LONDON: Teenage striker Anthony Martial further endeared himself to Manchester United’s supporters with a nerveless brace as his side came from behind to win 3-2 at Southampton on Sunday.

Scorer of a memorable solo goal in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Liverpool, 19-year-old Martial struck either side of half-time at St Mary’s after Graziano Pelle had given Southampton a 13th-minute lead.

Juan Mata added a third in the 68th minute and despite Pelle scoring again, United held on for a victory that propelled Louis van Gaal’s side up to second place in the Premier League table, two points below leaders Manchester City, who lost 2-1 at home to West Ham United on Saturday.

In Sunday’s other Premier League matches, Liverpool drew 1-1 with Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur beat Crystal Palace 1-0.

Martial, who signed from Monaco on transfer deadline day for a reported initial fee of $55 million, started up front alongside Wayne Rooney, who returned following a hamstring injury.

Southampton went deservedly ahead when Pelle followed in to score after Sadio Mane’s shot from James Ward-Prowse’s inviting right-wing cross had been parried by visiting goalkeeper David de Gea.

Pelle hit the post moments later, but Martial equalised in the 34th minute, throwing Virgil van Dijk off balance with a neat Cruyff turn inside the box and slipping a shot beneath Maarten Stekelenburg.

He put United ahead five minutes into the second half, seizing on a woeful Maya Yoshida back-pass and coolly beating Stekelenburg, before Mata slammed home after Memphis Depay’s shot came back off the post following a hypnotic 45-pass move.

While Martial again stole the headlines, United were also indebted to De Gea, who produced a jaw-dropping one-handed save to claw a Jose Fonte header off the line when the score was 2-1.

Pelle converted a cross from Mane with a well-placed header four minutes from time, but United survived.

Liverpool were held at Anfield by Norwich, despite striker Daniel Sturridge partnering Christian Benteke in attack for the first time this season.

It was Danny Ings, who replaced the injured Benteke at half-time, who scored for Liverpool before Russel Martin levelled with the result leaving Brendan Rodgers’ side in 13th place, seven points below leaders City.

Tottenham beat Palace as South Korea forward Son Heung-min scored his first Premier League goal, lifting them to ninth place in the table.

WEST HAM STUN CITY

On Saturday, seemingly invincible City lost their 100 percent record at the Etihad when West Ham became the first team to score against them this season and have now won at Arsenal, Liverpool and City in their first six matches.

West Ham Coach Slaven Bilic told the BBC: “There will be ups and downs here at West Ham — this result is a major surprise and nine points from the first three away games sounds like a dream, not a plan. But there’s nothing wrong with a dream.”

Victor Moses put West Ham ahead after just six minutes with a low shot from distance and Diafra Sakho doubled the lead in the 31st after a goalmouth scramble from a corner.

New signing Kevin De Bruyne pulled a goal back for City on the stroke of halftime from 20 yards, but West Ham held on despite sustained pressure from the hosts in the second half.

Although City laid siege to the West Ham goal for almost the entire second half and had over 27 goal attempts, West Ham survived for their first away win at City since April 2003.

“I think we played too fast in the second half, too rushed,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. “You must be more calm but when you are two goals down, it is difficult. We had a lot of chances to score.”

City still top the table with 15 points, with West Ham and Leicester City joint-fourth on 12.

Bilic told Sky Sports: “We deserved it for the way we played in the first half and the way we were fighting in the second half, but this was a different game to the ones at the Emirates or Anfield. This was much harder.”

Published in Dawn, September 21st , 2015

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