start since 28 August as Gerrard tinkered in search of a winning combination in attack. It almost bore fruit within 65 seconds but Mateo Kovacic, covering as Ollie Watkins lurked at the far post, intercepted the recalled striker’s centre. Mings’ error appeared to have killed a cautiously hopeful mood but Villa gathered themselves and, by the interval, could scarcely believe they were not at the very least level.

A string of glorious chances began with Leon Bailey, who had also been restored to the starting XI, heading John McGinn’s dinked cross on to the top of the bar. Then came an extraordinary let-off for Chelsea, who had simply not got going despite their lead. McGinn’s drive was beaten away by Arrizabalaga but Ramsey, taking aim from the rebound, looked poised to crack it past him from 12 yards. Instead he was thwarted brilliantly, the keeper somehow deflecting his effort on to the post.

McGinn, who should have done better in an excellent position after Thiago Silva fell over near the byline, and Ings then forced further blocks from Arrizabalaga in quick succession. Then, in the 31st minute, Bailey checked back and crossed from the right for Ings, four yards out, to power a header that Arrizabalaga thrillingly tipped over despite minimal time to react. The once-maligned Spaniard had denied Villa with two outstanding reflex stops.

Chelsea looked ragged at the back and, further forward, were unable to make anything stick. The selection of Raheem Sterling at right wing-back spoke of the hole left by Reece James’s injury but did not work and, among that flurry of narrow escapes, Potter moved him into the front three while repurposing Ruben Loftus-Cheek to the flank. It made a difference, Sterling quickly curling on to the bar from 15 yards after good work from Kai Havertz, but Villa still finished the half on top and Gerrard would surely have requested a continuation. The home support’s underlying frustrations had occasionally been reflected by jeers when his players passed backwards, but this time they were performing a disservice.

Potter knew Chelsea could not expect to survive more of the same and his half-time changes, replacing Havertz and the struggling Marc Cucurella with Kalidou Koulibaly and César Azpilicueta, were made with the clear expectation that they should tighten up. It worked to the extent that Villa, still making almost all of the running, were unable to create a clear opportunity early in the second period despite a succession of crosses raining into Arrizabalaga’s box. When Watkins checked inside from the left and found the kind of position he enjoys, the end product was a disappointingly wayward shot.

Arrizabalaga held on to a low McGinn volley but was no longer being worked as hard. It seemed grimly inevitable, from a Villa perspective, that they would be picked off from Chelsea’s first moment of threat since the restart. Mings was again partly responsible, although a clumsy foul on Mount 25 yards out was hardly an assist. Mount’s free-kick was well struck but Martínez paid the price for making a sidestep to his right, the ball wobbling leftward and arcing under his crossbar.

Chelsea had got away with it and could finally operate with a healthy degree of control. Sterling steered a header just wide and forced Martínez to save. The latter stages were a non-event: Villa and, much more pointedly, Gerrard were booed off at the end.

Southampton 1 West Ham 1

If Ralph Hasenhüttl felt like the most vulnerable manager in the Premier League before kick off — other than perhaps Brendan Rodgers and Steven Gerrard — this result will do little to shield him.

Southampton came into this game in dismal form: four defeats on the bounce, combined with Wolves’ 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, ensured they started the day in the bottom three. West Ham, meanwhile, arrived at St Mary’s with ominous momentum behind them after four wins in a row in all competitions. Were it not for their wasteful finishing, they would have made it five here.

Hasenhüttl largely stuck with the same side which was left chasing luxurious shadows at the Etihad last weekend, presumably because losing 4-0 to Manchester City elicits little more than a rueful shrug from most managers these days. Ibrahima Diallo and Stuart Armstrong made way for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elyounoussi but, otherwise, Southampton were unchanged.

With Kurt Zouma and Craig Dawson unavailable, David Moyes was forced into a more extensive reshuffle. He made five changes to the team which beat Anderlecht in midweek, Lukasz Fabianksi returning in goal, Thilo Kehrer coming into the defence, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek resuming double pivot duties and Gianluca Scamacca replacing Saïd Benrahma in the forward line.

Things were fairly even in the opening stages. Emerson sent a shot whistling wide of the post early on, before a spell of pressure from the hosts ended with Che Adams scuffing one into the waiting arms of Fabianski. West Ham had another half-chance when Lucas Paquetá picked out Jarrod Bowen with a searching cross, but his team-mate failed to direct his header goalwards. Other than that it was a messy start, all midfield headers, miscontrols and elusive openings.

The game burst into life with a quarter of an hour gone, Adams bullying Kehrer off the ball to go one-on-one, only for Fabianski to make the save. Moments later, West Ham were inches away from taking the lead when Scamacca lined up a shot from distance which almost skimmed the stanchion.

The home crowd barely had time to release their collective intake of breath before they found themselves celebrating the opener. Romain Perraud nicked the ball off Bowen’s toe high up the pitch and tucked the ball into the corner with help from a sharp deflection off Ben Johnson. West Ham were furious that the referee, Peter Bankes, had got in Bowen’s way in the build-up, inadvertently helping Perraud to sneak in, but the goal stood.

The rest of the first half was end-to-end, West Ham pushing for an equaliser as Southampton looked to exploit the growing space between the lines. Scamacca continued to offer a glowering threat, firing wide after a neat one-two with Bowen before going around Armel Bella-Kotchap, who was injured in the process, and teeing up Paquetá for a header which fell the wrong side of the post.

Paquetá also sent a fierce drive over the crossbar, while Adams and Elyounoussi were denied by Fabianski. While both sides were scattergun with their shooting, there was little doubt that there would be another goal.

It came with 64 minutes on the clock, Rice playing a neat one-two with Benrahma, on as a substitute, before smashing a shot into the far corner. West Ham had come close to scoring immediately after the restart, Paquetá and Scamacca both menacing the goal before the former, picked out nicely by Vladimir Coufal, forced Gavin Bazunu to palm away a stinging shot.

Southampton had lapsed into a hesitant counter-attacking stance, seemingly unsure about how best to preserve their lead. This was only the third time this season they had scored the first goal in a league game, and their discomfort showed.

Southampton wavered after the equaliser. Benrahma was denied by a desperate block from Kyle Walker-Peters before Rice had a shot deflected narrowly wide of the upright. Hasenhüttl is fixated on his team’s “automatisms” — pressing triggers which are so well-drilled they become instinctive — but the Southampton machine began to clank and shudder as the second half wore on. It was a sign of how close they were to a critical malfunction when he made a quadruple change with 15 minutes to go.

Two of those substitutes, Diallo and Samuel Edozie, went close as the match drew to a close, with the latter drawing a frantic save from Fabianski. At the other end, Bazunu stopped Scamacca from wrapping up the points with a late winner. While Southampton at least brought their losing run to an end, a point was not enough to lift them out of the relegation zone. Hasenhüttl, despite his best efforts, remains in a precarious position. — Guardian