Premier League hits and misses: Manchester United’s strong chin, Manchester City’s killer instinct | Football news

Keep calm and move on – it’s the United way

2:59

This Manchester United team still does a lot of things wrong, but one thing they have off the tee is being able to take a hit. They have a strong chin.

Ademola Lookman was the last opposition player to score the first goal in a United game, meaning the league leaders have won seven Premier League matches after falling behind this season. That equates to 21 points collected from losing positions, 11 more than the next best record, posted by Liverpool.

Giving in first seems to be when United feels most comfortable. That pressure to go chase a game brings out his talent for changing the game. At Fulham, Edinson Cavani and Paul Pogba rose to the occasion, with outstanding performances backed by a quality finish.

As we get closer to the middle of this insane season, United obviously need to show more components than just keeping calm in games to sustain a title bid. But one thing going for them is their maximum level: they haven’t reached it yet. There’s certainly more to come from a team that has yet to really put on that “wow” performance that stinks of a potential title winner. There is sure to be one soon around the corner.

However, ‘Keep calm and carry on’ will be the message for now.
Lewis jones

The city shows the winning touch that champions need

3:19

Manchester City have been flying for some time now and a sixth consecutive Premier League victory brought them to the top of the table on Wednesday night, albeit only while they waited for Manchester United to catch up.

The form of their victory over a good Aston Villa team was more impressive than just three other points that superficially brought them to the championship position.

In both pits, City did what it had to do, something they haven’t done enough for the past year and a half. Their slow start to the season was largely due to their failure to kill off-side matches – they scored only once to draw with West Ham, West Brom and Leeds, and none at all when they defeated 2-0 at Tottenham in November.

It looked like it could be an equally frustrating night against Villa to stop his rise up the table, but they had the winning touch that you need to get three points when you’re not at your best.

How many times in their consecutive title-winning seasons did we see them dig it up late? Remember Sterling versus Southampton, even Kompany versus Leicester? Perhaps Silva against Aston Villa will have its own page in their history books if they are at the top of the list at the end of the season.

There is a long way to go, but with Ruben Dias and John Stones looking for the solid partnership that no one could have predicted and goals starting to flow again in attack, even without Sergio Agüero, City are as much in the mix as they have been for long time.
Ron Walker

Everything but the Fulham goal

Scott Parker is a manager with his heart on his sleeve. He couldn’t hide the frustration he felt at seeing Ruben Loftus-Cheek squander two fantastic opportunities to equalize Manchester United. He knows opportunities like the ones Fulham is creating must start to fall and the Cottagers must turn applause into points.

Defensively everything is quite optimistic with a good form for Fulham’s game, while in midfield, with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa at heart, they hit the ball with great confidence. However, it is in the box that they fall apart. Since their 2-1 win over Leicester in November, they have scored just four goals, the lowest performance of any Premier League team during that span.

Loftus-Cheek was the culprit this time, further enhancing the failure within his game in front of goal. A player in his position, with that kind of talent, should have more than 10 Premier League goals to his name in 90 appearances.
Lewis jones

Stratford finally a happy house of the Hammers

3:01

One thing that has understandably been lost in the wonder of West Ham’s form this season is how they finally, finally, turned London Stadium into a fortress.

It would be unfair to suggest that all the Hammers needed to improve their form at home was to play in front of an empty stadium because their form has also relied on 14 points from nine away games.

But back-to-back victories at Stratford, so much weight around the club’s neck for so long, means that only Liverpool and Manchester City have accumulated more points at home.

A lot of that comes down to removing her soft belly. Things were looking good when Jarrod Bowen hit his chest in an injury-time opener against a West Brom with new confidence Tuesday night, but by the time Matheus Pereira tied five minutes after halftime, one he wondered if it was a family capitulation.

Not this time. Having weathered the storm for a few minutes, Declan Rice came close twice before Michail Antonio spun sixpence to shoot a wonderful winner.

Antonio, 30, deserves his own mention. Bigger, perhaps better, attacking players have come to London Stadium to take West Ham to the next level. He has fired them all. At his best, when he’s fit, he’s capable of leading the line for a team heading to Europe. And the signs increasingly suggest that the team behind him is good enough to get there, too.
Ron Walker