Watford stun Spurs, as Man U win
Watford’s stunning start to the season hit a new high as they made it four successive Premier League wins with a shock 2-1 success against Tottenham yesterday.
Having fallen behind to Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 54th minute own goal, Watford responded impressively, recovering to claim the points through headers from Troy Deeney and Craig Cathcart.
It remains to be seen how long Javi Gracia’s third-placed side can remain among the upper echelon, but this win confirmed they are currently there on merit.
They have won their first four league games for the first time since 1988 and remarkably sit level on points with leaders Liverpool and second-placed Chelsea heading into the international break.
Having beaten Brighton, Burnley and Crystal Palace in their opening three games, this was Watford’s first test against a top six side.
Tottenham arrived with an unbeaten record of their own to protect, having won 3-0 at Manchester United in their previous league game.
But Watford rose to the challenge to secure a first league win against Tottenham since 1987 – underlining their status as the league’s surprise package.
For Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, this was a concerning defeat.
The result means his side have lost early ground to their main rivals and the way his side was overpowered during the final half hour was alarming.
Had Harry Kane not sent a late headed chance over the bar, Pochettino would have considered a draw to be reasonable reward against obstinate opponents.
Defeat, though, highlighted Tottenham’s lack of cutting edge, with Lucas Moura the only player to consistently threaten, while the manner in which they conceded was cause for concern.
While at Turf Moor Romelu Lukaku struck twice as Manchester United returned to winning ways after two successive Premier League losses with a 2-0 victory over Burnley.
But it was not all good news for Jose Mourinho, who received vocal backing from the United fans, as substitute Marcus Rashford was sent off in the 71st minute for pushing his forehead into Phil Bardsley’s head.
Lukaku opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a simple back-post header from an Alexis Sanchez cross and doubled the advantage just before the break from close range.
United’s French international Paul Pogba had a 69th-minute penalty saved by Burnley’s former Manchester City keeper Joe Hart but despite the red card Mourinho’s side hung on comfortably for their second win of the season.
More-so, Cardiff City scored their first league goals of the season but Arsenal took the points as Alexandre Lacazette struck a superb late winner to secure a 3-2 victory in a Premier League thriller in south Wales yesterday.
Harry Arter wasted a glorious chance to give Cardiff the lead in the opening minutes following a dreadful mistake by keeper Petr Cech and shortly afterwards Arsenal went ahead when Shkodran Mustafi powered home a header from a corner.
Victor Camarasa sparked joyous scenes when he hammered home for the hosts just before the break after getting the better of Nacho Monreal.
Arsenal restored their lead just past the hour mark when Mesut Ozil and Lacazette combined well to tee up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to curl home from 20 yards but once again Cardiff responded with Danny Ward heading past Cech.
Lacazette sealed victory for Arsenal in the 81st minute when he was allowed to turn in the box by Sol Bamba before firing into the top corner from a tight angle. – Agencies.
