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A debut goal from Anthony Martial that followed a sublime Daley Blind strike and an Ander Herrera penalty handed Manchester United a comfortable 3-1 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford. Christian Benteke scored the only consolation goal for Liverpool, and though it was a quality bicycle kick that was timed to perfection to beat David De Gea, it did little to alter the final result.
Both teams came into the tie with near identical starts to the season as they both registered two wins, a draw and a loss each. A win would do both Louis van Gaal and Brendan Rodgers some good but only the Dutchman would have the honour of winning against the bitter rivals.
United started the game without their captain and England’s newest top scorer Wayne Rooney who has been sidelined by injury. The Belgian Marouane Fellaini replaced the captain as striker and Michael Carrick took the armband replacing Morgan Schneiderlin in the starting line-up. However, the biggest piece of team news for the home side was the return of David De Gea to Manchester United’s starting line-up after the Spanish custodian signed a new 4 year deal with the club.
Liverpool had to do without the suspended Philippe Coutinho who was replaced by Danny Ings while the rest of the side remained unchanged.
Neither team came looking to settle but could not muster even a chance in the first half. It was a game that was prone to a lot of bad passing that eventually saw the ball being passed around in midfield without much purpose.
Just 4 minutes after the restart of the game in the second half, Daley Blind would put the home side in the lead from a well-worked set-piece finished off brilliantly by the Dutch defender. It all started when Ashley Young was brought down at the edge of the box and Mata stepped up to slide the freekick into Blind’s path and the defender curled his shot past everyone into the back of the net.
Martial replaced the Spanish midfielder in the 65th minute just 5 minutes before Joe Gomez was found guilty of bringing down Ander Herrera in the box and the Spaniard himself converted from the spot to hand United a cushion as he smashed the ball into the roof of the goal.
Christian Benteke would reduce the deficit for Liverpool in the 84th minute when he scored a perfectly timed bicycle kick that zoomed past De Gea into the goal. Surely, the Liverpool frontman’s strike will be considered a contender for goal of the season.
Anthony Martial was determined to make his mark on the debut appearance for United as he glided past 2 players and then slotted past Simon Mignolet to all but confirm his side’s win by restoring the 2 goal cushion.
The result puts Manchester United up high in the table behind only their neighbours Manchester City who are 5 points ahead of them with their last-minute win today. It is also a performance that looks ominous for the rest of the season in the red half of Manchester. Louis van Gaal will be especially happy as his side registered 3 wins out of 3 against their rivals since he took over at Old Trafford.
It’s back to the drawing board for Brendan Rodgers as he will look to rejuvenate his side after two losses on the trot and could have a boost as Daniel Sturridge could return soon for the Merseysiders and with no Champions League football, they will have more time to regroup.
