Manchester United and Liverpool FC suffer huge defeats in the fourth match week of the Premier League season

By: Emmanuel Mendez

On Sunday October 4th, United lost 6-1 at home to Spurs while Liverpool lost away from home against an impressive Aston Villa. Credit: Scroll.in

When you think of the Premier League, one of the first few teams you think of might include Manchester United and Liverpool FC. Both clubs have an immense amount of history that has acquired many trophies over the years. Liverpool is the current Premier League champion and won the Champions League last year. 

However, this past weekday match did not show the legendary status of these enormous clubs. It will be remembered as one of the worst days for both of them.

           Manchester United played first when they faced Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s stadium. United, at the start of the season, had looked a little off after losing the first game against Crystal Palace 3-1 and getting a controversial win against Brighton after scoring a penalty in the last minute to make it 3-2. 

United also didn’t make any signings at the time and fans were worried about the game against the Spurs since they looked to be in form. 

           At the very beginning of the game though, United got a penalty kick with their midfielder Bruno Fernandes who managed to make the score 1-0 in the first two minutes. That lead was short-lived as Spurs scored the equalizer two minutes after by mistakes from the United defense. 

From there, it went downhill for the Manchester club as more inconsistent defending caused three more goals in the first half. Manchester United was given a red card when striker Anthony Martial hit Spurs forward, Eric Lamela. 

It was a controversial red card because the replays showed that Lamela provoked and hit Martial first, but it was Martial`s reaction that made the referee decide to send him off the pitch and not Lamela. At this point, United was losing 4-1 in the first half! 

The second half came and the Spurs were playing great football which led to another goal by defender Serge Aurier. In the 79th minute, Spurs got a penalty and their striker Harry Kane scored his second of the game and sealed the game off to make the final score 6-1 to Spurs. 

It was a dominant performance from Spurs as they had more possession of the ball and took 22 shots of which 8 were on target.

           Later that day, Liverpool were taking on Aston Villa. This game seemed to be an easy one for Liverpool because they won all three of their games including victories against Chelsea and Arsenal. 

Before the game had begun, Aston Villa seemed to be in form though as they also had won their past few games. Aston Villa though, struggled last season as they almost got relegated from the Premier League while Liverpool were amazing last season as they convincingly won the Premier League. 

The final result for this game was the most shocking turnout of the night.

           Liverpool was missing a few key players such as their goalkeeper Alisson Becker, captain Jordan Henderson, new signing Thiago, and Sadio Mane. Aston Villa had all their star players including Jack Grealish and new signings Ross Barkley and Ollie Watkins, who would perform very well against Liverpool. 

           Liverpool started slowly, which led to a mistake from their second-choice goalkeeper Adrian. He didn’t pass the ball correctly to his defender Joe Gomez which gave Aston Villa the 1-0 lead scored by Watkins. 

Watkins would score again in the 22nd minute and Liverpool were down 2-0. Liverpool star forward, Mohammed Salah, would score the first goal for the Reds but two minutes later Villa would score again after a deflected shot by Villa midfielder, John McGinn. 

Watkins would score one more and that completed his hat-trick in the first half. The Premier League Champions were losing 4-1 to Aston Villa in the first half, so far the same outcome as the United versus Spurs game. 

The second half started, and Villa continued their impressive counter attacks as Barkley scored the fifth goal. 

Salah would then score another goal for Liverpool but once again, Liverpool was being punished for looking to attack Villa too much. Grealish would score two more goals for Villa to make it 7-2. 

           It was a shocking result because of how poorly Liverpool played and how greatly Villa stepped up their game. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has some tweaking to do in their defense as they have conceded 11 goals in four games. 

They will be playing Everton FC next, who is a team that has won all their games so far and are also in top form. 

As for Manchester United, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær has to find new tactics to make United play better along with their new signings Alex Telles, Facundo Pellistri, and Edison Cavani. They play Newcastle United next and will have to bring everything to the table because Solskjær`s job could potentially be in jeopardy.