Manchester United continued on their dismal start to this season as they lost the second match of Premier League 2020-21. Conceding a brace from their former player Wilfried Zaha, United lost 1-3 against Crystal Palace on Saturday at the Old Trafford.
In other matches of the night, Arsenal and Everton registered their second win of the campaign in as many matches, while recently-promoted Leeds United got their first points in Premier League after 16 years as they defeated Fulham 4-3.
Meanwhile, the result at Manchester meant that United have now lost two opening matches only for the third time in the history of the Premier League era after coming behind Aston Villa last week.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, now created a record for themselves of winning the first two matches for the first time in Premier League. They had defeated Southampton in their season opener.
Much to the surprise of many, Palace went up on Saturday through a strike from Andros Townsend in just the seventh minute of the game.
Despite a lion’s share of possession, United failed to pose serious threats to Palace backline and suffered for their lack of intent when Zaha scored from the 12 yards spot.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men might complain as it was a retaken penalty after the first shot by Jordan Ayew was saved David de Gea but the Spanish keeper was found to have moved off his line.
Debutant and summer signing Donny van de Beek pulled one back for the Red Devils and tried to make the contest interesting in the 80th minute. But Zaha was on the scoresheet again as he sealed three points for Palace five minutes later.
In London, Arsenal slogged hard for a 2-1 win over West Ham. Eddie Nketiah rescued Mikel Arteta’s men five minutes ahead of the deadline to hand the Hammers their second defeat on the trot.
Alexandre Lacazette’s 25th minute goal had given Arsenal the lead at The Emirates but Michail Antonio’s strike at the other end had brought parity right before the half-time break.
Everton, too, got full points for the second time in as many matches this season after thrashing newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion 5-2, courtesy of a hat-trick by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
What was more satisfying for The Blues was that their high-profile signing James Rodriguez got his first goal and assist on Saturday.
The inspiration of the season, Leeds United, were subject of a similar scoreline as in their opening match against Liverpool. But this time Marcelo Bielsa’s men won 4-3 as they came on top of Fulham.
Despite going 4-1 up, Leeds were up for a short span of nervousness as Fulham rallied back to reduce the margin to one goal. However, The Whites made sure their defenders did not lack the efforts in the final moments.