London: Manchester United produced a stunning comeback, thanks to the late winner from Alexis Sanchez to relieve some pressure off manager Jose Mourinho as they came from two goals down to beat Newcastle United 3-2 in the Premier League Saturday.
The victory lifted United to eighth place in the standings, three points behind Bournemouth who continued their fine form with a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Watford at Vicarage Road.
Meanwhile, all eyes were on Old Trafford, after media reports had suggested that Mourinho was in danger of losing his job following disappointing results in all competitions.
The Portuguese’s exit looked inevitable after Kenedy gave Newcastle the lead with a smart finish before Yoshinori Muto made it 2-0 after 10 minutes following poor United defending at a corner.
The hosts turned it around in the second half, though, Juan Mata sparking the comeback with a low, curling free kick in the 70th minute. Anthony Martial equalised six minutes later before substitute Sanchez headed in the dramatic winner in the last minute of normal time.
While Old Trafford was celebrating wildly and singing Mourinho’s name, the pressure switched to Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez as his side remained winless in the league and second-bottom of the table.
Elsewhere, there was a rash of red cards but nowhere was one more significant than at Vicarage Road where 10-man Watford were humbled by Bournemouth.
David Brooks had given Cherries the lead after a quarter of an hour before Watford’s Christian Kabasele received a second yellow for bringing down Josh King in the penalty area.
King converted the resulting spot-kick and added another on the stroke of halftime as Bournemouth began to run riot. Callum Wilson grabbed the fourth two minutes after the break as Eddie Howe’s men continued their impressive start to the season, moving up to fifth. Watford, now winless in four league games, are ninth.
Cardiff City also had their numbers reduced at Wembley Stadium with Joe Ralls seeing red for a cynical challenge on Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Moura.
However, that did not stop the winless team from giving a good example of themselves, creating good chances against a wasteful Spurs side. Tottenham never looked in serious trouble and came out 1-0 winners thanks to Eric Dier’s first half goal.
Mourinho to stay
London: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted he needed an unofficial ‘vote of confidence’ from a board member, before the game against Newcastle United to know he could discount newspaper reports that he would be sacked this weekend. “The ones that read the papers that are connected with social media, they thought maybe I had gone. If I hadn’t had an SMS from my board not to read (the papers) I would have been convinced too,” the Portuguese said.