Aston Villa 3 Manchester United 1
If this was Aston Villa after three training sessions with Unai Emery, then supporters could be forgiven for departing with a giddy excitement about what the next few years might bring.
Emery has talked about his desire to win a trophy and restore Villa into European competition and this illuminating evisceration of Manchester United capped a sensational start to life for the Spaniard at Villa Park. Goals by the excellent Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne and Jacob Ramsey propelled Villa to victory over United, who succumbed to only their second league defeat since August.
By the end Villa fans in the Holte End were asking Emery to give them a wave and Cristiano Ronaldo, who wore the captain’s armband for United, was throwing his arm down in a haze of frustration. Ronaldo’s most memorable contribution was a second-half contretemps with Tyrone Mings, which led to the video assistant referee clearing the striker of violent conduct.
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Emery’s early assessment upon taking charge was an underperforming squad short of confidence but the manner in which Villa shifted the ball hardly married with the idea of a team lacking belief. How Villa supporters enjoyed watching their team express themselves as they beat United here in the league for the first time since 1995.
It was an afternoon that brought great pleasure, from the purposeful running of Ollie Watkins and intricate passing in midfield to the sight of the goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez performing his own version of keepie-uppies, twice heading a bouncing ball on the edge of his own box midway through the first half. Then there was the fleet-footed Bailey.
Villa appeared liberated, nobody more so than Bailey, Ramsey and Watkins, who combined for their opener. Watkins did superbly in the buildup to keep Victor Lindelöf at arm’s length and after being forced infield he picked out Ramsey, who nudged the ball into Bailey.
From there Bailey’s first touch allowed him to motor past Lisandro Martínez and with his second he sent a diagonal left-foot shot across goal and into the corner. Emery high-fived his coaching staff and substitutes. Philippe Coutinho, signed by Steven Gerrard, was left out of the Villa squad altogether.
Villa were rampant, United rattled. Luke Shaw’s crude challenge on Ramsey, just as the Villa academy graduate was programmed to hurtle towards the United box, earned the England defender a booking and Villa a free-kick 22 yards from goal. Emiliano Martínez, who again captained Villa, legged it into the United half to choreograph the set piece, yelling instructions to his teammates.
The one man he didn’t need to tell what to do was Digne, who sneaked a brilliant, bending left-foot shot inside David de Gea’s left post, brushing the goalkeeper’s fingertips before it nestled in the goal. With 16 minutes on the clock, Matty Cash played in Bailey down the right and the Jamaican cut the ball back for Emiliano Buendía, who powered a shot just wide.
Emery was hopping on the touchline as Villa went in search of a third. Erik ten Hag, meanwhile, stood sternly, arms folded. United roused a little before the break, with Martínez making two smart saves in quick succession, first to deny Alejandro Garnacho on his first Premier League start with his left hand and then Ronaldo with his right boot. But United were fortunate to strike before the interval when Shaw’s shot from the edge of the box, more in anger than anything, took a wicked deflection off the back of Ramsey, wrongfooting Martínez as it looped into the far corner.
Bailey started the second half as he did the first and cannoned a shot into De Gea’s midriff within the opening seconds. Villa were dangerous in attack and mean in defence, marshalled by Mings. A few minutes later De Gea was fishing the ball out of his net once more as Villa again overpowered the visitors. Buendía seized Lisandro Martinez’s headed clearance on halfway and freed Watkins down the left. Watkins, among Gareth Southgate’s striking options for the World Cup, then cut the ball back for an unmarked Ramsey, who swept the ball into the top corner.
Southampton 1 Newcastle 4
The thing that will take a fanbase fine-tuned to expect the worst the longest to wrap its collective head around, is not Newcacstle’s rapid rise to third place.
Nor is it Miguel Almirón’s purple patch – which continued with a seventh goal in seven – or even a defence not bettered in the division.
No, it is an alien sense of ease and comfort with which they are securing regulation victories.
Chris Wood and Joe Willock gave Newcastle a three goal cushion with little more than an hour gone. And even that was restored immediately after Romain Perraud’s late consolation for Southampton. Bruno Guimarães. Who else?
For all the noise around cash injections, Eddie Howe has coached a group of individuals into a collective. They have a defence assembled – Sven Botman aside (and even he looks in, modern terms, a snip) – relatively frugally. And a midfield three – Guimarães, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock – who made their numerical advantage count; Ainsley Maitland-Niles and James Ward-Prowse were regularly chasing shadows.
Southampton’s way now is to by-pass the central areas and play on the break. They had initially looked lively, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Perraud promising down the left. The former tested Nick Pope with a right-footed drive from the edge of the box that required turning around the corner.
Juan Larious’ forced removal just after the half hour offered Ralph Hasenhüttl the chance to twist, but he elected to stick; on came the returning Romeo Lavia, Maitland-Niles shifting to right-back.
Soon thereafter came Almirón’s opener. Mohammed Salisu opened up space by diving in on Callum Wilson near the half-way. That allowed Almirón to drive forward, shimmy inside, bamboozle the covering Maitland-Niles, and roll in.
Southampton frustration grew. St Mary’s groaned in unison as Guimarães was allowed to control a looping ball near his own six-yard box without so much as a gentle breeze on his neck.
In first-half stoppage time though, Elyounoussi should have drawn Saints level. Instead, Stuart Armstrong’s centre across the six yard box was somehow side-footed wide. Cue another audible groan.
Nigel Adkins’s pitch-side interview at half-time drew the day’s biggest cheer for home fans. The reaction to him being queried on his future managerial intentions was telling.
With Gareth Southgate, who is doubtless keeping body-language experts gainfully employed in advance of his World Cup squad announcement, present, Wilson was withdrawn at the break. He had been a doubt in the week through illness.
Newcastle noticeably worsened though, with Wood clearly not as mobile. Ward-Prowse drove an ambitious free-kick straight at Pope; Elyounoussi spun and volleyed over; and Che Adams smashed wide.
Such is the way, Newcastle doubled their lead. And of course it was Wood, who turned in the area and curled into the bottom corner. Any home hope dissipated in the pouring rain, Salisu again overcommitting near halfway. Kieran Trippier nipped in ahead of him, and set Willock racing through. Three up; game up.
Perraud’s effort was never likely to bring nerves but Guimarães still made sure.
As the sun broke through, a 3,200 strong away end – a sell-out despite the threat of both train and plane strikes – shuffled through the Geordie songbook. For Hasenhüttl, the sun may soon set. And it would arguably be the kind thing.
West Ham 1 Crystal Palace 2
Crystal Palace playing well away from Selhurst Park and winning is a story not told too often. Michael Olise’s injury-time winner, spinning off the shin of Aaron Cresswell and beyond a hapless Lukasz Fabianski was reward for playing the better football. A game headed for a forgettable draw changed in mere seconds into a famous win.
It had been only a few minutes ago that Paul Tierney, the referee, had followed the advice of VAR and ruled out a late West Ham penalty awarded for Marc Guéhi’s supposed pull on Michail Antonio. Palace had set off with the greater purpose and retained it until the latter stages when they almost threw it away only to find it again in chaotic final seconds.
Eberechi Eze forced an early, skidding save from Fabianski, and ought to have done better when the ball fell to his inferior left foot soon after. Still, Palace’s No 10 was pulling the strings, the home fans vocal in their frustration.
A visibly displeased David Moyes took on the role of baseball-capped agitator from his technical area, Jarrod Bowen flashing wide from a counterattack represented a more positive sign. When Tomas Soucek’s tackle and Lucas Paquetá's stabbed pass found Saïd Benrahma, he still had Palace defenders for company but his taste for the spectacular meant he was only going to take one option. A right-footed lash gave Vicente Guaita no chance.
Palace, struggling to look like scoring despite still dominating territory, then received a gift. Thilo Kehrer dallied in trying to play out, sold short by Craig Dawson’s pass. Eze stole in, passed to Wilfried Zaha, who finished powerfully and celebrated aggressively.
Moyes’ half-time response was to send on Antonio for Gianluca Scamacca, a first-half passenger but the direction of travel remained similar. Eze flashed a shot wide. West Ham were still hemmed in and Olise cut in from the left to shoot past the other post.
There were cross words exchanged and a booking given to Dawson for an aerial challenge that knocked Guaita to the floor in West Ham’s first attacking move of the second half. Then came one of those moments common to these pre-World Cup times. Paqueta, back in West Ham’s team after a shoulder problem, screamed in anguish after a tackle from Jordan Ayew, rolling over several times. Was his Qatar dream dead? It appeared not. The Brazilian, his ankle checked over, continued on.
Moyes was the recipient of boos when he chose to sub off Benrahma, yet cheered when Soucek was withdrawn from his 100th Premier League appearance. Benrahma milked the applause. The Algerian has previously divided fans but an ability to deliver brilliance on an irregular basis make him very much a West Ham archetype. And would probably qualify him for membership of Patrick Vieira’s merry band of entertainers, too.
The arrival of Manuel Lanzini and Flynn Downes gave West Ham a greater foothold. When Antonio loped through on to a long ball, falling to the floor as Guéhi came across him, it seemed the match was the Hammers’. Then, via the usual lengthy wait, came the ruling that his fall had been a tad too theatrical to transform this match into a home win.
Brimming with injustice, Antonio set off on one last run, warming the hands of Guaita with a cross from the right. That seemed that, only for the ball to almost immediately end up with Olise, coming in off the right. Via Cresswell, and beyond Fabianski’s despairing reach, Palace had claimed a highly enjoyable win. - Guardian
