United rally to beat Forest, Arsenal held by 10-man Fulham

MANCHESTER: Manch­e­ster United hit back from conceding twice in the first four minutes to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 on Saturday as Arsenal dropped points for the first time this season in a 2-2 draw with 10-man Fulham.

The Gunners slip up allowed north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to remain top of the table on goal difference after they won 2-0 at Bournemouth.

United escaped with a 1-0 win over Wolver­hampton Wander­ers in their opening game of the season and were looking to kickstart their season after losing 2-0 to Tottenham last weekend, but could not have got off to a worse start at Old Trafford.

The home crowd were stunned after two minutes when Taiwo Awoniyi ran through to put Forest ahead and in disbelief two minutes later when unmarked Willy Boly headed in a second.

Christian Eriksen began the comeback after 17 minutes when he touched in Marcus Rashford’s cross and Casemiro levelled from close range in the 52nd minute.

Forest captain Joe Worrall was then sent off 23 minutes from time for bringing down Fernandes as he bore down on goal.

The new United captain was criticised for his body language in defeat at Spurs, but Fernandes won the match from the penalty spot after Rashford was brought down in the area.

“It wasn’t the perfect start for us but we kept control, kept the ball and started doing the right things,” said Fernandes. “The team showed great spirit, passion and desire. We just need to be aware that we can’t concede so early.”

Arsenal made a similarly disastrous start when Andreas Pereira pounced on Bukayo Saka’s poor pass to catch Aaron Ramsdale off his line in the first minute at the Emirates but they eventually bounced back with two goals in two frantic second-half minutes from Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah.

Fulham then had Calvin Bassey sent off for a second yellow card in the 83rd minute but despite going down to 10 men they rescued a point when Joao Palhinha swept home from a corner.

Earlier, Tottenham maintained their bright start under Ange Postecoglou as James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski struck to see off Bournemouth.

Postecoglou’s men have so far shrugged off the departure of the club’s all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich with new signing Maddison at the heart of most of their good work.

The England international’s first Tottenham goal on 17 minutes was just reward for the visitor’s dominance of the first half.

Bournemouth looked the more likely to score in the second period before Kulus­evski steered Dest­iny Udogie’s cross into the far corner just after the hour mark.

At the other end of the table, Everton’s miserable start to the season continued as Sasa Kalajdzic struck a late winner to secure Wolves’ first points of the campaign with a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park.

Brentford remain unbeaten but were denied by Joachim Andersen’s equaliser for Crystal Palace in a 1-1 draw.

On Friday, Raheem Sterling sparkled with a brace and Nicolas Jackson bagged his first goal for the club as Chelsea swept aside new boys Luton Town 3-0 to give Mauricio Pochettino his first Premier League win as Blues boss.

It was the big-spending Blues’ first win of the season after an opening day 1-1 draw against Liverpool and last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham United and only their second win in 15 Premier League games including last season’s dreadful run.