A day after being hired as Leicester manager, Ruud van Nistelrooy witnessed at first hand the scale of his task to keep the team in the English Premier League.
Leicester was beaten at Brentford 4-1 on Saturday, with Van Nistelrooy sitting in the stands rather than in the dugout. He officially takes over as coach on Sunday after arriving as the replacement for the fired Steve Cooper.
Kevin Schade scored a hat trick and Yoane Wissa also netted for Brentford, which had to come from behind after Facunda Buonanotte’s 21st-minute opener.
Van Nistelrooy, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker, will begin his first full-time managerial role in English soccer with Leicester in 16th place in the 20-team league and just one point above the relegation zone.
Some history was made when Justin Kluivert converted a trio of penalties — in the third, 18th and 74th minutes — for Bournemouth in its 4-2 win at Wolverhampton. That had never been achieved before in a league game.
Newcastle lost Sweden striker Alexander Isak to a hip injury midway through the first half and then its lead in the fourth minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. Daniel Munoz scored Palace’s late equalizer after an own-goal by Marc Guehi.
Chris Wood smashed a penalty down the middle to earn Nottingham Forest a 1-0 win at home to Ipswich.
Arsenal can move into second place by beating West Ham away in the late game.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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