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English Premier League
SportFootball
Andy Mitten
Andy Mitten

Opinion | United fans’ dismay is City fans’ delight in Manchester football’s ever-turning wheel of fortune

  • Pep Guardiola’s men are very much in the ascendancy
  • Manchester United supporters have witnessed the club’s worst start to a season in 28 years

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Manchester City supporters had to endure years of dominance from their city rivals Manchester United, but now the tables have turned. Photo: Reuters
Andy Mitten

There’s a fury in Manchester and it isn’t just Tyson, the heavyweight boxer who wants a WBC title rematch with Deontay Wilder at Old Trafford.

United fans are fuming because their team is enduring its worst start to a Premier League season for 28 years. England’s biggest club is enveloped in a smog of confusion, with more finger-pointing than a Brexit discussion in Britain’s Houses of Parliament. The club will find their way out of the haze, but the cloud remains thick, the solutions obscured.
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That rivals Liverpool and Manchester City are prospering only ramps up the frustration. Both are unbeaten, with Liverpool 14 points clear of United after 14 games and City 16 points clear. Writing such a sentence would have been unimaginable for most of the last 25 years.

There is no comfort in statistics. City have scored 43 goals and conceded only six; United have scored 22 and conceded 23. City, with magnificent players like Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne – and coach Josep Guardiola – have a better goal difference after 14 games than last season when they broke the goal difference record.

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Manchester United have endured a difficult start to this Premier League season. Photo: Reuters
Manchester United have endured a difficult start to this Premier League season. Photo: Reuters
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