Chapter 765 5 consecutive guests
On the evening of January 2020, 1, a make-up match of the 15th round of the Premier League was held at Vicarage Road, with Manchester United away challenging the Premier League Hornets Dortmund.
The match was originally scheduled for December 12, but Manchester United was in the Middle East to participate in the Club World Cup, so the match was postponed. After consultation between the two sides and reporting to the Premier League and the English Football Association, it was scheduled tonight.
Watford's current situation is not good. After 22 rounds of the Premier League, with one game less, they have only achieved 4 wins, 7 draws and 10 losses, ranking 19th in the Premier League with 19 points, deep in the relegation zone.
However, due to the large number of Premier League relegation teams, Aston Villa, ranked 17th, has only 21 points, and Brighton, ranked 14th, has 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, defensive counterattack. They set up an iron bucket formation. In addition, in order to prepare for the second round of the Manchester derby in 4 days, Mourinho rotated a lot of players again. Therefore, although the Red Devils controlled the situation away from home, they found it difficult to create scoring opportunities.
It was not until the 34th minute that Manchester United broke the deadlock. Bruno made a direct pass in the counterattack, and Ben Foster, a former Manchester United player, attacked. Mahrez shot from the edge of the penalty area and Manchester United led 1:0 away from home.
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This was the only goal scored by both teams 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 volleyed the ball into the upper corner in front of the small penalty area. De Gea made a mistake in saving the ball and let it leak into the upper corner.
De Gea's low-level mistake was very unexpected. In the Sky Sports studio, Manchester United star and Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville shouted in disbelief.
Another Sky Sports commentator, Liverpool legend Souness, said about the ball: "De Gea's eyes were not on the ball. It 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 conceded another goal. Sarr was tackled by young Dalot when he got the ball on the edge of the penalty area. Deeney took the penalty and scored, and Watford led 2:1 at home.
Conceding two goals in four minutes put Manchester United in a desperate situation.
Seeing the situation was not good, Mourinho made a series of substitutions. He replaced Lingard, who performed poorly, with Greenwood, and replaced McTominay with Mata.
Manchester United fought back with all their might and equalized the score in the 67th minute. Fred sent a straight pass from the middle, and Bruno, who came in from behind, shot hard in front of the penalty area but was saved. However, he grabbed the ball again and when he shot again, Ben Foster, who was still lying on the ground, was no longer able to save Watford's situation.
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After equalizing the score, Manchester United's morale soared and they formed a siege on the home team. However, the shots of Mahrez, Greenwood and Maguire were blocked by Ben Foster with wonderful saves.
The game quickly entered injury time, and the fourth official gave 6 minutes of extra time, which caused dissatisfaction among the home team fans.
What made the home fans even more dissatisfied came in the 95th minute. Mata passed the ball straight from the middle, and Bruno shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area, penetrating Ben Foster's small goal, and Manchester United overtook the score 3:2 away from home.
This is also the final score of the game.
Thanks to Bruno's two shots and one assist, Manchester United defeated Watford 3:2 away from home and achieved eight consecutive Premier League victories.
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, on the evening of January 1, Manchester United played away against Watford;
Four days later, on the afternoon of January 1, Manchester United visited Anfield Stadium for the second leg of the Red Devils derby this season.
On the evening of January 1, in the 22th round of the Premier League, Manchester United faced Burnley at home;
On the afternoon of January 1, in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United challenged Tranmere away;
On the evening of January 1, Manchester United visited the Etihad Stadium to challenge Manchester City in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
There are two 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, Manchester United suffered their first defeat of the season.
At the start of the game, Liverpool, playing at home, was basically in a state of suppressing the opponent throughout the game. Facing the Red Devils who had played two games in a row for a week and were exhausted after a series of hard battles, Liverpool's advantage was a visible crushing situation.
In the first 39 minutes of the game, Manchester United didn't 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, which flew into the goal along the bottom of the goal frame.
1:0, Liverpool took the lead at home!
In the 23rd minute, Liverpool made a cross from the left corner. The Manchester United player cleared the ball not far away, and Salah followed up with a shot, which was slightly off target.
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 rude words!
In the 35th minute, Chamberlain made a straight pass from the ribs and Wijnaldum scored with a single shot, but the linesman signaled that Wijnaldum was offside 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 shot from outside the penalty area was slightly off target. This was Manchester United's first shot of the game!
This shot seemed to open 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 in the penalty area. Facing an empty goal, Bruno, who was in position, easily blocked the ball into the goal.
This is Bruno's 28th Premier League goal of the season, continuing to lead the Premier League scorer list and European Golden Boot Award this season.
Currently, the second place in the European Golden Boot Award is Serie A Lazio striker Immobile, but the Blue Eagles' top striker has only 21 goals so far, which is more than million points behind Bruno.
As for Lewandowski, Ronaldo and others who are further behind, the gap between their goal tally and Bruno's is even greater.
However, when Manchester United fought back with all their might, their defense once again became loose, and Liverpool almost took the lead again.
In the 43rd minute of the game, Bruno drove straight into the game, and his long shot from outside the penalty area was caught by Alisson. Then Liverpool launched a quick counterattack. Salah broke through and made a straight pass. Mane made a left-footed shot, but De Gea stretched his legs to block the ball!
