Chapter 785 Return to No. 1 in the Scoreboard

Manchester City's victory over Liverpool was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise for Manchester United, because with Liverpool's defeat, Manchester United topped the standings with a goal difference advantage over Liverpool!

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

曼联的战绩是27胜4平1负，打进90球失26球，净胜球64个，拿到85个积分。

而利物浦则是28胜1平3负，打进70球失27球，净胜球43个，同样是85个积分。

This is the first time that Manchester United has topped the standings again after a full league round, seven months after being tied 12-1 at home by Aston Villa on December 2 last year and falling off the top spot in the standings.

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 six rounds left in the league, it would be extremely difficult for Liverpool to make up for such a huge goal difference advantage!

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

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

Obviously, this is impossible!

………………

At 7 pm on July 4, Manchester United will host Bournemouth at home in the 3rd round of the Premier League.

Today's starting lineups for both sides have been shown on the big screen in the stadium.

Manchester United (433):

Goalkeeper: David de Gea

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

Midfield: 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;

Midfield: No. 20 Brooks, No. 16 Lewis Cook, No. 8 Lerma, No. 19 Stanislas;

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

The game started quickly, and the visiting team Bournemouth took the initiative and attacked Manchester United's goal right from the start.

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

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

However, Luke Shaw is worthy of being the best left back in the world. Although he was a little embarrassed under the impact of the two opponents, he did not give the opponent any chance.

Eddie Howe sat in the coaching booth, looking relaxed, and he was satisfied with the current situation. Although Luke Shaw's current defense seemed to be fine, Eddie Howe believed that it would be difficult for him to stop the successive attacks of his two generals, and it was only a matter of time before the team made a breakthrough on the right.

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

He is nervous.

"Almost there!" Mourinho muttered to himself.

………………

This time, Adam Smith and the team's midfielder Brooks performed a wall-to-wall pass, then he dribbled the ball and fooled Luke Shaw. Then, just as he was about to speed up, he saw Manchester United's central defender Van Dijk rushing towards him.

The Dutch center back pounced at the perfect time, Adam Smith was startled and quickly passed the ball.

"Ball stolen!" Andy Gray shouted.

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

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

After Luke Shaw intercepted the ball, he quickly passed it to Kante who came over to receive it. 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 pounced on Gundogan who received the ball.

Lyle's timing of stealing the ball was also well calculated. He planned to steal the ball while Gundogan was receiving it. At that time, Gundogan's footing was not stable, which was a perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of.

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

Facing Lerma who was rushing towards him, Gundogan leaned forward slightly, resisting the opponent's momentum, but he deftly used his heel to knock the ball to Maguire behind him.

Lerma missed!

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

………………

Bournemouth, who are deep in the relegation zone and desperately need points to avoid relegation, have been attacking very fiercely during this period and their formation has been pressing very forward. Just now, their midfielder Lerma even pressed to the top of Manchester United's penalty area.

Now Lerma has missed the ball, and the direct consequence of this missed shot is that there is a large empty space in Bournemouth's half!

"Lerma dived too hard, and Bournemouth's midfield and backcourt were out of touch!" Martin Taylor shouted.

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

Maguire did not waste any time and passed the ball to Gundogan again. The latter pulled the ball, turned around, looked up and looked ahead, and immediately made a long pass 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 moving forward at high speed. Behind him was Luke Shaw, who was sprinting forward after just intercepting the ball. On the right wing, Mbappe was also sprinting forward, and in front, Harry Kane was also running.

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

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

Rashford dribbled the ball forward at high speed.

At this time, Bournemouth's right-back Adam Smith had just rushed forward to participate in the attack and was still panting as he chased back.

After receiving the ball, Rashford cut directly into the penalty area!

………………

Bournemouth's central defenders were defending Bruno and Harry Kane just now, thinking that they would break through directly from the middle, but unexpectedly, the two men passed the ball twice and the ball went to the left.

At this time, Bournemouth center back Ake could only rush towards Rashford hastily.

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

Think beautiful!

Ake fell directly to the ground and made a tackle.

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 tackle the ball!

"Beautiful!" Andy Gray shouted.

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

"Luke Shaw! He's so fast!"

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

Bournemouth's defense 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 had an extremely tacit understanding with each other.

Luke Shaw was so fast and cut inside so decisively that he had almost entered the penalty area before the Bournemouth defenders could react.

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

Then we saw Luke Shaw dribbling 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 central defender Kelly and half-turned to shoot!

Bournemouth goalkeeper Ramsdale flew to save the ball, which was headed to the right side of the goal.

A red figure rushed up. It was Mbappe. The French winger swept the ball towards the goal before it went out of the baseline!

"Bruno! He's unmarked now... open goal! He shoots!"

Facing the huge empty goal, Bruno shot directly and the ball flew straight towards 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!" exclaimed commentator Martin Taylor. "From intercepting the ball in the backcourt to successfully counterattacking, Manchester United used their speed to completely tear open Bournemouth's defense, almost all with one kick. Manchester United showed Bournemouth and the whole world what counterattack speed is!"

On the sidelines, Bournemouth head coach Eddie Howe stared blankly at the field. He was still a little confused. His team lost the ball?

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

"Damn it!" Eddie Howe cursed and stood 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.