EPL: Man United share points with Chelsea as Awoniyi, Iwobi secure crucial victories

Manchester United earned a vital point in their away trip to London as they held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

After labouring all through the game with no goals to show for their effort, Jorginho fired the Blues ahead from the penalty spot in the 87th minute.

And while it looked like the Italian had sealed victory for Graham Potter’s men, Casemiro ensured United had a share of the spoils with his late equaliser deep into stoppage time.

With the solitary point secured by both teams, Chelsea are still fourth on the table with 21 points from 11 games while United closely follow in fifth place with 20 points from the same number of games.

Other GamesIn the other Saturday games, Alex Iwobi came good for Everton; providing two assists in their 3-0 thumping of Crystal Palace.

The goals against Palace were scored by Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 11th minute and Anthony Gordon in the 63rd minute before victory was sealed by Dwight McNeil in the 84th minute.

The victory for the Toffees was a huge relief after suffering three consecutive losses that saw them titling towards the relegation zone.

However, with the three points against the Eagles, Frank Lampard’s men are now 11th on the log with 13 points from 12 games.

Elsewhere, Erling Haaland returned to scoring ways as he hit a brace in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Brighton.

Kevin de Bruyne completed the rout for Pep Guardiola’s side who have now cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to just one point, albeit with a game more than the Gunners.

Awoniyi RecordThe biggest talking point from Saturday was Taiwo Awoniyi’s record-setting performance against Liverpool.

Awoniyi on Saturday became the first Nottingham Forest player to score in each of his first three Premier League starts at the City Ground.

The 55th-minute goal by the Nigerian striker proved to be the winning goal as Nottingham Forest battled to a 1-0 victory over the Reds.

Saturday’s Premier League clash availed Awoniyi an opportunity to get back at Liverpool who despite signing the Nigerian striker for six years never gave him one minute of action in their colours.

After an uneventful first half with no goals by either team, the breakthrough came for Forest in the second half.

The home side took the lead 10 minutes into the second half, with Awoniyi following up a rebound off the post from a set-piece that Joe Gomez had given away near the halfway line.

It was poor defending and it was almost 2-0 minutes later, but James Milner made a superb block to deny Morgan Gibbs-White.

Jurgen Klopp brought in Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but with depleted options forward, it was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who replaced Firmino for the final 15 minutes.

Liverpool were a shadow of their usual self as they barely threatened, offering no attacking quality.

The bad situation for the Reds could have gotten worse but the goalkeeper, Alisson, made a string of saves as he was arguably Liverpool’s best player in a defeat to the bottom-of-the-table club.

Liverpool had the chance to at least salvage something from the game but Van Dijk, completely unmarked off a corner in stoppage time, headed straight at the keeper.

For Liverpool, the wait for an away league win this season goes on despite beating high-flying Man City just six days ago at Anfield.

For Forest, however, the second win of the campaign has seen them swap the bottom position with Leicester City.