MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester United broke Leeds United 6-2 while Leicester City gave Tottenham Hotspur their second straight loss in the Premier League on Sunday.
United’s win, with two goals apiece from midfielders Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes, put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side up to third on 26 points, above Everton in fourth place on a goal difference.
Jamie Vardy’s penalty and Toby Alderweireld’s own goal defeated Leicester in north London and left the foxes in second place, five points behind Liverpool leaders who had won 7-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Sam Allardyce ‘s first debut in charge of West Bromwich Albion ended in a 3-0 home loss with West Midlands rivals Aston Villa with Anwar El Ghazi on target twice.
The Sheffield United club ended their eight games losing streak, picking up just their second point of the campaign with a 1-1 home draw to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Inspiring Leeds have earned respect for their attacking style under Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa but the 30 goals they have conceded this season are the league’s worst defensive record and have slipped to 14 in the table.
The Yorkshire club were down 2-0 within three minutes after McTominay scored two early goals, the first stunning strike from distance, before Fernandes made it 3-0 in the 20th minute.
Victor Lindelof added a fourth before header Liam Cooper, four minutes before the interval, gave the visitors some confidence for the second half.
But McTominay set up Dan James for United’s fifth before Fernandes ’penalty made it 6-1.
Even then, with Bielsa jumping from the handline, Leeds kept pushing forward and Stuart Dallas rewarded them a little for their efforts with a beautiful curling view from a distance.
While there were some individual performances in the United side, none more so than from McTominay in midfield, Solskjaer also got his ingenious vision.
“Of course, we’ve shown them videos and analyzed (Leeds) and they, the boys, had a wide eye when they saw the clips we showed them. Places that may or may not appear if we do not do the job. They did the work, straight forward, ”he said.
After beating Liverpool on Wednesday, Spurs dropped Jose Mourinho out of the bottom two after their loss to Leicester.
There was little excitement in the opening half until just before the break when the Foxes were penalized after a VAR investigation found that Serge Aurier had beaten Wesley Fofana – Vardy put a taste of the spot kick down in the middle.
The second goal came in the 59th minute when Vardy finally got a Mark Albrighton cross from the right and his head at the far post from Alderweireld into the back of the net.
The experienced Allardyce replaced Crotian Slaven Bilic who was sacked at West Brom in the middle of the week but after five minutes Villa took the lead when El-Ghazi headed home Traore’s cross to the far post.
West Brom captain Jake Livermore was sacked after a VAR investigation for a reckless attack on Jack Grealish and Allardyce ‘s new allegations later threatened, ruling one shot in the entire game.
Traore added the second six minutes from time and El Ghazi sent home a late penalty to make it a win that lifts Villa to ninth place on 22 points after 12 games, while West Brom remain second from bottom with seven points from 14 points. game.
The Sheffield United ten were denied a win for the first win of the season when Danny Welbeck hit at Brighton late to put off Premier League goalkeeper Jayden Bogle in a 1-1 draw at the Amex Arena.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men when John Lundstram was sent off for spending Joel Veltman in a careless challenge in the first half, with the referee changing his decision from yellow card to red. after VAR examination.
Reporting by Simon Evans; Edited by Christian Radnedge