On the first day of the Premier League after the World Cup in Qatar, Manchester United (5th) and Chelsea (8th) beat Nottingham (19th) 3-0 and Bournemouth (14th) 2-0 respectively without apparent difficulty, victories that allow these two teams to get closer to the Champions League.
At Old Trafford, in the first match after the agitated World Cup truce, in which Cristiano Ronaldo’s abrupt exit from the club was confirmed, the men coached by Erik ten Hag left no room for suspense.
Marcus Rashford (19′) and France’s Anthony Martial (22′) gave the home side the lead shortly after the start of the match and Brazil’s Fred sealed the win following a pass from his compatriot Casemiro (87′).
With this victory United reaches 29 points, just one behind Tottenham, 4th and which closes the Champions League.
United, with one game less than ‘Spurs’ and an affordable calendar (Wolverhampton, Bournemouth and Everton in the next three days) can take a step forward to reach the big goal of the season, a return to the Champions League in the next edition.
Previously, Chelsea dominated the game against Bournemouth and the local side had the majority of scoring chances, taking advantage of the first two to close the game, with a goal from German Kai Havertz (16′), finishing from Raheem Sterling’s cross , and Mason Mount, taking advantage of a pass from the German forward (24′).
Despite defeats by Frenchman N’Golo Kanté, who has not yet recovered from his injuries, and World Cup winners Mateo Kovacic and Hakim Ziyech, Chelsea gave their rival no respite until the last quarter of an hour and could have beaten them had they exploited the clear opportunities of Mount and Sterling (both in the first partial discount) and of Zakaria (53), Havertz (60), Jorginho (64) and Koulibaly (73) in the second period.
Apart from a shot by Christie that Kepa Arrizabalaga (79′) saved with some difficulty and a header by Solanke in added time, Bournemouth have never been able to threaten victory for the “azzurri”.
This victory allows Chelsea to relaunch after a series of poor results in the weeks leading up to the World Cup in Qatar. With 24 points, the ‘Blues’ occupy eighth place in the table, six behind Tottenham, who also have a game more.
On Wednesday the 17th round will close with the visit to Leeds by the defending champion Manchester City, who need victory to regain second place in the league, now occupied by Newcastle, but above all not to let Arsenal slip away, who with 3 – 1 win on Monday against West Ham entrenched in the lead with 40 points (out of a possible 45), eight more than the “Citizens”.
Matchday 17 results of the English Football League, and standings:
d-Monday:
Brentford 2 – 2 Tottenham
Southampton 1 – 3 Brighton
Crystal Palace 0 – 3 Fulham
Everton 1 – 2 Wolverhampton
Leicester 0 – 3 Newcastle
Aston Villa 1 – 3 Liverpool
Arsenal 3 – 1 West Ham
– Mars:
Chelsea 2 – 0 Bournemouth
Manchester United 3 – 0 Nottingham
– Wednesday:
(20:00 GMT) Leeds – Manchester City
Classification: Pti JGEP GF GC Diff
1. Arsenale 40 15 13 1 1 36 12 24
2. Newcastle 33 16 9 6 1 32 11 21
3. Manchester City 32 14 10 2 2 40 14 26
4. Tottenham 30 16 9 3 4 33 23 10
5. Manchester United 29 15 9 2 4 23 20 3
6. Liverpool 25 15 7 4 4 31 18 13
7. Brighton 24 15 7 3 5 26 20 6
8.Chelsea 24 15 7 3 5 19 17 2
9. Fulham 22 16 6 4 6 27 26 1
10. Brentford 20 16 4 8 4 25 27 -2
11. Crystal Palace 19 15 5 4 6 15 21 -6
12. Aston Villa 18 16 5 3 8 17 25 -8
13. Leicester 17 16 5 2 9 25 28 -3
14. AFC Bournemouth 16 16 4 4 8 18 34 -16
15. Leeds 15 14 4 3 7 22 26 -4
16. West Ham 14 16 4 2 10 13 20 -7
17. Everton 14 16 3 5 8 12 19 -7
18. Wolverhampton 13 16 3 4 9 10 25 -15
19. Nottingham 13 16 3 4 9 11 33 -22
20. Southampton 12 16 3 3 10 14 30 -16
