Premier League Week 3: Balance of Power Shifts to Manchester

Premier League Balance of Power Shifts to Manchester

Rooney celebrates his second goal. Photo: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images.

The headline above is slightly misleading; Manchester United have, of course, been dominating the Premier League ever since it came into existence. What has changed over the last couple of weeks, and what was rammed home in emphatic fashion after today’s dramatic matches, is the way in which Manchester City appear to be the only team capable of stopping them now.

Up until now, United’s main challengers have come from London, first in the form of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, and then from oligarch-funded Chelsea. Liverpool, too, have had an occasional flirtation with the title but have always fallen short (it should not be forgotten that Blackburn Rovers won the title once as well).

Chelsea, despite winning the title two years ago, have not looked quite the same since. Their squad is ageing, and marquee signing Fernando Torres has struggled to find his feet. So far this year, they have laboured to home victories over West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City, after a disappointing goalless draw away to Stoke. The signing of Juan Mata may change things, and Chelsea are certainly a side with more to give than they have shown so far, but they already look someway behind the Manchester clubs.

Arsenal, too, seem to be in decline. Whilst it is a lazy exaggeration to label them a club in “crisis” (they will still almost certainly finish in the top five, after all), there is definitely something not quite right at the Emirates Stadium. Wenger’s men have gone a long time without a trophy, and having now sold two of their most influential players in Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, they suddenly look light on experienced heads.

This was exposed in the cruellest of fashions by a rampant Manchester United side at Old Trafford earlier this afternoon. The Sky Sports pundits immediately feared the worst when a starting back four of Jenkinson, Djourou, Koscielny, and Traore was revealed, with the young defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin making his Premier League debut in front of them. It sounded like a recipe for disaster, and in the end, it was proved to be so.

United’s opening goal summed up everything that is wrong with Arsenal’s defence at the moment. An improvised ball was clipped over the back line by Anderson on the edge of the penalty area in the direction of the advancing Danny Welbeck. Djourou hesitated, letting the ball bounce, allowing Welbeck to nip in behind him to head past a stranded Szczesny in the Arsenal goal. The original clearance that fell to Anderson could also have been much better.

The floodgates did not open immediately, however. Arsenal won a soft penalty at the other end of the field, Jonny Evans wrapping his arms around Theo Walcott. Although the contact seemed minimal, Evans’ actions gave the linesman an opportunity to award a penalty, which he duly did. Robin van Persie stepped up to take, but his tame effort was palmed away by David de Gea. Van Persie’s attempt, like Djourou’s defending, was hesitant, perfectly summing up the Gunners’ lack of confidence in both defence and attack.

Within three minutes, United had scored, Ashley Young curling in a beautiful shot across Szczesny from outside the area. Walcott was able to pull one back on the stroke of half-time after Rooney had increased United’s lead from a free kick, but it was to prove a false dawn.

Twenty minutes after the restart, the floodgates really did open. Rooney added another goal direct from a free kick, before setting up Nani for his team’s fifth. Park Ji-Sung, who replaced Nani immediately after he scored, added another almost straight away.

Van Persie then managed to nick another consolation goal after some good work from Carl Jenkinson on the right-hand side, but Jenkinson more than undermined his efforts by getting himself sent off for a second yellow card three minutes later. Rooney completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, before Young curled in another beauty for his second, and United’s eighth, goal.

Arsenal did have a number of inexperienced players on the pitch, yes, and they were missing a couple of their more established names. Still, most supposedly lesser teams come to Old Trafford and do not concede anywhere near as many as eight goals. Arsenal were shockingly bad, and they met a United team in rampant form. United look to be a very settled side this season, and the emergence of players like Tom Cleverly, Phil Jones, and Danny Welbeck has only made them stronger after winning the title last year. They already look extremely hard to beat, especially at home, and they will be hard to stop this season.

The one team who look to have a realistic chance of doing so, are their “noisy neighbours” Manchester City. City have historically been United’s poor sibling, the team that continually fails to achieve anything. This constant failure has led to them being very popular amongst neutrals in the past, but their enormous spending has begun to put many off.

They announced their title credentials in emphatic fashion this afternoon by battering last season’s Champions League quarter-finalists, Tottenham Hotspur, 5-1. Edin Dzeko seems to have finally found his feet in English football, scoring four goals in a wonderful individual performance, with new signing Sergio Aguero scoring the other. It was a wonderful performance by City, and Spurs look to have very little chance of qualifying for the Champions League again this year.

City, on the other hand, seem to be gelling as a team for the first time under Roberto Mancini, and represent an incredibly dangerous prospect for any and all opponents, including Manchester United.

Arsenal and Tottenham both qualified for the Champions League two seasons ago, and both finished in the top five last year. Today, both were given a hiding by teams from Manchester. It was an extremely bad day for North London football, but an extremely good one for Manchester football.

The Manchester clubs look almost certain to finish in the top two leagues positions, even at this early stage of the season. Fourth place looks increasingly out of reach for Tottenham, and for the first time, Arsenal as well. The balance of power has shifted to Manchester, and it will take a lot for the London clubs to catch up.

Talking Points:

• Martin Jol doesn’t appear to have found a solution to the age-old puzzle of how to get Fulham to win away from home. The Cottagers have a truly horrendous away record in the Premier League, and this weekend’s defeat to Newcastle did not suggest that it was about to change any time soon.

• Blackburn are already playing like a team who are going to get relegated. After winning two penalties and missing them both, they then conceded a penalty themselves to Everton  in the second minute of injury time. Mikel Arteta scored it to condemn Rovers to their third defeat in three games. Steve Kean needs a win, and fast.

• Chelsea stumbled on, this time overcoming Norwich late on thanks to a Frank Lampard penalty and a debut goal from Juan Mata. A 3-1 scoreline flattered them, however, as Norwich created a host of chances. Their equaliser came after a howler from Hilario in the Chelsea goal – Cech’s absence may yet cost them some points in the weeks to come. Didier Drogba also looks set to miss a few weeks after suffering concussion, and Torres will really have to step up if Chelsea are to keep up.

• Liverpool, on the other hand, looked the part as a top four club against a disappointing Bolton side. Liverpool were at their best, especially in the first half, and could have scored more than the three goals they did put past the Trotters. Charlie Adam scored after setting up Skrtel for Liverpool’s second, and even an injury-time consolation from Ivan Klasnic could not put a dampener on the day for the Anfield club.

• QPR went down to another defeat, this time away to Wigan, and look to be another early contender for relegation. Wigan looked decent at home, and three points against fellow relegation rivals are very valuable indeed. QPR’s signing of Joey Barton may give them the spark they need to distance themselves from the drop, however.

Results in full:

Aston Villa 0 – 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers; Blackburn Rovers 0 – 1 Everton; Chelsea 3 – 1 Norwich City; Liverpool 3 – 1 Bolton Wanderers; Newcastle United 2 – 1 Fulham; Manchester United 8 – 2 Arsenal; Swansea City 0 – 0 Sunderland; Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 5 Manchester City; West Bromwich Albion 0 – 1 Stoke City; Wigan Athletic 2 – 0 Queens Park Rangers.

Advertisement