Man United's mixed fortunes see shocking results on the pitch, stunning drama off it

Article content

This is where things can get interesting from top to bottom of the table, with so many games packed into the festive period.

You typically wouldn’t look to the 13th-placed team to be the most interesting, but Manchester United has had a week.

It’s a Christmas tradition to play extra games over the holiday season, just as it’s becoming tradition to dissect the newest United drama.

First the Red Devils faced civic rival Manchester City away from home and dropped two of their most-heralded young players, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho — not just from the pitch, but from the full team.

Then they scored two stunningly late goals to come from behind and beat their rivals to win 2-1.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

On the heels of that, Rashford — Manchester-born and raised through their fabled academy since he was a school boy, having joined the club at the age of seven — gave an interview saying he’s looking for a fresh challenge and wanted to leave.

United’s new manager Ruben Amorim may secretly be relishing this, he can lose a legacy problem, how to get the most of out a disenfranchised prodigal son, get a big fee, and start building the team with players he wants. If that starts in a couple of weeks when the transfer window opens, then more the better.

This is a familiar story at Manchester United in recent seasons. Jesse Lingard, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba are all recent examples of young players with boatloads of promise who flopped for reasons largely blamed on distractions off the field and disinterest on it.

The picture looks a lot less rosy if City doesn’t gift United the late win, but those three measly points have fans thinking Amorim is the latest saviour to catapult the team back into contention.

United now plays a tricky Bournemouth team, which surprisingly sits in sixth and hasn’t lost in four, before getting second-to-last Wolves on Boxing Day.

The message to the whole squad with Rashford and expensive acquisition Garnacho sacrificed is that you’re going to have to fight for your place. Against Man City, that’s exactly what happened. Sustaining it will be the next clue on if Amorim is finally the man for that job.

City in shambles

Manchester City’s United collapse was just another puzzling performance from the reigning champions.

The Citizens have one win in their past seven league games and sit nine points off leaders Liverpool, which also have a game in hand. This City team has been so good you’d never write them off before Christmas has arrived, but it’s hard to see it climbing over so many teams at this point.

Manager Pep Guardiola has admitted he’s losing sleep and doesn’t have answers as to how to get off this slide.

Erling Haaland’s goals have dried up and there doesn’t seem to be anyone else who can step into the void to drag this team out of their slump.

There’s a preponderance of players over 30 — Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan – who looked finished, and a few others, like Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, who still have moments when they look capable, but don’t trust their teammates.

A trip to tricky Aston Villa and hosting plucky Everton on Boxing Day would normally be six points in the bank, but with the whole team out of form you can’t count on anything from City at the moment.

The decision from the 115 financial charges still is hanging over its head and you have to wonder if that’s going to impact spending when the January transfer window opens, but it’s clear the team needs to get younger if Guardiola is going to rebuild to set up for continued success as he stated when he signed a two-year contract extension last month.

Chelsea charging

The London Blues are two points behind Liverpool, having played one game more, having won five in a row and are unbeaten in eight. Their most recent loss was at Liverpool on Oct. 20.

With new manager Enzo Maresca taking charge in the summer and the team having such a stunning spend the past few transfer windows, spending over $1.6 billion on players, it was thought Chelsea were a year or more away from putting it all together.

But they’re storming up the table, have only lost twice all season and have scored the most goals in the Premier League.

This Christmas period could set Chelsea up very well. First up is Everton, which sits in 16th and, though they’re tough to breakdown, they’ve scored the second-fewest goals in the whole league.

After a tricky home match against Fulham on Boxing Day, Chelsea plays Ipswich (18th), Crystal Palace (15th), Bournemouth and Wolves (19th).

They Blues will pile heat on Liverpool, they have a soft schedule and are scoring goals for fun. Oh, and don’t discount them spending another bank vault full of cash this transfer window.

Loss leaders

Going into this season, everyone thought Manchester City would win again, but if there was a squad to challenge, most thought it would be Arsenal.

While Liverpool has been top of the table most of the season — they’ve still lost only one game — and most thought a new manager Arne Slot would need a season to adjust to the Premier League.

But both leaders have slipped the past couple of weeks, drawing a pair of games they should have won, and those four points dropped have opened the door for Chelsea.

Both teams won midweek to get to the semifinals of the Carabao Cup and both face a busy European schedule once the Champions League resumes in January. So this Christmas period will be crucial for the Reds to stay on top and for Arsenal to stick within striking distance of both Liverpool and Chelsea.

Arsenal has a cupcake schedule with Crystal Palace and Ipswich before Brentford and Brighton through the New Year’s double-dollop of games.

Liverpool’s task is a little trickier: Spurs away — who are just as capable of winning 4-0 as they are of losing 4-0 these days — then Leicester, West Ham and Manchester United.

Liverpool has been a stunning story over the first five months of the season, but squandering such a big lead will weigh heavily on them. The game in hand, at Everton, won’t be easy to get all three points from and they need someone besides Mo Salah to come through with goals in big moments.

The Reds were the victim of some horrible officiating last week in the 2-2 draw with Fulham, though the red card to Andy Robertson that saw them play 84 minutes with 10 men, was well deserved.

But the team was run ragged to just get a point out of it and with the smallest squad of all the teams at the top and remaining in every competition they qualified for, the risk of dead legs and fatigue is a real one.

This week’s slate

Saturday: Aston Villa v. Manchester City; Brentford v. Nottingham Forest; Ipswich v. Newcastle; West Ham v. Brighton; Crystal Palace v. Arsenal.

Sunday: Everton v. Chelsea; Fulham v. Southampton; Leicester v. Wolves; Manchester United v. Bournemouth; Tottenham v. Liverpool.

Thursday: Manchester City v. Everton; Bournemouth v. Crystal Palace; Chelsea v. Fulham; Newcastle v. Aston Villa; Nottingham Forest v. Tottenham; Southampton v. West Ham; Wolves v. Manchester United; Liverpool v. Leicester,