SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) -New signing Matthijs de Ligt grabbed his first goal for Manchester United while Marcus Rashford scored for the first time since March in a 3-0 Premier League victory at Southampton on Saturday after a shaky start to the season.
Alejandro Garnacho added a late goal for Erik ten Hag’s side who started the day 14th in the standings after back-to-back losses. They now have six points from four matches while newly promoted Southampton remain without a point.
Southampton dominated early on but squandered a chance to take the lead in the 34th minute after United goalkeeper Onana saved Cameron Archer’s poor penalty, sparking an immediate shift in momentum at St Mary’s Stadium.
A minute later, De Ligt headed in a sumptuous ball from Bruno Fernandes after Christian Eriksen’s short corner.
“I think if you get three points from three games it’s not enough so there was some pressure, but I think today we played very well,” said De Ligt, a summer signing from Bayern Munich.
Rashford, who had gone 13 games without a goal, then ended his drought when he was left unmarked on the edge of the box to bend a diagonal shot in the far corner in the 41st.
Ten Hag had been criticised for starting Rashford but he has stuck by the much-maligned 26-year-old — who had not found the back of the net since United’s 2-0 win over Everton on March 9 — saying pre-game that Rashford needed only a goal or an assist and “then he will fly”.
“It’s very important,” the Dutchman said after the win. “It is so huge for him, for every striker, when the season starts you want to be on the scoring list. Now he has his first, I’m sure more will come.”
Archer’s penalty miss spoiled a stellar first league start for Southampton’s Tyler Dibling. The 18-year-old, who had scored for England’s Under-19 side in a loss to Germany four days earlier, drew the penalty when he dribbled at Diogo Dalot only to be taken down by the defender in the box.
That was the turning point, as the hosts were almost immediately punished for the miss but goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale tipped a low shot from Joshua Zirkzee just wide of the net.
“It was a turning point for us,” Onana said. “I’m happy for the guys, we had a great game, now we move on.”
What started as a solid afternoon for Southampton had a wretched ending as Russell Martin’s side failed to register a shot after the missed penalty and were reduced to 10 men in the 79th minute when defender Jack Stephens was sent off for a high tackle on Garnacho.
The Argentine forward smashed the ball in with almost the last kick of the game to seal the win for the visitors.
United finished with 20 shots to the home side’s six.
(Reporting by Lori EwingEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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