Doesn’t the ill-fated David Moyes era seem a long time ago now Manchester United fans?
With the Red Devils having picked up maximum points from their first two Premier League fixtures of the season, Louis van Gaal will be absolutely delighted with this haul given the fact United haven’t been so convincing in both games against Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Doing just enough to win the games, United fans won’t care how the points come at this stage in the season but everybody including van Gaal knows that after a few weeks, everything will be stepped up a notch and the Red Devils can hit their stride.
Right now, United are fourth favourites to win the Premier League with Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal ahead of them in the pecking order but given the amounts of money Ed Woodward is sanctioning on transfer fees right now, shouldn’t the Red Devils be in with more of a shout for the title this time around?
While the manager, players and some optimistic fans will believe that of course, if all of van Gaal’s new signings do end up gelling and United manage to land a surprise new striker such as Thomas Muller out of nowhere, perhaps they can go ahead of schedule while scooping the Premier League trophy this term.
With this theme on our minds by the bar today, we’ve devised five reasons why Manchester United can reclaim the Premier League trophy from Chelsea this season.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 reasons why Manchester United will reclaim the Premier League trophy from Chelsea.
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Because LVG is a year wiser in English football
With Louis van Gaal having only experienced a trophyless debut season for the second time in his managerial career last term, the Dutchman knows he has to deliver silverware as a return on the subsequent investments the club have made over the last two summer transfer windows.
But with van Gaal having dabbled in numerous formations and tactics last term, he’s a year wiser in English football and to be honest, we can’t see the new boys AFC Bournemouth, Norwich City and Watford taking too many points off the Red Devils this season.
Now operating with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Wayne Rooney spearheading the attack, United will play much more of their 38 league games in a settled style and this will stand the club in good stead to make more of a title challenge this term.
Because Old Trafford is becoming a fortress again
Compared to the series of home losses Manchester United suffered under the ill-fated reign in charge of David Moyes, Louis van Gaal’s men only lost a respectable three times at Old Trafford last season.
A stat bettered only by Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal who finished above the Red Devils last term, everything points towards Old Trafford becoming a fortress once again.
Historically an intimidating venue for away sides to visit, particularly under Sir Alex Ferguson of course, Old Trafford is becoming a harder place for the opposition to pick up a respectable result.
With the Red Devils having nabbed a 1-0 victory over Tottenham on the opening day, they’ll hope their winning streak at home continues for some time yet.
Because they’re buying ready-made class signings
Having signed Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Sergio Romero this summer, all five of these players represented their senior international sides in the World Cup in Brazil last summer.
Add impending signing Pedro to the mix and the figure will stand at six showing just how United have upped the ante in the transfer market of late, signing established seasoned professionals.
Buying ready-made has often reaped rewards in the past and you only have to look at the case of Manchester City to prove this.
In Schweinsteiger especially, the German international is a World Cup winner and in his two cameo performances so far, he’s almost taken the role of a conductor in telling his team-mates where to pass the ball next.
Bringing professionals and winners like him on board, not to mention Pedro (pictured) will only assist the younger players while putting United in good stead to achieve more honours.
Because they can be boring yet efficient
As alluded to at the outset, in both of United’s fixtures against Tottenham and Aston Villa so far this season, the Red Devils haven’t been at their best with an unusually low shot count forging some of the statistics.
Nevertheless the sign of a winning team is the fact they can achieve three points without being at their best and you have to praise the Red Devils’ resilience for seeing off both Spurs and the Villains by two 1-0 scorelines.
We’ve seen with the likes of Chelsea in the past that it’s not always the most free flowing football for an entire season that wins the Premier League with ruthless efficiency going a long way to winning the trophy.
With United capable of playing in different ways, either expansively or more resiliently, this will stand Louis van Gaal’s side in good stead to achieve big honours this season.
Because United have a “surprise” signing up their sleeve?
A couple of weeks ago, either Louis van Gaal was simply teasing the media or he was letting everybody in on a snippet of valuable information after claiming the Red Devils have a “surprise” signing up their sleeve this summer.
With both Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie having departed Old Trafford in the summer, you’d imagine this surprise signing to be a striker with just Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and James Wilson representing out-and-out options right now.
With Hernandez likely to depart on a permanent deal and Rooney frustratingly dropping back into the number 10 role in United’s first two fixtures, they could definitely do with striking reinforcements.
That said, available world class strikers have been in short supply this summer and while ambitious targets such as Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller have been linked, players such as him will be incredibly difficult to acquire.
Nevertheless, Ed Woodward has decided to put his money where his mouth is in recent times and if United were to get a deal done for the likes of Muller, in addition to Pedro of course, they’d boast a dream team-like frontline that couldn’t be ruled out of lifting the title.
