Chapter 0051 - Strict Guard
From noon on March 5, local time in the UK, the 29th round of the Premier League kicked off.
It starts with a strong conversation as second-placed Tottenham take on third-placed Arsenal at White Hart Lane. After 90 minutes of fierce battle, the two sides were tied 2:2.
After this campaign, Tottenham remain second in the table with 55 points. And Arsenal have finally changed their points after two consecutive defeats.
Manchester City then beat Aston Villa 4-0 at home to overtake Manchester United to reclaim fourth place in the table. As for Villa, they continue to sink and have basically booked a relegation spot.
In the other game played at the same time, Everton lost 2-3 at home to the Hammers West Ham. As a result, the Hammers have 49 points, temporarily surpassing Manchester United and ranking fifth.
Manchester City's game is not over yet, and in another Premier League match, Watford, who visited Old Trafford in the last round, should not have come out of the shadow of the heavy defeat, losing at home to league leaders Leicester City, with a score of 0:1. Leicester City also moved to 60 points.
As a result, before Manchester United's game began, Manchester United's position in the standings had fallen to sixth place!
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However, all parties are still quite optimistic about Manchester United, because they have won four consecutive games of more than 3:0 on three fronts of the FA Cup, Europa League and Premier League, and they are in hot form. West Bromwich Albion, on the other hand, are 13th in the standings, and are a truly desireless team.
Moreover, judging from the historical record of the two sides, Manchester United also has an absolute advantage.
The two teams have met 127 times in their history, with Manchester United winning 54, drawing 31 and losing 42, and winning 52, drawing 28 and losing 39 in the league.
The two teams have met 19 Premier League games, Manchester United have won 13, drawn 4 and lost 2, and Manchester United are unbeaten in 9 games at Hawthorn Stadium with 7 wins and 2 draws.
West Bromwich Albion last beat Manchester United at home in the Carabao Cup in December 2003 and last beat Manchester United at home in the league in 1984.
West Brom manager Thomas Pulis has played 13 games against Manchester United in his managerial career, with one win, one draw and 11 defeats.
Coupled with Manchester United's newcomer Marcus Rashford's recent hot barrel, he has staged three consecutive senior performances, which is also a big plus for Manchester United.
On top of that, Smalling has returned to training and is available for this game, while Valencia, Marouane Fellaini and Phil Jones have also recovered from injury, but the three have been out for a long time and are out of form, so Van Gaal is likely to be without them for this game. In addition, Darmian and Anthony Martial have both returned from Premier League injuries in midweek, and United's injury situation has improved considerably compared to before.
Therefore, it is believed that it is not surprising that Manchester United will still win away from West Bromwich Albion.
The only concern is United manager Louis van Gaal, as he always drops the chain at crucial moments.
There are two things that Van Gaal has talked about the most this season, one is Van Gaal in the next moment, and the other is Van Gaal in key games.
Previously, Dutch coach Louis van Gaal was able to use the "life extension" to keep his position on the verge of dismissal, but in crucial games, Van Gaal's Manchester United were often very disappointing.
The first was in December last year, when United were knocked out of the Champions League group stage after losing to Wolfsburg in a crucial match.
In the following January and mid-February, United dropped points after beating Liverpool, and after losing to Sunderland in the round of 26, Louis van Gaal said his hopes of finishing in the top four were very slim.
Now it's a critical moment again, and if the chain drops again this time, Van Gaal will have no chance to make amends.
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In fact, Rashford is not optimistic about this game more than anyone else.
As a reborn, he has memories of this game. Because in another time and space, Manchester United lost this game and completely lost the hope of winning the championship.
As for Louis van Gaal, he also lost trust in the minds of Manchester United's management because of the loss of this game. They really started to get in touch with Mourinho and soon finalised their dealings.
Rashford does not care about whether Van Gaal will be sacked if he loses this game, because he knows that neither Van Gaal nor Mourinho have achieved half a pound or two during their time in charge of Manchester United, and neither has brought revival to the Red Devils.
Rashford's concern is that if he loses this game, then he will be completely out of action to complete the ultimate task of the Red Devils' revival given by the system, and then the series of rewards that make him covet will be gone.
Louis van Gaal could get out of class, but Rashford couldn't bear to let those rewards run away. So, this game, no matter what, must be won.
Marcus Rashford made this decision in his mind.
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Manchester United's match against West Brom is the final game of the round, and it starts at 4pm local time in the UK.
United lined up 4,231 for the game, with Marcus Rashford continuing to play as a lone arrow, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Anthony Martial forming the second echelon of attack, Herrera and veteran Michael Carrick in the back two, and Darmian, Chris Smalling, Blind and Marcos Rojo in defence.
West Brom went toe-to-toe, with the same formation of 4231, with top scorer Rondon up front, Belasino, Sessegnon and Gardner in the second tier, Jacob and Manchester United veteran Fletcher in the back, and Dawson, Macaulay, Olsen and Chester in the back four.
However, when the game started, everyone found that West Brom had no intention of going toe-to-toe with Manchester United. It can be said that they have taken the rigidity to the limit. Except for the opening game, after two waves of attack, they retreated from the defense, and even the striker Rondon was actively involved in the defense.
For Marcus Rashford, the striker who scored 12 goals in the first three games, they were even more jaw-dropping: not only did they keep three men around Rashford at all times, but they also blocked the ball passed to Rashford, completely cutting off the link between the rest of the United players and Rashford. Even the Manchester United players took the ball and passed it to the penalty area, they all intercepted it.
Marcus Rashford's ability to score goals in the box in his first three games was terrifying, and they decided to kill him completely.
As a result, in the first 20 minutes, despite United's possession of nearly 80 per cent, Rashford had only three touches of the ball, all of which were from outside the box, otherwise he would have had an embarrassing number of touches.
Rashford is really helpless, he can't receive it at all in the penalty area, he has no chance to shoot, how can he score?