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Manchester United’s 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal has been a turning point for the Red Devils, who have since managed to regain their way back to the top of the Premier League table.
Their loss to the Gunners dropped them to 15th place, six points behind European spots, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team matching their worst start in the Premier League (seven points after six games with David Moyes in 2013/14 ).
However, Manchester United have recovered in recent months and managed to rise to the top of the Premier League alongside Liverpool.
The Solskjaer effect
Last year, at the same point in the season, Manchester United came fifth, 27 points behind former Premier League leaders Liverpool.
“We have shown that we have improved a lot in one year,” Solskjaer explained after the 2-1 win over Aston Villa. “We lost to Arsenal last New Year’s Day. We have improved tremendously. We are getting fitter and stronger.
“These players are very old. They are learning and they are hungry to learn what is important. They come every day hungry and wanting to be the best on match day. They have been focused.”
A winning streak
Since losing to Arsenal, Manchester United have won eight times and drawn two, scoring 26 out of 30 available points. However, Solskjaer downplayed the talks about the title race, believing it is too early to discuss being Premier League contenders.
“There is no title race after 15 games,” Solskjaer recently stressed. “You can lose a chance to be in a race in the first 10 games. But play another 15, get to 30, and then maybe we can start talking about a title race.”
Dominant figures again
In the first six matchdays, Manchester United had lost more games (three) than they had won (two), conceding 2.1 goals per game (13) and scoring just 1.5 goals (nine).
However, in the last 10 games, he has scored 2.4 goals per game (24 in total) to become the second best attack in the Premier League with 33 goals, behind only Liverpool (37).
Rashford, McTominay and the juniors
Solskjaer has given the go-ahead to 11 youth players, putting his trust in the young prodigies, most of whom have paid him this year.
“I think for us we can’t look very far,” Marcus Rashford, who has scored seven goals and assisted four this season, told Amazon Prime in December.
“We are a team that is still working hard on ourselves and staring at the table so early in the season is kind of stupid of us.
“We have to play one game at a time and if we can continue to find ways to win like this, we will see where we are at the end of the season.”
A permanent team … and Bruno Fernandes
Players such as Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, David De Gea, Fred and Scott McTominay have established themselves in the starting eleven and have already recorded more than 500 minutes on the pitch.
The Portuguese midfielder is the player who has stood out the most since his arrival, having scored or assisted in eight of Manchester United’s last 10 Premier League games.
Since arriving from Sporting CP in February, he has been involved in 33 goals, scoring 19 and assisting 14 others, in 30 Premier League games.
Best Manchester United since 2017
The last time the Red Devils sat second in the Premier League table after 16 games was in 2017/18 with José Mourinho.
Back then, they were 11 points behind Manchester City, but now they have accumulated the same number of points as Liverpool, being second on goal difference.
Manchester United have not won the Premier League since 2012/13 and have failed to lift any trophies since winning the 2016/17 Europa League with Mourinho.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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