A turbo-charged start yielding two goals in the opening 15 minutes and a spectacular effort by Tom Cleverley led Manchester United to a 3-0 victory at Newcastle United.
Manchester United made a high-tempo start at Newcastle and were rewarded with two early goals by defenders Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra, both coming for corners.
Cleverley capped a sparkling show from Manchester United by curling a 25-metre shot into the top corner of Harper’s net in the 71st minute. The win lifted Sir Alex Ferguson’s team up to second in the table, level on 15 points with Manchester City. Chelsea are top on 19 after sweeping Norwich City aside 4-1 on Saturday.
Stoke stalemate adds to Rodgers’ Anfield woes
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is still waiting for his first Premier League win at Anfield after his struggling side were held to a 0-0 draw by Stoke yesterday.
Rodgers has yet to oversee a Premier League home win in four attempts since taking charge of Liverpool in the close-season and the Reds’ barren run in front of their own supporters has now stretched to six matches in all competitions.
The hosts hit the woodwork three times, but Liverpool were unable to break down Stoke’s stubborn defence and Rodgers’ side remain in 14th place after just one win in their first seven league matches. Rodgers expressed frustration at his side’s inability of converting possession into goals.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game,” said the Liverpool boss. “I thought as the game wore on we got into good spaces and moments in good areas of the field, but just our final touch or decision at the end of it didn’t quite allow us to score. We’re disappointed, but there were a lot of real positives from the game — and it was our first [league] clean sheet of the season, which was important.”
Stylish Spurs sink sorry Villa
In other matches, Tottenham piled the pressure on Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert as the hosts swept to a stylish 2-0 win at White Hart Lane.
Andre Villas-Boas’s side climbed to fifth in the table after second half goals from Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon gave Tottenham their fourth successive Premier League win. Tottenham played some of their best football of the season and such was their dominance over Villa that French goalkeeper Hugh Lloris, finally making his league debut, had little to do.
It was another chastening experience for former Norwich boss Lambert, who has managed just one win from his first seven league matches since taking charge in pre-season, and Villa have dropped to a lowly 16th place.
B Rodgers
“We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game. We got into good areas of the field, but just our final touch or decision at the end of it didn’t quite allow us to score.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2012.
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