IMAGE: Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho scores their first goal. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters
Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho scored with a magical overhead kick in the third minute to send the visitors on their way to a 3-0 victory over an Everton team already reeling in their first Premier League game after being docked 10 points.
With a strike that drew comparisons to Wayne Rooney’s famous goal for United in the 2011 Manchester derby, the 19-year-old Argentine leapt acrobatically to meet Diogo Dalot’s cross, firing the ball into the opposite corner past Jordan Pickford before celebrating with a Cristiano Ronaldo-style pirouette.
Erik ten Hag’s United team are sixth in the standings on 24 points after 13 games, while Everton, who were 14th before their points deduction for breaches of the league’s financial rules, are second-bottom on four points.
Marcus Rashford doubled United’s lead with a penalty in the 56th, awarded after VAR ruled Anthony Martial was tripped by Ashley Young.
IMAGE: Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford celebrates scoring their second goal. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters
Captain Bruno Fernandes gave the ball to Rashford, who had only scored once this season and not since Sept. 3.
Martial sent hundreds of Everton fans heading to the Goodison Park exits in the 75th minute when he ran onto Fernandes’s pass and dinked it over Pickford for an easy goal.
Tottenham lose to Villa
Tottenham Hotspur slipped to a third successive Premier League defeat as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Aston Villa in an absorbing clash full of chances on Sunday.
Villa’s first win on the road in just over two months took them above Tottenham into fourth place in the table but it did not look likely as they were outplayed in the first half.
The hosts were given a deserved lead by Giovani Lo Celso’s deflected shot in the 22nd minute and could have been comfortably ahead before Pau Torres levelled with a thumping header deep in first-half stoppage time.
IMAGE: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in action with Tottenham Hotspur’s Emerson Royal. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Chances continued to flow both ways after the break but it was Villa who went ahead with a fine finish by Ollie Watkins just past the hour mark after being set up by Youri Tielemans.
Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez made two great saves, Ben Davies headed a golden chance over the bar and Pedro Porro hit the post for the luckless hosts who also suffered another injury blow as Rodrigo Bentancur limped off in the first half.
Unai Emery’s upwardly-mobile Villa side have 28 points from 13 games, behind Liverpool only on goal difference and just two points behind table-topping Arsenal.
For Tottenham, who were unbeaten in their first 10 Premier League games under new manager Ange Postecoglou until a riotous 4-1 home defeat by Chelsea, the wheels appear to have come loose.
They are down to fifth place on 26 points and face champions Manchester City away next weekend.
Injury-hit Tottenham are also the first side since Leicester City in 2014 to lose three successive Premier League matches despite leading 1-0, having also been in front against Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“A tough outcome but I couldn’t be happier with the way the boys played,” Postecoglou said.
IMAGE: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins scores their second goal. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
“I’m really proud of them, I thought we played some fantastic football and on another day we would’ve won comfortably. There’s no frustration. We played well and as a manager that’s all you can ask for.”
Postecoglou’s side almost went in front in the third minute when Dejan Kulusevski cut in and curled a shot against the post.
Son Heung-min then blazed over an open goal as Tottenham continued to carve Villa open, although he was ruled offside.
Eventually Tottenham’s pressure paid off as a ball was fed back to Lo Celso, who let fly with his left foot from the edge of the area and his shot took a deflection and flew past Martinez.
Villa thought they had equalised almost immediately as Watkins glanced home from close range but a VAR check, one of several in the game, ruled him offside.
Tottenham’s troubles began when Bentancur limped off the pitch, the Uruguayan having only recently returned from injury.
Then in the sixth minute of stoppage time Torres met a Douglas Luiz ball and powered his header past Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Villa looked more of a threat after the break and took the lead as Tielemans linked with Watkins who sent a clinical finish past Vicario for his seventh league goal of the season.
