Manchester: Manchester United were denied by a spirited Stoke City performance as Joe Allen pounced late to secure the visitors their first point at Old Trafford since 1989 in a deserved 1-1 Premier League draw.
United thought they had done enough when substitute Anthony Martial put them ahead on 69 minutes, two minutes after coming off the bench, with a curling shot from the edge of the area that beat Stoke’s excellent keeper Lee Grant.
But Allen, who should have scored earlier, struck from close range in the 82nd minute after David De Gea fumbled a Glen Johnson effort and Jonathan Walters’ shot came back off the bar.
Although Paul Pogba hit the bar late on, the visitors earned their draw with a backs-to-the-wall showing that moved them off the bottom of the table.
Liverpool recovered from a poor start to beat Swansea City 2-1 and move second in the Premier League table Saturday and Chelsea got back to winning ways at Hull City.
Outplayed for half the match by struggling Swansea and trailing to an early goal by Leroy Fer, Liverpool were a different proposition after the break and took the points thanks to a late James Milner penalty.
Liverpool, for whom Roberto Firmino equalised nine minutes after halftime, have won five of their opening seven matches and are on 16 points, two behind leaders Manchester City.
Chelsea, who had suffered back-to-back defeats by Liverpool and Arsenal, were held by Hull for an hour before curling shots from Willian and Diego Costa secured a 2-0 win that moved Antonio Conte’s side into sixth spot with 13 points.
Costa leads the Premier League scoring chart with six goals, although it was Chelsea’s defending that would have most pleased manager Antonio Conte after they had leaked seven goals in their last three games.
Reuters
