Anthony Martial scored a wonderful solo goal on his Manchester United debut as the Red Devils emphatically dismissed their fierce rivals Liverpool 3-1 at Old Trafford. Chelsea’s dismal run into the new season continued, as Steven Naismith scored the perfect hattrick against a clueless Chelsea defence, to register a well-deserved 3-1 win. After failing to find the back of the net in his previous two league outings, Cristiano Ronaldo is back with a bang, after the Portuguese winger scored 5 unanswered goals against an abysmal Espanyol outfit. Lionel Messi came off the bench to score a winning goal against Atletico Madrid, to continue his side’s perfect start to the season.
Reuters/Phil Noble
The most anticipated game of the season began rather bleakly as both sides registered zero shots on target, as the first-half ended goalless, as United failed to capitalize on their chances despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession, while Liverpool struggled to provide their lone striker Christian Benteke with any meaningful service. With Wayne Rooney injured and Philippe Coutinho banned, both teams were missing their star man, Liverpool more so, as United scored a well choreographed free-kick a few minutes after the break. Ashley Young won a free-kick on the edge of the box and Juan Mata adroitly cut back a pass to the unmarked Daley Blind, after a decoy run fooled Liverpool’s men in the box, who were too late to block Blind’s first-time curled effort which sailed into the top corner past the stranded Mignolet. The goal brought the game to life and Blind was in action again, making two frantic goalline clearances. David De Gea, who signed a new 4-year contract with United following his failed move to Real Madrid, made a couple of brilliant saves to deny Liverpool the chance to equalize.
Reuters/Andrew Yates
After dominating proceedings for a few minutes, any hopes of a comeback were squished after Joe Gomez blatantly fouled Ander Herrera in the 18-yard-box. Herrera stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick and punished the defender’s rookie error by blasting the ball into the roof of the net. Liverpool squandered a few chances in the dying moments of the match, before Christian Benteke’s outrageous overhead kick gave Liverpool a chance. But substitute Anthony Martial, the most expensive teenager ever, gave a glimpse of talent, after he embarked on a solo run past the Liverpool defence and ended all Liverpool hopes with a cool finish into the bottom-right corner. Liverpool were nervous and lacked composure when it mattered and although Brendan Rodgers has spent over £250 million in his tenure as manager, Liverpool have failed to win a single trophy and if Rodgers doesn’t catapult his team back to winning ways, he’ll certainly be shown the door. Louis van Gaal will be a happy man, after a wonderful all-round performance by his side, and will be particularly pleased with Anthony Martial’s Thierry Henry-esque goal, which is a sign of bigger and better things to come from the French teenager.
Reuters
Chelsea’s horrendous start to the season has continued, after the Blues succumbed to Steven Naismith’s brilliant individual performance, as Everton ran out 3-1 winners at Goodison Park. Naismith came off the bench in the 9th minute to replace Muhamed Besic, and the Scot made an immediate impact when he fed Brendan Galloway on the left and made a run through the heart of the Chelsea defence to head home the left-back’s inviting cross past the outstretched arms of Asmir Begovic, who replaced Thibaut Courtois, who faces a long time on the sidelines following a knee surgery. Five minutes later, Naismith doubled his tally, when he punished Chelsea for some indecisive defending, with a left-footed shot into the far corner from 20 yards. Chelsea got back into the game through Nemanja Matic’s thunderous shot from 35 yards but that was the only meaningful chance in the first-half, as Chelsea failed to penetrate the Toffees defence, led by the Blues’ failed summer target John Stones. As Chelsea piled on the pressure in hope of an equaliser, Naismith completed his treble when he picked up Ross Barkley’s clever through ball and smashed a low right-footed shot past Begovic to compound Jose Mouinho’s misery. Languishing at 16th place in the table, Chelsea have lost three of their five Premier League games this season, the same number the Blues suffered last season, as their campaign for the title defence is going from bad to worse.
Manchester City’s perfect start to the season continued with a less than impressive performance against Crystal Palace, as the Citizens’ hero was an unlikely candidate – 18-year-old Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho. Kevin De Bruyne made his Premier League debut as the Belgian midfielder was brought on following an injury to Sergio Aguero. But it was the relatively unknown Iheanacho, who stole the limelight with an 89th minute winner, shortly after coming on for Wilfried Bony. Samir Nasri’s stinging shot from the edge of the box was fluffed by ‘keeper McCarthy and Iheanacho pounced first to tap it home from close range to make 5 wins in a row for Manuel Pellegrini’s men, without conceding a single goal.
Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud were on the scoresheet for the Gunners, as Arsene Wenger’s men enjoyed an easy win against Stoke City, to send the Arsenal to 3rd place in the standings. Swansea lost their first game of the season, as Watford registered a narrow 1-0 win over the Swans to earn their first three points this season.
Reuters
After a rather unimpressive start to the season, Cristiano Ronaldo silenced all his critics by scoring 5 goals, thereby becoming Real Madrid’s all-time La Liga goalscorer with 230 goals, surpassing the legendary Raul’s haul of 228 goals. Ronaldo scored a first-half hattrick and also turned provider for Madrid’s fourth, which was scored by Karim Benzema. Ronaldo increased his tally in the second-half with two easy tap-ins, as the match ended 6-0 in favor of the visitors.
Lionel Messi, who recently became a father for the second time, bailed out his side with a late winner, after Neymar had cancelled out Fernando Torres’ opener. Torres opened the scoring at the Vicente Calderon after the interval, when he coolly slotted home Tiago’s defence-splitting pass but Neymar leveled terms with a sublime free-kick. Messi came off the bench and made an immediate impact, when he combined with Luis Suarez in the box to finish past Jan Oblak to win all three points for his side.
Tags: Anthony Martial Chelsea Cristiano Ronaldo EPl new La liga Steven Naismith
