BRIGHTON – Two games into the Premier League season, and the scrutiny is already back on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
Joao Pedro scored in the fifth minute of injury time to give Brighton a 2-1 home win over United on Saturday in a game that showed that the inconsistencies that plagued Ten Hag's team last season still haven't been eradicated.
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After United failed to clear a corner, Pedro headed 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 Manchester City's 4-1 win over Ipswich, while Arsenal earned a 2-0 win at Aston Villa — a team it 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 Saturday, 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.”
Former United striker Danny Welbeck gave Brighton the lead in the 32nd before Amad Diallo equalized 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.
Quick-fire goals from City
For a brief moment, it looked like promoted Ipswich might pull off a major upset after new signing Sammie Szmodics put the visitors ahead early against Man City.
But three goals in less than four minutes quickly restored order at the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland equalized with a penalty in the 12th minute and made it 3-1 in the 16th after running onto a perfect ball over the top from Kevin De Bruyne and going around goalkeeper Arijanet Muric. De Bruyne had scored the second into an empty net after Man City winger Savinho robbed Muric of the ball, and Haaland completed his hat trick from outside the area in the 88th.
Haaland now has four goals in two games after netting the opener in a 2-0 win over Chelsea last weekend.
Arteta beats Emery
Unai Emery was largely responsible for his former team missing out on the title last season, especially as Villa's 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium proved decisive in the title race. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta turned the tables this time, though. Arteta sent on Leandro Trossard in the 65th minute and the winger scored with his first touch two minutes later after Bukayo Saka's low cross was deflected into his path. Saka then set up Thomas Partey for the second in the 77th.
Villa striker Ollie Watkins missed two great chances to give his team the lead — shooting wide in the first half after Arsenal turned the ball over, and then seeing goalkeeper David Raya pull off a spectacular one-handed save to stop his diving header in the second. Raya had scrambled to divert a deflected long-range shot that ended up hitting the crossbar but managed to get off the ground quickly to claw away Watkins' header from the rebound.
“I’m on the floor so I try to get up and I can’t reach it,” Raya said. “I just see Ollie going in there so I react as quickly as possible.”
Everton in trouble
Everton might be heading for another relegation fight unless Dyche can shore up his defense quickly.
Everton was under pressure throughout at Tottenham in a game where the scoreline easily could have been even bigger. Everton was beaten 3-0 at home by Brighton in its opening game, and the team's last season at Goodison Park could be a difficult one.
Yves Bissouma opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a strike from the edge of the area that went in off the underside of the crossbar. Bissouma was suspended by the club for its opening 1-1 draw at Leicester last weekend after uploading a video to social media of himself inhaling laughing gas. But he was back in the starting lineup, and thanked manager Ange Postecoglou by running up to the Australian and giving him a hug after his goal.
Son Heung-min scored twice for Spurs, while Cristian Romero added the other with a header from a corner.
Ball boy rescued
West Ham’s Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen had to cut short their goal celebrations against Palace to pull a ball boy out from underneath an advertising screen that collapsed.
Soucek had just scored the opening goal in the 67th minute and Bowen jumped onto his back as they celebrated in front of the away fans at Selhurst Park. But some of those supporters spilled onto the field when the advertising hoardings gave way, and a ball boy was left trapped underneath one of the screens.
Soucek then quickly hoisted the screen up while Bowen helped the boy to his feet and made sure he was unharmed.
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