By Razeen Gutta
Manchester United, inspired by Marcus Rashford, steamrolled a plucky Leicester City side 3-0 to remain hot on the heels of their local rivals, City.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur produced a routine victory over strugglers and London rivals West Ham.
It was a brace for Rashford, who now has six goals in five league games for United. Fernandes was the maker of both the goals, while Jadon Sancho also added his name to the scoresheet to make it 3-0 to Erik ten Hag’s side.
At the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, a frustrating first half with little real opportunity was followed by an Emerson Royal breakthrough that saw Spurs spring to life.
Son Heung Min started from the bench but made an instant impact when brought on — linking up with Harry Kane to find the back of the net. 2-0 was the final score.
All may have gone to plan with United reducing the gap between them and their rivals Manchester City back to three points. But Newcastle United, who started the weekend in fourth place, will surely be disappointed to see Spurs go back into the top four with their victory.
The Magpies hosted Liverpool on Saturday evening and looked good value for their form this season. The Reds were deadly on the counter, though, and two early goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo were followed by a Nick Pope disaster-class.
The England goalkeeper handled the ball outside his box and saw red, meaning that he will now be ineligible to play in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United next week.
There was insult to add to the injury as well, because substitute goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, who made some big saves to keep the game at 2-0, will also not be able to take on United because he will be playing for them in the same competition this season.
In some of Saturday’s other results, Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-2 away from home while Chelsea were shocked by last placed Southampton, losing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Manchester City failed to beat Nottingham Forest, too, with that game ending 1-1 as Everton beat Leeds United 1-0 at Goodison Park.
Pictured above: Marcus Rashford
Image source: @manutd
