The week began at Manchester United with Jim Ratcliffe finishing his buy of a minority stake and setting out a three-year plan to return the membership to the highest of English soccer, knocking native rivals Manchester Metropolis and Liverpool “off their perch” within the course of.
It ended with the group getting largely outplayed in its personal stadium by Fulham – an opponent within the backside half of the standings – and overwhelmed 2-1 to lose floor within the race for Champions League qualification.
Not solely did sixth-place United’s four-game profitable run within the league come to an finish on Saturday, fourth-place Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-2. That left an eight-point hole between Villa and United after 26 of 38 video games.
It stays to be seen if the Premier League can have 4 or 5 locations in subsequent season’s Champions League. Fifth-place Tottenham is three factors forward of United and has a recreation in hand.
Failing to qualify for the profitable competitors can be an enormous blow to United’s standing, to not point out its funds. It might additionally spell the top for United supervisor Erik ten Hag as Ratcliffe seems to boost the requirements on the fallen large.
Dave Brailsford, the sporting director of Ratcliffe-owned INEOS and now a member of United’s board, was within the administrators’ field at Outdated Trafford to see the group concede the deciding objective on a counterattack within the seventh minute of stoppage time. Alex Iwobi tucked house the end, sealing Fulham’s first win at Outdated Trafford since 2003, with United’s gamers having poured ahead looking for a winner after Harry Maguire’s equalizer within the 89th.
“After one defeat, it’s a must to see the larger image,” Ten Hag mentioned, “and the larger image seems excellent.”
Douglas Luiz scored two of Villa’s objectives, with Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey additionally netting in its first house win of 2024. One of many three defeats at Villa Park this 12 months got here by the hands of United.
“If we arrive to recreation 33 in the identical place, we possibly look to Champions League,” Villa supervisor Unai Emery mentioned. “For now it’s about being within the prime seven positions.
Man Metropolis wins
Second-place Metropolis trimmed the hole to Liverpool to 1 level within the title race by beating Bournemouth 1-0, with Phil Foden grabbing the Twenty fourth-minute winner from a rebound after Erling Haaland had a shot parried out.
Arsenal will look to comply with swimsuit when Mikel Arteta’s group, which is 4 factors behind Metropolis in third place, hosts Newcastle later Saturday.
It was Foden’s sixteenth objective of the season in all competitions, already tying his most in a single season.
Everton denied
Relegation-threatened Everton conceded an equalizer within the fifth minute of stoppage time to attract 1-1 at Brighton. A victory would have pushed Everton three factors away from the underside three and ended an eight-match winless run within the league.
As an alternative, Lewis Dunk headed in Pascal Gross’ cross to cancel out Jarrad Branthwaite’s opener for Everton at Amex Stadium.
Newly employed Crystal Palace supervisor Oliver Glasner ‘s tenure obtained off to sturdy begin as his group beat next-to-last Burnley 3-0.
