Surely it can’t have been just me that until the last minutes of this match I had a ‘déjà vu’ feeling of that last game of the season in 1995 when United could not find the winner against West Ham and lost the Championship to Blackburn Rovers. However on this occasion the Reds succeeded in getting the points at Burnley and now lead the table by three points. This is the first time they topped the table after New Year’s Day in a season since they last won the title in 2013.
It was certainly quite an entertaining match with controversial decisions. United were evidently not happy with many of the referee’s decisions and I tend to agree. Why was Maguire’s goal ruled out? The linesman, just a few meters away did not notice any foul and gave the goal. And only this week, referee Michael Oliver admitted he was mistaken in not taking action against Everton keeper Pickford when the latter, against Liverpool, chopped down Virgil van Dijk. The ref had then not taken any action as the Dutchman had been offside. Yet, yesterday, Cavani, was denied a goal scoring opportunity, and yes, no red card, no yellow card, and not even a foul given. Why? Because the ref decided that Shaw had fouled in the build up. This when the ref had seen the incident clearly and decided that there had been no foul play!
My Man of the Match is Paul Pogba. Not only was it his brilliant driven volley that finally broke Burnley open, having started off the passage of play himself, but he looked creative for much of the game, and got forward well. Worth noting that when he was allowed to roam in the second half, he was majestic and eventually won the game for United.
United are now the only side still unbeaten away from home in the Premier League this season, winning seven of their eight games so far. In total, the Red Devils are unbeaten in their last 15 league games on the road, their longest run since March 2010-January 2011 (16 games). Gary Neville encouraged United fans to “get carried away” ahead of Sunday’s clash with Liverpool. While we certainly did not expect the sight of United above Liverpool in the league table in this season, and we shall have to see if the Merseysiders are just a ‘one season wonder’!
Article contributed by Contributor Kenneth. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.