The shade of the shirt may have changed but Robin van Persie remains a red-hot Dutch master after marking his first Manchester United start with a goal in a 3-2 Premier League win over Fulham yesterday.
The £24 million man dug United out of an early hole by firing in a trademark volley on 10 minutes to cancel out Damien Duff's well-worked opener. Shinji Kagawa also scored tapping in after Mark Schwarzer had spilled Tom Cleverley's shot. Rafael soon had the ball in the net again but was foiled by the offside flag only to head in the third with a rare goal on 41 minutes, the home side's rapid comeback witnessed by speed king and big United fan Usain Bolt.
Fulham pulled one back in the second half through a bizarre Nemanja Vidic own goal to prompt a very nervy finish for cavalier United, who had Wayne Rooney carried off on a stretcher with a nasty wound.
Everton cruise to second league win
Everton built on Monday's win with a 3-1 romp at Aston Villa and another headed goal from Marouane Fellaini. Steven Pienaar had given the flying Liverpool side an early lead with a rocket from distance and Nikica Jelavic added to Fellaini's second to put pressure on new Villa boss Paul Lambert after an opening loss to West Ham United.
In other matches, rampant Swansea City beat West Ham United 3-0, Spurs were held 1-1 by West Brom while Norwich drew 1-1 against QPR. Southampton were beaten 2-0 at home by Wigan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2012.
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