Tag: Manchester United

2025/26 Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 6
Analysis, Rankings

2025/26 Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 6

Premier League Matchday 6 saw Liverpool lose to Crystal Palace, Arsenal gain ground in the title race, and Manchester City hammer Burnley 5-1. Let’s look back at these results and the rest of Matchday 6 to see where each club stands ahead of Matchday 7.   20. Wolves (–1) It feels harsh dropping Wolves back down to 20th place after their gutsy 1-1 draw against Tottenham, but someone has to be last, and they are definitely deserving candidates. Vitor Pereira’s side have just one point this season and the league’s worst goal difference through six matches (-9). They’ve pulled off great escapes before, but it’s looking pretty unlikely this season.  19. Burnley (-1) Burnley’s 5-1 loss to Manchester City was the most expected result of the weekend. I guaranteed City would win by two goals in...
2025/26 Premier League picks, score predictions for every Matchday 6 fixture
Analysis

2025/26 Premier League picks, score predictions for every Matchday 6 fixture

Premier League Matchday 6 features a full slate of weekend action, including a clash between new rivals Chelsea and Brighton and a matchup between top-of-the-table Liverpool and Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace. On Sunday, Newcastle will try to jump-start their season at home against Arsenal.  Let’s get ready for these big matchups and every other Matchday 6 fixture with our EPL predictions for each match.  Brentford vs. Manchester United Gtech Community Stadium, 12:30pm BST (7:30am ET), Saturday, September 27 Manchester United bounced back from their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City with a 2-1 win at home against Chelsea. As chaotic as that match was, the Red Devils played well and will be coming into this match on a high.  Brentford, on the other hand, are feeling as low as they’ve ...
2025/26 Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 5
Rankings

2025/26 Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 5

Premier League Matchday 5 featured a full slate of games, including Manchester United’s 2-1 crazy upset victory against Chelsea and Arsenal’s hard-fought 1-1 draw against Manchester City.  With those results in the books, let’s take a look at our updated PL power rankings and see where each club stands ahead of Matchday 6.  20. West Ham (–1) West Ham aren’t bottom of the table, but they really should be. They only lost by one goal to Crystal Palace at the weekend. It could’ve been much worse. Palace created 2.31 xG from 18 shots to the Hammers’ 0.66 xG from 8 shots.  Graham Potter’s side have lost five of their six competitive matches this season, including three London derbies. I’m frankly stunned he still has a job. If recent reports are true, he might not have one for much longe...
Every Premier League club’s most valuable player of the 2020s decade so far
Analysis

Every Premier League club’s most valuable player of the 2020s decade so far

Debating "value" can often be difficult, because there are so many ways to ascribe a player's value to a team. It can be because of their brilliance on the field, statistical dominance, scarcity of position, lack of star players in surrounding areas, or by being part of a dominant team. Let's do a fun exercise and look through all the current Premier League teams with experience in the top flight this decade prior to the 2025/26 season (so Sunderland is out) and try to pick out each club's most valuable player from the 2020s decade thus far. Wolves Ruben Neves and Pedro Neto both have strong cases, and I think Rayan Ait-Nouri and Adama Traore merit honorable mentions somewhere in there. But the most recent Wolves star, Matheus Cunha, absolutely has to be considered the best on an indi...
Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 4
Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings after Matchday 4

Another Premier League matchweek is in the books as Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham put up impressive 3-0 victories, Liverpool and Newcastle ground out tough 1-0 ones, and Chelsea dropped valuable points. Here are the power rankings after Matchday 4. 20. Wolves Wolves cut it close against Newcastle, only losing by a goal, but that's hardly any real consolation. They are easily the worst team in the Premier League right now, and it's going to be a long season for a team that has not come anywhere near replacing the star power left by Matheus Cunha. 19. West Ham Annihilated by rivals Tottenham, really nobody is surprised by the futility the Hammers have displayed, and it feels like only a matter of time before they burn through another notable Premier League manager and then r...
Premier League Power Rankings: The top 10 teams after the first month of the 2025/26 season
Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: The top 10 teams after the first month of the 2025/26 season

Now that we've had the September international break to fully digest the first three fixtures of the 2025/26 Premier League season, it's time to do some power rankings and rank the top 10 teams in the English top flight based on what we have seen this season so far. 10. Sunderland Sunderland have been one of the biggest surprises to start the 2025/26 Premier League season and are actually all the way up in sixth in the league table with wins over London sides Brentford and West Ham. While that's not the most impressive competition, it's still been a strong start to the season for the Black Cats, who had one of the most involved summer transfer windows in the league, with the trio of Granit Xhaka, Omar Alderete, and Nordi Mukiele already making a huge impact. 9. Manchester United Man...
Premier League Predictions: Every Big Six club’s biggest problem in 2025/26
Analysis

Premier League Predictions: Every Big Six club’s biggest problem in 2025/26

With the first month of the 2025/26 Premier League season in the books, the big clubs in the English top flight are figuring out how their new-look squads are taking shape, especially after finalizing deadline day transfers on Sept. 1. Over the international break, managers around the Premier League will be busy tweaking their tactics in response to what they saw over the first three matchdays of the campaign Here is the biggest problem every Big Six club in the Premier League needs to address during the 2025/26 season, based on a combination of preconceived notions before the campaign began and what transpired across the first three fixtures. Manchester United Ruben Amorim's rigid marriage to his 3-4-3 system has been well-documented, though the Portuguese manager has shown signs ...
Grading the 10 most expensive Premier League transfers of the summer 2025 window
Analysis

Grading the 10 most expensive Premier League transfers of the summer 2025 window

The 2025 summer transfer window officially came and went, and the Premier League bossed every other league in European football with numerous record deals and blockbuster transfers, proving that there is indeed a growing gulf between the English top flight and all other leagues. All the spending and blockbuster transfers promise to make an already highly competitive Premier League even more intriguing in the 2025/26 season, and now that the dust has finally settled, it's time to grade all of the biggest transfers of the window. All prices are provided in euros and courtesy of Transfermarkt so that the ranking and comparison of fees can be consistent. 10. Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal, 65.8M Arsenal had to snag a new striker this summer transfer window by any means necessary, and while...
Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26
Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26

I'm not sure how much the American football saying "defense wins championships" holds true in world football, but it seems pretty appropriate when you look at the difference between teams that were and were not successful in the title races last season. For example, Napoli won Serie A against the odds over one of the best striker tandems in European football in Inter Milan with only Romelu Lukaku as a true standout forward. And they did so because they were so organized defensively and structurally under Antonio Conte. In the Premier League, Manchester City fell out of the Premier League title race entirely because their defense was no longer a stalwart engine, as they clearly suffered from Rodri's torn ACL. Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, had the best defenses in the league. So...
Why Manchester United is so bad year after year
Analysis

Why Manchester United is so bad year after year

If you are reading this article, I assume you are an intelligent football fan, because I don't know of many blithering idiots who stumble onto The Trivela Effect. No, no, usually those trolls end up somewhere like Diario Gol or Don Balon while they fiddle with their dial-up connection. Because you are an intelligent football fan, you acknowledge that Manchester United are indeed bad. Very bad. In fact, they are so horrendous that it almost defies belief that a club that has given the world so many of the finest footballers of all time - Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, George Best, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane...OK I'll stop now - could be such an abject failure in 2025. It has been more than a decade sin...