Premier League: Manchester City ends run of losses to Chelsea; Manchester United lose

Manchester City broke its run of losses to Chelsea by handing its Premier League title rival a first defeat of the season thanks to Gabriel Jesus’ deflected goal in a 1-0 win on Saturday. In the latest match to highlight City’s need for a striker, Pep Guardiola’s team required a dose of fortune for the winner as Jesus took aim from just inside the area and the ball squirmed into the bottom corner off Chelsea midfielder Jorginho’s heel in the 53rd minute. Chelsea had beaten City in their last three meetings — most recently in the Champions League final in May — but was largely outplayed at Stamford Bridge. Indeed, it wasn’t a bigger margin of victory only because of City’s lack of an out-and-out center forward. The result lifted City above Chelsea in the standings, on goal difference after six games, but there was a greater significance to the victory. After its strong start to the season — four wins, a draw at Liverpool and only one goal conceded — Chelsea had been anointed by increasing numbers as the title favorite this season. But the way City dominated possession and reduced Chelsea to mostly long balls showed that Guardiola’s team, the defending champion, might still be the team to beat. Although City has had some big wins this season, like the 5-0s against Norwich and Arsenal and a 6-3 over Leipzig in the Champions League, a 0-0 draw with Southampton last weekend was a glaring reminder of the fact Guardiola failed to sign a striker in the offseason to replace Sergio Aguero. And against Chelsea, Guardiola’s team saw much more of the ball in midfield — the Spanish coach essentially played five attacking midfielders ahead of Rodri at the base — but there was no striker to make the kind of runs to finish off the flowing moves. And, in the end, it required a lucky break to make the breakthrough after Joao Cancelo’s shot from the edge of the area landed at the feet of the Brazil forward, who was again used as a right winger at Stamford Bridge. City regularly picked up Chelsea on the break after that, and only a goal-line clearance by Thiago Silva, who came on for the injured Reece James in the first half, prevented Jesus adding a second. As for Chelsea, it had the kind of striker Guardiola craves — in Romelu Lukaku — but he barely saw the ball. And when he did, his link-up play was off. Fernandes misses penalty as Villa deny Manchester United top spot Manchester: Bruno Fernandes missed a stoppage-time penalty as Aston Villa beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday to prevent the Red Devils moving top of the Premier League. The Portuguese midfielder blasted his 93rd-minute spot-kick over the bar minutes after Kortney Hause’s late headed goal, which earned Villa their first win against United since December 2009. United drew a blank for the first time this season despite boasting the league’s best attacking record and a star-studded line-up featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood. Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard – last week’s match-winner at West Ham – were unused substitutes and Edinson Cavani only entered the fray with eight minutes remaining. United have lost three of their past four matches in all competitions after exiting the League Cup on Wednesday and conceding a late winner in their Champions League opener at Young Boys the week before. The visitors were guilty of wasting several gilt-edged opportunities but were eventually rewarded for their enterprise in a frantic finale. Hause beat Cavani at the near post at a corner to give Villa the lead in the 88th minute before conceding a penalty for handling a Cavani header. But Fernandes – on spot-kick duty ahead of Ronaldo – missed in a dramatic finish to the game. Defender Matt Targett squandered Villa’s first clear-cut chance of the game when he blazed over at the back post in the 16th minute. Lingard’s misplaced back pass cost United dear in the Champions League against Young Boys and Harry Maguire almost made the same mistake at Old Trafford. The United captain’s errant back pass forced David de Gea into a rushed clearance. However, Villa striker Ollie Watkins’s shot was too close to the Spaniard. Ezri Konsa was the next Villa player to spurn a glorious chance as he missed the target with a header from six yards. Visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was called into action to deny Greenwood in the second half but the away side continued to have the upper hand. Watkins drew another fine save from De Gea and young midfielder Jacob Ramsey lacked composure in front of goal as Villa appeared to have missed their chance to claim a rare Old Trafford win before the dramatic denouement.   With inputs from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse