Manchester United should be thrilled with last weekend’s English Premier League outcome after bouncing back from a brief setback at Old Trafford to claim three well-deserved points.
Tottenham Hotspurs had visited the Red Devils and left the stadium with a 3-2 victory. Jan Vertonghen, Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey scored for the Spurs in that order while Luis Nani and Shinji Kagawa slid in one goal apiece.
Nevertheless, the Red Devils were able to redeem themselves by obliterating Newcastle at St. James’ Park. Sir Alex Ferguson implemented the diamond formation, which seemed to work out well for his side.
United’s first goal came in the eighth minute from a corner kick, which Robin van Persie forced and took. Jonny Evans got on the scoreboard first with a majestic header that left the ball resting in the Toon’s goal.
The fans were yet to be entertained in a similar fashion. Wayne Rooney watched Steve Harper block his free-kick attempt before going ahead to take the resulting corner kick.
Patrice Evra came running forward just in time to nick a header to double United’s lead after 15 minutes of play.
While the visitors were pleased with their scoreboard domination, Howard Webb was doling out yellow cards as a practice of strict refereeing. Kagawa, Rio Ferdinand and van Persie picked up bookings within 10 minutes.
Cheick Tioté and Jonás Gutiérrez also picked up yellow cards in the first half as their tackles were not approved by Webb.
United forwards were having an off-day until Thomas Cleverly defined clever in the 71st minute with a curled shot that whizzed past Harper.
Though Cleverly’s goal seemed like a cross, it was good enough to secure the Red Devil’s away victory.
Across town from United, Manchester City had a similar victory over Sunderland at the Ethihad.
Thanks to respective goals from Aleksandar Kolarov, Sergio Agüero and James Milner, the “noisy neighbours” were able to snatch three points to be level with United on the table.
Meanwhile about 210 miles away, Chelsea was fighting to remain on top of the table. It seemed more like bullying as the Blues lashed Norwich 4-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Grant Holt gave the Canaries the lead in the 11th minute but Chelsea would eventually come back. Fernando Torres sent home the equalizer in the 14th minute while Frank Lampard made it 2-1 six minutes later.
Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic scored the third and fourth to emphasize Chelsea’s victory.
Fellow Londoner and top-four contender Arsenal had a good game as well at the Boleyn Ground.
The Gunners were able to hammer three goals past West Ham United even though the Hammers scored the opener.
Olivier Giroud was intrigued with his first goal for Arsenal, which cancelled Mohamed Diame’s 21st minute wonder goal.
Theo Walcott’s remarkable speed rewarded him with top-notch goal that spelled impending doom for the Hammers.
Santi Carzola wrapped the game up in the 83rd minute with a fantastic chip over the goalkeeper.
Manchester United, who is second place on the league table, will host Stoke City on Oct. 20 in the team’s next Premiership appearance.
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