Same Old Man United Are Missing Lukaku

Nothing has changed this week in the Premier League.

The top two are still way ahead of the rest and are probably the two best teams in European football at the moment. It’s difficult to see Manchester City or Liverpool dropping too many points this season.

Same old Man United
Man United fans will have to be patient as the squad just doesn’t have players of the level to go and seriously challenge at the top end of the Premier League.

I thought they would have stayed in the top 4 at the start of the season but they clearly can’t open up sides and stop others scoring against them. They also don’t have the ability to score a second goal when they go in front in a game.

So nothing has changed since the back end of last season.

If anything, they’ve become slightly weaker up front after losing Lukaku.

No matter what we all thought of him, he would always produce a goal against the mid to lower ranked teams in the league. It’s going to be a real struggle for United to get into the top 4 now.

North London Derby
Arsenal v Tottenham was a brilliant game. The one thing that stands out straight away is that Tottenham are not able to stop sides going against them. A few years ago they looked defensively sound and if they were a goal up in a game, you would rarely see a team come back and score against them.

They have been vulnerable defensively for a long time now and it showed again on Sunday. It was a great game but it did show how far Tottenham are behind the top two. Over the past 15 years, the North London Derby has always produced plenty of goals and this was no different; an exciting watch.

Best of the Rest
Personally, I’m delighted for Everton’s 3-2 win over Wolves especially after the way they started the season. However, they started in the right fashion at Goodison Park on Sunday particularly with Wolves a little bit vulnerable after playing European football midweek. I was impressed with the tempo that they set.

Yes, their third goal to win was late on in the match but they haven’t been able to score three goals in a long time.

From an Irish perspective, I was delighted to see Callum Robinson score for Sheffield United against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The 2-2 draw was a great result for Sheffield United because they’re a good open and attacking side but Chelsea should be beating them.

International Break
The international break is a welcome one for sides that aren’t playing well. We know the amount of travelling that players will be doing over the next few weeks and they might not necessarily be too fresh coming back to the UK afterwards.

It can be a huge disruption for players. The tiredness players can feel after the break is real and it can take a while to get back up to speed.

I’m certainly looking forward to the Rep. of Ireland game against Switzerland on Thursday and hopefully we get a positive result. As always, a lot of clubs will be nervous to see how their players come back; hopefully fully fit and ready to rock in the Premier League again!