The Premier League 2017/18 season has got off to a flying start. Shock results, high scoring games and star filled line-ups, it’s had it all. It is still very much early days but some teams seem to be flaunting their talent a lot more than others.
Runners up last year – Spurs – didn’t lose a home game in the entirety of last season. They’ve already lost their first home game this season. Albeit they’re at temporary home Wembley, they’re still not off to the start they were hoping for. Arsenal and Chelsea have also dropped points that they wouldn’t be best pleased with.
Manchester United on the other hand have bucked this trend. Scoring four goals in one match is quite a feat, but, to do it twice in a row at the very beginning of the season is something else, some may even say it’s special. This was accompanied by two clean sheets as well, highlighting United’s emphatic start to the season.
Man Utd cross the minds of all fans when predicting the teams at the top of the pecking order, so it may not come as a shock to many fans. However, last year was the second year in a row they failed to finish in the top four, a major disappointment for one of the ‘big four’. Despite this, Mourinho managed to gain entry to Europe’s finest tournament by winning the Europa League, with a solid 2-0 beating of Dutch team Ajax in the final.
On his return to Chelsea, Jose Mourinho won the Premier League in the 14/15 season. However, a shaky start to the following term resulted in an unsavoury departure from Stamford Bridge, the self-proclaimed ‘Special one’ seemed to have lost some of his mojo. He subsequently joined Manchester United for the 2016/17 season.
United fans were over the moon, with high calibre signings such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and, at the time, world record signing Paul Pogba it was to be an exciting season at the theatre of dreams. However, it was viewed by some that the controversial Mourinho didn’t live up to fans sky high expectations in his first season on the red side of Manchester.
This seems very harsh as winning the League Cup and Europa League (thus gaining entry to the Champions League), brings most of the long-awaited glory back to Old Trafford that has been somewhat missing since Sir Alex retired back in 2013.
Despite losing talisman Zlatan – who is in fact rumoured to be reunited with Jose – and long term hero Rooney, the Red Devils have got off to a flyer. With some expert signings from Jose, in the form of Romelu Lukaku (£75-90 million) and Nemanja Matic (£40 million), the team seem to be gelling ever so well. Mourinho has taken his fair share of criticism over the past couple of years but will be hoping to instil top quality football back at Old Trafford and restore faith and passion amongst fans.
As we all know too well, Mourinho is more than capable of achieving a Premier League Winners medal, United fans will of course be praying it is for the Red Devils this time around. Again, it’s early days, but following a superb start to the season, who knows? The ‘Special one’ may be worthy of that title once again.
Written by Sam Brazier.
