Chelsea went down to a third Premier League defeat of the season as Aston Villa won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge after Malo Gusto was shown a second-half red card.

Villa broke away and scored through Ollie Watkins 17 minutes from the end, and though the 10 men laboured gainfully to get back into the game their goalless run in the league under Mauricio Pochettino stretched to three matches as they remained 14th.

Chelsea were on top and looking far the likelier to score when a pitchside VAR decision just before the hour mark turned proceedings against them. Gusto had slid in on Lucas Digne and caught the defender on the ankle, and a yellow card was quickly upgraded to red for dangerous play.

Pochettino’s side continued to attack in numbers and it would prove their undoing, Watkins outfoxing Levi Colwill to score on the rebound after the 10 men had poured forward, as Villa won for the second season running in front of an audibly frustrated home support in west London.

Chelsea opened with a greater attacking purpose than they had shown in recent scoreless outings against Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth. After four minutes, Moises Caicedo took a chance and drilled low and hard from distance into the gloves of Emiliano Martinez, a comfortable enough save for Villa’s goalkeeper but an early show of intent from the home side.

Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk were heavily involved during the opening 15 minutes, finding space without the ball and attacking Villa down either flank when in possession. Nicolas Jackson too showed pace and power through the middle as Chelsea threatened from all angles.

But it was Villa, increasingly stretched at the back, who nearly took the lead and in the most spectacular fashion after 20 minutes. Douglas Luiz’s corner was only partially cleared, and the ball dropped out of the air to the waiting Digne who whacked an audacious looping volley from all of 35 yards that Robert Sanchez brilliantly tipped over the bar.

Chelsea had not scored in the league since August but here they played through Villa with a confidence that belied their modest goal return of five under Pochettino.

Mudryk tucked a superb ball in behind the defence for Jackson to run on to, the striker’s cunning to find space matching the brilliance of his teammate’s vision. Jackson went for the near post and Martinez turned it behind, but it was as fine an attacking move as Stamford Bridge had witnessed this season.

Enzo Fernandez should have broken the deadlock when he shot first time from Gusto’s pull-back, the Argentinian failing to make the best of a good opening after Gusto had stretched every sinew keeping the ball in play.

Sanchez saved acrobatically from Nicolo Zaniolo’s volley as Villa came on strong late in the half. At the other end Mudryk capped a lively first period when he raced away from Matty Cash and zipped the ball low across goal only to find that nobody in blue had gambled.

Sterling began the second period as he had ended the first, racing away from Villa down the right and trying to tuck the ball inside Martinez’s near post. The goalkeeper spread himself well to smother, but Chelsea’s threat was growing.

Then came a moment to turn to the tide of that pressure. Gusto’s challenge on Digne was late and caught the Villa defender on the ankle. The initial decision was yellow card, but a pitchside VAR review saw it upgraded to a red as boos rained down on the referee from home fans.

The sending off did not drastically alter the course of things at first, Chelsea’s pressure on Villa’s defence remained. Yet it was ultimately to be their undoing.

There seemed to be little on when Villa won the ball back high in the Chelsea half. One ball released Moussa Diaby who dashed into the space left by Gusto’s departure, and in a flash he fed Watkins.

Colwill seemed to have things under control when he slid to block Watkins’ initial shot, but before he could recover and clear the Villa striker had taken up the ball and lashed his second effort past Sanchez from an angle and in off the far post.

Ben Chilwell on as a substitute missed when one-on-one with Martinez, then moments later Axel Disasi, now moved out to right-back, burst into the box and skewed horribly wide as he lashed at his shot.

Jacob Ramsey tested Sanchez when he stepped inside and curled towards the bottom corner, this time the goalkeeper finger-tipped the ball to safety.

By then, Chelsea’s attacking rhythm had been critically disrupted, and Villa saw the win out amid a chorus of discontent around Stamford Bridge.

Son Heung-min scored two equalisers as Tottenham held north London derby rivals Arsenal 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium.

Son drew Spurs level for the first time with a strike just prior to the interval, cancelling out a 26th-minute own goal by Cristian Romero, who deflected in Bukayo Saka’s shot.

There was then further frustration for Romero nine minutes after the break as, following a VAR check, the Argentina defender was deemed guilty of a handball and Saka converted the resulting penalty.

But within seconds things were all square once again, Jorginho losing possession to James Maddison and the England man, as he had in the first half, teeing up Son to finish.

The result leaves Tottenham and Arsenal fourth and fifth respectively in the Premier League table, both four points behind leaders Manchester City.

Liverpool moved up to second, two points behind City, following a 3-1 home victory over West Ham.

Mohamed Salah put the Reds in front with a 16th-minute penalty and after Jarrod Bowen equalised with a header late in the first half, Darwin Nunez restored Liverpool’s advantage with a brilliant volley on the hour mark before substitute Diogo Jota wrapped things up late on.

Brighton are a point further back in third after coming from behind to defeat Bournemouth 3-1 at the Amex Stadium.

After Dominic Solanke gave the visitors the lead in the 25th minute, the subsequent turnaround saw Milos Kerkez score an own goal in first-half stoppage time and Kaoru Mitoma, having come on at the interval, add a brace, making it 2-1 in the opening minute of the second half before heading his second after 77 minutes.

Chelsea endured more misery as they were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge by Aston Villa.

The Blues, who have won only once in the league this season, were reduced to 10 men in the 58th minute when Malo Gusto was sent off, and Ollie Watkins then notched what proved the winner for Villa in the 73rd.

While the midlands outfit are sixth, Chelsea languish in 14th place with five points and three losses from six games as Mauricio Pochettino’s tough start in charge of the Londoners continues.

Son Heung-min’s brace earned Tottenham a share of the derby spoils after an entertaining 2-2 draw at Arsenal.

The result maintained both north London clubs’ unbeaten starts to the Premier League campaign, but Mikel Arteta’s men would have been disappointed after they twice took the lead.

A Cristian Romero own-goal broke the deadlock at the Emirates and while Son levelled for Spurs before half-time, Arsenal went back in front when Bukayo Saka rolled home a penalty in the 54th-minute following Romero’s handball.

Tottenham’s momentum under new head coach Ange Postecoglou would not be checked, though, with Son hitting another equaliser 108 seconds later and it finished all square.

Unbeaten starts for both teams had ramped up the excitement for this derby and Arteta again kept faith with David Raya in goal over Aaron Ramsdale, while Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah started together in attack.

Postecoglou handed a full debut to Brennan Johnson, who was immediately thrust into the action at a raucous Emirates when his right-footed effort was deflected over by Ben White.

From the resulting corner Son had the ball in the net from Yves Bissouma’s wayward effort, but he was correctly adjudged to be offside.

Spurs enjoyed the lion’s share of possession early on, but it was Arsenal who created the first clear-cut chance when Saka picked out Jesus at the back post and his half-volley was excellently tipped wide by Guglielmo Vicario.

Vicario saved well again soon after when Destiny Udogie’s loose pass allowed Nketiah to get into the area.

It perfectly encapsulated a difficult start for Udogie, who had struggled against Saka and been booked after 15 minutes.

Saka’s influence continued to grow and the Gunners’ academy graduate helped break the deadlock.

Martin Odegaard passed out wide to Saka, who was given too much space to cut inside and his curled effort was deflected beyond Vicario by Spurs’ vice-captain Romero in the 26th minute.

It went down as an own-goal but was made by Saka and yet Arsenal should have doubled their advantage six minutes later.

Vicario passed into Maddison and he was tackled by Jesus inside the area, but the Arsenal forward blazed over from 14 yards.

An end-to-end feel to the derby took over with Raya producing a terrific save to deny Johnson from Pedro Porro’s cross, which earned applause from team-mate Ramsdale on the substitutes’ bench.

Raya was not so composed when he tipped away a cross heading behind for a goal-kick and had to save from Johnson again.

While the hosts survived that initial 42nd-minute attack, Tottenham kept the ball alive and levelled when Maddison spun away from Saka and picked out Son, who side-footed home via a post before shushing the Arsenal fans.

Arteta made a double change at half-time with Declan Rice and Fabio Vieira replaced by Jorginho and Kai Havertz and the third goal of an enthralling clash came in the 54th minute.

Romero was again at the heart of the action after he blocked White’s shot with his hand.

VAR told referee Robert Jones to review the incident on the pitchside monitor and despite Romero’s close proximity to the shot, he was adjudged to have deliberately handled and Saka tucked away the spot-kick to make it 2-1.

The Arsenal celebrations were cut short when Tottenham quickly equalised.

Maddison was able to win back possession from Jorginho and played in Son, who rolled past Raya to score his 150th goal for Spurs.

A lull to the frantic nature of the derby came after Son’s second leveller, with cautions more frequent than chances and a raft of substitutions made.

Arsenal duo Reiss Nelson and Havertz failed to make the most of openings before Saka forced Vicario into a low save in the first minute of 10 added on.

There was still time for a Richarlison chance, but Jorginho deflected his effort wide and the game finished level.

Darwin Nunez’s evolution into a genuine number nine for Liverpool continues as his brilliant fourth goal of the season proved vital in securing a 3-1 home victory over West Ham.

The Uruguay international scored in back-to-back games for the first time since February as Jurgen Klopp’s side made it five successive Premier League wins to move into outright second spot, behind champions Manchester City, with Arsenal and Tottenham drawing at the Emirates.

Captain Virgil van Dijk had spoken of the 24-year-old turning his potential into quality after the midweek Europa League win over LASK, in which Nunez scored a penalty but could have had a couple of others.

His rasping 60th-minute volley from an exquisite Alexis Mac Allister lofted pass restored their lead after Jarrod Bowen’s diving header in the first half had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s penalty, his 12 goal in his last 13 appearances at Anfield.

Substitute Diogo Jota made the points safe late on as Liverpool scored at least three goals in their opening three home league games for only the second time in the last 43 years.

But it was Nunez who caught the eye with his improving integration into a team which for so long played with a false nine in Roberto Firmino.

His hold-up play gets better and, after that helped Liverpool take the lead in Austria in midweek, he was at it again in the build-up to Salah’s penalty.

He launched a rapid counter-attack on the left after holding up the ball on the halfway line before releasing Luis Diaz and then charging 60 yards into the area in an attempt to get on the end of the return pass.

He failed to do so but Salah was following up behind him and, having nicked it past Nayef Aguerd, he was tripped by the West Ham centre-back, who looked suitably sheepish having given away such a soft spot-kick.

West Ham could have been two goals up by that point as Alisson had to scramble low to his right to keep out a Tomas Soucek header and was then relieved to see Michail Antonio wastefully direct a header wide from 10 yards.

From another counter-attack Mac Allister dragged a shot wide and Salah miscued a shot from Van Dijk’s diagonal pass but almost inadvertently found Nunez.

Liverpool were threatening to take the game away from the visitors, who have won only once at Anfield in 50 visits, and, had Salah slotted home after Mac Allister, Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai combined, it would have been their goal of the season so far.

But David Moyes’ side are made of stern stuff, with their physical approach often infuriating the majority of those at Anfield, and when Soucek’s scuffed shot was deflected wide it showed danger was still present.

They equalised three minutes from half-time from a goal which came almost out of nothing. Bowen won the initial header from an aimless aerial ball and Vladimir Coufal swung in a cross which the Hammers forward dived low in front of Van Dijk to direct inside the far post.

A delightful Szoboszlai chip over the top saw Curtis Jones volley home only to be denied by the offside flag while another counter-attack saw Salah slide in Nunez, whose angled shot was claimed at the second attempt by Alphonse Areola.

After the break West Ham reduced the game to a level Liverpool were uncomfortable with but the hosts still created chances, Nunez’s snap-shot going wide after Salah managed to find space between two markers to pick him out 12 yards out.

It was the sighter the Kop’s new cult hero needed as he then lashed home Mac Allister’s delicate 15-yard chip which dropped invitingly somewhere near the penalty spot.

Jones’ deflected shot was acrobatically tipped over by Areola, who then saved at the feet of Diaz, before Jota extended Moyes’ win-less career run at Anfield to 20 visits by stabbing home from close range after Van Dijk’s knockdown from an 85th-minute corner.

Roberto De Zerbi’s inspired double substitution helped Brighton come from behind to sink Bournemouth 3-1.

The Seagulls trailed to Dominic Solanke’s opportunist strike but went in level at half-time thanks to a Milos Kerkez own goal.

Boss De Zerbi, who had made nine changes to his starting line-up from Thursday’s Europe League defeat by AEK Athens, sent on Ansu Fati and Kaoru Mitoma at half-time.

And the pair had an instant impact, combining for an exquisite goal just 15 seconds into the second half, with Mitoma applying the finishing touch.

Japan winger Mitoma then wrapped up the victory with a late header to leave the Cherries still winless from their first six league matches.

De Zerbi also opted to rotate his goalkeepers, replacing Jason Steele with Bart Verbruggen, but that was a move which backfired after 25 minutes.

The Dutchman hesitated on the edge of the area as he attempted to play the ball out.

Ryan Christie charged down the clearance and the ball rolled to Solanke, who chipped the stranded keeper into an empty net from 20 yards.

Brighton offered precious little for the majority of an uncharacteristically lacklustre first half until three minutes of stoppage time.

A goalmouth scramble saw Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster have efforts cleared off the line before Billy Gilmour swung the ball back into the box.

Kerkez climbed at the near post in a bid to clear the danger, only to glance the ball past goalkeeper Neto and into his own net.

De Zerbi made his double change at the break, but not even the shrewd Italian could have foreseen quite the impact the pair would have.

Bournemouth lost possession from the kick-off and Mitoma played the ball out to Barcelona loanee Fati on the left before continuing his run into the area.

Fati’s ball back in was helped on by Mahmoud Dahoud into the path of Mitoma, who sidefooted it past Neto to cap a glorious Albion move.

With Brighton now in firmly the ascendancy, Dunk headed narrowly wide from a corner before Fati failed to convert a cross from Simon Adingra.

Bournemouth went in search of an equaliser and Antoine Semenyo had a low shot well kept out by Verbruggen.

But Mitoma put Brighton further ahead when he nodded in Pervis Estupinan’s cross with 13 minutes left.

Solanke almost scrambled one back for the Cherries from close range late on but his effort was cleared off the line by Albion skipper Dunk.

Liam Rosenior said he “won’t get carried away” after Hull returned to the play-off fray with a 3-1 win at Stoke.

First-half goals from Aaron Connolly – his fifth of the season – and Adama Traore handed the Tigers control just after the half-hour mark.

And the hosts’ miserable afternoon was compounded when Regan Slater’s strike deflected off Lynden Gooch and looped into his own net.

The returning Andre Vidigal notched a Potters consolation late on, but it was too little, too late as their winless run stretched to five league games.

Hull coasted to a seventh game unbeaten as they clinched a third successive away win in the Championship for the first time since 2013.

“I’m really happy,” said Rosenior, who marked the 50th game of his managerial career with victory.

“It always feels good when you win away from home and more pleasing than just the win was the performance.

“Everyone was excellent; we showed energy and confidence in the way that we played in possession and we were difficult to break down.

“The signs are really good, but the only stat that matters to me is where we finish at the end of the season.

“It’s brilliant to get the win but it has to be towards something so I won’t get carried away.

“We’re in a good place; we don’t need to focus on the results because they come as a product of our performances and they’ve been consistent this season.”

Goal-scorer Connolly and team-mate Jean Michael Seri clashed at half-time, but Rosenior paid tribute to their attitudes.

He added: “They were arguing and they want to win. I’ve been asking for that from them for the whole year that I’ve been here.

“You need to be demanding with each other; they argued and then they hugged and made up and they’re best mates again.

“You need to fall out with each other at times because it makes you better and makes you successful; it’s perfect and that’s the mentality I want.”

Meanwhile, it was another disappointing afternoon for Stoke as they slumped closer to the relegation zone.

“I think the best team won. It’s the poorest we’ve been tactically since I’ve been here,” boss Alex Neil admitted.

“You look at the game today and think either our set-up wasn’t good enough or we didn’t commit to it or a combination of both.

“We lacked belief in doing it today and when you lack belief it looks a bit of a dog’s dinner.

“We showed a lack of confidence – which is the first time I’ve seen that from them this season – so that was disappointing.

“I don’t ever make any qualms with what fans want to do or if they want to boo or voice their frustration.

“They’re here to support their team and see their team win; if they don’t win, particularly in modern football, it’s either one extreme or the other.

“If you win a game, you’re going up. If you lose a game, you’re getting relegated, so that’s the nature of football now.

“How they voice their opinion, I don’t have any views on it whatsoever; I just want to get the team performing well and trying to win.

“For us, we need that one win that’s going to lift some of the lads and then hopefully we can put a decent run together.”

Derby goalkeeper Josh Vickers has paid an emotional tribute to his wife after revealing she has died of cancer less than four months after they were married.

The 27-year-old former Lincoln and Rotherham keeper confirmed on social media that his wife Laura died on Tuesday.

Alongside a picture of the couple on their wedding day, Vickers, who started his career at Arsenal, wrote: “I have written and unwritten this so many times and still can’t find the right words to say and don’t know if I ever will.

“On Tuesday evening my wife lost her long battle against cancer…

“Laura is the strongest, bravest and most loving person I have ever met. Even though everything she was going through, she continued to smile, never letting anything get in the way of having a good time and making a lifetime of memories.

“We have cried, laughed and danced our way through some tough times.

“I will cherish every moment we spent together from the first time we met to the moment you peacefully passed. I know that you will be looking down on me and continuing to inspire me every day.

“Thank you to everyone that has supported myself and both families through this incredibly difficult time. Truly fortunate to have the most amazing family and friends!

“I Love You Always & Forever.”

Vickers’ Derby team-mates showed their support by holding up his shirt following their 2-0 League One victory over Carlisle on Saturday, while the Rams and his former clubs posted messages of condolence.

Inter Milan made it five wins from their opening five Serie A games with a 1-0 win at Empoli.

Federico Dimarco’s superb strike just after half-time was enough for Simone Inzaghi’s side and while Empoli had chances to equalise, Inter held on to take the points.

The leaders enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the opening stages and had a couple of half-chances through Matteo Darmian and Davide Frattesi, but Empoli goalkeeper Etrit Berisha dealt with both.

The visitors thought they had opened the scoring when Hakan Çalhanoglu’s short corner was whipped in to Marcus Thuram and he nudged the ball home from close range, only for the linesman to rule it out for offside.

Inter upped the tempo in search of an opener after the break and the first chance fell the way of Dimarco, whose powerful drive was smartly saved by Berisha.

The visitors broke the deadlock in sensational style shortly afterwards. A corner was headed out to Dimarco and his first-time effort from 20 yards flew into the top corner.

Inzaghi’s side went in search of a second to kill the game and almost got one when Thuram found himself with space inside the area but his effort curled marginally wide of the target.

Empoli were looking to avoid a fifth straight loss and an opportunity presented itself from a free-kick just outside the area.

Filippo Ranocchia’s curling effort was on target but goalkeeper Yann Sommer was alert to pull off a superb save having not had much to do previously.

The hosts started to cause last year’s Champions League finalists some issues and almost levelled a couple of minutes later. Stiven Shpendi set up Tommaso Baldanzi but his low drilled strike was blocked well by the Inter defence.

Chances started to fall the way of both sides and Thuram was close to making it two but his curling strike went wide.

Baldanzi was Empoli’s biggest threat and made a darting run off the ball to accomodate Jacopo Fazzini’s pass, but once again the danger was snuffed out by the Inter defence.

Defeat means Empoli became the first team in Serie A history to lose five consecutive games without scoring a goal.

Diogo Dalot described the recent external scrutiny and criticism of Manchester United as a “killing machine” after Erik ten Hag’s side secured a return to winning ways at Burnley.

The Red Devils have been under the microscope off the field as well as on it at the start of the campaign, having lost four of their opening six matches in all competitions for the first time since 1986.

The heat was on as absentee-hit United headed to promoted Burnley on Saturday evening, when Bruno Fernandes’ fantastic volley on the stroke of half-time secured a much-needed 1-0 victory.

“We are playing for Man United,” right-back Dalot said. “We have to be consistent in every game because they will kill you in every direction that they can if you don’t win games.

“And you could see this last couple of weeks, it was another normal killing machine against us, but we fought hard.

“When we get into Carrington (training ground), the noise stays outside and we work hard.

“And I think we were rewarded with these three points, but we want to keep going.”

United were not entirely convincing against the winless Clarets, but it was a solid showing underpinned by clear togetherness and focus.

“I think this was massively important,” Dalot told MUTV. “Apart from the three points, I think the clean sheet brings us a little bit of extra confidence to go to the next games.

“We needed it after these last couple of games when we conceded a lot of goals and this has to build a foundation now for the next game.

“I think today we showed a proper compact team, aggressively defending the box, everybody (supporting) each other.

“Collectively we were very good. Everybody was speaking with each other, communication, aggressive on the front foot.

“And I think that brings you confidence when you look to your mate and he’s giving everything for you.

“You want to give everything for him as well. Today we came out to the pitch with that mentality.

“I think this is the standard that we need to have for the rest of the season.”

As for Burnley, their wait for a first win since returning to the Premier League continues.

Vincent Kompany’s outfit showed flashes of quality during the narrow home loss and summer signing Aaron Ramsey is keen to build on that display.

“We didn’t come out with three points, but I think that everyone can see a lot of positives that we can take from that, that we can take into the next game,” the 20-year-old said after making his Premier League start.

“Hopefully the three points come soon but in the changing room all of us are taking as many positives as we can from it – and there’s quite a few.

“It’s Manchester United and I think that we more than competed and hopefully next time we get the three points, but like I said loads and loads of positives from the game, and we can just build from that.”

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford escaped unhurt after being involved in a car crash on Saturday night.

The PA news agency understands the crash happened after Manchester United had returned to their Carrington training base following their Premier League victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.

The players returned to the training ground by team bus to collect their own cars before setting off home.

Pictures and footage posted online in the aftermath of the incident showed the damage suffered by Rashford’s Rolls Royce.

It is understood emergency services attended the scene, but Rashford did not require medical attention and no arrests were made.

The England international, 25, played the whole game at Turf Moor as United won 1-0.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is determined to stay fit after revealing his frustration at his latest injury setback.

The England striker returned from a fractured cheekbone to score Everton’s third goal in their 3-1 win at Brentford.

“It’s difficult when you keep getting sidelined and you’re doing everything to stay on the pitch, but I think everyone knows I’m doing everything I possibly can,” Calvert-Lewin told the club website.

“I’m in a good place now, feeling physically fit, strong, fast. I’m buzzing to get the goal and long may it continue.

“We knew we needed a result and most importantly a win but we have to continue the work we’ve been doing, keep the momentum and take that into next week.”

James Tarkowski had headed the Toffees back into the lead against his old club after Mathias Jensen cancelled out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener.

Calvert-Lewin then secured Everton’s first win of the season and condemned the Bees to a first home defeat.

“I think that Everton deserved to win,” said Bees boss Thomas Frank. “The first five games we played this season, we performed very well – this was a bad performance. We need to learn from that, move forward and bounce back.

“What this group of fantastic players have done very well over all the years I’ve been in charge here is that, after a bad performance, they’ve bounced back.

“Everything that Everton came with didn’t surprise us. We expected everything, we just handled it poorly. We just didn’t deal very well with it.

“There are two things, besides the bad performance, that we need to look into: one is defensive set-pieces, obviously we conceded two goals and we weren’t on top of them.

“Secondly, is our quality and decision-making on the ball, especially in the first half. We were throwing the ball away way, way too easy with touches, passes and decisions.”

Phil Foden admits Manchester City have a big hole to fill after influential midfielder Rodri picked up a three-game ban in Saturday’s win over Nottingham Forest.

The Spain international was sent off early in the second half of City’s 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium for raising his hands towards the neck of Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.

The treble winners now face being without Rodri for their midweek Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle, next Saturday’s game at Wolves and – most crucially – the encounter at Arsenal on October 8.

Foden said: “He is one of our most important players and he seems to play all the minutes. He is going to be a big miss, but we have players to step up now and we are going to need them.”

Rodri’s dismissal dramatically changed the mood of a game City had been cruising to victory in following goals from Foden and Erling Haaland in the first 14 minutes.

A tame affair became fractious and City lost some of their composure before switching to a defensive mindset.

Attacking players Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez were sacrificed for Kalvin Phillips and Nathan Ake as manager Pep Guardiola took a pragmatic approach to secure three points.

“I thought we showed a different side to the team,” Foden said.

“It was not ideal with Rodri getting a red card so early in the second half, but I thought we showed heart and desire – a different side to the team that we sometimes need to show.

“I am really happy with the performance. We dug deep.”

Despite making their latest victory unnecessarily complicated, the champions’ 100 per cent start to the season remains intact.

In an ominous warning for the rest of the competition, Foden believes there is plenty more to come.

The 23-year-old said: “I would say it is a perfect start, but there are still a couple of gears for us to go. We are happy with the start, but we still know we can get better.”

Forest manager Steve Cooper was pleased with his side’s response in the second half and felt they should have got more from playing against 10-man City.

He said: “When you play a game and you get presented an opportunity, you really want to recognise that you have to take that.

“I’m not angry with the players. I’m not disappointed in any way, shape or form, and I’ve told them that.

“But I’ve just challenged them, like, ‘Come on boys, really back yourselves, because I do’.

“Hopefully we’ll reflect on the game and be motivated that we can play in these really tough games and do some good things.”

While former champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Munro College played out a 1-1 stalemate, Maggotty High helped themselves to an 8-0 win over Roger Clarke in a ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup Zone E double-header in Santa Cruz on Saturday.

Ozwayne Miller (20th, 28th) and Roshane Lewis (60th, 64th), both had a brace for Maggotty, with Robinho Barrett (17th), Jeraine Robinson (51st), Chadrick Jackson (66th) and Daniel Martin (75th), also getting in on the act, as Roger Clarke were like lambs to the slaughter in the curtain-raiser.

The much-anticipated St Elizabeth derby feature contest, though not short on entertainment, did not serve up as much goals as D’andre Hibbert (35th) of STETHS and Munro’s captain Daniel Bowen (37^th), ensured their teams a share of the spoils.

Despite the draw, STETHS remain at the summit of the zone on 10 points, one ahead of BB Coke (nine points), with Munro College inching up to eight points in third. Maggotty with their first win of the season, moved up to fifth on four points.

It was one-way traffic in favour of Maggotty High in the opening encounter which was reduced to 80 minutes following a lengthy delay caused by lightning.

Barrett opened the scoring with a neat finish, beating Raquan Powell in goal for Roger Clarke, at his near post.

Poor defending by Roger Clarke then allowed Miller to double the lead, as he latched on to, and tucked away a rebound.

Miller was again on target eight minutes later when he got in behind defenders and calmly slotted a left-footed effort beyond Powell, for his second on the day and third of the season.

Though up 3-0 at the break, Maggotty High were in no mood to let up and extended their lead six minutes into the resumption when Powell left his lines but failed to clear the ball properly. Robinson, who was on hand, capitalised as he fired the loose ball into an empty net.

On the hour-mark, Lewis went on the break down the right channel where he had time and space to dart into the 18-yard box and pick a spot to fire past the hapless Powell.

Lewis then grabbed his second and his team’s sixth, as he outpaced and outmuscled a defender before firing past the slightly advanced Powell in the 64th.

Jackson added his name to the scoresheet two minutes later. He picked up a pass from Lewis inside the 18-yard box and finished with aplomb.

And Martin applied the finishing touches to the rout when her converted from the penalty spot after Donte Blake, handled ball inside the danger area.

The feature contest lived up to billing for the most parts, as both STETHS and Munro were evenly poised throughout and nullified each other at both ends of the park.

It was STETHS that drew first blood when Hibbert applied a thumping right-footed finish to a pass from Ajay Smith. That was his fourth of the season.

However, their celebrations were short-lived as Munro replied soon after Roshane Wint headed on a ball for Bowen, who executed a sublime acrobatic finish on the volley, that gave Donte Campbell, in goal for STETHS, no chance at a save.

From there, both teams created their fair share of chances, particularly in the second half, but were unable to make them count.

Saturday’s results

Merlene Ottey 0, Green Island 1

Rusea’s High 1, Frome Tech 0

Discovery Bay High 0, York Castle 10

William Knibb Memorial 3, Cedric Titus 0

Aabuthnott Gallimore 2, Ferncourt High 5

Knockalva Technical 3, Black River High 1

Mannings School 3, Grange Hill High 0

Newell High 1, Lacovia High 3

Maggotty High 8, Roger Clarke 0

STETHS 1, Munro College 1

Manchester High 6, Mt St Joseph Catholic 0

deCarteret College 8, Cross Keys 0

Central High 16, Porus High 0

Vere Tech 2, Foga Road 1

Kemps Hill 1, Garvey Maceo High 1

May Day High vs Belair High (called off due to waterlogged field)

Lennon High vs Edwin Allen (called off due to lightning)

Clarendon College vs Thompson Town (called off due to lightning)

Carron Hall High vs St Mary High (rained out)

Wycliffe Martin High vs Horace Clarke (rained out)

Ocho Rios High vs Brown’s Town (rained out)

Hydel High, Kingston College and Calabar High are all equal on nine points after action in Group A of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup on Saturday.

Hydel defeated former champions Charlie Smith 1-0 to secure their third win in as many games. They are currently leading the group on goal difference having scored 15 goals and not conceded any.

Kingston College, who opened their campaign with a 0-4 loss to Hydel, hammered Penwood 14-0 to get their third win in a row in second while Calabar handed Camperdown their third consecutive defeat with a 5-2 score-line.

Elsewhere, Mona High got their fourth win in as many games in Group E with a 2-1 win over St. Catherine High.

Erik ten Hag praised “massively important” Jonny Evans after the defender was drafted into the starting line-up and helped Manchester United to a 1-0 victory against Burnley.

The 35-year-old made his first start for the club since 2015 and, as well as helping secure a much-needed clean sheet, set up Bruno Fernandes for the only goal after having an earlier header ruled out.

Evans re-signed for the club earlier this month following his release by Leicester, and boss Ten Hag said: “We have problems and in this moment a lot is against us: injuries, decisions and we have all seen the examples.

“We are very happy to have a player like Jonny Evans in the squad. He comes in and he is calm, composed, he has character and a good skill-set. Even when you have things against you, you can bounce back and then you have the character in the team to do that.

“In the summer, I heard he was in to train with the under-23s, I said ‘Fletch (technical director Darren Fletcher), come bring him in with the first team. Maybe he can help us’.

“I already saw in pre-season with the schedule, the problems with the numbers in the squad. We decided to sign him because I think he can really contribute to the squad and today you have seen how massively important he can be.”

Fernandes’ first-time volley from Evans’ ball over the top was a moment of real quality in a game where Ten Hag knew United could not afford another slip-up after three losses in a row.

“This was a must-win and we knew that,” said the Dutchman, who had no complaints about the disallowed goal with Rasmus Hojland deemed to be offside and interfering in front of goalkeeper James Trafford.

“The team responded on the pitch. You could see the togetherness in the dressing room. It was a squad performance.”

Burnley are still looking for their first win following promotion back to the Premier League and have picked up only one point from their first five games.

But manager Vincent Kompany was pleased with the performance of his side, who hit the post in the first half through Zeki Amdouni and had several other good opportunities.

“We had two or three massive chances, really big,” said the Clarets’ boss. “The one from Jay Rod (Rodriguez) where he is controlling the ball in front of the keeper and then slices it, the one from (Jacob) Bruun Larsen, one-on-one with the keeper, just takes his touch a little bit too far.

“Then obviously the one from Zeki Amdouni that hits the post and rolls out. I don’t think you get many more big chances against a team like United. We have to take the positives from it and learn from the things we could do better.

“I am a rational mind, I thought 14 new players, and you see City, United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham all within the first 10 games and you know this might be a difficult start but, if I look at the performance today, our moment will come.”