AFP, LONDON: Jose Mourinho refused to condemn his Chelsea flops after their title defence was plunged into turmoil by a 3-1 defeat at Everton, while Manchester United’s Anthony Martial exploded onto the Old Trafford stage with a superb strike in his new club’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday.
It left Chelsea 11 points below leaders Manchester City, who snatched a late 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, but Mourinho claimed he had no complaints about his team’s performance and blamed bad luck for their recent woes. At Old Trafford, Martial made one of the more memorable United debuts in recent memory as the teenage French striker came off the bench to mark his debut with the clinching goal against Liverpool.
Signed from Monaco on transfer deadline day for a reported initial fee of £36 million ($55 million) that even United manager Louis van Gaal admitted was “ridiculous”, Martial had been dismissed in some quarters as a panic buy. But the hefty price tag, that made the 19-year-old the world’s most expensive teenage player, didn’t seem to bother Martial, who came on as a 65th minute substitute and settled one of English football’s heavyweight clashes with a devastating knockout blow.
United had taken a two-goal lead thanks to Daley Blind’s sumptuous long-range finish in the 49th minute and an Ander Herrera penalty in the 70th minute following Joe Gomez’s foul on the Spanish midfielder. But the hosts were clinging to a 2-1 lead after Christian Benteke’s brilliant bicycle kick in the 84th minute had given Liverpool hope of snatching a draw. That was the cue for Martial to steal the spotlight two minutes later as he took possession on the left, surged past Martin Skrtel and cut inside before calmly steering his shot into the far corner.
“Anthony Martial scored a marvellous goal and physically he can play in the Premier League,” van Gaal said. “He’s been with us for three days, that is too short to judge his personality but he made a very good impression.” Early pace-setters City sit five points off second placed United after they won 1-0 at Palace courtesy of a last-minute goal by substitute Kelechi Iheanacho.
City had earlier lost Sergio Aguero through injury, but prevailed when 18-year-old Nigerian striker Iheanacho poked in the rebound from a Samir Nasri shot to
preserve the visitors’ 100 percent record. Elsewhere, Swansea City saw their unbeaten start to the season ended in a 1-0 defeat at promoted Watford.