Manchester United have staged a rousing second-half comeback to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the Premier League after conceding two goals inside 26 minutes at Old Trafford.
In the first game since British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe agreed to buy a stake of up to 25 per cent of the 20-time league champions, Erik ten Hag’s team made a dreadful start and were booed by their own fans in the first half on Wednesday (AEDT).
Villa appeared to be heading level on points with league leaders Liverpool, who earlier won 2-0 at Burnley, after goals from John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker put them 2-0 up. But United found a rousing response in the second half with Argentine Alejandro Garnacho scoring twice before Rasmus Hojlund won it in the 82nd minute.
The atmosphere completely changed after the break with two goals from teenager Garnacho and a left-foot volley from 20-year-old Danish striker Hojlund, who had gone 16 games without finding the net in domestic competition despite finishing United's ill-fated Champions League campaign as their top scorer.
"I'm the happiest man alive right now - you can see in the celebrations as well," Hojlund told Amazon Prime.
"I'm happy to get the first one and now hopefully I can keep going.
"We believe until the end and we showed a lot of character again today."
The result was badly needed for the Red Devils after four games without a win, or even a goal.
Liverpool's 2-0 road win at Burnley moved them two points above Arsenal, who host West Ham on Thursday.
After back-to-back league draws with the Gunners and Manchester United, the Reds dominated at Turf Moor and took the lead after six minutes with a well-struck Darwin Nunez goal. A series of chances were spurned, wiped out by VAR, or thudded against the bar, before, in the 90th minute, the returning Diego Jota secured their seventh successive Boxing Day victory.
"We’ve created a lot of chances recently and haven’t used an awful lot of them but in the end it’s about performing," Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.
"We’ve played four games in 10 days and you just have to get through it."
At the other end of the table, Nottingham Forest climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to a hat-trick by New Zealand captain Chris Wood in the 3-1 win over Newcastle United.
The hosts had taken the lead at St James' Park through a 23rd-minute Alexander Isak penalty.
Wood levelled in first-half added time and then scored twice in seven minutes early in the second half to snap a seven-match winless league run and give new manager Nuno Espirito Santo his first win at the club.
The former Magpie's treble meant Luton Town stayed in the bottom three despite a 3-2 win at Sheffield United.
The match at Brammall Lane was notable for being the first Premier League match to be officiated by a black referee for 15 years in Sam Allison. However, this landmark was soured by Luton's Carlton Morris being racially abused by a Blades fan with the incident reported to police.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth continued their fine form with a 3-0 defeat of Fulham on the south coast.
With agencies.
