Manchester United secured their second win of the season in the Premier League at the Old Trafford on Saturday, as goals from Fernandes and Casemiro helped the hosts edge past Chelsea 2-1 after both sides lost one man each to red cards. In what was a record-breaking evening in England‘s top-flight, Ruben Amorim and Co. will aim to build on this victory to trigger a turnaround in fortunes.
Speaking to reporters after the game, the United captain said: “You want to perform but at the end of the day what matters is points. We haven’t been getting the points we wanted.
“At the end of the game we were very strong in defending our box and putting them in positions of crossing. “We got the [Chelsea’s] red card because our mentality was starting the game so strong. The players have to run behind whenever Ben [Benjamin Sesko] goes for the ball and that’s what Bryan [Mbeumo] did.
“It [United’s red] didn’t change anything. We wanted to close the middle. Without [Liam] Delap who makes the runs for the team, Joao Pedro wants to link up. We gave them the chance to go down the side and then close them with our wing-backs. Our centre-backs were very good to defend the box.”
Fernandes opened the scoring in the 18th minute, thus bringing up a century of goals for the Red Devils in his 200th appearances. “Obviously I’m very proud of that – two massive milestones. Not something I was aiming for. I just aimed to play the next game,” the Portuguese international added.
The 31-year-old became the 19th player in United history to reach triple figures for goals. Fernandes brought up the milestone in his 296th game for the club, averaging a goal roughly every three games.
Amorim’s men are slated to play two more fixtures ahead of the international break in October. Next weekend, they travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to face Brentford, before hosting newly-promoted Sunderland on October 4.
