Marcus Rashford's 100th Manchester United goal gave the Red Devils a hard-fought 1-0 Premier League win over West Ham on Sunday.

United handed Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire rare league starts, but Rashford snatched the headlines in bringing up his milestone with a fine 38th-minute header.

West Ham looked uninspired for long periods before finding David De Gea in strong form when they exerted some pressure late on, with the United goalkeeper making three crucial saves.

The victory lifts Erik ten Hag's team above Chelsea into fifth in the Premier League table, one point below fourth-placed Newcastle United with a game in hand.

Ronaldo sent a long-range effort into Lukasz Fabianski's arms as United dominated the early exchanges, before Rashford cut inside to send a deflected shot onto the roof of the net.

West Ham weathered that early storm and then escaped when Anthony Elanga badly miscued a volley from just six yards out after 36 minutes.

United led from their very next attack, however, with Rashford planting a brilliant header beyond Fabianski after meeting Christian Eriksen's hanging cross.

Ronaldo should have done better with a left-footed effort following Rashford's reverse pass as United continued to press after half-time, before David de Gea tipped Michail Antonio's fierce strike over the crossbar.

De Gea then made a brilliant reflex save from Kurt Zouma's header and denied Declan Rice from range after Maguire blocked from Jarrod Bowen, before which substitute Fred had nodded against the right-hand post at the other end – a near miss that did not prove costly.

Mikel Arteta suggested Bukayo Saka's injury in the 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest was just a knock and unlikely to knock him out of England's World Cup plans.

Saka recorded his 20th assist in the Premier League after finding Gabriel Martinelli for the fifth-minute opener, with only Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney having reached that mark at a younger age than the 21-year-old.

However, Saka was forced off in the 27th minute with what appeared to be a left ankle injury following a tackle from Forest left-back Renan Lodi.

England boss Gareth Southgate may have been concerned Saka would join the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker on his injury list, though Arsenal manager Arteta believes the winger will be fine.

When asked if Saka may be doubtful for England's World Cup opener against Iran on November 21, Arteta said: "Hopefully not.

"It was a bad kick, he was limping, but I don't see it further than that. Both foot and ankle, he got kicked a few times."

Saka's replacement Reiss Nelson struck twice in the space of just over three second-half minutes.

The 22-year-old Nelson was hailed by Arteta for "evolving" and "maturing" after also teeing up Thomas Partey's strike for Arsenal's fourth, and Nelson expressed pride after seizing the opportunity.

"It was amazing. We had a bit of a slow start after the goal, but everyone got into the game and it was great to play in," Nelson said, quoted by the BBC.

"It couldn't have got gone much better than that for me after coming on. I am delighted with the goals and the assist. I have been training for my chance and I got it and tried my best to take it."

Martin Odegaard scored the other goal in the dominant win as Arsenal returned to the Premier League summit, though Nelson admitted the Gunners' first thoughts would be to check how Saka was.

"Of course, it is a huge shame for Arsenal and the nation, and we will go and check now and see how he is," Nelson added. He's a great boy and it's great to have him in the team.

"We are just trying to do well for the gaffer and the team. We're top now and it's nice, hopefully we can go all the way."

Marcus Rashford reached 100 goals for Manchester United by converting a fine header in Sunday's Premier League meeting with West Ham.

Rashford met Christian Eriksen's delicate right-wing delivery with a powerful header at the back post after 38 minutes at Old Trafford, putting Erik ten Hag's side 1-0 up.

The forward's goal – just the seventh he has scored with his head for United – made him the 22nd player to bring up a century of goals for the club.

He is the first United player to reach the landmark since Wayne Rooney in 2009. He went on to become United's all-time leading goalscorer.

Rashford has scored 82 of his 100 club goals with his right foot, while 88 have come from inside the penalty area and just 13 have not come from open play (four free-kicks, nine penalties).

The England international, who turns 25 on Monday, achieved the feat against one of his favoured opponents – he has now hit the net four times against West Ham in the Premier League.

However, prior to Sunday, all three of his goals against the Hammers in the competition had come as a substitute – only five players have scored more from the bench against a single opponent – Julian Joachim v Derby Count (five), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer v Nottingham Forest, Javier Hernandez v Chelsea, Olivier Giroud v Southampton and Robbie Keane v Man City (all four).

Raphael Varane indicated he is on course to be fit for France's World Cup campaign as the Manchester United defender recovers from a leg injury.

Centre-back Varane is not expected to play any club football until the Qatar 2022 tournament gets under way, having been substituted in pain during United's October 22 draw at Chelsea.

He jarred his leg badly just before the hour mark at Stamford Bridge, casting doubt on whether he would be able to play any part in the finals for France boss Didier Deschamps, as Les Bleus defend their title.

News on the 29-year-old's recovery is positive though, with the 87-cap international posting pictures and a video on Sunday of him training at the France team's Clairefontaine headquarters.

He wrote in English: "Thank you everyone for the kind messages this week. I have been working! Feeling good."

His French language message said he had "been working hard and I feel a lot better", which is an update that will be welcomed by Deschamps.

The directive from Deschamps is that only fully fit players will go with France to Qatar, with a major question mark also hanging over Paul Pogba's readiness, given he has been sidelined for Juventus since July with a knee injury.

Deschamps said in a recent interview with French website Brut: "Leaving for a big competition with players who are not ready, already it occupies too much attention, and for those who have to play, it also monopolises the medical staff. I consider that we must leave with valid and capable players."

France start their World Cup campaign against Australia on November 22.

In his message on Sunday, Varane also wished United well for their Premier League game against West Ham, saying: "Good luck today boys."

Cristiano Ronaldo was given a start for Manchester United's meeting with West Ham, his first in the Premier League since being temporarily exiled from first-team activities.

Ronaldo was dropped for last week's dramatic 1-1 draw with Chelsea after refusing to come on as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Tottenham, and he was subsequently left out of first-team training.

However, Erik ten Hag recalled Ronaldo for Thursday's 3-0 Europa League win over Sheriff – a decision the 37-year-old validated by scoring his third goal of the season in all competitions – and the Dutchman kept faith with the striker.

Club captain Harry Maguire also earned a rare league start – his first since August – after Raphael Varane suffered a leg injury at Chelsea.

Fellow defender Victor Lindelof missed out through illness against David Moyes' team, as did Brazilian winger Antony.

Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Anthony Elanga were brought into the starting line-up by Ten Hag, having all been benched last time out.

Reiss Nelson scored two and assisted another as Arsenal returned to winning ways and moved back to the Premier League summit after a 5-0 rout of Nottingham Forest.

Mikel Arteta's side dominated at Emirates Stadium to regain their two-point lead over Manchester City, despite losing Bukayo Saka to injury after he assisted Gabriel Martinelli's first-half opener on Sunday.

Saka's replacement Nelson added a quickfire second-half brace before teeing up Thomas Partey for the fourth, with Martin Odegaard capping victory with a powerful finish after 78 minutes.

Victory saw Arsenal emphatically respond to a 1-1 draw at Southampton and Europa League defeat to PSV, while Steve Cooper's side remain bottom with two league games left before November's World Cup break.

Martinelli headed Arsenal into a fifth-minute lead after finding the bottom-right corner following Saka's curling cross, before Gabriel Jesus whipped narrowly wide three minutes later.

Renan Lodi cleared a Martinelli effort off the line as Arsenal dominated the first half that was somewhat marred by Saka's removal following what seemed to be an ankle injury.

Nelson powered home on the rebound four minutes into the second half following a Dean Henderson save and doubled his personal account after turning Jesus' low near-post cross into the bottom-left corner.

Partey added a fourth with a delightful curler into the top-right corner from Nelson's offload to the edge of the area, before Jesus teed up Odegaard to smash past Henderson and seal a dominant win.

What does it mean? Arsenal continue title charge

Arsenal failed to replicate a dominant first half at Southampton, squandering a one-goal lead after an underwhelming second-half showing that was somewhat a throwback to the Gunners' struggles in recent years.

But Arteta's side avoided following suit in their next league outing, picking up their eighth straight win against newly promoted sides – their longest such run in the competition since an eight-game streak between January 2013 and April 2014. 

While tougher tasks will follow, with a trip to Chelsea next Sunday, Arsenal continue to keep pace with City. 

Super Saka upstaged by Nelson

Only Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney reached 20 Premier League assists when younger than Saka, aged 21 years and 55 days, but England may be concerned over the winger's fitness ahead of the World Cup.

Nelson proved a capable deputy on the right flank for Arsenal, though, scoring his third and fourth Premier League goals in the space of just over three minutes. His first and second such strikes were spread across two years and 107 days.

Lost Lingard 

Jesse Lingard may have fond memories of Emirates Stadium, labelling Arsenal's home ground as his "dance floor" after scoring in Manchester United's 3-1 FA Cup win in 2019.

But the midfielder failed to deliver on this outing in north London, managing the fewest touches of any outfield starter (14) and making just five passes before his 56th-minute removal.

What's next?

Arsenal host Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday before the crunch London derby with Chelsea, while Forest are at home to Brentford on Saturday.

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was forced off with injury against Nottingham Forest, adding to England's fitness concerns ahead of the World Cup.

Saka created Gabriel Martinelli's fifth-minute opener on Sunday at Emirates Stadium, becoming the third-youngest player to 20 Premier League assists (aged 21 years and 55 days).

The England international appeared in some discomfort in the 15th minute, though, requiring medical treatment after what seemed to be a left-ankle injury following a challenge from Renan Lodi.

Saka attempted to continue but again went down after 26 minutes, with Mikel Arteta withdrawing the winger with Reiss Nelson replacing him.

England will be hopeful the injury to Saka proves not to be too serious, with their World Cup opener against Iran set for November 21.

With Reece James, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips all battling injuries, Gareth Southgate will hope Saka has just suffered a knock and not a serious setback.

Trent Alexander-Arnold says Liverpool must "get some points" at Tottenham to get their "aims and aspirations" back on track.

Jurgen Klopp's side are ninth in the Premier League and could fall 15 points behind Arsenal, who play Nottingham Forest on Sunday as the Gunners aim to return to the top-flight summit.

Liverpool have suffered consecutive domestic defeats against strugglers Forest and Leeds United, the latter of which on Saturday ended a 29-match home unbeaten run for the Reds in the Premier League.

Klopp's team may take some consolation after reaching the Champions League knockout stages, though Alexander-Arnold urged his side to improve in the league at Tottenham next Sunday.

"I'd say we all believe in ourselves, we believe in the way we play, the squad and what we can achieve," the right-back told the club's website.

"But I think when you do get setbacks, it can potentially make you second-guess yourself and question things.

"Clearly as a team something's not going right, it's not going as well as we want it to go. That's something for everyone to think about, for everyone to address and make sure we put it right, especially next week against Spurs, top-four rivals.

"We kind of need to go there and get some points if we've got any chance of reaching our aims and aspirations for the season."

While Liverpool's title hopes are virtually over, with Manchester City and Arsenal embroiled in a two-horse race thus far, the Reds are also eight points away from the Champions League qualification places.

The England international acknowledged Liverpool have been far from their best this season, pinpointing the Reds' failures in front of goal, a notable problem in the 2-1 defeat to Leeds last time out.

"I think we are not in the greatest run of form – I think a lot of players would say that about themselves and as a team in general," he added.

"But we're still creating opportunities to score and win games. We just haven't been able to take them, especially [in the] last two Premier League games.

"I think it's important for us to regroup, assess what's going wrong. I think right now, it's kind of, 'pick up as many points as you can now going into this break [for the World Cup].

"And potentially this break will come at a decent time for us to reset and be able to get our heads straight to go into the second half of the season."

Pablo Mari has been discharged from hospital three days after the on-loan Monza defender was stabbed in a supermarket.

The Spanish centre-back, who joined Monza from Arsenal on a season-long loan deal in August, underwent back surgery after he was attacked near Milan on Thursday.

One person died and Mari was among five who were injured in a terrifying incident, with a suspect arrested after being disarmed.

Mari said he felt lucky to be alive, and the 29-year-old was on Sunday allowed to continue his recovery at home as he faces being out for at least two months.

A statement from Serie A club Monza said: "Pablo Mari was discharged from the hospital this morning, returned home and now begins a period of absolute rest.

"AC Monza sincerely thanks Professor Osvaldo Chiara and all the professionals of the Trauma Center of the Niguarda Hospital in Milan.

"Pablo, we are waiting for you!"

Monza head coach Raffaele Palladino has said Mari's team-mates will be playing for him when they face Bologna on Monday.

"It's not that we didn't want to play. The first news shook the whole group, and it's normal that we were shocked," head coach Palladino said when asked about not postponing the game.

"Initially we thought about a postponement, but the team reacted well, especially when they learned that Pablo was out of danger.

"A bad week, but at the same time beautiful. Pablo Mari is a miracle worker. Our duty is to play and go on the pitch and give everything also for our team-mate. We have no regrets over not postponing."

Raffaele Palladino says Monza will play for Pablo Mari when they face Bologna after the defender was injured in a multiple stabbings incident at a supermarket near Milan.

One person died and Monza's on-loan Arsenal centre-back Mari was among five who were injured during a terrifying incident, with a suspect arrested after being disarmed on Thursday.

The Spanish defender is expected to be out of action for at least two months after successful back surgery.

"It's not that we didn't want to play. The first news shook the whole group and it's normal that we were shocked," head coach Palladino said when asked about not postponing the upcoming game.

"Initially we thought about a postponement, but the team reacted well especially when they learned that Pablo was out of danger.

"A bad week, but at the same time beautiful. Pablo Mari is a miracle worker. Our duty is to play and go on the pitch and give everything also for our team-mate. We have no regrets over not postponing."

Former Juventus winger Filippo Ranocchia echoed Palladino's sentiment as he assured Monza will have Mari on their minds in their next Serie A clash.

"We couldn't believe it, it seemed absurd that one of our team-mates had been stabbed while shopping with his family. It was shocking news for everyone," Ranocchia told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"When we heard that his life was not in danger it was a huge relief, we wanted to go and see him right away, but the team told us it was better to wait.

"After the operation. We knew he had to sleep, but we sent him messages in the team chat. When he woke up and wrote to us that the worst was over and that he couldn't wait to come back, it was beautiful.

"We will play for Pablo but also for Luis Fernando Ruggieri who lost his life in this crazy attack. Our thoughts go out to him, to his loved ones and to all the people involved in that night of terror."

Liverpool are not battling through "a blip" but a "serious problem", according to club great Jamie Carragher.

Jurgen Klopp's side sit ninth in the Premier League, 13 points off the top ahead of Arsenal's meeting with Nottingham Forest on Sunday, after falling to defeat against Leeds United on Saturday.

Crysencio Summerville's late strike snatched an unlikely victory for strugglers Leeds as Liverpool suffered their first Premier League defeat at Anfield since March 2021, ending a 29-match home unbeaten run in the competition.

Despite Mohamed Salah cancelling out Rodrigo Moreno's early opener, Illan Meslier made a series of impressive stops to help pave the way for Summerville's winner, and Carragher feels his former side face a worrying situation.

"It's a huge result for Leeds but Liverpool have got massive problems," Carragher said in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports.

"Leeds' fans know how big a result this is. It's so long since anyone's won at Anfield. They're going to milk it and rightly so. It will do wonders for them, in terms of the league table.

"This isn't a blip for Liverpool, this is a serious problem. There's no doubt that the goalkeeper in the last 10-15 minutes has kept Leeds in it but if you look at the whole game you can't say Leeds haven't deserved to get something from it. They were fantastic.

"Klopp must be thinking, what else can I try now? Different permutations, formations, personnel."

Klopp again bemoaned a lack of consistency, lamenting the injury issues Liverpool face, though Graeme Souness offered a scathing assessment of his former side's capabilities.

"Liverpool are a country mile from where they were over the last few years," Souness added. "In many instances, Leeds were more than a match for Liverpool and they did to Liverpool what they had been doing to teams for years.

"Liverpool basically bullied teams before, their midfield bullied teams. And now they're being bullied. That's making them vulnerable at the back, and they're not creating the same chances up front. Liverpool are a shadow [of the team they used to be].

"Liverpool still had enough chances to win the game, but they are not like the Liverpool we've seen for the last five years. They don't play with the same intensity and just don't have it in their legs anymore."

Souness pinpointed Liverpool's midfield as a primary reason for their struggles.

"If correct [Leeds ran 11 kilometres more than Liverpool], then to a man they ran a kilometre more than Liverpool. That's a big difference," he continued.

"And if you look at a midfield of Thiago [Alcantara], 31, [Jordan] Henderson, 31, Fabinho, 29, then after that you have [Naby] Keita and [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones who is 21, and Harvey Elliot who's 19.

"If you go back to the start of the season, Jurgen [Klopp] must have looked at his midfield and thought: 'We're vulnerable here'. I feel their midfield is no longer a midfield that is going to get them back and win the big trophies."

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is known to be desperate for Lionel Messi to finish his career at his long-time club.

The 35-year-old Argentine forward departed Camp Nou hastily in August last year due to Barcelona's financial issues.

Messi joined the Blaugrana in 2000 and had an association with the club for more than two decades, scoring 672 goals across 778 first-team appearances.

TOP STORY – LAPORTA PLOTTING JANUARY MOVE FOR MESSI

Laporta is planning a move for Barcelona club legend Lionel Messi in the January transfer window, according to Sport.

The report states that Barcelona want to take advantage of the Fair Play situation in January, rather than wait for the off-season where the 1/4 rule will make any move more difficult.

However, Laporta's plan is full of obstacles for the Blaugrana to overcome, not least LaLiga's financial restraints, along with convincing Messi and his current club Paris Saint-Germain to part midway through the season.

Messi has publicly said he has deferred any decisions on his club or international future until after the World Cup.

ROUND-UP

– Sporting CP head coach Ruben Amorim may have distanced the club from links with Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in midweek but The Mirror reports that the Portuguese club will make a bid for him in January.

– Brighton and Hove Albion are open to selling Moises Caicedo amid interest from Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle United but have slapped a £85m price tag on the 20-year-old Ecuadorian midfielder, reports the Sunday Mirror.

– The Express claims that Arsenal are leading the race ahead of Manchester United to sign Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans. The Belgian could move to the Gunners for free, as he is out of contract at the end of the season and unlikely to pen a new deal.

– Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante - whose contract is also up at the end of June 2023 - is a major target for Barcelona who are looking at replacements for veteran Sergio Busquets, reports Relevo.

– Sport claims Barcelona are looking to offload Memphis Depay in January, with Juventus interested in signing the Dutch attacker.

– Wolves are set to approach ex-Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui again, having failed to convince him previously to become their new manager, claims The Sun.

Jurgen Klopp suggested Liverpool were asking to be punished with the way they defended for Leeds United's winning goal on Saturday.

The Reds were beaten 2-1 in dramatic circumstances at Anfield, with Crysencio Summerville poking home from inside the box after Patrick Bamford was able to tee the youngster up.

Liverpool had numbers back but failed to stop Wilfried Gnonto from getting his cross into the box in the build-up despite the Italy international being faced up by two defenders.

Similarly, both Bamford and Summerville were outnumbered in the penalty area as well, and Klopp was left frustrated.

"It was a setback, absolutely," the German told Sky Sports. "I thought we had a really good start then conceded a freakish goal.

"We scored the equaliser but for some reason it didn't give us the security back. We struggled to control the game and gave too many balls away.

"The boys tried, we had good possession and had big chances but, in the end, if it is 1-1 and you defend the situation around the second goal like this, you leave everything open.

"In the end, it was two versus one in the box and they can finish off the situation. The problem is we cannot control this type of game at the moment."

He added: "A team performance is always made up of individual performances. It's the same, it's never different, so how could it be different? One leads to the other.

"You can see we had a lot of good moments, like a lot of parts of the game, but all over it's not enough if you don't finish your situations off. 

"You can watch this game completely, but you cannot defend like we did for the second goal, but we did, that's why we lost, otherwise it would have been a point which would've been deserved and we'd go from there. Now we have nothing and it feels completely different."

Liverpool have been unfortunate with injuries and illness this season and ultimately their squad has not been deep enough to dampen the impact of those absences.

Klopp again offered this as one explanation for Liverpool's issues, with the Reds potentially set to end the weekend 15 points off the Premier League summit, but he urged his players to show more fighting spirit.

"Maybe some players are overplayed," Klopp continued. "Harvey [Elliott] has been exceptional for us this season. He had a good start but couldn't keep it going.

"Thiago [Alcantara] was ill last week, but not in the last few days so we thought he was fresh. Up front the same [players] play all the time – they are the three strikers we have left.

"All these kinds of things but in the end if you don't finish your situations off, they were there and it changed the game completely. We have to fight and that is what we must do.

"We have to bring our quality on to the pitch and we fight against it. We had problems from the first day, injury wise.

"Players have had to play from the first day. It's our situation and it means we have to help ourselves, and that is what we will do."

Crysencio Summerville's dramatic 89th-minute winner condemned Liverpool to a second successive Premier League defeat as Leeds United left Anfield with a shock 2-1 victory.

Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten by bottom-of-the-table Nottingham Forest last weekend, and Summerville's late goal means the Reds have lost back-to-back games to teams in the relegation zone for the first time since March 2012.

Liverpool gave themselves an uphill struggle early on when Joe Gomez gifted Rodrigo Moreno the opener, though it did not take Mohamed Salah long to restore parity.

The Reds were even more dominant in the second half but they could not find a way past the excellent Illan Meslier, and Summerville – on the eve of his 21st birthday – prodded home at the end to rescue a potentially vital win for the under-fire Jesse Marsch and Leeds.

The match was less than four minutes old when Gomez went rogue, sending his backpass wide of Alisson and Rodrigo was on hand to tap in.

Liverpool hit back 10 minutes later; Salah left with a similarly easy finish from Andy Robertson's left-wing delivery.

Leeds were almost ahead again soon after as Brendan Aaronson saw his volley crash against the crossbar, but Liverpool's dominance continued to grow.

They piled the pressure on in the final 30 minutes, forcing Meslier into a flurry of saves.

He rushed out to thwart Darwin Nunez when one-one-on, before also saving smartly from Jordan Henderson.

The young Frenchman then tipped a long-range Nunez effort over and made a crucial block from Salah with five minutes left.

Leeds took full advantage of Meslier's heroics, as Summerville instinctively poked past Alisson at the other end to seal the Whites' first Anfield win in over 21 years.

What does it mean? Liverpool crisis deepens as Jesse Marsches on

Klopp said last weekend's defeat to Forest left him feeling "as low as possible" – well, they have plumbed new depths here.

Liverpool were dominant and clearly created enough chances to win, but their chronic lack of ruthlessness proved their undoing yet again.

Similarly, a lot has been said of Leeds' issues this term coming down to luck, with the stats suggesting they should be better off than they are. Certainly, they did not look like a team who have given up on their manager.

Meslier plays his part

Summerville will get the headlines and the glory, but this win would not have been possible were it not for Meslier. His nine saves is a joint-high for a Premier League game this season.

Nunez fluffs his lines

Liverpool striker Nunez was very lively and in many respects had a good game – he set up four shooting opportunities for his team-mates. However, he was simply not reliable in front of goal, hitting a one-on-one straight at Meslier and also hesitating in the first half when the chance for a lob presented itself.

What's next?

Liverpool are at home to Napoli on Tuesday in the Champions League before going to Tottenham in the league next Sunday. Leeds face Bournemouth at Elland Road the day before.

Crysencio Summerville's dramatic 89th-minute winner condemned Liverpool to a second successive Premier League defeat as Leeds United left Anfield with a shock 2-1 victory.

Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten by bottom-of-the-table Nottingham Forest last weekend, and Summerville's late goal means the Reds have lost back-to-back games to teams in the relegation zone for the first time since March 2012.

Liverpool gave themselves an uphill struggle early on when Joe Gomez gifted Rodrigo Moreno the opener, though it did not take Mohamed Salah long to restore parity.

The Reds were even more dominant in the second half but they could not find a way past the excellent Illan Meslier and Summerville – on the eve of his 21st birthday – prodded home at the end to rescue a potentially vital win for the under-fire Jesse Marsch and Leeds.