Chapter 785 Return to the Top of the Standings

Manchester City's victory over Liverpool is undoubtedly a pleasant surprise for Manchester United. Because with Liverpool's defeat, Manchester United surpassed Liverpool on the top of the standings with a goal difference advantage!

After 32 rounds of the league, the ranking of the top two in the standings finally changed again.

Manchester United's record is 27 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss, scoring 90 goals and conceding 26 goals, with a goal difference of 64 and 85 points.

Liverpool is 28 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, scoring 70 goals and conceding 27 goals, with a goal difference of 43, also 85 points.

This is the first time since Manchester United was tied 2:2 at home by Aston Villa on December 1 last year and fell off the top of the standings. After a lapse of 7 months, Manchester United once again topped the standings after a full round of the league.

After occupying the top position, it means that as long as Manchester United does not make mistakes, it will be difficult for Liverpool to drive them off the top position. After all, although the two teams have the same points, Manchester United has a 21-goal advantage.

With only 6 rounds left in the league, it is extremely difficult for Liverpool to erase such a huge goal difference advantage!

6 rounds, 21 goal differences, which means Liverpool needs to chase 3.5 goal differences in every game!

So, now Liverpool want to win the first Premier League title in team history, the only hope is that Manchester United will make mistakes and give up the league title!

Obviously, this is impossible!

………………

At 3 pm on July 4, Manchester United played against Bournemouth at home. This is the 33rd round of the Premier League.

The starting lineups of both teams today have been shown on the big screen of the stadium.

Manchester United (433):

Goalkeeper: De Gea;

Defense: Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk, Luke Shaw;

Midfielders: Kante, Gundogan, Bruno;

Forwards: Mbappe, Harry Kane, Rashford.

Bournemouth:

Goalkeeper: No. 12 Ramsdale;

Defenders: No. 15 Adam Smith, No. 5 Ake, No. 26 Kelly, No. 21 Rico;

Midfielders: No. 20 Brooks, No. 1 Cook, No. 8 Lerma, No. 19 Stanislas;

Forwards: No. 7 Joshua King, No. 9 Solanke

The game started soon, and the visiting team Bournemouth took the initiative and attacked Manchester United's goal right away.

Bournemouth's right back, Adam Smith, wearing the No. 15 jersey, was very active and frequently made assists.

Luke Shaw seemed a little overwhelmed by the joint attack of Brooks and Adam Smith.

However, Luke Shaw deserves to be the world's number one left back. Under the attack of the two opponents, although he was a little embarrassed, he did not give the opponent any chance.

Eddie Howe sat in the coaching seat with a relaxed look. He was satisfied with the current situation. Although Luke Shaw's current defense seems to be fine, Eddie Howe believes that it is difficult for him to stop the successive attacks of his two generals. It is only a matter of time before the team opens a breakthrough on the right.

Mourinho sat in the coaching seat, crossed his legs, and looked relaxed, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner emotions.

He was nervous.

"Soon!" Mourinho muttered to himself.

………………

This time, Adam Smith and the team's midfielder Brooks collided with a wall-to-wall match, and then a dunk at his feet deceived Luke Shaw, and then he just wanted to speed up when he saw Manchester United's central defender Van Dijk rushing up.

The Dutch central defender rushed up at the right time, and Adam Smith was startled and quickly passed the ball out.

"Break the ball!" Andy Gray shouted.

Adam Smith's pass to his teammate was intercepted by the quick-reacting Luke Shaw.

"This is premeditated. Van Dijk came to fill in the position, and Luke Shaw, who had just been passed, was ready to steal and intercept!" Martin Taylor shouted.

After Luke Shaw stole the ball, he quickly passed the ball to Kante who came to respond. The latter immediately passed the ball to Gundogan, who organized the attack.

This was Mourinho's tactical requirement for this game. Kante was responsible for protection, and Gundogan was responsible for organizing the attack.

At this time, Luke Shaw had already spread his feet and ran forward.

Almost at the same time that Gundogan received the ball, Bournemouth's midfielder Lerma moved and rushed to Gundogan who received the ball.

Lerma's timing for stealing was also calculated very well. He planned to steal the ball while Gundogan received the ball. At that time, Gundogan was not stable, which was a good opportunity.

"Lerma stepped forward to press Gundogan... beautiful!" Andy Gray shouted excitedly.

Gundogan leaned forward slightly in the face of Lerma, resisting the opponent's momentum, but deftly used his heel to knock the ball to Maguire behind him.

Lerma missed!

"Gap! Opportunity!" Mourinho suddenly stood up from the coaching seat.

………………

Bournemouth, who was deeply trapped in the relegation zone and urgently needed to get points to avoid relegation, had been attacking very fiercely during this period, and their formation was very forward. Just now, their midfielder Lerma even pressed to the top of Manchester United's penalty area.

Now Lerma missed, and the direct consequence of this missed was that Bournemouth's half was a large gap!

"Lerma's pounce was too fierce, and Bournemouth's midfield and backcourt were out of touch!" Martin Taylor shouted.

This is exactly the counterattack opportunity that Mourinho emphasized in his pre-match deployment.

Maguire did not waste time and directly handed the ball to Gundogan again. The latter pulled the ball and turned around, looked up and looked ahead, and immediately passed it to Bruno who had already rushed to the front!

"Manchester United's counterattack!"

Bruno stopped the ball beautifully. At this time, there were only three Bournemouth defenders in front of him.

At this moment, on the left wing of Manchester United, Rashford was rushing forward at high speed. Behind him was Luke Shaw who had just completed the interception and rushed forward desperately. On the right wing, Mbappe was also sprinting forward. In front, Harry Kane was also running.

At this moment, Manchester United instantly formed a five-on-three situation in the frontcourt.

Bruno quickly passed the ball forward, and Harry Kane received the ball. He did not let the ball stay at his feet, but knocked it back. Bruno, who had already rushed up, also kicked the ball and directly split the ball to the side. The ball was at Rashford's feet.

Rashford dribbled the ball forward at high speed.

At this time, Bournemouth's right back Adam Smith had just rushed up to join the attack, and was still panting back.

Rashford received the ball and cut directly into the penalty area!

………………

Bournemouth's central defenders were just defending Bruno and Harry Kane, thinking that they would break through directly from the middle, but they didn't expect that the two of them passed the ball with two snaps, and the ball went to the left.

At this time, Bournemouth's central defender Ake could only rush to Rashford.

Rashford had no intention of slowing down, and Ake had no intention of slowing down at all. He judged that Rashford was going to pass him.

Wishful thinking!

Ake fell to the ground and shoveled.

Rashford jumped up to avoid the tackle!

"Boy, you are still young!" Ake was proud in his heart, and then he was shocked: Where is the ball?

He didn't shovel the ball!

"Beautiful!" Andy Gray shouted loudly.

When Rashford was about to make contact with the defender, he poked the ball to the side with his toes, and he jumped up to avoid the tackle.

"Luke Shaw! He's so fast!"

It was Luke Shaw who received the ball. The English left-back pushed the ball forward, then accelerated to catch up with the ball, and at the same time changed direction and cut into the penalty area.

Bournemouth's defense line had been torn to pieces at this time. Luke Shaw and Rashford were not only Manchester United's left-wing partners, but also partners in the England national team. They cooperated with each other very well.

And Luke Shaw was so fast and cut inside so resolutely that he had entered the penalty area almost when the Bournemouth defender reacted.

After Luke Shaw cut into the penalty area, he pretended to shoot, tricking Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook, who was desperately chasing back, to slide on the ground to block.

Then Luke Shaw was seen dunking the ball back, and when the defender slid out of the baseline along the grass, he calmly passed the ball horizontally.

………………

In front of the goal, Harry Kane carried Bournemouth center back Kelly and turned half way to shoot!

Bournemouth goalkeeper Ramsdale flew to save the ball, and the ball was saved by him to the right side of the goal.

A red figure rushed up, it was Mbappe, the French winger swept the ball to the front of the goal before the ball went out of the baseline!

"Bruno! He is unmarked now... empty goal! He shoots!"

Facing the huge empty goal, Bruno shot directly, and the ball flew straight to the goal. Bournemouth goalkeeper Ramsdale, who had just made a save and was still lying on the ground, was completely helpless in the face of this shot. He could only raise his head and watch the ball fly into the net in despair.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!" Andy Gray jumped up from his seat, "Nice counterattack! Speed! Manchester United showed us their speed! Wonderful goal! Bruno! Manchester United captain scored, this is Bruno's 38th Premier League goal for Manchester United this season! 1:0! The home team Manchester United is leading!"

"Too fast!" Commentator Martin Taylor exclaimed, "From the backcourt interception to the counterattack, Manchester United used speed to completely tear apart Bournemouth's defense, almost all of which were one-touch shots. Manchester United let Bournemouth and the world see what counterattack speed is!"

On the side of the court, Bournemouth coach Eddie Howe stared at the court in a daze. He was still a little confused. His team lost the ball?

Manchester United's counterattack was too fast, so fast that the 42-year-old coach couldn't keep up with the reflex arc.

"Damn it!" Eddie Howe cursed and got up from his seat.

He was a little annoyed. This goal was completely unexpected. Now he had to consider whether to continue attacking or to stabilize for the time being.