London (AFP)
Defending champions Liverpool and Manchester United had a very difficult Sunday afternoon conceding 7 goals respectively against Aston Villa (7-2) and 6 at home against Tottenham (6-1), for the fourth day of the Premier League .
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Liverpool explodes in mid-flight
While they remained on convincing and full of authority performances, Liverpool were shattered defensively against Aston Villa who had an insolent success.
Any attempt to analyze this match seems futile and even Jürgen Klopp preferred to laugh on his bench after the 6th goal scored by Jack Grealish (6-2, 66th), on the third strike deflected by a defender of the Reds to finish at the bottom nets.
He had left his team on a performance against Arsenal in the league (3-1) which he described as "absolutely exceptional".
The absence of Alisson, injured, in the cages, or Sadio Mané, suffering from Covid-19, does not explain a disastrous performance both behind and in front, despite the double from Mohamed Salah (33rd, 60th).
Within the Birmingham club, however, we can note the hat-trick of their rookie Ollie Watkins in the first period (4th, 22nd, 39th) but also the achievement of Ross Barkley (55th) loaned this week by Chelsea and who, as a player trained at Everton, the other club of Liverpool, signed a dream debut in his new colors.
The Reds had not taken 7 league goals for 57 years.
They are in 5th place in the standings three lengths from Everton, the only team to have a perfect record and an up-to-date schedule of 4 wins in 4 matches.
Aston Villa, which has one game less, took 9 points out of 9 possible and is 2nd in the standings.
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Manchester United humiliated
Five matches played this season and the crisis is already smoldering at Manchester United, ridiculed by Tottenham on his lawn after a catastrophic performance.
While Manchester United awaits the arrivals of Edinson Cavani and full-back Alex Telles from Porto before the close of transfers, Monday at midnight, the transfer window of the Red Devils seems already missed.
And the indigent performance as well in the determination as in the play of all the lines resurfaces the doubts on the capacity of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to pull this team to the top.
Everything had started ideally, with a penalty after only 29 seconds transformed by Bruno Fernandes (1-0, 2nd).
But then everything fell apart, the defense multiplying the grotesque errors, as when Harry Maguire pulled by the arm and brought down his teammate Luke Shaw on the equalizer of Tanguy Ndombele (1-1, 4th).
The double of Son Heung-min (7th, 37th), the goal of Harry Kane (30th), that of Serge Aurier (51st) with a faulty Paul Pogba before conceding a penalty for the 6th goal and a double from Kane (79th) ), there is nothing to be saved from this game.
The severe expulsion of Anthony Martial for a mood reaction on Erik Lamela (28th), will not excuse anything.
Manchester United, despite one game less, find themselves 16th with 3 points and 11 goals conceded and again look like a divided club with a team to rebuild.
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Leicester trapped, Arsenal picks up
Leader on goal difference before this day, Leicester had their first hitch of the season against West Ham, wide winner 3-0.
Deprived of their trainer David Moyes, in isolation since September 22 after testing positive for Covid-19, the well-organized and disciplined Hammers defended intelligently before striking against by Michail Antonio (1-0, 14th), Pablo Fornals (2-0, 34th) and Jarrod Bowen (3-0, 83rd).
For its part, Arsenal has revived by dominating Sheffield United (2-1), which has still not scored a point.
After a sluggish first act, the Gunners struck twice in three minutes to make the difference on a header in the skylight of Bukayo Saka (1-0, 61st) and a cross strike from Nicolas Pépé, who had just returned (2- 0, 64e).
Mikel Arteta may regret the less controlled end of the match and the reduction in the score by David McGoldrick (2-1, 83rd), but Arsenal held on.
In the other matches of the day, Wolverhampton beat Fulham (1-0), whose counter remains stuck at zero points, and Southampton took the best over West Bromwich Albion (2-0).
© 2020 AFP