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Chapter 0048 Christmas Devil Schedule

With three goals, Manchester United once again grabbed the top spot in the Premier League standings from Chelsea.

Because the next league game only arrived on December 20, Ye Su announced that the players would have two days off and training would resume on Tuesday afternoon.

On December 15, Manchester United players got a chance to rest, but Ye Su still had to go around and busy. He flew to Nyon, Switzerland with the team CEO San Dezi, to participate in the UEFA Cup top 32 draw.

The draw time is held at 1:00 p.m. local time in Switzerland. According to the draw regulations, the first group of the 12 UEFA Europa League this season and the third group with the best results in the UEFA Champions League group stage will become the seed team. They will hold the advantage of home games in the second round in the 1/16 final, and the draw adopts the principle of avoidance between the teams in the same group and the same league.

Because he ended up second in the group stage, Manchester United naturally did not have a home advantage in the second leg.

In the end, Manchester United and Serie A Fiorentina drew together.

For Manchester United, this is undoubtedly an extremely bad luck in signing. Although Fiorentina's performance in Serie A this season is not good, and only ranked 8th in the league after 15 rounds, their performance has recently recovered significantly. Since losing to Naples 0:1 at home in early November, they have remained unbeaten in the subsequent four rounds of the league, including a 4-0 victory over Cagliari away, a 4-1 victory over Cesena away, and a 0-0 draw at home Juventus.

Moreover, for Premier League teams, most Serie A teams are difficult to deal with.

However, Ye Su was not too worried. With Manchester United's current strength and better running-in state, there should be no problem in advancing to the top 16.

Moreover, the Europa League knockout round will only start in late February, and there are more than two months left before now. What Ye Su needs to consider now is the upcoming Christmas Devil schedule and the frequent schedule in January next year.

As expected, as teams in other leagues are about to enter the winter break, Premier League teams, including Manchester United, are about to face the most severe test.

As expected, Manchester United will have at least 12 games from late December to the start of the Europa League knockout round in the past two months, including 10 Premier League games and at least 2 rounds of the FA Cup.

Among them, the most terrifying stage is the ten-day period starting from Boxing Day. According to the schedule, Manchester United will have three Premier League games and one FA Cup match, with an average of one game in less than three days.

……………………

After returning from Switzerland, Ye Su was preparing for the Christmas Devil schedule.

On December 20, Ye Su led Manchester United to Birmingham to challenge Aston Villa.

Villa is now ranked 13th in the Premier League, a mid-range team, and looks like a team without desire. However, Villa is only 5 points higher than the relegation zone, and if you are not careful, you will fall into the relegation zone.

Therefore, Villa dare not take any game lightly.

Because the Christmas Devil schedule is about to be, Ye Su began to arrange the team rotation in order to lead the team through this terrible intensive schedule.

At Villa Park Stadium, Manchester United was strongly resisted by the home team. They lost the ball first when the game was just 18 minutes. Villa's free kick was hung into the penalty area in the midfield. Benteke stopped the ball and shook Evans from the right rib for 14 yards from the right rib to shoot at the far corner. De Gea's sight was blocked and there was no response. Manchester United 0:1 Villa. This shot was Villa's first shot in this game.

Manchester United only equalized the score in the 53rd minute of the second half. Ashley Young, who was in rotation, made a cross from the left, and Vardy, who was the single arrow, headed the ball from 6 yards because Rooney rested. Manchester United 1:1 Villa.

This is also the final score of the game, and neither side was able to score again.

Manchester United, who only scored 1 point away, temporarily retained the top spot because Chelsea's game has not yet been played, but the difference between the team behind has been narrowed.

Especially the city's arch rival Manchester City, because it beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium, with a score of 39 points, only one game behind Manchester United.

After Chelsea defeated Sky City 2:0 away on the night of the 22nd, they tied Manchester United with points and beat Manchester United by 1 goal difference, taking away the top spot.

……………………

Manchester United fans were a little unhappy because they failed to keep the top spot in the Premier League during Christmas.

However, on Boxing Day, Manchester United gave the fans a refreshing victory at home.

In the 23rd minute, Armstrong dribbled the ball from the left and cut in for 16 yards and shot with his right foot was blocked. Manchester United quickly counterattacked. Rooney passed the ball, Mata made a cross from the left, and De Bruy fell to the ground to block the ball back to the middle. Rooney easily scored the ball from 5 yards, and Manchester United 1:0 Newcastle.

This is Rooney's 189th Premier League goal. In the Premier League historical scorer list, he surpassed Manchester United legend Andy Cole, who scored 188 goals, and jumped to second place in the Premier League historical scorer list, second only to Hiller, who scored 260 goals.

However, with the 71-goal gap, even if Rooney has the mysterious card old tree buds given by Ye Su, which has rejuvenated the second spring of his career, there is probably no hope of surpassing Hiller, the super shooter in the short term.

In the 36th minute, Vardy tackled the ball in the frontcourt, Mata got the ball and plugged it diagonally. Undefended Rooney shot with his right foot from 12 yards, and the ball flew into the lower left corner. Manchester United 2:0 Newcastle. Rooney has scored 12 goals in the Premier League.

In the 52nd minute, Rooney made a 45-degree cross from the right, and the unguarded Vardy headed the ball from 8 yards. The ball rebounded and flew into the right side of the goal, Manchester United 3:0 Newcastle.

After leading three goals and almost secured the victory, Ye Su began to replace the core offensive players in the midfield and frontcourt. Rooney, Mata and Valdy were all replaced one after another, and Bruno Fernandez, James Wilson and Ashley Young came on as a substitute.

Although they replaced the three major offensive players in the frontcourt, Manchester United still controls the situation on the court.

However, before the game was about to end, Newcastle launched a counterattack. In the 86th minute, Colebuck broke into the penalty area and tripped by Phil Jones. Referee Mike Jones awarded a penalty kick, and the replay showed that the penalty was not a problem. Cice took the penalty and scored a goal to save face for Newcastle.

Although he defeated the Magpies 3:1, Manchester United still failed to regain the top of the Premier League, because the Blues Chelsea, who played first on Boxing Day, defeated the Hammers West Ham United 2:0 at Stamford Bridge Stadium and continued to suppress Manchester United with a goal difference.

At the same time, Manchester City also defeated West Brom 3-1 away and continued to chase Chelsea and Manchester United by 3 points.

……………………

In just less than 48 hours, Manchester United continued to play in the Premier League.

This is the 19th round of the Premier League this season. Manchester United visits White Hart Lane Stadium and challenges Tottenham Hotspur.

This season, led by new coach Pochettino, has been relatively stable in the middle and upper reaches of the Premier League standings for a long time. After the 18 rounds of the league, they also ranked 7th in the Premier League with 9 wins, 3 draws, 6 losses, and 30 points, and are only 2 points lower than Southampton, which ranks fourth, and may enter the Champions League zone at any time.

The two teams in the Premier League have played 44 games, Manchester United has an absolute advantage in 29 wins, 10 draws and 5 losses. Although Manchester United has a clear advantage in mutual records, Manchester United beat Tottenham last time on March 5, 2012. Next, they played 4 Premier League games with Tottenham Manchester United draws and 2 losses. Tottenham seems to have changed from Manchester United's score-send boy to Manchester United's miserable.

In this game, Manchester United performed multiple rotations, and Tottenham's starting lineup also adjusted 4 players compared to two days ago.

Because the two teams' last game and this game were only 43 hours apart, and the players who participated in the previous game were far from recovering, the teams were obviously not in shape.

In the end, after a dull battle, the two sides exchanged blank papers 0:0.

Manchester United actually scored a goal during the game.

In the 24th minute, Rooney took a corner kick from the left, Carrick hit the back, and Maguire hit the back, Tottenham defenders gave the ball to each other, Van Dijk seized the opportunity to head the ball from 5 yards, Lorito scored, and Vertonheng cleared the ball from the goal line. Manchester United players all signaled the ball, but the lineman signaled offside early, and referee Moss blew offside.

However, from the replay, the ball did cross the goal line, and when Maguire headed the ball, Van Dijk was not offside. Manchester United suffered another misjudgment.

In the subsequent games, Vardy, De Bruyne, Rooney and Mata missed the chance to score one after another, and Tottenham did not put De Gea in too many tests.

Manchester United drew in a row away game, and after 19 rounds of the league, they scored 14 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss and had 46 points, 12 more points from the same period last season, making it very obvious. The same points as Ferguson's last season coaching Manchester United.

However, even if Manchester United performed so well, they still failed to win the Premier League half-time championship. Chelsea, who played later, tied 1:1 with Southampton away, continued to suppress Manchester United with a goal difference, and won the Premier League half-time championship.

For Manchester United, the good news is that Chelsea also tied and did not leave Manchester United. Manchester City was even more upset at home and was tied 2:2 by the relegation team Burnley, which still missed Manchester United and Chelsea by 3 points.

In this round, all the top 4 teams in the Premier League standings encountered a draw, which shows the lethality of the Christmas Devil schedule to these teams.

However, Gunners Arsenal defeated West Ham United 2-1 away in a London derby, tied Southampton in points, ranking fifth in the Premier League with a goal difference, but could squeeze out the Saints and enter the Champions League zone at any time.

This doesn't seem to be too difficult for the four mad demons to compete for.

However, that's all. If you want to join the championship team, you are somewhat unable to match.

Nowadays, the gap between Arsenal and the top three is still a bit big, with 13 points behind Chelsea and Manchester United, and 10 points behind Manchester City, which is third. It can be said that they have been eliminated in the championship competition this season.
Chapter completed!
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