Over a day since the final whistle and I still can’t believe United pulled it off. United escaped with a 3-2 win over noisy neighbours Manchester City in a match where City could have wrapped up the title had they won the game. It is a match that will go down in history as one of the classic games of the Premier League era.
ONE OF EUROPE’S BEST DEFENCES
Since the start of the season, this Manchester United team have not conceded three goals in a match in all competitions. It is a stunning statistic considering the fact that it is not April and only a handful of matches remain before the season closes. Only Barcelona comes close but even the Catalans conceded thrice in the Spanish Super Cup at the start of the season. Credit to extension of this record against City goes to some extraordinary goalkeeping yet again from David De Gea and a plethora of chances missed by Raheem Sterling.
MARTIAL AS EFFECTIVE AS SANE
In the second period of the game, consensus Young Player of the Year favorite Leroy Sane’s stats read: 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 shots and 0 dribbles. Sane was as effective as Anthony Martial was in the second half and the latter was only on the bench. Antonio Valencia did well against Sane in the second period after looking uncomfortable more once in the first period when City overran the United midfield time and time again.
SANCHEZ FINDING FORM
Alexis Sanchez was the key to United’s comeback. The first goal was all Sanchez as he did incredibly well to escape his marker and put in a pin point cross into Herrera whose genius released Paul Pogba. Sanchez naturally got the assists for the second and third goals for United with some superb bit of crossing. Sanchez now has a goal and three assists in his last two games and seems to have finally found his form from last season. United fans will now be hoping for more consistency from the Chilean.
TALK OF THE WEEK
Paul Pogba was in the papers for all the wrong reasons heading into the game and the player ensured that it remained that way but for positive reasons. It was an amazing performance from United’s Frenchman in the second period as he controlled the game brilliantly and got two goals and ended a 20 week goal drought. Perfect performance to come out of a rut in form.
IT’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER
News broke earlier today that the City squad had kitted out their kids in full kits and the club had even planned fireworks and party decorations in anticipation of a title victory. It was a victory of epic proportions that spoiled City’s party as Guardiola lost two consecutive games for the first time since 2016, City let a 2-0 advantage at home slip for the first time since Liverpool at home in 2008 and United inflicted the first home defeat for City since Conte’s Chelsea in August 2016. The win means United now has nineteen points out of a possible 27 against the top 6 teams. A marked improvement from last campaign.