Tottenham demolished Southampton 5-0 with a blistering first half to ease pressure on Ange Postecoglou, while Manchester United pulled off a stunning comeback win at the death to upset rivals Manchester City.
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Spurs scored all five of their goals before half time to taste victory for the first time in six starts in all competitions to sit tenth on the Premier League table with 23 points, five points behind fourth placed Nottingham Forest from 16 matches.
Postecoglou’s side were at their attacking best with star forward Son Heung-min playing a pivotal role in almost every goal, and now they have only found the back of the net on less occasions in the league than second-placed Chelsea.
They shared the goals around with James Maddison scoring a brace, Son, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Sarr all getting their names on the scoresheet.
Maddison opened the scoring in the first minute after being put through by right back Djed Spence in his first Premier League start.
Son then fired one home from the back post in the 11th minute to give Tottenham their second, and the roughly two minutes later the Korean whipped a ball into the box for Dominic Solanke before Dejan Kulusevski barged through to slam it home and give Postecoglou’s side three goals inside 14 minutes.
Ange’s Spurs strike in under 37 seconds | 01:11
Son also assisted Pape Sarr’s goal, Tottenham’s fourth, as he picked out the midfielder at the top of the box who danced through the Saints’ defenders before finishing coolly in the 25th minute.
Before Sarr’s lovely finish, many Southampton fans had already departed the stadium, having seen enough from the side sitting at the bottom of the Premier League table on just five points.
Maddison then added further to their misery with his second goal, and Spurs’ fifth, in the fourth minute of added time courtesy of another beautiful ball into the box from Son, which he smashed into the far corner.
Southampton became the first team in Premier League history to go into half time losing by a five-goal deficit multiple times after also doing so against Leicester City in October 2019.
After the break, the game turned into quite a lacklustre affair.
With their injury crisis and workload issues clearly front of mind, Tottenham took the foot off the peddle and played out the game with the three points in the bag.
Man Utd heaps more pain on rivals City | 01:56
MAN UTD LATE SHOW DEEPENS MAN CITY CRISIS
Manchester United scored twice in the final three minutes to deepen Premier League champions Manchester City’s crisis with a 2-1 win at the Etihad on Sunday.
City have now won just once in their last 11 games, a run that includes eight defeats.
Josko Gvardiol’s first-half header had put Pep Guardiola’s men in front. But United hit back for just Ruben Amorim’s second win in five league matches since taking charge last month.
Bruno Fernandes’ penalty levelled before Amad Diallo squeezed home the winner from a narrow angle in the last minute of regular time.
Defeat leaves City still in fifth, nine point off leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
United climb to 12th and within five points of their city rivals. The Red Devils will be hoping a dramatic victory can also be the starting point for Amorim to turn around the momentum of a rivalry that City have dominated over the past decade.
Amorim made a bold call before kick-off as both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were left out of the United squad with the Portuguese saying he “pays attention to everything”.
The United boss may have regretted that call as early as the 12th minute when Mason Mount limped off to continue his injury-ravaged spell since joining from Chelsea 18 months ago.
A shortage of confidence in both sides was clear to see in a cagey start. It took 20 minutes for Phil Foden to have the first attempt on goal with a volley that flew just wide of Andre Onana’s goal.
But United’s set-piece defending has been at the root of their poor start to life under new management.
For the third consecutive Premier League game they conceded from a corner as Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected cross looped perfectly into the path of Gvardiol to head in on 36 minutes.
A slow burn of a derby finally came to life seconds later when Kyle Walker and Rasmus Hojlund went head-to-head with both ending up getting booked.
Foden’s double win this fixture for City last season on their way to an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title.
The England international’s lack of form and fitness has been one of the causes of City’s struggles this season.
However, Foden looked more like his old self as a jinking run and shot that deflected just wide came close to doubling City’s lead before half-time.
United did not manage a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes and Amorim was growing visibly frustrated at his side’s poor play on the ball as the second period started in a similar manner.
A vintage City side under Guardiola would have put their neighbours to the sword, but English champions created nothing of note in the second period.
Diallo finally forced Ederson into action with a header that the Brazilian clawed around the post on the hour mark.
Fernandes then missed a glorious chance to equalise 15 minutes from time when his dink over Ederson drifted wide with just the Brazilian to beat.
However, City were to be the architects of their own downfall. Matheus Nunes’ short backpass played in Diallo, who was then chopped down by the Portuguese midfielder in his desperation to atone for the original error.
Fernandes this time coolly sent Ederson the wrong way to level. City’s defence was then undone by one simple long ball over the top by Lisandro Martinez that Diallo raced onto, rounded Ederson and kept his composure to find the net.
– Amorim said he ‘believed’ after dramatic Man Utd win in derby –
Ruben Amorim said Manchester United “deserved” to beat Manchester City after his side produced a dramatic late finish to win 2-1 at the Etihad on Sunday.
City defender Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring with a first-half header but Fernandes levelled from the penalty spot in the 88th minute and Diallo struck two minutes later.
“It was incredible,” Amorim told the BBC. “I think we deserved it. It was a very tough match but we believe until the end. We managed to score, we needed that win, it was important for us and for our fans.
“We were in the game for 90 minutes and that is very good. We talk about the Arsenal game (a 2-0 defeat), we played well in the first half but they were not believing that we could win. Today was so much more different.
“I also believe. Then we have Fergie time and we put the things together and something magic happened. It was a good day for us.”
Liverpool escape with 10-man draw | 03:11
Amorim, who took over from the sacked Erik ten Hag last month, said the supporters needed the win — just his second victory in the Premier League since arriving at Old Trafford.
“They (the fans) need it,” he said. “Just like us, but you can see the way they celebrate is special.“But we need to continue. Our club needs to win these kinds of matches, I understand the happiness of our fans but we need to continue.
“With a victory for City, the performance was the same. We need to improve a lot of things but today the guys deserved the win. They were in it until the last minute and that is important for us.”
Speaking about match-winner Diallo, he said: “He can play different positions, he is very humble. We have to be very careful with Amad because sometimes in our club we put young players in a special place. Lets stay calm with Amad.”
– Fernandes hails Man Utd hero Diallo –
Bruno Fernandes hailed Amad Diallo as “unstoppable” after the winger scored a 90th-minute winner in Manchester United’s dramatic 2-1 victory at Manchester City on Sunday.
City defender Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring with a first-half header but Fernandes levelled from the penalty spot in the 88th minute and Diallo struck two minutes later.Diallo, 22, has been the standout player for United since new manager Ruben Amorim arrived at Old Trafford last month and he delivered in dramatic fashion at the Etihad.
“I think there’s still a lot to come from him because we really believe in his qualities, we know what he’s capable of doing,” United captain Fernandes told Sky Sports.
“He showed it today again. He’s always happy, he’s always alive, and this is why he gets the penalty, this is why he gets his goal.” He added: “We need him at this level, because when he’s like this, he’s unstoppable.”
‘What a save, incredible reactions!’ | 00:45
Diallo, named man of the match, said: “We wanted to win the game. We know it was not easy, obviously in the first half it was difficult, but in the second half I think we pressed good and we wanted to win.
“This is the derby, if you play this game you have to win, and we showed today we can win every game.”
Fernandes said the United players were still getting used to Amorim’s methods. “It’s a process,” he said. “We know what he demands, what he wants from us. We’ve been speaking always before games that it doesn’t matter what happens in the game, we stick to what we have to do, what we’ve been training to do — new routines, difficult, different positions.”
– Chelsea charge –
Enzo Maresca’s high-flying Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to close to within two points of long-time leaders Liverpool, who have 36 points.
The home team dominated the first half and got the reward they deserved shortly before the break when Noni Madueke swung in a cross from the right and Marc Cucurella nodded it home.
Nicolas Jackson doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 80th minute and they held out for the win despite a late strike from prolific Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo.
It is a fifth straight win for Chelsea, who look increasingly like being Liverpool’s main challengers this season, with Arsenal and City faltering.
