Manchester City and United set a frantic pace in Premier League title race — can anyone keep up?
IN the opening five games, the top two have each scored 16 goals already. The EPL title race has only just begun but who the hell can keep up with this pace?
THE race for Premier League is a marathon, not a sprint — yet the two Manchester teams have taken off like a rocket in their bid for league dominance.
It must hurt every other team — save perhaps Chelsea — to see both City and United steam away at such a pace with the competition only five rounds young.
These days the question is not whether teams can keep up such a pace but whether they have the squad depth to maintain it. Worryingly, both Manchester teams have just that.
We have seen in the past week alone what Pep Guardiola’s transfer window business has brought to the club.
The $220 million spent on three fullbacks — Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo — seemed preposterous. But in the three games that both Walker and Mendy have featured on the flanks, City have won by a total of 15-0, dispatching Liverpool and Feyenoord before walloping Watford on the weekend.
Guardiola singled out his fullbacks for the balance they have given his team, deconstructing the way in which their marauding runs create greater space for the likes of Kevin De Bruyne to exploit.
“They have huge energy to go up and it stretches our play and means we can have more players in the middle to do the short passes,” the City coach said.
“I like our passes to be three, four, five or six metres, no more than that. It gives us continuity. We create spaces in behind and you need players in those positions. Without these signings it would have been more complicated.”
It would have been interesting to see the pair properly tested if Sadio Mane hadn’t been sent off for Liverpool — but even so, attacking sides like Liverpool are rare and City look more than capable of dealing with the threat.
The only chinks in the armour appear to be at centreback — where John Stones and Nicholas Otamendi are inconsistent, and Vincent Kompany injury prone — but these aren’t glaring holes and even if they were, it wouldn’t be a surprise for Guardiola to fill them in January.
Down the road, Jose Mourinho’s United appear just as settled and well-balanced. Indeed, the two sides have an identical record so far — with, interestingly, only their home and away form being flipped.
Mourinho did less spending during the off-season, which would suggest he is at the very least satisfied with what he now has at his disposal. Any why wouldn’t he be? United have been cruising since day one, with their big transfers already proven Premier League quality.
Romelu Lukaku has taken the step up from Everton without blinking, and looks every inch of the Drogba-esque power forward Mourinho loves in his teams.
While Nemanja Matic’s switch from Chelsea — why Stamford Bridge were prepared to let him go is a mystery — has added a much-missed fulcrum to Mourinho’s United, enabling the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan to get much more involved in the attack. Even Anthony Martial is showing signs of a revival, with three goals in his last five games.
United’s defence was second only to Tottenham last season, so now with the firepower to match his rivals, it seems we might hear a little more of Jose Mourinho this term.
As United’s top-four chase faltered in 2016, the Portuguese was uncharacteristically quiet. But with the title now firmly in his sights, we should expect a return of the barbed sniping and thinly veiled put-downs aimed at his rivals. Mourinho’s history with Guardiola could make this season even more interesting.
Outside of the Republic of Mancunia, the only serious challengers appear to be the champions. But Chelsea’s transfer window struggles appear to have hamstrung Antonio Conte.
Alvaro Morata looks a natural fit, while former Leicester man Danny Drinkwater a solid but uninspiring investment — but with Diego Costa exiled, Matic sold to a rival, and the frustration of missing out on key targets like Fernando Llorente and Ross Barkley should tell as the season progresses.
Conte used the same 16 players to win the title last year — now he has to repeat the trick with the Champions League thrown in.
The Italian worked some magic spell last season but in the Premier League, money beats magic every time.
And right now, the money is on Manchester.
Originally published as Manchester City and United set a frantic pace in Premier League title race — can anyone keep up?
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