Manchester United were held at home by Everton on Saturday after Cristiano Ronaldo was left in the sub bench as Chelsea scored two goals against Southampton to top the Premier League table.
Elsewhere, Leeds beat Watford for their first league win of the season, while Norwich avoided defeat for the first time during the campaign.
United’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford continues an impressive run of home results including a League Cup defeat by West Ham and last week’s Premier League defeat at the hands of Aston Villa.
Ronaldo has scored five times in six matches in all competitions since joining the club at the end of August, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he does not regret resting the 36-year-old – who won a match against Villarreal in midweek. Dramatic stoppage-time made the winner.
“You make decisions throughout the season, you have to manage the workload of the players,” said the Norwegian manager. “The decision, for me, was the right one today.”
“We’ve got off to a better start than last season, but it’s still not what we wanted.”
Everton created plenty of chances in the early stages but fell short before half-time when surprise pick Anthony Martial scored his first Premier League goal since February from a Bruno Fernandes pass.
Solskjaer called on Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho 12 minutes after half-time as he wanted to put the game ahead of Rafael Benitez’s men, but Everton ruthlessly exposed United’s weaknesses in a counter-attack.
Demarai Gray won the ball back to the left and freed Abdoulaye Doukouré in midfield in an acre spot. Doucoure played in Andros Townsend to score his fifth goal in nine matches.
Townsend then performed a Ronaldo-style “siu” goal celebration, saying it was done in tribute to the Portuguese superstar, whom he called his “idol”.
Everton thought they had won it late, but Yeri Mina’s close-range finish from a Tom Davis pass was dismissed for offside after a VAR review.
Chelsea strike late
Chelsea had a miserable weekend on a high, with Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell striking late in their 3-1 win against Southampton, who are still without a league win this season.
Three points took the Stamford Bridge club to the top of the Premier League with 16 points, two clear of Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton.
Thomas Tuchel’s team, which was tipped by many to win the Premier League in the early weeks of the season, was well beaten by Manchester City last week and lost to Juventus in the Champions League midweek.
But they were back on their way to victory in London on Saturday, helped by a second-half red card for Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prause.
Trevoh Chaloba nodded to Chelsea for an early lead, but Ward-Prause leveled from the penalty spot just after the hour mark before being sent off for a dangerous tackle on Jorginho following a VAR check in the 77th minute.
Werner provided the deciding moment, Chilwell volleyed from close range to seal the win on 89 minutes before Cesar Azpilicueta slipped through the cross.
Tuchel told the BBC: “After two losses we had to be careful not to get too sad or too worried because we had a chance of getting 16 points.”
“It was important to do better than the last two matches, that we sharpened our mindset so that we were not afraid of losing. The way we played was good and got a deserved win.”
Leeds beat Watford 1–0 with the help of Diego Llorente’s first half, while Hwang Hee-chan struck twice as Wolves beat struggling Newcastle 2–1.
Norwich stopped the rot after six consecutive league losses against Burnley but they remained rock-bottom in the Premier League table with just one point after seven games.
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