Adam Lallana has revealed part of Brighton and Hove Albion's plan in their opening weekend victory at Manchester United was to target new arrival Lisandro Martinez.

Graham Potter's side got their Premier League campaign underway with their first ever win at Old Trafford, with the former England international a key figure to his team's 2-1 success on Sunday.

The introduction in the second half of Cristiano Ronaldo by new United manager Erik ten Hag was not enough for the hosts, as Pascal Gross' two first-half goals proved enough to see off an Alexis Mac Allister own goal.

Martinez made his debut from the start following his pre-season move from Ajax, and the Argentine's partnership with Harry Maguire was put to the test early on by the movement of the visitors.

Speaking to Sky Sports' Melissa Reddy after the win, Lallana said it had been part of the plan to try and unsettle Martinez as he was new to the league.

"[The plan was] to have a lot of courage," the former Liverpool man revealed. "We had a shape, we had triggers. Me and [Danny Welbeck] have a lot of experience in the final third.

"We went a little bit more direct because we knew United had been pressing well in pre-season, obviously with new ideas from the manager, and I thought Wells caused them problems all game.

"With their new signing [Martinez], we know the Premier League's difficult, so we thought we'd ask him questions early on. We landed on second balls, gained good territory and attacked the ball well in numbers. Something we've spoken about is getting across the front post and Pascal got the finishes."

Ronaldo was left on the bench initially by Ten Hag, having only featured for 45 minutes of pre-season due to personal reasons, though there had also been frequent speculation suggesting he wishes to leave for a Champions League club.

His introduction early in the second half led to a change of shape, with another United debutant, Christian Eriksen, moving from a false nine position into midfield.

Lallana credited Potter with "taking the sting" out of the game, while also bemoaning some refereeing decisions that went against them, including a push from Martinez on Welbeck in the penalty area that was deemed fair by the officials.

"We knew they were going to react tactically or with personnel," he said. "We played the second half knowing it wasn't going to be the same [as the first], but we weathered the storm.

"I thought there were a couple of decisions that didn't go our way. We had a penalty chance, a couple of fouls that the ref let go, but we made good subs at good times. I thought the manager just took the sting out of the game and we shored the game up brilliantly in the last five or 10 minutes.

"It was a huge positive and good game management."

Marko Arnautovic's agent says they have received an offer from "a well-known club" amid reports linking Manchester United with a move for the Bologna forward.

The Austria international joined the Serie A outfit last term, having spent two years with Shanghai Port in the Chinese Super League, and remains under contract until 2024 with them.

But news broke over the weekend that United, who suffered an opening Premier League defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, were exploring a remarkable move for the 33-year-old.

Bologna have reportedly rejected an opening offer from the Old Trafford club, but now Danijel Arnautovic - both agent and brother to the star - has confirmed the existence of a bid and says they are working for a result.

"It's true that there is an offer from a well-known club," he told Kurier. "I'm in contact with Bologna to see if that can be realised."

Arnautovic previously spent a six-year spell in the English top-flight, with four years at Stoke City and two at West Ham, where he was voted Hammer of the Year in 2018.

Since arriving at Bologna last year, the attacker has arguably been in the best form of his career, netting 14 goals in 33 Serie A games last term.

News of a potential move for the star however has been met with a broadly negative reaction by many fans and figures associated with United, including former captain Gary Neville, who labelled them as "desperate".

The first exciting, intriguing weekend of the Premier League season is out of the way, with a number of themes consistent with the last campaign.

Manchester City remain dominant, as rivals Manchester United continue to struggle.

Both teams have a different look this term, however, and there were several interesting new developments across the first 10 matches.

With Bournemouth in the Champions League places and Liverpool winless, it is a little too early for firm 2022-23 conclusions.

But where is the fun in that?
 

Haaland takes City to another level

There were doubts after a Community Shield bow in which Erling Haaland did not find the net and City lost to Liverpool.

But Haaland answered any critics in a dominant Premier League debut, scoring twice in a 2-0 win at West Ham that sent a daunting message to the rest of the division.

Sergio Aguero, in 2011, had been the last City player to net a brace on his league debut, and fans of the champions would have awoken on Monday morning having dreamt of a similar Etihad Stadium career for their new hero.

Unlike against Liverpool, Haaland was clearly in tune with his team-mates, evidenced by the first of surely many link-ups with Kevin De Bruyne for the second goal.

Indeed, City gave Haaland chances worth 1.66 expected goals (xG) on Sunday – a higher total than 17 entire teams managed across the weekend, yet still a mark he outperformed.

Liverpool close the gap – to Spurs

If City were transformed from their Community Shield display, so too were Liverpool.

An extremely slow start away at Fulham saw the Reds fortunate to emerge with a 2-2 draw, narrowly beaten on xG (1.25-1.23) – something that only happened four times in the whole of last season.

Pre-season concerns around Liverpool had centred on their attack, with Sadio Mane having departed, but new forward Darwin Nunez had to bail out his ailing defensive colleagues.

Nunez, like Haaland, matched a feat from Aguero's Premier League debut in both scoring and assisting from the bench. Alvaro Morata is the third and final player to date to mark their bow in the competition in this manner.

With City outstanding, Liverpool might have ended the first weekend more concerned about the progress of Tottenham. Spurs top the table after a 4-1 win over Southampton in which none of their lauded new signings started.

Another season of struggle for United

There should have been optimism around Old Trafford as Erik ten Hag took charge of United for the first time; instead, they were two down at home to Brighton and Hove Albion before half-time and lost 2-1.

After their worst-ever Premier League points total last term, there was precious little to convince United fans this season would be any different.

Brighton's long-awaited first victory at Old Trafford condemned United to a second opening-day defeat in three seasons, and it was thoroughly deserved.

This is the third consecutive season in which a visiting team have attempted 12 first-half shots away to United; before 2020-21, it had not happened since 2011-12.

Even United's goal was a Brighton own goal, the record 73rd and perhaps least consoling the Red Devils have benefited from in the competition.

Newcastle look great... or Forest look awful

Newcastle United finished last season 11th but have earned the fourth-most points in the Premier League in 2022, and their fine form continued with a 2-0 home win over Nottingham Forest.

And this was a far more dominant victory than many of those enjoyed late last season.

Newcastle led the division in shots (23) and shots on target (10) on matchday one, with Forest (five and zero) ranking last in both categories, as well as in xG (0.28).

No team won more high turnovers than Newcastle (21) or started their attacks further upfield on average (49 metres), with Eddie Howe's men swarming all over Forest to encourage optimism for a European push.

Yet it is a little tricky to tell if this one-sided contest owed more to the home side or the visitors, with Forest – last season's lowest-ranked side, as the Championship play-off winners – way off the pace in their first Premier League match in 23 years.

New Zealand coach Ian Foster says there is no point in his side "sulking" over their defeat to South Africa, as the All Blacks coach faces increased calls to stand down.

The tourists slipped to an opening defeat into the Rugby Championship against the Springboks on Saturday, with the world champions claiming at 26-10 win in Mbombela.

It means New Zealand have now gone three games without victory, following consecutive losses to Ireland on home turf, producing their longest barren streak since 1998.

With five losses in their last six Tests now, expectations are that Foster's position may become untenable with another loss in Johannesburg this weekend, with the New Zealand Herald calling for him to go in a front page editorial on Monday.

But for now, the coach say his team must focus on the next step rather than their mistakes.

Foster said: "We know there’s a lot of pressure on, and we’re feeling that. But our job is to look at our performance and how we can grow it.

"I understand the frustration, but that doesn’t change what we have to do here.

"There’s no point sulking about it for too long. We’ve just got to get into Ellis Park and keep growing our game and still believe."

Foster also stated his intent to address South Africa's mid-air challenges following a scrappy first encounter, with Beauden and Jordie Barrett both injury doubts following tackles by Kurt-Lee Arendse.

"It*s becoming a free-for-all for jumpers just to be able to jump and stick a hand out and say they’re competing. It needs to be addressed," he said.

Manny Machado feels the San Diego Padres have no reason to be concerned despite falling to a weekend sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Padres were beaten 4-0 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, following their previous two heavy 8-1 and 8-3 losses to the same opponents.

But three convincing defeats to the Padres' star opponents have not overly concerned Machado.

The 30-year-old faced questions on how big the gap was to their division rivals despite the high-profile trade for Juan Soto earlier in the week, which came along with moves to sign Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader.

Tyler Anderson gave the Padres little chance on Sunday, and they have now dropped to 2-8 against the Dodgers this season, with a huge 15.5-game gap to Los Angeles in the National League West.

Machado was asked how concerned he was about the prospect of facing the Dodgers in the postseason based on the way these latest matchups had gone.

"Concerned? Why would I be concerned? Not at all," he said, per ESPN. "We know what we have and that's it.

"We have no pressure in here. We're going out there and playing baseball every single day. Whatever that day brings us, we're going to go out there and give it all we have.

"We keep playing baseball. It's plain and simple. Nothing else to it." 

San Diego have the chance to bounce back with a three-game home series against the San Francisco Giants, which begins on Monday.

Didier Deschamps remains confident Paul Pogba will be fit to play a big role for France at the World Cup despite missing the start of the season through injury.

Pogba sustained a knee problem in pre-season after returning to Juventus from Manchester United on a free transfer.

There were early suggestions surgery could see the World Cup winner miss Qatar 2022, but he has opted instead for therapy that aims to ensure a far swifter return.

Pogba is set to again be paired with N'Golo Kante in the France midfield in November, although the Chelsea man has not been without his own injury issues in recent seasons.

"We're talking about players who are in high demand – two players who have a big experience, leaders," Deschamps told Le Parisien of the duo.

"It is important that they are there, but we are never safe – hence the need to prepare younger players.

"I am obviously in contact with Paul. His participation in the World Cup, today, is not questioned."

Antoine Griezmann is another player still seen as key to Deschamps' plans, despite scoring only three goals in LaLiga last season.

"He's not a robot. Obviously the head controls the legs," Deschamps explained. "But every player encounters, sooner or later, a period of playing less well.

"This translates, then, into a loss of confidence.

"Antoine has had high-intensity seasons. Before his physical issue at the beginning of the year [a thigh injury], he had always been spared from injuries during his career.

"A few months earlier, he had changed clubs. External elements may also have impacted it.

"I know him well. He has a big mind. He needed to regenerate and will do everything to return to his best level. He represents a plus for the France team."

For now the focus is on getting France in the best condition heading into the World Cup, even as former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane continues to be linked to Deschamps' job.

The France boss, for his part, is not worried, saying: "I've always put the France team above me, above everything.

"Today, the place is not free, since I occupy it with my staff. Afterwards, everyone has the freedom to say what he wants and how he wants. On me, it has no impact.

"The interest, today, for the players and the whole squad, is to be efficient at the World Cup. Anything that can defeat this common goal is not necessarily a good thing."

Daria Kasatkina continued her strong season on Sunday by defeating American Shelby Rogers 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-2 in the final of the Silicon Valley Classic.

Russia's Kasatkina made her deepest grand slam run earlier this year by reaching the semi-final of the French Open, where she lost to world number one Iga Swiatek, and with this singles title – the fifth of her WTA career – she has claimed a career-best ranking of ninth in the world.

Against Rogers, the story was how the effectiveness of Kasatkina's serve continued to improve the further the match went on.

In the hard-fought opening set, Kasatkina won just 53 per cent (26-of-49) of her service points, allowing two breaks of serve and then flailing in the tie-break to drop five consecutive points.

Something changed from that point on, with Kasatkina improving to take 69 per cent (18-of-26) of her service points in the second frame, and that jumped again to 76 per cent (16-of-21) in the decider as she either figured something out, or Rogers ran out of steam.

Kasatkina did not allow a single break point opportunity after the first set, while converting four of her six chances to take a double-break in both the second and third.

Rogers had not lost a single set in her four matches to make it to the final, putting the exclamation point on a terrific run from Kasatkina that included wins over world number 27 Elena Rybakina, world number six Aryna Sabalenka and world number three Paula Badosa.

Nick Kyrgios capped off a terrific week at the Washington Open by beating Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4 6-3 in the singles final, before combining with Jack Sock to also win the doubles 7-5 6-4 against the team of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

In the singles, Kyrgios' serve was overpowering against his Japanese opponent, winning 76 per cent (38-of-50) of his points on serve, and saving the only break point opportunity he faced, which came early in the opening set.

His return game was also sharp, collecting breaks of serve in the first game of each set to snatch all the momentum and keep Nishioka on the back foot and chasing all day.

Kyrgios finished with 12 aces to Nishioka's three, and finished the match just like he started it with a break of serve.

It caps off a tournament where he dropped only one set in his six matches – against Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-final – to win his first singles title since this same event back in 2019.

Just a few hours later, Kyrgios was back on the court with Sock contesting the doubles final, with the pair saving both break points they faced. 

After an even start, Kyrgios and Sock broke late in the first set, and then struck again to break in the opening game of the second set, going on to serve things out comfortably, never allowing Dodig and Krajicek to even reach deuce against their serve.

In doing so, Kyrgios became the first player to ever sweep both the singles and doubles in Washington.

He only had one doubles title before this season – back at the Lyon Open in 2018, also partnered with Sock – but Kyrgios has now won three in the past eight months, emerging triumphant with fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis at both the Australian Open and last month's Atlanta Open.

It was far from a warm welcome for newly acquired New York Yankees starting pitcher Frankie Montas, getting smacked around in a 12-9 away loss to the St Louis Cardinals.

Montas, who was traded from the Oakland Athletics before the deadline, struggled mightily, conceding six runs in the first two innings, with four coming off the bat of Nolan Arenado.

Arenado collected an RBI single in the first inning to cancel out an early Yankees run, and after the visiting side jumped ahead 4-1 in the second frame thanks in large part to a two-RBI base hit from AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge, it all began to fall apart.

Dylan Carlson's RBI double started the rally and cut the margin to 4-2, a sacrifice-fly from NL MVP favourite Paul Goldschmidt made it 4-3, and then Arenado connected on a three-run home run to lead 6-4 after two innings.

Montas would be pulled to begin the fourth frame, finishing with figures of six earned runs from five hits and three walks in his 64 pitches.

To the Yankees' credit, they refused to lay down, with Judge driving in another two runs with a double in the fifth inning to tie the game at 6-6, but the Cardinals continued to answer right back, adding three more runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth.

The Yankees again cut the lead to 9-8, but Paul DeJong put the game to bed in the eighth inning with a three-run homer to grab a winning break.

Overall, the teams combined for 21 runs from 27 hits, with Arenado going three-for-five at the plate with four RBIs, and Judge finishing two-for-five with four RBIs. Judge now leads the majors in RBIs with 97, two more than New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso.

DeGrom makes his case as the game's best pitcher

There were concerns that perhaps injuries would strip New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom of his status as the sport's most elite pitcher, but he continued to dispel that myth on Sunday in his side's 5-2 win against the Atlanta Braves.

DeGrom, in his second start of the season, struck out 12 of the 19 batters he faced, going on to finish with two earned runs from one hit and one walk in five-and-two-thirds innings.

Through five innings, deGrom had a perfect game with 10 strikeouts, but was pulled in the sixth after his first walk of the game was followed by a home run from Dansby Swanson to cut the Mets' lead to 5-2, with both bullpens keeping things scoreless the rest of the way.

Rays pull off improbable late rally

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, there had yet to be a run in the Tampa Bay Rays' road game against the Detroit Tigers, before an incredible offensive explosion saw the Rays prevail 7-0.

The Rays as a team conceded only three hits and no walks as six pitchers combined beautifully, while the Tigers relied on Matt Manning to get them through most of the game, pitching seven scoreless frames for seven baserunners and seven strikeouts.

In the ninth inning, after two outs, the Rays rattled off consecutive at-bats resulting in a double, three walks, a single, a double and another single as seven straight batters reached base.

20-year-old Kim Joo-hyung became the second-youngest player since 1932 to win a PGA Tour event – trailing only Jordan Spieth – as he produced a final-round 61 to run away with a five-stroke buffer and claim the Wyndham Championship at 20 under.

In doing so, he became the event's youngest ever winner, and after entering the last tournament of the season ranked in the 400s in the FedEx Cup standings, he booked his place in the playoffs later this month.

His final round included an incredible front-nine score of 27, with six birdies and an eagle, and making his win even more remarkable is the fact that he started his week with a quadruple bogey from his opening hole on Thursday.

Speaking to CBS after stepping off the final green, Kim said his ability to keep a sense of humour about his rough start was the key to bouncing back.

"I stayed very patient this week," he said. "I felt like after that quad, once I started to laugh it off I could feel like I was in a much better mental state. 

"Instead of being angry and depressed I just stayed in the moment – I can't believe I won with a quadruple bogey on the first hole – hopefully that doesn't happen again.

"It's definitely a week I will remember forever."

He added: "it was a hard day – I didn't know golf was this stressful before."

Finishing in a tie for second was Kim's South Korean compatriot Im Sung-jae and American John Huh at 15 under, with Ben Griffin alone in fourth at 14 under.

American trio Max McGreevy, Russell Henley and Taylor Moore tied for fifth at 13 under, and there was another two-stroke gap to the group rounding out the top-10 at 11 under consisting of England's Tyrrell Hatton, Australia's Cameron Percy, India's Anirban Lahiri, and Americans Brandon Wu and Chesson Hadley.

Germany's Stephan Jaeger posted Sunday's second-best round with a 62 to finish tied for 13th at 10 under, and Canada's Corey Conners produced a pair of 66s on the weekend to sit on the fringe of the top-20 after scraping through right on the cut-line, tied with Will Zalatoris at nine under.

Quade Cooper says he is "ready and prepared for this journey" after suffering an Achilles injury during Australia's Rugby Championship 41-26 win over Argentina on Saturday.

The fly-half went down injured seven minutes into the second half after slipping while in possession, and grabbed for his left leg before leaving the field with support from medical staff.

Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie revealed after the game that Cooper's injury appeared to be "pretty serious".

The 34-year-old had only just returned from a strained calf that saw him miss the home series defeat to England, and faces a long lay-off just over a year before the Rugby World Cup in France.

Cooper took to Instagram on Sunday to thank his team-mates and medical staff, while vowing to support his team-mates from the sidelines.

He wrote: "Ready and prepared for this journey. Doesn’t mean it will be easy but I know I’ve prepared myself for the challenge ahead by building systems and habits to guide me through each obstacle on my path.

"Prepare for the storm so you are strong enough to endure it.

"Want to thank both my team-mates and the Argentinian players for their support and care when I got injured. My team-mates who continue to help me learn and grow each day I will miss you all but be supporting your journey as I continue mine.

"Our coaches for believing in me and continuing to push my growth. Our medical team who put so much time and energy into each and everyone of us."

Liudmila Samsonova secured her second career singles title on the WTA Tour by defeating Kaia Kanepi in the final of the Citi Open.

Unseeded Russian Samsonova beat Estonian Kanepi 4-6 6-3 6-3 to take the title in Washington on Sunday.

It was Kanepi, the tournament's sixth seed, who struck first in a tight opening set with strong serving from both players, capitalising on the only break point opportunity in the 10th game.

While Samsonova won at least 70 per cent of her service points in each of the three sets, Kanepi's effectiveness dipped after the opener, with a 77 per cent (20-of-26) success rate in the first set, which dropped to 63 per cent (15-of-24) in the second and the third (12-of-19) to provide the Russian with an avenue back into the contest.

Kanepi led 3-2 in the second set, before Samsonova rattled off the next five games, securing a double break in the process and forcing a decider.

In a tight third frame, with Samsonova leading 4-3, she created three break point opportunities and only needed the first to grab a winning buffer, serving out the match for the title.

It is the 23-year-old's first singles title since her maiden victory at the German Open 14 months ago, and she only dropped two sets in the process while defeating fifth seed Elise Mertens, second seed Emma Raducanu, China's Wang Xiyu and Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.