Cristiano Ronaldo has passed the 800-goal mark for club and country, scoring twice, as Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-2 in an incident-packed Premier League match.
In the 13th minute, Arsenal took the lead in bizarre fashion from a corner, when United keeper David De Gea went down clutching his foot, after teammate Fred stood on him and Emile Smith Rowe drilled a shot into the unguarded goal from the edge of the box.
As referee Martin Atkinson had not blown his whistle before the ball went into the net and no foul had taken place, the goal stood.
United drew level a minute before the interval through a Bruno Fernandes strike and took the lead in the 52nd minute, when Ronaldo converted a low cross from Marcus Rashford for his 800th goal.
The Gunners struck back quickly through Martin Odegaard, but Ronaldo got the winner from the penalty spot, after Atkinson went to the pitchside monitor and ruled that Fred had been brought down by Odegaard.
The match began with United fans displaying a tribute banner to former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was sacked last month. New interim manager Ralf Rangnick watched the game from the stands.
Earlier, Tottenham Hotspur shook off a difficult week with a confident 2-0 win over Brentford to climb into the top six, as new manager Antonio Conte enjoyed a second successive Premier League home victory.
Ben Davies' header deflected off Brentford's Sergi Canos to give the hosts an early lead and Son Heung-min underlined their superiority, when he made it 2-0 in the 65th minute.
A week after an embarrassing Europa Conference League group-stage defeat at Slovenian minnows NS Mura and four days after a fruitless trip to Burnley for a game that was postponed, due to snow, Spurs produced their best 90 minutes under Conte so far.
A high-tempo display against Thomas Frank's team should have brought more goals, but Tottenham enjoyed a satisfactory night, even if Harry Kane's league scoring struggles continue.
Spurs have 22 points from 13 games, while Brentford, who could have moved above their opponents with victory in the London derby, now sit in 12th place with 16 points
Reuters.
