Premier League 2024/25: Liverpool stunned at home; Erling Haaland leads Man City win

New Delhi: Premier League restarted on Saturday after an intriguing international break. Manchester United travelled to St. Mary’s stadium and beat Southampton in a dominant fashion, which was necessary for Erik Ten Hag to have a comfortable stature at the helm. Meanwhile in the other halve of Manchester, Erling Haaland’s goals roared that made him the first player to score nine goals in four matches in a single Premier League season.

Nottingham Forest put up a good fight against Liverpool and created a major upset at Anfield. 37-year-old Jamie Vardy’s astounding form nearly secured Leicester City’s first win of the season but a late penalty silenced the Foxes. Danny Ings saved West Ham United from an upset at the last minute, with the manager making curious choices in the first team lineup.

Manchester City 2-1 Brentford

Death, taxes, and Erling Haaland scoring in the Premier League are the only constants in life. The Norwegian helped Manchester City maintain their winning streak tonight as they managed to beat a plucky Brentford side despite going down early on. The visitors didn’t give Pep Guardiola’s side any chance to get into the game as they went ahead inside the first 30 seconds. After a Lewis-Potter played a cross into the box, John Stones needlessly tried to clear the ball away but scuffed the clearance which saw the ball loop up in the air and Yoane Wissa headed into an empty goal.

While Brentford looked threatening throughout and seemed to get a second goal, the City defence and Ederson were always on hand to thwart them away. City didn’t have to wait long for their goal as Haaland produced a brilliant finish from inside the box to get the game back level in the 19th minute. He would shorty add another to his tally to give his side the lead 13 minutes later as Ederson’s goalkick was controlled well by him and he dinked it over Mark Flekken in goal. City held on to their slim lead throughout the second half to wrap up three points and sit firm at the top of the table.

Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest

Arne Slot finally faced defeat as a Liverpool manager in his fourth game in charge as Nottingham Forest managed to stun Liverpool at Anfield. In a battle of the Reds, it was the team from Nottingham who had the last laugh despite being outplayed by the hosts throughout the game. Liverpool couldn’t make the use of the 70% possession they had in the entire game and should’ve come away with at least one goal from the game.

It was a smash and grab victory for the visitors as they managed to get their lead late in the second half via a proper counter-attacking goal. A brilliant grounded pass from Anthony Elanga switched the ball from one flank to the other towards Callum Hudon-Odoi and he took a fine shot from the edge of the box to curl it in via the upright to give his side the lead. Slot’s first defeat as Liverpool boss also marked Forest’s first in at Anfield in about 55 years, which is sure to get Nuno Santo in the club’s history books.

Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester City

The fans at Selhurst Park were treated to a goal-fest as Crystal Palace were held by Leicester City at home. The Eagles were staring at defeat only to be rescued by a last minute equalizer via the penalty spot. The Foxes took the lead in the first half via a Jamie Vardy goal. Right after the second half kicked off, Leicester doubled their advantage through Stephy Mavididi and the visitors seemed fully in control of the game.

Within a minute of going down by two goals, Palace managed to to get one back through Jean-Phillipe Mateta as headed home from a Tyrick Mitchell cross. Just when it looked like Leicester were heading towards their first win of the season, Conor Coady brought down Ismailia Sarr in the box and the hosts were awarded the penalty late into stoppage time. Mateta stepped up to take the penalty and sent the Leicester keeper the wrong way to salvage a draw for the hosts.

Fulham 1-1 West Ham

It was a fanatic ending to game at Craven Cottage where the Cottagers were left frustrated by Danny Ings’ stoppage time goal that helped West Ham draw the match. It was Fulham’s forgotten man Raul Jimenez who scored the opener for the Cottagers in the 24th minute to give them a well deserved lead as they looked like the livelier side on the pitch. They kept on threatening but failed to capitalize on the number of chances they created throughout the game.

Ultimately, the Cottagers were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of the goal as Danny Ings scored in the fifth minute of added time to square it for Lopetegui’s side. It was Valdimir Coufal who set the scene for the goal through a throw-in towards Jarrod Bowen who cross the ball in for Ings. He takes a brilliant touch before firing his shot past Berd Leno in the Fulham goal to rescue his team.

Brighton 0-0 Ipswich Town

It remained deadlocked at Amex as Brighton failed to capitalize on the 21 shots that they took against newly promoted Ipswich Town. It was a game where the Seagulls were left frustrated as their players proved to be extremely wasteful with the chances they had. Meanwhile, the Ipswich backline did a pretty good job in holding the Brighton threat as they were persistent on not conceding a goal despite the amount of pressure that Brighton managed to put on them.

As his defenders fought their way to a draw, Arijanet Muric was essential in keeping Ipswich in the game as he made some crucial saves from Welbeck, Mitoma, and Rutter. Following two defeats in the first two games, Kieran McKenna has managed to rally his players together well to produce two successive draws against two decent teams and for the first time this season, they sit outside the relegation zone.

 Nottingham Forest grabbed a historic win over Liverpool as Arne Slot is handed his first Liverpool loss, while Erling Haaland continued his red hot form to help Manchester City see-off Bretford.  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today