Such is the gulf between Manchester City and Manchester United that it almost feels cruel to gloat once more at United. Ahead of the derby at the weekend it seemed just as inevitable that the Red Devils would be out played and lose under Ralf Rangnick just like they were under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earlier in the season. And so it came to pass Kevin De Bruyne put on one of his very special shows, scoring two goals- the first came in under 300 seconds from the kick off and City ran out 4-1 winners. In truth the game was closer in the first half but City showed their authority in the second as United registered no shots on target and overall City completed over 700 passes and have taken a six point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester United have conceded 6 goals against their neighbours this season and while they can only dream about heading the table once again, their chances of 4th place is under major threat now and to be fair if this United side were able to finish 4th what would it say about the Premier League this season? Because one would think consistency gets you a top four place and United have been far from that. In other news concerning the club reports suggest that Marcus Rashford may be looking to leave the club but perhaps it should be the other way round and United should put him on the transfer list? Rashford's level has gone down remarkably this season although in his defence he has had some injuries and not always been selected to play. But at the end of the day 5 goals from 24 appearances in all competitions is poor. Take last season where he scored 21 goals and the season before 22, he likely won't even register double figures this season. When Rashford has been given the opportunity we have only witnessed flashes of his brilliance and his body language has been all wrong. It is only a thought but United could still get very good money for Rashford if he were to be sold.
Arsenal will be the favourites to take the final Champions League position as they head into the middle of March in 4th place, a point ahead of 5th placed Manchester United and have 3 games in hand over them. Though it isn't that simple when you look at those games in hand because they have to play Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool. The race for 4th is still between four teams and there will be a lot of twists and turns yet but for now the Gunners will be the favoured team.
To finish in the top 4: Arsenal 1.62, Tottenham 3.25, Manchester United 6.00, West Ham 21.00, Wolves 201.00
These remain desperate times for Everton a club who have not been relegated for 70 years and on Monday evening it got worse for them as they were smashed 5-0 at Tottenham. In truth the match was never going to be easy but no one at Everton would have expected such a rout and once it went 3-0 the Toffees seemed to lose heart. One has to worry about Frank Lampard now, was he really the right manager to take Everton forward? In a sense when the list of candidates came down to himself Victor Pereira and Duncan Ferguson, he was the best option, but perhaps Everton have been short sighted and should have looked further afield. Of course time was of the essence and it is easy to say Lampard isn't the right manager in hindsight. The statistics do not look good though, he has overseen 5 league games and lost 4 of them conceding 11 goals in the process, his win rate is 43% in all competitions. This coming weekend Everton have their own cup final and will have to beat Wolves at home or face huge problems. The only upside to the Tottenham defeat was that Burnley just below the Toffees have lost their last two games and Leeds also lost at the weekend, not the greatest start for new manager Jesse Marsch.
Finally when we look at the teams in form we see the normal cluster of Manchester City, Liverpool etc but the 2nd best team in the league right now in terms of form is Newcastle. Has a club who have been in the bottom three come January ever shown this type of form before? Of course the injection of money helped in the winter transfer window but the Magpies have gone their last 8 games unbeaten and seem like they will be the next big force within a few seasons.
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