Bruno Fernandes’ twice-taken second-half penalty was enough to give Manchester United their first Premier League victory of the season at Old Trafford over a battling West Brom outfit.
Former United keeper Sam Johnstone made a string of superb stops to deny his old club, included a splendid save from Fernandes’ initial kick.
However, VAR intervened as Johnstone was clearly off his line and Fernandes made no mistake with his second attempt. The effort ended a wait of 324 minutes for a United goal in the Premier League on home soil – and that was also a spot-kick from the Portuguese against Tottenham.
It was harsh on the visitors, who were awarded a penalty themselves a minute after the restart when Fernandes caught Conor Gallagher. But after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor, referee David Coote decided the United man had just touched the ball, much to Baggies boss Slaven Bilic’s frustration.
The result leaves West Brom, who were without captain Jake Livermore and defender Kieran Gibbs because of positive coronavirus tests, still waiting for their first win of the season.
After successive victories, United are in the top half of the table for the first time this season. And, given the pressure he was under before the win at Everton on 7 November, there must be some satisfaction for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in going above Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the table.
It is only the second time Solskjaer has done that, and the previous occasion – after the first game of last season – only lasted a week.
Other football results
Tottenham Hotspur went top of the Premier League after producing a display of clinical efficiency and tactical discipline to beat Manchester City 2-0.
In the usual battle of wits between Jose Mourinho and his old adversary Pep Guardiola, the Spurs manager came out on top as his team’s season gathered further momentum.
Son Heung-min put Spurs in front after five minutes, finishing coolly from Tanguy Ndombele’s pass before Manchester City had a first-half goal ruled out by VAR for a handball by Gabriel Jesus after Aymeric Laporte’s finish.
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Real Madrid missed the chance to move within a point of La Liga leaders Real Sociedad as they were held to a draw by Villarreal.
Mariano’s header after just two minutes gave Real Madrid the ideal start. However, the visitors struggled to put the game out of reach and visibly tired as the game wore on.
Instead, Villarreal got stronger and were awarded a penalty late on when Samuel Chukwueze was brought down and Gerard Moreno slotted in the spot-kick.
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Atletico Madrid moved level on points with La Liga leaders Real Sociedad after beating Barcelona, who are now nine points adrift of the top two.
Yannick Carrasco scored the only goal on the stroke of half-time, driving in from midway inside the Barcelona half with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen having tried to beat him to the ball.
Atletico keeper Jan Oblak saved well from Clement Lenglet, but the visitors were well below par. The result leaves Barcelona 10th.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in four minutes as Serie A champions Juventus beat Cagliari 2-0 and climbed to second in the table.
Ronaldo found the net in the 38th and 42nd minutes to lift Juve from eighth place, putting them a point behind leaders Milan, who have a game in hand.
The Portuguese draws level with Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic on eight goals at the top of the Serie A scorers’ list. Milan travel to fourth-placed Napoli on Sunday. (BBC Sport)
