Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes his side are finally up to speed and are ready to get their season going after Saturday's 4-1 win over Newcastle United. Having lost two of their three league games thus far, United were under pressure to perform against Newcastle, and despite falling behind to a Luke Shaw own goal early on, the team roared back to pick up a comfortable 4-1 win. Solskjaer has publicly bemoaned United's short pre-season already, claiming United needed extra time to get back to their best, and he told Sky Sports after the game that his side have finally reached the required fitness level. "We don't want to use it as an excuse, but we needed pre-season," the boss said.
Frank Lampard Admits Chelsea Suffer From ‘Game Management Issue’ After More Dropped Points
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has insisted that everybody involved with the first team must work on their game management after the Blues slipped to a 3-3 draw with Southampton on Saturday. Lampard's side were electric in the first half and roared to a 2-0 lead, but allowed Southampton to claw it back to 2-2. And despite restoring their lead soon after, Chelsea again conceded late as the Saints netted deep into injury time to snatch a point. Conceding late on and giving up leads is nothing new to Lampard, who has faced heavy criticism for his decision-making when Chelsea are in the ascendancy, and the boss confessed (via football.london) that game management is something the team still need to work on. "Yes, there
Newcastle United 1-4 Manchester United: Fernandes atones for penalty miss in precious win
Bruno Fernandes recovered from a rare penalty miss to set up a late 4-1 Premier League win for Manchester United at Newcastle United on Saturday. The Portugal international, who had never previously failed from 12 yards for United, looked to have passed up the visitors’ best chance of victory at St James’ Park when Karl Darlow produced a magnificent stop. That spot-kick came after Harry Maguire – fit despite a knock on international duty – cancelled out a second-minute Luke Shaw own goal, with United dominant but set to be frustrated heading into the closing stages. A rapid counter-attack produced the breakthrough moment, though, as Fernandes picked out the top-right corner before Aaron Wan-Bissaka lashed in a third and Marcus Rashford finished the
Getafe 1-0 Barcelona: Player Ratings as Ronald Koeman Suffers First Defeat as Blaugrana Boss
Barcelona failed to capitalise on Real Madrid's earlier slip-up, falling to a 1-0 defeat against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. The visitors edged what was a quiet first half, where Lionel Messi came closest to netting when his shot crashed off the post from Sergino Dest's cutback. Antoine Griezmann squandered a glorious chance to open the scoring too, blazing miles over after being put through by Pedri. The Blaugrana struggled to create anything of note in the second half, and fell behind when Jaime Mata converted from the spot after Frenkie de Jong carelessly brought down Djene. Ronald Koeman's side didn't come close to equalising until right at the death, when Djene headed a cross onto his own crossbar. Dest had a promising
Arminia Bielefeld 1-4 Bayern Munich: Player Ratings as Lewandowski and Müller Dominate
Bayern Munich strolled to an assured 4-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld, inflicting the first defeat on home soil for their newly promoted hosts since October 2019. The reigning German and European champions put in a controlled performance, displaying a wide range of approaches to attack a far from hapless Arminia Bielefeld side. Robert Lewandowski (left) and Thomas Müller (right) were central to Bayern's incisive attack Thomas Müller opened the scoring for Bayern inside the first ten minutes, almost reluctantly putting the ball into the net after his attempted pass rebounded kindly to him. Having played a key role in the build up to Bayern's first, Robert Lewandowski got himself on the scoresheet before the half-hour mark before exchanging assists with Muller to pump
Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal: Player Ratings as Sterling Strike Downs Gunners
Manchester City overcame a resolute Arsenal side in a 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening, as the Gunners’ wait for a Premier League away win against the ‘big six’ stretches to 29 games. City opened the scoring midway through the first half, with Bernd Leno only able to parry Phil Foden's effort into the path of Raheem Sterling, who kept a cool head to tuck away the rebound. Both sides continued to probe throughout the game, but goalkeepers Leno and Ederson produced a string of impressive saves as the score remained at 1-0. That's the audit out of the way, now let's get to the player ratings. Kyle Walker was deployed as a right-sided centre-back Ederson (GK) - 7/10 - Made two brilliant
Inter 1-2 Milan: Player Ratings as Ibrahimovic Brace Decides Dramatic Derby Della Madonnina
AC Milan triumphed in an entertaining Derby della Madonnina, beating rivals Inter 2-1 at San Siro on a pulsating evening of football. Stefano Pioli's men opened the scoring on 13 minutes, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted the rebound to his own missed penalty, after he had been brought down in the box by Aleksandar Kolarov. The big Swede doubled the scoreline three minutes later, tapping home an inch-perfect cross at the far post to send the visitors into dreamland. Inter came back into the game on the half-hour mark through Romelu Lukaku, who slotted home an Ivan Perisic cross at the far post. I Nerazzurri pushed to level the scores in the second half, with Achraf Hakimi squandering a brilliant chance with a
Chelsea 3-3 Southampton: Walcott joy as Blues blow it at the Bridge
Theo Walcott marked his first Southampton appearance for almost 15 years by setting up the late equaliser that secured a dramatic 3-3 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. German stars Timo Werner and Kai Havertz scored their first Premier League goals for Chelsea, but there were familiar failings in the home team’s ranks and Frank Lampard’s men were punished. Chelsea were thrilling going forward at times, with Werner, who also had a goal disallowed, netting twice before setting up Havertz for what looked set to be the winner. But between Werner’s double and Havertz’s strike it had been the same story for the Blues’ defence, with Danny Ings and Che Adams taking advantage, and Walcott’s shot from the edge of the penalty area in stoppage
Napoli Possess the Attacking Firepower Required for Shock Title Tilt
Well, who saw this coming? If you'd have told us at the start of the game, that one of Napoli and Atalanta would be leading 4-0 at half-time, we wouldn't have been too surprised. That's mainly because Atalanta can put four goals past any team in Europe if they fancy. What we didn't expect, was that it would be Gennaro Gattuso's men blowing their opponents away on Saturday afternoon. This battle was seen as an acid test for both teams. I Partenopei had won their opening two matches, scoring eight and conceding none, while la Dea had scored four, four and five in their three outings. Bang in form. The duo were viewed as certain top-four candidates before a ball had been kicked
Hoffenheim 0-1 Borussia Dortmund: Player Ratings as Substitutes Inspire BVB Victory
Marco Reus scored his first goal since January to hand Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 victory at Hoffenheim on Saturday afternoon. A pretty tame start to proceedings saw chances come few and far between for both sides before the visitors started to grow into the contest. Giovanni Reyna went close for BVB prior to the break. The dynamic of the game refused to budge until Lucien Favre turned to his bench just after the hour mark, with substitutes Erling Braut Haaland and Marco Reus combining to hand Dortmund the lead with 15 minutes remaining. Favre's side spurned numerous opportunities to then double their lead which left the door slightly ajar for the hosts to equalise, but BVB held on for a slender victory. Here are