(^) IN ASSOCIATION WITH
HOW THEY STAND
P W D L F A GD Pts
Man City ............. 1 1 0 0 5 0 5 3
Man Utd .............1 1 0 0 4 0 4 3
Liverpool ........... 1 1 0 0 4 1 3 3
Brighton ............ 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3
Burnley .............. 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3
Tottenham ......... 1 1 0 0 3 1 2 3
Arsenal .............. 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3
Bournemouth ... 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
Sheff Utd ............1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
Crystal Palace ...1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Everton .............. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Leicester ........... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Wolves ............... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Newcastle .......... 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0
Aston Villa .........1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 0
Norwich ............. 1 0 0 1 1 4 -3 0
Southampton .... 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0
Watford ............. 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0
Chelsea .............. 1 0 0 1 0 4 -4 0
West Ham .......... 1 0 0 1 0 5 -5 0
it away, giving Kepa no chance. It was
the clinical completion many feel is
the stage yet to come in his game. If
it arrives this season, watch out.
Yet while the contest may have
been over, the scoring was not. With
nine minutes remaining, United broke
again. It was Pogba this time, power-
ing through Chelsea’s shell-shocked
defensive ranks, before delaying his
pass to deftly roll the ball to United
substitute Daniel James.
The young man looked to have
missed his chance by hesitating, then
had another go and benefited from a
deflection off Emerson for his debut
goal. Pace again. His arrival along the
right flank was scorching. It had
become the rudest of awakenings for
Lampard, and his young charges.
Could it have been different? Defi-
nitely. The game was only four min-
utes old when Abraham, entrusted
with centre-forward duties ahead of
Olivier Giroud, lashed a shot against
De Gea’s right post, with United’s
goalkeeper in no position to stop it.
In the 40th minute, a long, deep ball
from Jorginho — benefiting from the
fact every move doesn’t have to pass
through him now Maurizio Sarri has
departed — was missed by United’s
back line, falling to Emerson on the
left. He hit the same post as Abra-
ham earlier. On the touchline,
Lampard looked stunned by
his ill fortune.
Mason Mount took a
lovely touch before
having his shot saved,
after a pass by Pedro,
while Ross Barkley
had a decent attempt
travel wide after 35
minutes.
De Gea remains
United’s lynchpin,
however, and four
minutes later a
lovely move involving
Jorginho, Pedro and
finally Barkley pro-
duced his best save
of the half. Emerson forced its sec-
ond-half equivalent.
Yet momentum is key and Lampard
knows he will have to change Chel-
sea’s, and soon. They play Liverpool
in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednes-
day and he will be wary of his young
charges being exposed again.
After that, Leicester — possi-
bly the Premier League’s best
of the rest — come to Stam-
ford Bridge.
As for United, this is the
type of result from which a
good season can spring.
There wasn’t four goals
between the teams, but
United’s forwards
made it so.
That is not to say
there are not problem areas
at the club. Scoring, however,
might not be among them.
Don’t challenge them to a
race, either.
Ole hails his young risk-takers
CHRIS WHEELER
at Old Trafford
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER
paid tribute to his young
team for taking risks after
Manchester United thumped
Chelsea in their first game of
the season at Old Trafford.
United’s 4-0 win was their
biggest in the league over
Chelsea since 1965. It was the
visitors’ heaviest opening-
day defeat in their history.
Frank Lampard’s side hit the
post and bar in the first half,
but United rode their luck to
emerge emphatic winners.
The cavalier approach was in
stark contrast to the club’s
more cautious tactics under
Jose Mourinho and Louis van
Gaal.
‘As we said to the boys
before the game, we have
found the way we want to
play and a way we believe in.
You’ve just got to go out and
do the same,’ said Solskjaer.‘We took risks but that’s the
way here. You have got to go
for it. It’s risk and reward and
today we were rewarded.
‘This is just the start. The
more we get to play with
each other and show we’re a
team, we’ll improve.’
Solskjaer was delighted with
the performances of new
signings Harry Maguire and
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who
secured a clean sheet on
their United debuts.
‘They slotted in really well,’
he said. ‘Harry’s had three or
four sessions with the team
but he’s such an experienced
pro. Aaron is so aggressive.
He doesn’t want to get
beaten, he tackles, he’s a
proper Man United defender.’
On Pogba, who set up two goals, Solskjaer said: ‘Paul
can do everything a
midfielder can. He grows
more when he plays at Old
Trafford. He’s come so far in
his career and there’s no
point letting yourself down
when you’re on that pitch.’
It was a brutal introduction
to Premier League
management for Lampard.
‘We were clearly the better
team for 45 to 60 minutes,’
insisted the new Chelsea
boss. ‘We made individual
errors which led to four
goals out of their five shots
(on target), there’s the harsh
reality for us.
‘Football is won and lost in
the boxes, they won in our
box by being clinical.
‘We had so many more shots
than them. That was where
we let ourselves down in not
putting the chances away.’GETTY IMAGESWHO SAID YOU WIN NOTHING WITH KIDS?
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER fielded the youngest starting XI of the opening weekend and
his youthful United did not let him down, running out 4-0 winners over Chelsea...Manchester United 24 years & 227 days
Norwich City 25 years & 89 days
Southampton 25 years & 102 days
Bournemouth 25 years & 131 days
Chelsea 25 years & 199 days
Leicester 25 years & 304 days
Arsenal 26 years & 3 days
Liverpool 26 years & 12 days
Manchester City 26 years & 85 days
Newcastle 26 years & 111 daysEverton 26 years & 167 days
Tottenham 26 years & 273 days
Aston Villa 26 years & 336 days
West Ham 26 years & 359 days
Sheffield United 27 years & 70 days
Wolves 27 years & 83 days
Burnley 28 years & 83 days
Brighton 28 years & 105 days
Crystal Palace 29 years & 93 days
Watford 29 years & 245 days11
THIS was the first time for 11 years that
Manchester United had three players under
the age of 24 score in a Premier League
game. James, Rashford (both 21) and
Martial (23) scored yesterday and Nani (21),
Rooney (22) and Ronaldo (23) were on
target against West Brom in October 20088
ENGLISH players who
started at Old Trafford —
Rashford, Lingard, Shaw,
Wan-Bissaka, Maguire,
Abraham, Mount & Barkley — the
most to start a Man Utd v Chelsea
match since August 2013 (10)CHEER UP FRANK, IT’S ONLY
LIVERPOOL NEXT!
SUPER CUP FINAL,
WEDNESDAY, 8PM ISTANBUL