Manchester: Manchester United’s perfect start to the season ended with a 2-2 draw at Stoke City, whose battling performance in a see-saw game denied the leaders a fourth successive Premier League victory, Saturday.
Stoke set out to stretch United with long balls wide and took the lead in the 43rd minute when Darren Fletcher found Mame Diouf, whose whipped cross was bundled over the line by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. It was the Cameroonian’s first goal for Stoke and the first United had conceded this season.
Jose Mourinho’s men probably spared themselves a half time dressing down over their poor defending by bouncing back two minutes later with a bizarre equaliser that cannoned into the net off the back of Marcus Rashford’s head from Paul Pogba’s forceful header.
United have shown their resilience by scoring consistently after the break and took the lead on 57 minutes with Romelu Lukaku’s fourth league goal of the season.
But Stoke would not be beaten and, after Jese had been denied by David de Gea’s instinctive save, Choupo-Moting scored his second with a far-post header from a corner.
Both keepers pulled off excellent saves late on as the action pinged between both areas and Lukaku should have done better when close in on goal with almost the final kick of the game.
Mourinho blamed the international break for a United showing that failed to match the high-octane performances that preceded it. United are now joint leaders with Manchester City on 10 points.
reuters
