Man United stages another stunning comeback to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa in the Premier League
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United did it again.
Two goals down inside the opening four minutes against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday and trailing 4-2 going into second-half added time, United rallied to a 4-4 draw on another night of mayhem and drama at Old Trafford.
Substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu sparked a party inside the iconic stadium with their late rescue act after fans had been in mutinous mood, staging more protests against the club’s owners.
Whether it has sufficiently eased the pressure on coach Michael Carrick after the comeback win against Roma in the Champions League midweek remains to be seen.
The 20-time English champion still goes into the international break 18th in the standings and in the relegation zone with just one win from 10 games. United's winless run in the league was extended to eight.
“I don’t like the situation where we are, I don’t like the results that we’ve had, but we can definitely do something about it,” Carrick told Sky Sports.
Even after another rousing fightback, Carrick's position remains uncertain, with United still searching for a first league win since Aug. 30.
Afterwards he defiantly insisted he would not walk away despite such a troubled campaign, which was already the club's worst start since the 1986-87 season.
“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “We understand the situation. We haven’t won enough games, but I expect to move forward and keep working on the things that we’ve been working on and showing a lot of good in the game today, tighten up on a few mistakes and win football matches.”
After going 2-0 down against Roma inside 17 minutes on Tuesday, United conceded twice in the first four against Villa, with Alysson and Nicolas Jackson on target.
Once again there was a response — Bruno Fernandes scoring from the penalty spot and Youri Tielemans leveling before the break.
Villa soon reasserted its dominance in the second half, with John McGinn converting a penalty and Leon Goretska adding a fourth.
United looked to be headed for its fifth league defeat until Zirkzee converted inside the box and Dorgu headed in from a corner in the sixth minute of added time.
“I don’t feel happy. We are in a bad situation and we need to fight together to get out of it,” Dorgu said. “Everyone needs to look at themselves and ask themselves if they are good enough. We need to fight for the coach and the club. We need to get out of this together.”
Television cameras repeatedly focused on United chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox as United looked to be on the verge of another defeat.
They will be under scrutiny during the two-week international break, which has often been a time when clubs make coaching changes.
United’s hierarchy opted to give the popular Carrick — a serial winner title-winner as a player with United — the chance to repair the damage of a ruinous start.
Even after salvaging a late draw, there is still likely to be speculation about his position before United next plays against fierce rival Liverpool on Nov. 22.
High flying Brighton moved up second in the Premier League with a 2-0 win against Brentford.
Liverpool is back to winning ways, beating Crystal Palace 3-1, while Chelsea fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat to relegation-fighting Sunderland.
Brighton's outstanding start to the campaign continued with a seventh win from 10 games to leave it five points adrift of leader and defending champion Arsenal.
Goals from Diego Gomez and Pascal Gross secured victory at the Amex Stadium for Fabian Hurzeler's team, which is becoming the surprise story of the season.
Liverpool bounced back from back-to-back losses to Arsenal in the league and Fenerbahce in the Champions League to pick up three points at Palace.
Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak were all on target at Selhurst Park. A stoppage-time penalty from Eddie Nketiah reduced the deficit, but did little to ease the pressure on Palace coach Pierre Sage, with his team bottom of the standings heading into the international break.
Isak now has eight goals in all competitions for Liverpool this season.
Sunderland moved off the foot of the table with victory against Chelsea. Enzo Le Fee's first-half penalty settled the game at the Stadium of Light and saw Chelsea drop to fifth, with Liverpool climbing to fourth.
Bournemouth is seventh after a 2-1 win at Ipswich. Evanilson scored his seventh goal in eight games to put Bournemouth ahead at Portman Road and a Leif Davis own-goal made it 2-0 at the break.
Jack Clarke pulled one back for Ipswich with a second-half penalty.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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