These are becoming more rare as the seasons pass in the city of Manchester where Manchester City lose and Manchester United win over a weekend. City fell to Tottenham in dramatic circumstances and United finally looked like strong candidates for 4th place, they even have an outside chance of 3rd. In their game against Leeds there seemed to be a shift in the team, a rallying cry that the club have needed all season and now they have back to back wins and 5 goals in their past two games. True Leeds may not be the benchmark that Ralf Rangnick's side can be judged on but the amount of points thrown away this season has been a worry.
A psychologist has been brought in by Rangnick to address why the club keep throwing away games and the same was happening at Elland Road. But now it seemed even worse. Normally the Red Devils would go one goal up and then get pegged back, this time they had gone two up and there seemed no way out. The game was a swashbuckling affair and a throwback to when these two teams would fight it out in the 1970s. In the 67th minute Fred was introduced and 180 seconds later he had made it 3-2. United found a gear that had been missing for much of the season and Anthony Elanga killed off any spirited hopes Leeds had by making it 4-2. Rare is it to see a game in which 4 goals are scored with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side and the Portguese doesn't score but the most important thing was the clubs reaction. They play Watford next, the same club that became the final straw for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure at the club and revenge will be on the cards at Old Trafford.
Tottenham seem to be the bogey team over Manchester City as they have beaten Pep Guardiola's side six times from the last 11 meetings and done the double over them this season. Once Tottenham had taken the lead there was something in the air that Antonio Conte's side were going to walk away with the 3 points. In a frantic and chaotic final five minutes of the game Tottenham led 2-1 but City made it 2-2 through a penalty, game over, surely? Not quite and Harry Kane got his second goal and the winner from the final moment. Kane the striker that City so badly wanted and needed last summer had come up trumps for the Londoners and was a reminder even in a superb season for City that they are missing world class quality up front.
City's first defeat in almost 4 months has let in Liverpool. In most seasons it wouldn't have mattered, City would have been 15 points clear with the consistency they have showed but both them and Liverpool for three seasons now have upped that bar and dropped points are much more significant. Liverpool had a scare of their own at home to Norwich when they went behind but powered through to come back and win 3-1. New signing Luis Diaz scored his debut goal and they are just six points behind the champions with a game in hand. The league title has opened up and it is all to play for.
Premier League winners: Manchester City 1.15, Liverpool 4.33, Chelsea 101.00
Though it is far from confirmed one team who look to have blown their chance to finish 4th is West Ham. The Hammers could only draw at home to Newcastle and they finished the weekend in 5th place but are now four points behind 4th placed Manchester United. Arsenal are in 6th but have the same points as the Hammers and have 3 games in hand, Wolves have two games in hand and Tottenham also have three. All of the clubs have the potential to fly past David Moyes side and it wouldn't be a surprise if they did so.
Everton lost for the 13th time this season, 8 of those away from home and after losing 2-0 at Southampton the Toffees are bottom of the league when it comes to away form. Thankfully for them they are not bottom overall but there is a real threat they could be relegated after Watford and Burnley in the bottom three both won. Frank Lampard's team are 4 points in front of 18th, which in theory is 5 once you look at the goal difference and Watford have played a game more. So it doesn't look like all doom and gloom once you see the teams the club have to play. It doesn't get any harder than their next game against Manchester City but March includes fixtures against Tottenham (A), Wolves (H), Newcastle (H) and Watford (A). It is clear already that nothing much has changed when Everton play away from home and Lampard has a huge job on his hands as it will be their home form that will give them any chance of staying up. Everton are a best priced 6.00 to go down, can they next weekend spring a surprise on Manchester City all the while whilst inadvertently helping out their derby rivals Liverpool? This Premier League tale has many more stories to come in the next 90 days.
© Copyright topfootballtipster.com 2019
