daniel chigunwe
LONDON. — Goals deep in stoppage time by record signing Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus earned Arsenal a sensational 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the Premier League yesterday. At Anfield, Dominik Szoboszlai scored his first goal for Liverpool and Mohamed Salah netted his seventh in seven games against Aston Villa as the hosts eased to a 3-0 Premier League victory.
Juergen Klopp’s side, who have won 10 of their last 12 matches against Villa, climbed to third in the table on 10 points from four games. Villa have six points.
“We did quite OK, quick to 2-0 and came out good and scored a goal in the second half too,” Szoboszlai told the BBC.
At Emirates, it looked as though both sides would have to settle for a point after United had a late goal disallowed and Arsenal had a penalty overturned, but Rice sent the home fans into delirium as he opened his account with a deflected shot in the 96th minute.
Jesus then wrapped it up with a sublime finish after a counter-attack with United having committed everyone forward.
“I think I controlled it with my chin and just had a shot, if you don’t shoot you don’t score,” Rice, who arrived from West Ham United for a fee of around 105 million pounds ($132 million), told Sky Sports.
United were left crestfallen especially as they had what they thought was a late winner scored by substitute Alejandro Garnacho ruled out for offside after a VAR video check.
Marcus Rashford gave United the lead against the run of play in the 27th minute, lashing home a shot after a counter-attack, but their joy did not last long though as Martin Odegaard fired Arsenal’s equaliser less than a minute later. Arsenal were awarded a penalty midway through the second period when Kai Havertz went down in the area but referee Anthony Taylor changed his mind after checking the VAR monitor.
Mikel Arteta’s side have 10 points along with three other clubs after four games, two behind leaders Manchester City.
United are in 11th place on six points after already losing twice. “Everything went against us but I thought the performance was alright,” United manager Erik ten Hag said, adding that he disagreed with the decision to disallow Garnacho’s goal. “I didn’t see that as offside but it is what is. It was such small margins today.”
Meanwhile, Two days after Liverpool reportedly rejected a 150 million-pound bid for Salah by South Arabian club Al-Ittihad, the Reds talisman netted goal number 188 of his Liverpool career with a toe poke at the back post in the 55th minute off Darwin Nunez’s headed flick from a corner.
“You know it is football everyone is talking,” Szoboszlai said on Salah’s future. “We are really happy that he has stayed. We are of course speaking between each other but he wants to stay, he wants to be here and be with us. We are really happy – we need people in the team like him.”
Klopp, who managed his 300th Liverpool game on Sunday, shot down rumours around Salah’s departure before kick-off.
“This was a media story and it never came true,” the German manager told Sky Sports. “I have a big desk in my office with a lot of papers are on there, I have a laptop, iPad, everything that you need and none of them are busy with this kind of news.” Szoboszlai had given Liverpool a dream start with a left-footed half-volley from the edge of the 18-yard box after three minutes.
“It is a special moment,” said the Hungarian, who arrived from Leipzig over the summer. “If you score your first goal for Liverpool at Anfield it is always special. I am looking forward to getting even more.
“We knew if we come out and we think the game is over we were going to be in trouble but we wanted to score another one quick,” he added. “We came out and score another and just enjoy it.”
Liverpool doubled their lead when Nunez’s firm shot hit the post and rebounded into the net off Villa defender Matty Cash. — Reuters.
Online Reporter