LONDON: Manchester United remain without a Premier League win this season after being held 1-1 at Fulham on Sunday, while a Jack Grealish-inspired Everton opened their new stadium with a 2-0 victory over Brighton.
Ruben Amorim’s United were left to rue Bruno Fernandes’ wayward first-half penalty as they were pegged back at Craven Cottage.
Rodrigo Muniz’s own-goal put United in front on the hour mark, but Emile Smith Rowe came off the bench to rescue a point for Fulham.
Amorim is seeking an upturn on a disastrous 15th-placed finish last season, but so far his new £200 million ($270 million) forward line of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, who again started on the bench, is yet to fire.
Despite an encouraging performance, United lost 1-0 to title-chasing Arsenal in their season opener last weekend and will feel another two points slipped away in west London.
Fulham, though, felt the visitors got the better of two controversial calls.
United’s penalty was awarded after a VAR review for grappling by Calvin Bassey on Mason Mount.
Fernandes is normally reliable from the spot, but blasted his effort high over the bar.
When United did finally get their first goal of the season it came via a Fulham body as Muniz deflected Leny Yoro’s header into his own net.
However, the home side were furious that this time VAR did not intervene for a push by Yoro on Bassey.
Fulham still managed to rescue a point when former Arsenal midfielder Smith Rowe’s run into the box was not tracked and he turned in Alex Iwobi’s cross 17 minutes from time.
After an emotional goodbye to Goodison Park, the club’s home since 1892, Everton are hoping the move to a new 53,000 capacity stadium will rekindle their bygone glory days.
Only four clubs have won more English top-flight titles than Everton’s nine.
However, they have not won a major trophy for 30 years and spent their final seasons at Goodison battling relegation.
“We’re trying to find a way of moving the club on. I think this is a big step forward for Everton,” said manager David Moyes.
Grealish has so far been the marquee new addition to Moyes’ squad and showed glimpses of the talent that saw Manchester City pay Aston Villa £100 million for him four years ago, providing the assist for both goals.
Iliman Ndiaye scored the final goal at Goodison against Southampton in May and made more history with the first goal at Everton’s new home.
Grealish was the creator with a drilled left foot cross that Ndiaye timed his run perfectly to meet at the back post on 23 minutes.
Brighton should not have come away from Merseyside empty-handed but wasted a series of chances.
Kaoru Mitoma struck the bar and Jan Paul van Hecke’s effort came back off the post, while Danny Welbeck spooned over with the goal gaping.
James Garner doubled Everton’s lead early in the second period with a blistering strike from Grealish’s lay-off.
Brighton still had the chance to set up a nervy finale, but Jordan Pickford saved Welbeck’s poor penalty to round off a memorable afternoon for the Toffees.
Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he wants to remain in charge after his side’s 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
Callum Hudson-Odoi rescued a point for Forest after Ismaila Sarr’s first-half opener for Palace.
Nuno said on Friday his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis had deteriorated as odds on him being the first Premier League manager of the season to be sacked were slashed.
“That is nonsense. That does not make any kind of sense,” said the Portuguese coach on whether he is trying to engineer an exit from the club.
Man Utd still winless after Fulham draw, Everton win to open new stadium
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Man Utd still winless after Fulham draw, Everton win to open new stadium
- Grealish was the creator with a drilled left foot cross that Ndiaye timed his run perfectly to meet at the back post on 23 minutes
Rublev marches on, Bublik and Draper fall at Dubai Tennis Championships
- No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion, dispatches Ugo Humbert in epic three setter 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
- Tallon Griekspoor upsets No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets to set-up quarterfinal clash with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik
DUBAI: Andrey Rublev signaled his determination to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Wednesday, as the ruthless Russian dispatched fellow former champion Ugo Humbert in a titanic, three-set tussle on center court.
As a two-time finalist in Dubai and the winner there in 2022, Rublev already has fond memories of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile Humbert, who has also tasted success in Dubai having edged Alexander Bublik to the title in 2024, was looking to tame a second former winner in the space of 24 hours after eliminating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match a smattering of vocal young fans stirred up an endless cacophony of noise from all four grandstands as the near-capacity crowd repeatedly serenaded both players with cries of “Let’s go, Andrey” and “Allez, Ugo,” the even split among the supporters mirroring the evenly matched contest.
The nail-biter of a match went with serve for the first six games before, as is so often the case in professional tennis, the seventh proved to be a critical turning point. Rublev took advantage of two break points afforded by a pair of uncharacteristic double-faults by Humbert to achieve what Tsitsipas had failed to do in the entirety of their Round of 32 clash: he broke the Frenchman.
The set then resettled into a familiar pattern as the pair once again held serve amid minimal threats. And so, after 41 minutes of the back-and-forth, Rublev claimed the opening set 6-4 courtesy of that sole break of serve.
The second set mirrored the first, this time with both players avoiding a break of serve, until Humbert, the current world No. 37, narrowly edged the tiebreak 7-5 to even the match.
With very little separating the battling duo at this point, their seesaw duel was akin to two prize fighters exchanging punches with neither able to land a decisive blow. Buoyed no doubt by the feverish support from their respective fans, both players refused to buckle.
But then, with the third set tied at 1-1, Rublev held serve, broke and held again to win three straight games and move 4-1 ahead. The match then, predictably, once again went with serve until it was 5-3.
Then Humbert, facing the prospect of elimination, suddenly found himself with two break points as his opponent wobbled while serving for the match. The steely Russian held his nerve, however, and dispatched a trio of massive serves, including two aces, to reverse the deficit and set up his first match-point.
That was all the 28-year-old needed, as another huge serve forced a Humbert error and sealed the match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“It was a very dramatic ending,” Rublev said. “I’m really happy I was able to keep going and save the last game.
“It’s difficult to close a match; you can make a double-fault or a mistake, but I made three good serves and that helped me a lot. It’s much easier to win points from the serve than playing rallies every time.”
He commended his opponent, saying: “Ugo played really well. I took my two break chances but he served unbelievably all match. He shoots super hard and very fast, so it’s not easy to do something. I had to be ready for the one chance to break him in a set, and I got those chances and was able to do it.
“This match gives me a lot of confidence, so we’ll see what will happen in the quarterfinal. I’m playing well, so let’s see.”
Rublev now faces another Frenchmen, Arthur Rinderknech, who emerged victorious from a grueling three-set marathon against the British No. 4 seed, Jack Draper, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4.
Their match, which finished well after midnight and with an eerie mist hovering over center court, yielded only two breaks of serve, both of which went Rinderknech’s way. Despite the defeat, Draper can head home with his head held high as his return to top-level tennis continues after a six-month injury layoff.
On the new court 1, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands pulled off the biggest upset of the day by taming No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The win earned the world No. 25 a quarterfinal encounter with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who made short work of the Australian, Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.
