IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Saturday
Ten-man Tottenham edge Luton
Tottenham Hotspur went top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 win at Luton Town on Saturday, despite playing the whole of the second half with 10 men.
Dutch defender Micky van de Ven scored the only goal of the game in the 52nd minute when he poked home a first-time shot after a cut back from James Maddison following a Spurs short corner move.
“A lot of character and resilience, which the team has showed a lot in the previous games before today,” Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said.
Spurs remain unbeaten after eight league games, and are now two points clear of Manchester City and three ahead of Arsenal, before those two sides meet on Sunday. Luton remain on four points.
The visitors had Yves Bissouma sent off in added time at the end of the first half, receiving a second booking for a dive outside the Luton area, but went on to break the deadlock early in the second-half to eventually claim all three points.
Luton missed some clear chances to take something from the game having weathered an early Spurs storm, but fell to their sixth league defeat of the season.
It was all one-way traffic early on, and in the seventh minute Spurs’ Pedro Porro got in behind the keeper after a one-two with Son Heung-Min but Porro pulled his shot wide.
Luton’s keeper Thomas Kaminski was called in to action again in the 17th minute when a Dejan Kulusevski cross was cleared by Tom Lockyer but only as far as Son, but his shot was straight at the keeper.
“They started strongly, we rode our luck for the first 10 minutes or so, then we found our way into the game,” Luton manager Rob Edwards said.
Luton had their first shot on goal in the 21st minute, but Marvelous Nakamba blasted his effort high and wide. The home side did, however, take some courage after holding Spurs scoreless and began to make inroads on the visitors’ goal.
Spurs kept pushing, and on the half-hour mark Kulusevski’s first-time shot was pushed wide by Kaminski at full stretch.
Luton thought they had found the breakthrough after 40 minutes. A free-kick into the box was headed on by Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo got a foot to the ball and flicked it towards the far post.
The ball came back off the upright and Lockyer was quickest to react and head into an open goal. But after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out for a foul by Adebayo on Cristian Romero.
The free-kick proved costly for Spurs, however, as Bissouma received a booking for his foul on Chiedozie Ogbene. With added time almost over, Bissouma received a second booking for a blatant dive.
“We started really well, should have been three or four up, but then you get the red card and it is a different type of game,” Postecoglou said.
Luton should have taken full advantage of the extra man at the start of the second half, but Adebayo missed the best chance of the game in the 47th minute when his effort went wide.
Five minutes later and Van de Ven’s first goal for Spurs would prove enough to put Tottenham top of the table, while Luton still await their first home win of the season.
McTominay late goal spares Man United blushes
Substitute Scott McTominay struck twice deep into stoppage time to snatch a 2-1 win for Manchester United over Brentford in a thrilling end to their Premier League clash at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Brentford looked set to rise above United in the table with what would have been only their second win of the season, but McTominay, who struggled to hear instructions from coach Erik ten Hag before entering the fray in the 87th minute, dashed their hopes of a rare away victory against the Red Devils.
“It was very loud, the fans were roaring us on so I couldn’t hear fully. He probably said something like, ‘Go on and score,’ which is what I did,” the Scotland international said.
With disgruntled home fans again staging protests against the club’s owners before the game, Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans started in central defence with Victor Lindelof deployed as a makeshift left wing back due to a slew of injuries.
United’s defensive frailties were exposed in the 26th minute when Casemiro gave the ball away and Lindelof failed to clear, allowing Mathias Jensen to slot the ball under the body of keeper Andre Onana, who should have saved it comfortably.
United, beaten at home in the last week by Crystal palace and Galatasaray, created several scoring opportunities, many of them from distance, in the second half, but they put precious few on target as the Bees looked set for a well-deserved win.
Onana redeemed himself late on, pulling off two tremendous saves in quick succession by tipping over a shot from Neal Maupay and a header from Christian Norgaard to set the stage for McTominay’s late intervention.
Thrown on for Sofyan Amrabat, McTominay quickly justified the faith of coach Erik ten Hag by rattling home the equaliser after a goalmouth scramble in the 93rd minute and he was not done yet.
The towering midfielder netted again with a header in the seventh minute of stoppage time to send the home fans wild and grab all three points for his side who climbed to ninth in the table on 12 points, five ahead of 14th-placed Brentford.
“That might be one of my favourite moments on a football pitch. Two goals at the death was incredible, but I am just happy to be able to contribute and show people that I can do it,” McTominay said.
Sterling stars as Chelsea secure back-to-back league wins
Chelsea secured back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time since March after coming from behind to thrash Burnley 4-1 on Saturday.
Looking to end a run of four successive home defeats on their return to the top flight this season, promoted Burnley raced into a 15th-minute lead, Wilson Odobert scoring his first goal in English football to stun the visitors.
Chelsea offered little in response until Ameen Al Dakhil put through his own net in the most unfortunate circumstances three minutes before the break to get Mauricio Pochettino’s team back level.
Having failed to win in their last 19 matches when conceding the opening goal in the Premier League, a run dating back to October 2022, Chelsea completed the turnaround early in the second half, Cole Palmer converting from the penalty spot.
A fine Sterling goal and a fourth from substitute Nicolas Jackson put the game beyond the hosts, lifting Chelsea to ninth in the standings, with Burnley remaining in the relegation zone with only one win this season.
“I was telling you in some games, we are building something,” Pochettino said. “We are a young group, we have some experienced players, it’s a matter of time.
“We were performing very well. I think the team was good, the performance was fantastic and we go to the international break with a different feeling.”
Source: Read Full Article
