Brighton put Man Utd to the sword as Onana error adds to misery

Manchester — Manchester United endured a miserable 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday after visiting winger Yankuba Minteh scored one goal and created another, with the hosts not helped by a howler from goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter were also on the scoresheet in the second half for Brighton, who also had a goal from Joao Pedro ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up.

Bruno Fernandes netted a penalty for United to level the score at 1-1 at halftime but, after Brighton took the lead for the second time, Onana spilt a routine gather from a low cross into the box, allowing Rutter to tap home the loose ball.

Brighton climb to ninth place with 34 points, four points off the top four. United are 13th on 26 also from 22 games.

Brighton have won in six of their last seven league games with United and on their last three visits to Old Trafford.

The teams were led out by bagpipes in memory of club great Denis Law, who passed away last week, with a wreath laid at the centre-circle by former manager Alex Ferguson.

Brighton led inside five minutes as Mitoma beat the offside trap on the left from Carlos Baleba’s long ball and his pass across goal provided a simple finish for the unmarked Minteh.

United won a penalty midway through the first half when Brighton attempted to play the ball out of defence, but goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s pass was poor and the ball fell to Joshua Zirkzee in the box.

Baleba put his arm on the shoulder of the striker, who went to ground and referee Peter Bankes pointed to the spot, with Fernandes having no problem slotting home to level the score.

Brighton thought they were in front again seven minutes into the second period when United failed to clear a low free-kick into the box and Pedro finished but a VAR check ruled Jan Paul van Hecke had kicked the foot of Diogo Dalot in the melee.

However, the visitors did get a second on the hour when Mitoma stretched at the back post ahead of United defender Noussair Mazraoui to turn in Minteh’s inviting cross.

Brighton then netted a third thanks to Onana’s horrendous error to make the game safe and leave United to dwell on their 10th league defeat of the league campaign.

Nottingham Forest’s remarkable campaign continued with a 3-2 win over struggling Southampton but they had to survive a late onslaught before securing the win to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal in the standings.

Forest cruised to a three-goal lead by halftime with goals from Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood but the hosts failed to press home their dominance in the second period.

Southampton pulled one back on the hour mark through Jan Bednarek and an added time goal from Paul Onuachu provided late drama.

Everton’s blistering first-half display secured a 3-2 win over a woeful Tottenham Hotspur side as David Moyes earned his first win since returning for a second spell as manager at Goodison Park, piling more misery on the visitors.

Needing to get back to winning ways after a recent poor run of form, Everton took the game to their beleaguered opponents, racing into a two-goal lead inside 30 minutes through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye.

Things went from bad to worse for Spurs in first-half stoppage time as young Archie Gray put through his own net to ensure Everton scored as many goals within one half of football as in their previous seven games in all competitions.

Goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison caused the home fans some concern late on but the hosts survived to record a win that moved 16th-placed Everton four points clear of the bottom three. 

Reuters