Manchester United: Season defining games (Part 2)

Manchester United currently sit second in the Premier League after 12 games with some big games played but plenty more to play. We take a look at the big games coming up over the next couple of months.

After 12 games, (8W 2D 2L) Manchester United have 26 points from a possible 36. A fantastic start to the season has dipped in the last 5 games. With the well-earned draw against Liverpool, wins at Swansea and at home against Spurs and defeats away at Huddersfield and Chelsea.

Part 1 of this series of articles looked at games against Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham where Manchester United managed to get 7 points from a possible 9. This is good going for any team. However, with all due respect to the fantastic start Huddersfield have had, it’s once again against lesser opposition that United have struggled.

Most fans fully expected United to brush aside The Terriers with ease when they met at the Kirklees Stadium back in October. However, Huddersfield wanted it more on the day.

With the busy Christmas period fast approaching this is the time of year where United have traditionally made their push in past seasons.

We’ve looked at the upcoming games and have selected the most season-defining over the next couple of months.

02/12/2017 Arsenal (A)

December looks to be a tough month with United and it starts off with an away trip to the Emirates.

Manchester United lost on their last visit to The Emirates going down 2-0 in May 2017.

The game will be remembered as Arsene Wenger’s first victory over a Mourinho team at the 9th time of asking. There was also a debut appearance for young United defender Axel Tuanzebe which maintained Manchester United’s  record of bringing youth through to the first team.

One defining point for a large number of United fans was Danny Welbeck’s celebration for the second goal. A former fan favourite destroyed his relationship with the United fans in a couple of seconds of madness and will no doubt hear about it if he plays.

Arsenal have had a mixed season so far with on and off the field problems. The fans are starting to get vocal again in calling for an end to Wenger reign which was clearly partly to blame for them finishing outside of the champions league for the first time in 16 years.

Off-field issues with star players refusing to sign new contracts is nothing new for Arsenal fans and this season amongst others there are question marks surrounding Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez.

This, however, didn’t stop either player from arguably their best performances so far this season against North London rivals Tottenham.

Manchester United have faired very differently so far this season with a solid start and playing good football with more consistency than last season.

United have also welcomed back Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rojo from injury just in time. With three games between now and 2nd December hopefully they will all be back to the levels, they were before their respective injuries.

Wenger will no doubt try to fire his players up for United’s visit but it should be a game where United can come away with at least a point. A big factor is going to be whether Mourinho can keep his star players out of the treatment room.

10/12/2017 Manchester City (h)

Arguably the biggest game in this period is going to be against United’s ‘Noisy Neighbours’, City.

City’s last visit to Old Trafford in the league saw them come away with all three points in September 2016. Although Manchester United did get their revenge by knocking them out of the League Cup a month later.

Pep Guardiola’s team are absolutely flying in the league at the moment and have amassed an eight-point lead over United.

City remain the only undefeated team in England’s top-tier and one of the very few left across Europe.

There’s no doubting their attacking talent having scored 40 goals and conceded 7 in 12 league games so far. United, on the other hand, have scored 27 and conceded just 6.

City’s defense has improved since last season which isn’t a surprise considering the amount of money they have invested recently in that area. However, there still seems a vulnerability around their centre-backs.

There are also questions about how they are going to react to their first defeat of the season as and when it comes.

It’s still too early in the season to bill this as a must-win game, however, for both sets of fans, it will be just that.

A United victory will close the gap to a 5 point leading into the Christmas period which is more than surmountable. A Loss will increase the deficit to 11 points which is going to be a much more challenging scenario for United.

31/01/2017 Tottenham Hotspur (a)

Last seasons visit to White Hart Lane saw the home side take the spoils. It finished 2-1 to the home team.

However, Spurs are playing at Wembley at the moment while White Hart Lane is rebuilt.  Last seasons visit was the last game to be played there and so it’s understandable that the fans and players did everything not to lose.

United only recently played Spurs with Antony Martial coming off the bench to score the game winning goal.

Wembley is always a tough place to go as it has one of the biggest pitches in European football measuring 105m X 69m. It’ is slightly narrower than the old Wembley but is still bigger than most professional grounds.

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• Preview: Manchester United vs Brighton – What you need to know
• Jadon Sancho set to train away from first team squad
• Mike Phelan blasts Manchester United teammates over Ronaldo exit

United will be going into this game after a quiet January and will be confident that they can cause Spurs problems having taken all three points at Old Trafford.

It’s true that Spurs were missing talisman Harry Kane. United were without Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Rojo amongst others which shows the difference when it comes to the strength of the squads that United ran the show.

Other Fixtures

In total between now and the end of January, United play a massive 17 time in the league and cup competitions.

Obviously , fans will be expecting the team to win the vast majority of these with games across all 4 competitions. If this is the case then there’s no doubt United will go into the second half of the season on a high.

Next: Unsettled Antoine Griezmann to join Manchester United next season

The most worrying factor is going to be our injury record. If the doctors and phyisos behind the scenes can keep as much of the squad fit as possible United have a real chance of winning some serious silverware this season.