For Manchester United and its new manager Ruben Amorim, they have stumbled into 13th place over the festive period – the lowest they have been at Christmas since the 1989-90 season – and with a familiar sinking feeling.
United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth for the second season in a row, the latest figures showing just how far the English giants have fallen and the work Amorim has to do to turn his fortunes around.
Worst of all for United, it seems that great rivals Liverpool are unstoppable.
After the Reds’ biggest league win of the season went 21 games unbeaten in all competitions, Mohamed Salah moved to the top of the scoring charts with two goals to move ahead of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
Liverpool have 39 points from 16 games and extended their lead over second-placed Chelsea, who could only draw 0-0 at Everton, to end their five-game winning streak in the league.
Goal celebration Salah now has 15 goals to break the tie with Holland in the Premier League – and will leave London knowing he should have more.
In an end-to-end contest like a basketball game, Liverpool scored more than five goals for the first time this season, with Luis Diaz (two), Alexis McAllister and Dominik Szobosli also scoring.
“You can see quality players with high discipline,” Tottenham captain Son Heung-min said. “There’s a reason they’re at the top. If you do them wrong, they punish you. “
Tottenham’s injury-hit defense was open at the back but its attack caused Liverpool problems, with James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all finding the net.
Spurs are another big team in the bottom half, dropping to 11th place.
Back to square one The optimism sparked by last weekend’s 2-1 derby win at Manchester City was dashed for United as they were beaten 4-3 by Tottenham in the English League Cup quarter-finals on Thursday. Defeated by the same score against Bournemouth 12 months ago.
“We were a bit nervous, I felt it in the stadium,” said Amorim, who has won four and lost four in all competitions since opening his United tenure with a draw at Ipswich on November 24.
Dean Huyjsen, Justin Kluivert – from the penalty spot – and Antoine Semenyo scored for Bournemouth, who climbed to fifth in the standings and have now beaten Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and United this season. Indeed, City have dropped to seventh place, an unthinkable revelation for winners of the last four Premier League titles.
United lost Marcus Rashford for the third game in a row.
At one point during Amorim’s post-match press conference, water could be seen slowly dripping from a ceiling light onto journalists sitting in the front row of the Old Trafford media room.
After all the money spent on Chelsea’s run-over players – $1.3 billion and counting – and a massive turnover of managers, Chelsea’s American ownership could see the club top the Premier League with a win at Everton – at least for two hours.
However, the 0-0 draw ended Chelsea’s eight-game winning streak in all competitions and gave Liverpool a four-point lead.
Nicholas Jackson headed against the post for Chelsea in the first half, while Everton had the clearest chances in the second half.
Everton also defeated Arsenal 0-0 last week.
“Sometimes you have to play a different game and we are learning to play a different game,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said. “They (Everton) are one of the best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
Winning start for Pereira Vitor Pereira got off to a great start as Wolverhampton manager, his new side beating Leicester 3-0 in their first game.
Pereira took over as a substitute for Gary O’Neill on Thursday and promptly ended Wolves’ four-game losing streak as Goncalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Mathias Cunha scored first-half goals at the King Power Stadium.
Wolves remain in the relegation zone but are two points behind Leicester, a place above the bottom three, and Pereira said: “I believe we will stay in the Premier League and play at a better level than we saw today.”
It handed Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy his second biggest defeat at the start of his tenure, following last weekend’s 4-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Another recent Premier League manager, Ivan Juric, started life with a 0-0 draw with Fulham at Southampton.
Juric was not in charge of the team because he did not have a work permit. He was sitting in the stands instead of playing.