This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
16 Premier League games played this season, and already 22 points off league leaders and arch-rivals Liverpool. On the face of it, Manchester United have endured a pretty disappointing campaign so far, but when looking at where their points have been won and lost, it becomes just that more eye-brow raising.
After a glorious week in which the Red Devils pulled off superb victories against Tottenham and Manchester City, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are back in the hunt for a top-four place. They now find themselves just five points off Chelsea who currently occupy that final qualifying spot for the Champions League. They are very much in the race to return to the glitz and glamour of European football’s elite competition, and that has largely been thanks to their sensational record against the big-six under their Norwegian manager.
The United legend has been in charge of 13 games against the league’s fellow top sides, and he has masterminded an impressive seven victories in them. The Red Devils have tasted defeat just twice in those contests, both of them coming against Arsenal and City last season. As well as his impressive win ratio in these fixtures, Solskjaer has also ensured his team are hard to break down, conceding just 11 times.
So just how is it possible that the side still find themselves out of the top four at the moment? The notion always used to be that games against your rivals would often dictate where you finish, but the way the Manchester side are currently going, it is their results against the division’s lesser lights that could threaten to spoil their party this season. Damaging defeats to the likes of Crystal Palace and Newcastle have ensured there is still a major question mark over whether they can return to the Champions League for next year.
No clues: Can you name the Man Utd result purely based on these images? Give it a go now…
The fact that Solskjaer appears to have sussed out how to pick up valuable points in his side’s most difficult fixtures whether it be home or away means he has no excuse whatsoever not to guide United into the top four. Games against ‘easier’ opposition should be a virtual guarantee of three points for the Red Devils, whilst any kind of result against their fellow big-six should be seen as a bonus. Instead, the opposite is seemingly true for them. If the Norwegian boss can’t figure out a way to rectify that, then their failure will really be on his shoulders.
Meanwhile, Manchester United fans laud this ace after his monstrous display against Manchester City.
