Anthony Martial has arrived. Just two minutes after Christian Benteke scored one of the best goals you’ll ever see, Martial answered with one of his own, nearly blowing the roof off Old Trafford in the process. On his Premier League debut, he sealed a win over Liverpool. Not a bad start.
Anthony Martial, the most expensive teenage footballer ever, looks the part
Plus the other things we learned from Saturday’s games in Week 4 of the Premier League.
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Elsewhere in the Premier League, Everton gave Chelsea some more reason to worry with a convincing win at Goodison Park, in which Steven Naismith scored a spectacular hat trick. Manchester City and Arsenal both held on for tough shutout wins, and look like the clear top two teams in the division at the moment.
Here are all the scores, plus four things we loved from Saturday’s action.
Saturday’s scores
Anthony Martial, the prodigy.
Credit: user penguin672232 on r/soccer
Yes, Manchester United are stupid for paying so much money for Martial. If they’d bid a month earlier, they could have had him at half the price. And yes, they are limiting their ability to challenge for the title by not signing a striker that’s more experienced and has a better goals record than him. But my god, look at that run and finish. That’s some Cristiano Ronaldo ish. That’s the kind of thing you expect from a guy who cost £36 million (55.5 million USD) up front with the potential to rise to £58 million.
Theo Walcott, the center forward.
Here is the striker version of usual winger Theo Walcott, who occasionally plays up top and says he would like to do so more, summed up in three tweets.
Finally a ball over the top to Theo comes off! He calmly slips it between Butland's legs.
— The Short Fuse (@TheShortFuse) September 12, 2015 Walcott probably should've scored that, there. Maybe wasn't expecting it to make it through, but.
— The Short Fuse (@TheShortFuse) September 12, 2015 Theo clean through, cannot beat Butland. Needs to just hit that low immediately.
— The Short Fuse (@TheShortFuse) September 12, 2015 Steven Naismith, the enigma.
During his career, Naismith has missed a lot of good chances. He’s really not a great finisher, and his mediocre goal-scoring record reflects this. So our Everton blog wasn’t too thrilled when he came on as a substitute for Muhamed Besic, who picked up an early injury.
Couldn't see the logic in bringing Naismith on myself, just put Kone back on the right and bring a winger on.
— Royal Blue Mersey (@RBMersey) September 12, 2015 Naismith went on to score a hat trick, and all three goals were high quality.
Glad Roberto did this! https://t.co/YbSPFpcVW7
— Royal Blue Mersey (@RBMersey) September 12, 2015 Naismith's movement is really top notch isn't it. When you watch him, he makes excellent runs.
— Royal Blue Mersey (@RBMersey) September 12, 2015 And that’s Naismith in a nutshell. Always making the right runs, rarely finishing. But when he’s finishing, he’s excellent.
Troy Deeney, the monster.
Credit: user punerisaiyan on r/soccer
I have repeatedly championed -- and will continue to champion -- the virtues of Watford forward Troy Deeney. He isn’t scoring in the Premier League like he did in the Championship, but he’s his team’s best player. Rarely is someone their team’s best forward, ball retainer, creator and defensive midfielder all at the same time, but Deeney is just that for Watford. This assist is sensational. Watch it repeatedly. He hits that header like Xavi hits balls on the ground.
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