Man U Thrashes Manchester City Again
By Tanko Bauka
Manchester United has inflicted yet another pain on Pep Guardiola and his boys in the Manchester derby, thereby compounding further the woes of the Etihad boys, who are yet to come to terms with what has hit them, lately.
Before the Manchester derby, both teams were finding life very difficult in the league and both Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Ruben Amorim of Manchester United were working frantically to improve their dwindling performance.
The derby offers both teams the opportunity to draw the first blood on each other and at the end of the 90 minutes, Manchester United came out top.
The match started on a bright note for the home team as Manchester City was on the offensive while Manchester United sat back to absorb any pressure, but Manchester City’s continued pressure paid off in The 36 minutes when Josko Gvardiol headed in from yet another set piece.
The goal seemed to bring out the fighting spirit in Manchester United players as they began to take the game to their host with Amad Diallo, the chief tormentor of Manchester City and in the 88 minutes was brought down in the eighteen-yard box and the resultant penalty was converted by United captain, Bruno Fernandez to level up the score.
In the 90 minutes, Amad Diallo was on hand to make sure Manchester United left Etihad Stadium with the three points as he scored the winner to send waves of shock around the stadium.
On the other hand, Arsenal’s hope of winning the English Barclay Premier League is gradually fading away with yet another disappointing draw against Everton at the Emirate stadium.
Arsenal have not won the league for over 10 years and are looking forward to changing the narrative, having come very closely behind Manchester City in the last two seasons, but the Mikal Arteta boys seemed to have run out of ideas.
The back-to-back draw drawn against Fulham in the week 15 encounter at Craven Cottage stadium in London will cost them dearly even when Liverpool FC are dropping points at the moment
In the frustrating draw against Everton,
Arsenal had 76% possession with 13 shots at goals to Everton’s 2, yet lacked the killer sting when it matters and if the Gunners want to be taken or seen as a serious contender for the 2024-2025 season, then they need to enter the January transfer market to bring in a prolific striker to salvage what is left for their season.
Liverpool FC, on the other hand, looking to extend their lead on the league table and continue their charge towards winning the league, were, however, held to a 2-all draw by Fulham at Anfield stadium after falling to 10 men following a matching order to Andrew Robertson.
Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 to narrow the gap between them and Liverpool to two, though Liverpool had an outstanding match against Everton.
Liverpool sit in the first position with 36 points, with Chelsea closely closing in with 34 points in second place, while Arsenal’s with 30 points and Nottingham Forest’s with 28 points occupy the third and fourth positions, respectively.
Week 16 has come and gone, but it also left behind some casualties as two managers, Gary O Neil of Wolves and Southampton’s Russell Martin, were sacked following poor results.
In the Spanish LA Liga, Barcelona failed to capitalize on Real Madrid’s slip as they were held to a 3-3 draw by Rayo Vallacano, to pull clear of their arch-rival as they were beaten 1-0 by Laganes, a result which will have a severe consequence in their title push.
FC Barcelona still tops the league with 38 points only with goal differences as Atletico Madrid sits second with also 38 points while Real Madrid is in the third position with 37 points with an outstanding match against Valencia scheduled to take place 2-January-2025.
In the Italian Serie A, Atalanta defeated Cagliari 1-0 to consolidate their first position in the league, second place Napoli beat their host Udinese 3-1, while Juventus played out two a draw with Venezia.
In the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich suffered their first defeat under their manager, Vincent Kompany as they were beaten 2-1 by Mainz 05, Bayern Leverkusen maintained their good run as they defeated FC Augsburg 2-0, Borussia Dortmund played out 1-1 with Hoffenheim while RB Leipzig beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1.
Results across Europe
English Barclay Premier League
Arsenal 0- Everton 0
Liverpool 2- Fulham 2
Newcastle 4- Leicester 0
Wolves 1- Ipswich Town 2
Nottingham 2- Aston Villa 1
Brighton 1- Crystal Palace 3
Manchester City 1- Manchester United 2
Chelsea 2- Brentford 1
Southampton 0- Tottenham 5
Spanish LA Liga
Real Valladolid 1- Valencia 0
Espanyol 0- Osasuna 0
Mallorca 2- Girona 1
Sevilla 1- Celta Vigo 0
Atlectico Madrid 1- Gatafe 0
Deportivo 1- Athletic Bilbao 1
Villarreal 1- Real Betis 2
Real Sociedad 0- Las Palmas 0
FC Barcelona 0- Laganes 1
Italian Serie A
Empoli 0- Torino 1
Cagliari 0- Atalanta 1
Udinese 1- Napoli 3
Juventus 2- Venezia 2
Lacce 2- AC Monza 1
Bologna 1- Fiorentina 0
Como 2- AS Roma 0
Parma 2- Hellas Verona 3
AC Milan 0- Genoa 0German Bundesliga
SC Freiburg 3- Wolfsburg 2
Mainz 05 2- Bayern Munich 1
Monchenglabach 4- Holstein Kiel 1
Union Berlin 1- VFL Bochum 1
FC Augsburg 0- Leverkusen 2
FC St Pauli 0- Werder Bremen 2
Heidenheim 2- Stuttgart 3
Dortmund 1- Hoffenheim 1
RB Leipzig 2- Eintrach Frankfurt 1
