Man Utd in early trouble, title challengers roll on

LONDON (AP):

TWO GAMES into the Premier League season, and the scrutiny is already back on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

Joao Pedro was left unmarked to head home in the fifth minute of injury time to give Brighton a 2-1 home win over United yesterday in a game that showed that the inconsistencies that plagued Ten Hag’s team still haven’t been eradicated.

After United failed to clear a corner, Pedro was on hand to head home a cross from Simon Adingra to secure a second straight victory for Brighton at the start of its first season under 31-year-old coach Fabian Hurzeler.

The two leading title rivals also made it two wins out of two with shows of strength.

Erling Haaland scored his seventh Premier League hat trick in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, while Arsenal earned a 2-0 win at Aston Villa – a team they lost to twice last season before losing the title by two points to City.

Like Ten Hag, Sean Dyche could also be feeling the early pressure after his Everton side slumped to another heavy defeat, losing 4-0 at Tottenham.

Also yesterday, West Ham beat Crystal Palace 2-0 away, Fulham earned a 2-1 home win over Leicester, and Nottingham Forest won 1-0 at Southampton.

The defeat at Brighton will be extra tough for United to take as the visitors had a potential winner ruled out in the 70th minute for an almost comical offside.

Alejandro Garnacho’s shot from a tight angle was heading into an empty net when it deflected off the knee of the sliding Joshua Zirkzee just before it crossed the line – causing the goal to be ruled out as the Dutch striker was in an offside position.

“We thought we scored the winning goal, and it’s so bad luck that the ball is on the line,” said Ten Hag, the Dutch manager who was under heavy pressure last season but was retained by United after leading the team to the FA Cup title.

The discussion about whether he is the right man to lead United will probably be rekindled after a loss that was the result of both missed chances and poor defending.

“You can’t drop points so unnecessarily,” Ten Hag said. “If you protect the goal like we do, you drop points. … We have to do better in certain occasions.”

Former United striker Danny Welbeck gave Brighton the lead in the 32nd before Amad Diallo equalised on a counterattack in the 60th when he cut in from the right and saw his shot deflected into the net by the sliding Jan Paul van Hecke.