ALEX CROOK: Are Manchester United in a Relegation Battle?

Star Sports football ambassador ALEX CROOK is back with his weekend takeaways from the weekend just gone of Premier League action…

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WOEFUL RED DEVILS SLEEP-WALKING INTO A RELEGATION BATTLE

There is a TV film entitled ‘Too Good to Go Down’ telling the remarkable story of Manchester United’s relegation from the old first division in 1974 only six years after winning their first European Cup.

Amazon Prime are following United this season for a new ‘All or Nothing’ documentary and they may accidentally be stumbling into a remake.

United have won of their last 12 games and are without a victory in eight leaving them just a point above the bottom three

If Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his hapless band of helpers think they have too much quality in their team for a relegation scrap, then on current form they are sadly mistaken.

This is a side who are playing without a soul and with no heart.

Michael Carrick will inevitably be the fall-guy but the first job for whoever replaces him is to make it clear to the dressing room that they are in a dogfight.

🔴 MAN UTD TO BE RELEGATED – currently at ? with starsports.bet

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TIME FOR PICKFORD’S ENGLAND REMOVAL?

Everton’s winless run under David Moyes on Arsenal soil extended to 13 games as they were beaten 2-0 at the Emirates.

The injury-hit Toffees put up a good fight but lacked the quality at the top end of the pitch to ever seriously threaten an upset.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did not cover himself in glory for Ezri Konsa’s first ever Arsenal goal, colliding with his own player when attempting to deal with a Martin Odegaard corner.

Pickford could arguably also have done better for Gabriel’s header, which sealed the points for the hosts.

The 32-year-old has been devoid of any genuine competition for his England place for a number of years but that could change unless his form improves, with James Trafford knocking loudly on the door.

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PALMER-GEDDON FOR CHELSEA

No Chelsea manager wants to lose at home to Tottenham, and not many do.

Xabi Alonso cut a very frustrated figure after seeing his side defeated by their London neighbours at Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2018.

While Alonso’s decision to deploy Morgan Rogers as a false 9 in the absence of the injured Joao Perdro backfired, it was Cole Palmer’s moment of madness that really cost his team.

Palmer had already been booked for going charging into Mateus Fernandes, which could have resulted in instant dismissal, before being shown a second yellow card for a petulant challenge on Conor Gallagher.

It does make you wonder if the public pile-on Palmer received after ignoring a young autograph hunter in the street played a part in his epic head loss.

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LIVERPOOL BIG GUNS FINALLY CLICKING

Arguably the most impressive result of the weekend was Liverpool’s 2-0 win at home to in-form Brighton.

I saw this as a potential banana skin for the Reds, but their big guns ensured it was a relatively routine victory for Andoni Iraola’s side.

Florian Wirtz produced probably his best Premier League performance and was unlucky that Liverpool’s opening goal went down as a Pascal Gross OG having initially been awarded to the German.

Meanwhile, another of the Merseysiders’ £100m+ buys, Alexander Isak, maintained his excellent scoring run at the start of the season.

Bradley Barcola was the provider for Isak, so the country’s most expensively-assembled front three are at last justifying their huge price tags.

🔴 LIVERPOOL TO WIN THE TITLE – currently at ? with starsports.bet

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MARCUS THE TOAST OF THE TAVERN-IER

All the headlines from Bournemouth’s win at Old Trafford are dominated by crisis club Manchester United.

But the Cherries deserve a whole heap of praise after one of the best weeks in their history having beaten the mighty AC Milan and United 3-0 in back-to-back games.

Right at the heart of both successes was the all-action Marcus Tavernier.

Tavernier has made a brilliant starting to the season, crowned by scoring Bournemouth’s second goal on Sunday to effectively end the tie as any form of contest.

The former Middlesbrough man could soon be on the radar of England boss Thomas Tuchel.

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TEAM OF THE WEEK

Lucas Hornicek (Newcastle)

Ronald Araujo (Liverpool), Ezri Konsa (Arsenal), Micky van de Ven (Tottenham), Lewis Hall (Newcastle)

Bradley Barcola (Liverpool), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Matheus Fernandes (Tottenham), Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth)

Nicolas Jackson (Aston Villa), Evanilson (Bournemouth)

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