Aston Villa vs Manchester United LIVE: Premier League result and final score after Philippe Coutinho equaliser
Follow the reaction as Aston Villa claimed a sensational point against Manchester United
Follow live reaction as Philippe Coutinho scored the equalising goal on his Aston Villa debut to secure a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Premier League. United looked set to claim their second win over Steven Gerrard’s side in a week but Coutinho’s introduction changed the game as he set one up and scored another to complete a wild comeback at Villa Park.
Just five days on from knocking Villa out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford, United were handed an early lead as goalkeeper Emi Martinez allowed a Fernandes shot from range through his legs. Villa responded well and David de Gea was forced into a couple of important stops at the other end, and it was the hosts who were on top when Fernandes added his second on 67 minutes.
It came just as Villa were preparing to bring on Coutinho, and the Brazilian had a hand in the hosts pulling a goal back as Jacob Ramsey fired a finish past De Gea with 15 minutes left to play. Coutinho then finished Ramsey’s cross from close range to complete the comeback.
Follow all the reaction to Aston Villa vs Manchester United below:
Man City 0 - 0 Chelsea
3 mins: Chelsea are favouring this diagonal ball over to Azpilicueta on the right as he makes runs down the wing. Malang Sarr flicks this one over the top but the Chelsea captain is offside.
City’s first real attack comes from Aymeric Laporte chipping a pass over Chelsea’s back line. Jack Grealish makes a run in behind from the left and races Azpilicueta to the bouncing ball. Kepa Arrizabalaga comes flying off his line and miscues his clearance, striking the ball into Azpilicueta where it hits the defender and goes behind for a corner.
Man City 0 - 0 Chelsea
Kick off: Chelsea get the match started and work the ball over to the right side with a diagonal pass. Cesar Azpilicueta flicks it on to Christian Pulisic who tries to find a way around Joao Cancelo. He’s marshalled over to the touchline and runs the ball out of play under pressure from the Man City defender.
Man City vs Chelsea
Here come the teams. Although he won’t admit it Thomas Tuchel will know that his Chelsea team need to win today to keep the Premier League title race alive.
Manchester City are in fantastic form and will want pick up three points to take the gap at the top of the table to 13. Kevin De Bruyne leads out the home side.
Kick off is next...
Man City vs Chelsea
Jorginho has scored 13 Premier League goals since the start of last season, more than any other Chelsea player. All of them have been penalties.
Man City vs Chelsea: Tuchel on winning Premier League
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says that the Blues’ hopes of winning the Premier League this season may be over if they lose to Man City today but he is focused on putting in a good performance. Speaking ahead of kick off he said:
Maybe, who knows.
“We don’t think a lot in scenarios - what happens if - let’s play the game. I’m always in for a good fight, but I’m also always very realistic.
“The situation at the moment is that they are very strong, very consistent and they perform on the absolute highest level.”
Man City vs Chelsea: Lukaku eyeing landmark
Romelu Lukaku is two shy of 200 career league goals. However, he has only scored four times in 15 Premier League appearances against Manchester City.
Man City vs Chelsea: Manchester City, Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku and why you were wrong about signing a striker
It was basic arithmetic, really. In the same way that two plus two equals four, an almost impregnable defence plus a prolific, 20-goals-a-season striker equals a title-winning team.
Two Premier League clubs found themselves stuck on the first side of that equation last summer. Each had one of the best defences in Europe but lacked a player regularly converting at the other end. Both intended to do something about it during the transfer window. One could and did, the other tried and couldn’t.
So in that case, why is the team who didn’t spend £97.5m on a centre-forward sitting at the top of the table, 10 points and eight goals clear of the one who did?
Man City, Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku and why you were wrong about signing a striker
Why is the team that didn’t sign a striker 10 points and eight goals clear of the one that did?
Man City vs Chelsea
Pep Guardiola has lost eight matches as a manager against Chelsea, more than against any other club but Chelsea’s win at the Etihad last season is Thomas Tuchel’s only victory in six career league meetings against Guardiola.
Man City vs Chelsea: Tuchel on Kante and Kovacic
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel spoke about the importance of having Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante in the starting XI and how along with Jorginho they push the rest of the team to get better. He said:
If you have players out like Mateo [Kovacic] and N’Golo [Kante], and they share their work with Jorginho on the very highest level in the middle of the pitch, then you miss the core of your team.
“They are so important in the way they come to training, the way they push everybody and the way they are positive. The key players, the top, top players, behave the same way every day. No matter if they have to rest one game, or if they have personal differences, or if they have to fight, their experience and attitude is right. They know what it takes to overperform consistently.
“They push everybody to the limit because they push themselves all the time to the limit. NG is doing this without words. He does it by example, and makes everybody see what the benchmark is. Kova is doing it with words and attitude and a lot of empathy. There are many more like this.”
Man City vs Chelsea
Chelsea have dropped points in seven of their last 11 league games, turning a five-point lead over Manchester City into a 10-point deficit.
More worryingly, they have kept only two clean sheets in 11 Premier League matches following a run of seven in their opening 10 fixtures.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments