For Manchester United’s 659 million fans, it’s a chance to dream. They’re just one step away from an appearance in the English Football League Cup quarterfinals. It’ll take another performance like the spirited one that saw off the mighty Cobblers of Northampton Town, but things are looking up following a week that consisted of one fresh hell after another.
Week five of the English Premier League is now behind us, and the ‘club in crisis’ tag can already be firmly affixed to Manchester United. After starting the season with three successive victories, things have quickly come undone over a brief period of eight days for Jose Mourinho and his charges.
The 2016-17 Premier League season is still young, but we don’t want to let that little detail keep us from making a few early predictions about who might fill the shoes of Riyad Mahrez and take home the EPL Player of the Year trophy.
People can hope and cheer but, judging by the way things look at Leicester City right now, a repeat is about as far from happening as Tim Howard becoming president.
Taking that into account, we can rule out two of last year's front runners for the EPL's ultimate individual accolade, Mahrez and Jamie Vardy.
The sensational Kevin De Bruyne and 19-year-old forward Kelechi Iheanacho put Manchester City up 2-0 by the 36th minute of Saturday’s Manchester derby. Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back for United in the 42nd minute, but City went on claim all three points with a 2-1 victory in the Manchester derby.
Pep Guardiola’s Premier League record with Manchester City now reads played four, won four. It’s been a dream start for Guardiola and City, doubly so now that the Spanish manager has emerged victorious from his first visit to Old Trafford.
It’s the kind of scoreline out of France that we’d forgotten was even possible: Paris Saint-Germain, winners of Ligue 1 for four consecutive years now, were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by AS Monaco. It’s only the third match of the French league season, and it was Paris’ first loss, but the manner in which they succumbed to defeat was frighteningly sluggish.
Once again, Edinson Cavani struggled to impress in the limelight. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s departure to Manchester United has put Cavani in the position of having to effectively replace the Swede. It's not going well.
"Before winning the 2012-13 league title, we were getting ready to play against Lyon," Marco Verratti said. "Carlo Ancelotti was a bit tense, so Ibra approached him and asked him if he believed in Jesus. Ancelotti said yes, so Ibra told him: 'Good, so you believe in me. You can relax!' Zlatan is like this.”
Verratti’s little story is as good as any when used to describe the kind of figure that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is.