Manchester City has clearly been the best team in the English Premier League and they showed it again over the weekend. They had the easy 3-0 win versus Burnley and created a five-point gap at the top. Aguero scored a penalty to open the scoring in the 30th minute. The goal makes him tied for the all-time leading scorer at the club.
Manchester City dominated the game in every aspect like they have done the last couple of weeks. Add the factor of Burnley being a team that likes to play without the ball, which made the encounter especially one-sided. Manchester city had 77% of possession created 18 shots and had 90% passing success and even beat Burnley in most Aerial duels (which is what Burnley is known for).
Smaller teams in England are having difficulty playing this City side because they pay so well with the ball. We saw another masterful performance from Kevin de Bruyne who got so much time to pick the passes throughout the game. This included the perfect through ball to Sane when he scored the third goal. Speaking of Sane, his running of the left-hand side was crucial in the game and was probably the best player on the field. The young German is finally looking elite like he did when he broke into the scene at Schalke 04. In the game, he scored and assisted continuing his pace to be the best young player of the year.
Before the Year Manchester city wasn’t considered title favorites but now mid-October they are the clear front-runners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2etKU2MVVE&t=127s
But the real question now is: Who is their main opponent in the title race? In the first couple of weeks, it seemed destined that the title push would be only the two Manchester clubs. Yet, things are changing. United has turned back to a more pragmatic style that is bringing the level of play of the Red Devils down by a lot. This weekend saw a loss to recently promoted Huddersfield, a game they should have dominated from the start.
The performance goes hand in hand with the Red Devils’ last three performances. Versus Liverpool, they surrendered possession in the game and only created three shots with the goal in mind of dirtying up the game and just gaining the point. Then the team heads to Portugal in the midweek and play a crude game in Lisbon to beat Benfica due to a goalkeeping error, failing to look in control at any moment.
This game happens when you show up practicing defensive shape and being secure at the back. You can’t then expect the team to flourish when they go down in the game. Manchester fell 2-0 in the game and then started getting huge numbers in possession but they couldn’t do anything with it. They were stuck passing the ball around and created nothing. No one really tryed to take the ball and create.
With Manchester City’s level of play right now United looks miles behind, bigger even than the five-point margin in the table and unless something changes soon it’ll be very difficult for United to actually fight for the title. They can still be in contention for all the titles but playing like that they won’t win anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xit9YBDRY2w
This is why the team that will end up fighting Manchester City is Tottenham, The Spurs had an easy win versus Liverpool at home. This game was huge for the team’s mentality. Liverpool has their high pressing style that makes everyone fear playing an open game against them. Add to the fact that Tottenham doesn’t play well at Wembley (their temporary one until the new stadium is built). The game showed that when Spurs are playing their best they can play with any team in the world.
This week the team went to Real Madrid and got a point then went on and beat Liverpool with ease, a feat only a few teams could do. Young players like Harry Kane and Dele Ali stepping their game up and the team has new discipline of handling two competitions at once.
Kane had two goals and an assist. His resurgence has made people forget the early struggles the team had to open the season.
When Harry Kane is going and the team can create chances around him, Spurs are clearly the best team after Manchester City so far. They seem like the only other team that can push Manchester city in the title race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJb41DB-Yr4
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