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Premier League Data Dive: Record-setting McTominay helps Man Utd run riot, Rodgers ends Mourinho streak

Premier League Data Dive: Man Utd claimed a resounding 6-2 win over Leeds United, as Brendan Rodgers ended his wait for a win over Spurs boss Jose Mourinho.

By Patric Ridge
Manchester United

London, December 21: Manchester United claimed just their second home win of the Premier League season in emphatic fashion as they swatted aside Leeds United 6-2.

Marcelo Bielsa's team have gone toe-to-toe with most teams this season, but came off on the wrong side of a rout in an encounter which saw 43 attempts on goal.

United leapfrogged Tottenham to move into the top four, with Jose Mourinho's side going down 2-0 to Leicester City earlier on Sunday (December 20).

Sam Allardyce got his West Brom tenure off to a losing start, while Brighton and Hove Albion denied Sheffield United their first victory of 2020-21.

Manchester United 6-2 Leeds United: McTominay sets the tone

Sunday's headline fixture wasted no time in serving up the entertainment. Man United shared the points with Manchester City in a dismal derby in their previous home match, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side mustered 26 attempts as they thrashed Leeds this time out.

Scott McTominay got things up and running with a quickfire double – his opener coming after just 66 seconds, with the midfielder then doubling his tally with a tidy close-range finish.

McTominay's efforts put Man United 2-0 within 170 seconds, the quickest a team has scored twice from the start of a Premier League game since Arsenal netted two inside 164 seconds against Newcastle United in February 2011, a 4-4 draw.

The double also made McTominay the first player in Premier League history to score twice in the first three minutes of a match, and Bruno Fernandes drilled in to make it 3-0 in the 20th minute, the earliest the Red Devils have scored three times from the start of a top-flight game since August 2006.

Goals from Victor Lindelof and Daniel James, combined with a penalty from Fernandes, saw United score six times in a Premier League game for the first time since their 8-2 win over Arsenal in 2011.

United have played more home Premier League games against Leeds without losing than against any other club (P13 W9 D4), while it is the first time a club side managed by Bielsa have conceded six goals in a competitive match since his Newell's Old Boys team lost 6-0 to San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores in February 1992.

Since his debut in February, Fernandes has both scored and assisted a goal in seven different Premier League games – only Matt Le Tissier in 1994 (eight) and Mohamed Salah in 2018 (nine) have done so on more occasions in a single calendar year in the competition's history.

Tottenham 0-2 Leicester City: No more Mourinho woe for Rodgers

Tottenham suffered a second straight Premier League defeat as Leicester returned to winning ways in style, with Brendan Rodgers claiming his first victory in all competitions against a Mourinho team.

Leicester's opener came from the spot, with Jamie Vardy lashing in his sixth penalty of the season after Serge Aurier's foul on James Justin was spotted by the VAR in first-half stoppage time. The Ivory Coast full-back has conceded four penalties in the Premier League since 2017-18, second only to David Luiz (five).

Vardy has now been directly involved in seven goals (five goals, two assists) in seven Premier League away games against Spurs, with the 33-year-old becoming the first player to score an away goal against an opponent at three different venues in the competition (White Hart Lane, Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium).

James Maddison had a goal disallowed by the VAR for a marginal offside, but Vardy was involved again as Leicester got their second midway through the second half, his header diverted in off Toby Alderweireld, who has scored three own goals for Spurs in the Premier League, a joint-high with Harry Kane.

The victory moved Leicester into second place, and the Foxes will be in the top two places of the top flight at Christmas in consecutive seasons for the first time in their history.

West Brom 0-3 Aston Villa: No Big Sam bounce for Baggies

A 1-1 draw at Manchester City was not enough to keep Slaven Bilic in the hot seat at West Brom, but his successor got off to a dismal start.

Allardyce's team went down 3-0 to Aston Villa, with captain Jake Livermore seeing red as goals from Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore claimed the points.

Villa's return of 22 points after 12 games is their best in the Premier League since 2001-02, when they finished eighth, while West Brom have only one win 14 games into a league season for just the third time, after 1985-86 and 2004-05.

It was only the second time Allardyce lost his first Premier League game in charge of a side (W5 D1), the previous occasion coming against West Brom as Sunderland manager in October 2015.

Allardyce has plenty of work to do. In England's top four tiers, only Southend United (-20) have a poorer goal difference than West Brom (-19).

Brighton and Hove Albion 1-1 Sheffield United: Ten-man Blades made to wait

Chris Wilder's Sheffield United looked set to clinch their first victory of the season, only to be denied late on by Danny Welbeck, who snatched a 1-1 draw for Brighton.

The Blades had John Lundstram sent off in the first half, but Jayden Bogle's goal on his Premier League debut put them ahead – three of the full-back's four league goals have come away from home.

Bogle joins Brian Deane (1992), Willie Falconer (1993), Rob Hulse (2006) and Billy Sharp (2019) in netting on his Premier League bow for the Blades.

Brighton, meanwhile, are winless in their past 11 league home games – only once in their league history have they gone longer without a win at home (12 games between October 1997 and February 1998).

United sit bottom on two points from 14 games. It is the lowest total by an English top-flight side at this stage of a campaign (counting three points for a win).

Story first published: Monday, December 21, 2020, 16:44 [IST]
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