Manchester United ignited the Premier League title race with a victory over leaders Chelsea, who are starting to feel the heat from red-hot Tottenham. Liverpool and Manchester City remain on course for top four finishes.
Here are five things we learned:
Mourinho hasn't lost his touch
Amid
Manchester United’s travails this season, a common refrain has been
that manager Jose Mourinho has lost the magic touch that once made him
the most coveted manager in world football. His side’s stunning 2-0
victory over leaders Chelsea, his former club, showed that reports of
his demise have been exaggerated. Mourinho pulled off a tactical
masterstroke at Old Trafford, deploying Ander Herrera and Matteo Darmian
to man-mark Eden Hazard and Pedro and picking Marcus Rashford as a lone
striker to exploit the space behind the Chelsea defence. Both Rashford
and Herrera excelled, scoring early in each half to leave Chelsea just
four points clear of in-form pursuers Tottenham Hotspur. United,
meanwhile, closed to within four points of fourth-place Manchester City,
on whom they retain a game in hand and who welcome them to the Etihad
Stadium a week on Thursday.
Kane is no one-season wonder
Arsenal
fans were sceptical when home-grown striker Harry Kane broke into the
Tottenham Hotspur first team during the 2014-15 season and started
banging in goals at an arresting rate. Kane had had a succession of
unconvincing loan spells and was slower than most top-level strikers.
His critics decided he was a 'one-season wonder'. But having followed up
his 31-goal haul that season with 28 goals last season, he took his
tally for the current campaign to 25 by netting in Spurs' 4-0 win over
Bournemouth on Saturday. In doing so, he became the first Spurs player
to score at least 20 league goals in three successive seasons since
Jimmy Greaves in the late 1960s. Some one-season wonder.
City back in good Kompany
The
sublime performance of Vincent Kompany must make Pep Guardiola weep at
what might have been if the Belgian international had stayed fit and has
been restricted to nine appearances. Kompany scored on his return but
it was his calming influence on what has been City's weakest unit this
season the defence which augurs well both for finishing in the top four
and also for the FA Cup and maintaining Guardiola's proud record of
winning a trophy every season he has managed a club. However such has
been his injury jinx that Guardiola will need to put him in mothballs in
between games.
Mignolet main man at last?
It
may still be some time before Liverpool fans speak of Simon Mignolet
with the same respect they reserve for such Anfield greats as Ray
Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar but it looks as if the Belgian could be
winning round his sternest critics at last after he helped ensure
Liverpool's 1-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Mignolet's
position appeared in danger when Reds manager Jurgen Klopp signed Loris
Karius last year. But Mignolet has re-established himself as Liverpool's
No 1 and maintained that form with a crucial point-blank save from West
Brom's Matt Phillips. Even former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher,
one of Mignolet's loudest detractors, admitted the keeper deserved
plaudits for helping the Merseysiders go third in the Premier League
table. "Has he earned praise? Without a doubt, " Carragher told Sky
Sports.
Meltdown sounds Euro alarm
With
the decisive second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against
Atletico Madrid looming on Tuesday, Leicester were on course for a
morale-boosting victory at Crystal Palace on Saturday. But instead a
second half collapse exposed the soft centre at the heart of Leicester’s
defence which could lead to the end of their European adventure.
Leicester trail 1-0 from the first leg in Spain and their chances of
extending their remarkable run into the semi-finals will depend largely
on how their defence fares at the King Power Stadium. So with Robert
Huth suspended for the rematch and Wes Morgan struggling with a back
injury that forced him to miss the Palace game, Leicester boss Craig
Shakespeare will be alarmed by the way his team crumbled at the back and
allowed Palace to snatch a 2-2 draw.
