Chapter 765 Five Consecutive Guests
On the evening of January 15, 2020, a make-up match of the 18th round of the Premier League was held at Vicarage Road Stadium, with Manchester United away challenging the Premier League Hornets Dortmund.
The match was originally scheduled for December 22, but Manchester United went to the Middle East to participate in the Club World Cup, so the match was postponed. After negotiation between the two sides, the Premier League and the English Football Association reported it to this evening.
Watford's current situation is not good. After 22 rounds of the Premier League, it only got 4 wins, 7 draws and 10 losses with one round less, ranking 19th in the Premier League with 19 points, deep in the relegation zone.
However, due to the large lineup of the Premier League relegation team, Aston Villa ranked 17th with only 21 points, and Brighton ranked 14th in the standings with only 24 points, only 5 points higher than Watford, so Watford only needs to win one game to jump out of the relegation zone.
Under the temptation of escaping the relegation zone, Watford's goal at home was very clear, that is, to defend and counterattack. They set up an iron bucket formation. In addition, in order to prepare for the second round of the Red Double in four days, Mourinho rotated many players again, so the Red Devils controlled the situation away from home but found it difficult to create scoring opportunities.
It was not until the 34th minute of the game that Manchester United broke the deadlock on the field. Bruno made a straight pass in the counterattack, Ben Foster, a former Manchester United player, attacked, and Mahrez made a single shot from the edge of the penalty area, and Manchester United led 1:0 away.
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This was the only goal for both sides in the first half, but Watford equalized the score shortly after the start of the second half. In the 50th minute of the game, Hughes made a free kick from the right, Kabasele headed the ball, and Sarr shot in front of the small penalty area. The ball leaked into the upper corner. De Gea made a mistake in saving and let the ball leak into the upper corner.
De Gea's low-level mistake was very surprising. In the studio of Sky Sports, Manchester United legend and Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville screamed in disbelief.
Another Sky Sports commentator, Liverpool legend Souness said about the ball: "De Gea's eyes were not on the ball. This should have been a simple save. Was the ball spinning? He is a top goalkeeper and should have been able to get the ball. You feel sorry for him. He rarely makes this kind of mistake, but this time it was a big mistake."
It is said that good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. Just 4 minutes later, Manchester United lost another goal. Sarr was tackled by the young Dalot on the edge of the penalty area. Deeney took the penalty kick and scored. Watford led 2:1 at home.
Losing two goals in four minutes put Manchester United in a desperate situation.
Seeing the bad situation, Mourinho made continuous substitutions. He replaced Lingard, who performed poorly, with Greenwood and replaced McTominay with Mata.
Manchester United, who fought back with all their strength, equalized the score in the 67th minute. Fred sent a straight pass from the middle, and Bruno's powerful shot in front of the penalty area was saved, but the ball was grabbed by him again. When he kicked again, Ben Foster, who was still lying on the ground, could no longer save Watford.
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Manchester United, who equalized the score, was in high spirits and formed a siege against the home team. However, the shots of Mahrez, Greenwood and Maguire were blocked by Ben Foster with wonderful saves.
The game soon entered injury time, and the fourth official gave 6 minutes of stoppage time, which caused dissatisfaction among the home fans.
The situation that made the home fans even more dissatisfied came in the 95th minute. Mata made a straight pass from the middle, and Bruno shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area, penetrating Ben Foster's small door, and Manchester United overtook the score 3:2 away.
This was also the final score of the game.
Relying on Bruno's two shots and one pass, Manchester United defeated Watford 3:2 away from home and won eight consecutive Premier League games.
This game is also the beginning of another hellish schedule for Manchester United: from this day on, in the next 14 days, Manchester United will have five consecutive games!
Today, that is, on the evening of January 15, Manchester United will play away against Watford;
Four days later, on the afternoon of January 19, Manchester United will visit Anfield Stadium, which is the second round of the Red Double Meeting this season;
On the evening of January 22, in the 24th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will face Burnley at home;
On the afternoon of January 26, in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United will challenge Tranmere away;
On the evening of January 29, Manchester United will visit Etihad Stadium to challenge Manchester City, which is the second round of the League Cup semi-final.
Double games in a week, 5 games and 4 away games, such a schedule really makes people feel desperate!
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Sure enough, at Anfield Stadium, Manchester United suffered the first defeat of the season.
At the beginning of the game, Liverpool, who were at home, were basically in a state of suppression throughout the game. Facing the Red Devils who had played two games in a row for a week and had been fighting hard and exhausted, Liverpool's advantage was a visible crushing situation.
In the first 39 minutes of the game, Manchester United did not even have a shot!
In the 14th minute of the game, Liverpool made a cross from the right corner, Koulibaly jumped high and headed the ball, and the ball flew into the goal along the bottom of the door frame.
1:0, Liverpool, who played at home, took the lead!
In the 23rd minute, Liverpool made a cross from the left corner, and Manchester United players cleared the ball not far away. Salah followed up and shot slightly off.
In the 25th minute, Firmino got the ball in the penalty area and scored with a curved shot. However, after VAR assisted in the penalty, it was determined that Koulibaly collided with the goalkeeper first, and the goal was invalid, but De Gea was given a yellow card for his bad words!
In the 35th minute, Chamberlain made a straight pass from the ribs, and Wijnaldum scored a single goal, but the linesman indicated that Wijnaldum was offside first, and the goal was invalid. Manchester United escaped again!
In the 39th minute of the game, Kante intercepted the ball and launched a counterattack. Rashford's long-range shot from the outside was slightly off target. This was Manchester United's first shot in this game!
This shot was like opening up Manchester United's Ren and Du meridians. They finally gained a foothold away from home, launched a counterattack and quickly equalized the score.
In the 41st minute, Cancelo made a cross pass in the penalty area. Facing the empty goal, Bruno, who was in place, easily blocked the ball into the goal.
This is Bruno's 28th Premier League goal this season, continuing to lead the Premier League scorer list and the European Golden Boot Award this season.
Currently, the second place in the European Golden Boot Award is Serie A Lazio shooter Immobile, but the Blue Eagles' leading shooter currently has only 21 goals, which is more than 100 million points behind Bruno.
As for Lewandowski and Ronaldo who were further back, the gap between them and Bruno's goal number was even greater.
However, when Manchester United fought back with all their strength, their defense was loose again, and Liverpool almost took the lead again.
In the 43rd minute of the game, Bruno drove straight into the game, and his long-range shot from the outside was caught by Alisson. Then Liverpool made a quick counterattack, Salah broke through and made a straight pass, Mane made a left-foot shot, and De Gea stretched his legs to block the ball!