United must prove they’re contenders and not pretenders
The fight for the 2020/21 Premier League title has heightened with Manchester City now at the top of the table. Liverpool have regained their form, and Manchester United will be looking to prove that their good form was not a fluke after failing to win in the last two games.
The Red Devils will also want to prove that the 1:2 loss to bottom-placed Sheffield United at Old Trafford was just a blip and nothing more.
If it’s not, then title contention is over for the Red side of Manchester. We’ll get to know when they face Southampton at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The race for the title has seen many teams occupy the top spot. However, in my opinion, I still believe that the noteworthy title contenders for the season remain Manchester City and Liverpool.
I don’t believe that the rest of the teams chasing the laurel are good enough and have the grit to wrestle the title away from these two sides.
The Premier League season has reached the stage where all points count and it’s almost impossible to imagine Pep Guardiola’s men dropping points in a game where they are overwhelming favorites.
Liverpool who seemed to be struggling in past weeks have also returned to winning ways in their last games away to two formidable sides in Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham. This speaks volumes of the quality and intentions they have for the season.
I don’t think the same can be said for the other supposed title contenders such as Man United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Leicester City. It can be recalled that they all failed to garner maximum points on the previous matchday.
Leicester lost 3:1 to Leeds United at the King Power, Spurs lost 1 nil away to Brighton whilst Man United drew goalless against Arsenal at the Emirates.
Man United’s case calls for concern! They are yet to beat any of the traditional top 4 sides in the Premier League this season.
I’ve seen cases where folks suggest that beating the lower sides is the key. However, when other title rivals beat both big and small sides and all you do is beat only the small sides, you’re disadvantaged. Afterall. you aren’t even exceptional in beating the supposed small sides.
We saw how Man City struggled when the season started. However, they now lead the log and have a game in hand and this is because they’ve also been decent against the big sides, same with Liverpool.
This is not the case with the Red Devils and they’d have to improve on this to stand a chance in the race against resurgent sides in Liverpool and Manchester City. Meanwhile, there is still the question of if the loss to Sheffield United at Old Trafford was a fluke or not.
We’ll know when they welcome Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton to the same venue on Tuesday night, and hopefully, they emerge from the game with all three points.
