Weekend recap: Liverpool back on track, Man Utd into 4th but Man City steal the show

We continue our weekend review by looking at how Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United did over the weekend, following on from today’s article on Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.

Liverpool

After consecutive draws against Leicester and West Ham, Liverpool got back to winning ways after beating Bournemouth 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday, moving back to the top of the league [for 24 hours]. Sadio Mane opened the scoring after 24 minutes with a header before Georginio Wijnaldum doubled their lead when he lobbed the ‘keeper 10 minutes later with a superb goal. Mo Salah put the finishing touches on the win just after half-time when he combined well with Roberto Firmino and finished expertly. And, in truth, Liverpool could have had four, five or six, but they couldn’t manage to really put Bournemouth to the sword.

Liverpool did move back to the top of the league after their win but are now second again after Manchester City won on Sunday. But the Reds are level on points with the Premier League champions and have a game in hand so they’re still in the driving seat in the title race. It’s going to be a fascinating battle between now and the end of the season. Liverpool have 12 games left: 11 wins and a draw would see them guaranteed to win the title, regardless of what City do. That’s a tall order, of course, but they only have to do that if City don’t drop any more points.

Manchester City

Manchester City put in an incredible performance on Sunday, beating Chelsea 6-0 at the Etihad. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick, which was his 11th for the club in the Premier League. He’s now tied with Alan Shearer for the most hat-trick in the Premier League, which is incredible. Raheem Sterling scored twice, while Ilkay Gundogan also got in on the act.

Man City took the lead after just three minutes when Sterling fired home and by the 25th minute, it was 4-0. It was unbelievable to watch. It wasn’t even that Chelsea were absolutely awful – though it’s not like they were brilliant – but City just had far too much for them and walked through the Londoners time after time. It really looked like City would score every time they attacked.

Pep Guardiola’s men are now back on top of the Premier League table with their impressive win. They’re top on goal difference; leading Liverpool by 10 goals, but it’s clear City are not about to relinquish their Premier League crown without a fight. This title race could go down to the wire.

Manchester United

The Ole Gunnar Solskjaer party continues at Manchester United, as a 3-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday has moved them into the top four. Paul Pogba scored twice, either side of an Anthony Martial goal. Fulham had some moments, but United were never really in trouble and won comfortably. Martial scored the pick of the goals: running from his own half, taking on two Fulham players and finishing low past Sergio Rico. Pogba’s first was also impressive: he smashed into the top corner from a tight angle, while he also scored a penalty.

Man United are now back in the top four, which is incredible considering where they were a couple of months ago. They really were down in the dumps under Jose Mourinho, playing terrible football and suffering crisis after crisis. Finishing in the top four seemed impossible at that stage. But they’ve turned things around and now look really strong. It’s going to take a huge effort from Arsenal or Chelsea to beat United to fourth if they continue to play as they have under Solskjaer so far.

However, United have some really tough games coming up, beginning with PSG in the Champions League tomorrow night. They then play Chelsea in the FA Cup next Monday, while their next league game comes the weekend after against Liverpool at Old Trafford. United will be absolutely desperate to win that one and dent their biggest rivals’ title challenge.

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This article was written by PremPlace. You can see their website by clicking here.