In the second game of the devil's schedule, Liverpool successfully won the game.
Manchester United also continued their killing spree at Old Trafford, taking down Wigan Athletic with a score of 5: 0.
Such a result made the Red Army fans hate them to the core!
Wigan Athletic resisted Liverpool at home and used all kinds of despicable means to force a draw with Liverpool. They went to Christmas happily and gave Manchester United a Christmas gift of three points at Old Trafford just one day after!
Chelsea struggled after their opponents began to pay attention to them again. At Stamford Bridge, they failed to take down their city rival Fulham. The score of 1: 1 made Chelsea's Christmas less than satisfactory.
Van Persie was muted and Arsenal also struggled to win. They were forced to a 1: 1 draw with Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.
The Christmas champions, Manchester City, were sniped by West Bromwich Albion in this round!
0:0！
As a result, after this round, the situation in the standings changed dramatically.
Although Manchester City was still the leader, they had been caught up with Manchester United in points!
Manchester City's two heroes had both 44 points.
Liverpool was close behind with 43 points.
Chelsea had 34 points.
Arsenal had 33 points.
The competition for the top three in the league was fierce.
But Manchester City had a six-point lead over Manchester United a month ago. Today, they only had a lead in goal difference, which made Fleet Street extremely pessimistic about Manchester City's prospects for winning the title.
Howard, the chief football reporter of The Times, wrote an article "Manchester City's seven games in 25 days to decide life and death!" to specifically analyze the impact of Manchester City's future schedule on their results.
"Money can make a team improve greatly in a short time. Manchester City is replicating the trajectory of Chelsea's rise. Such a huge investment in recent years has allowed this team to jump to the top of the table in an instant. It's true that throwing in some world-class players can improve the team's strength, but it's not enough for Manchester City to continue to be successful. Money can't buy championships. "
On Christmas Eve before the current round of games, the Manchester United manager, Ferguson, commented on their "noisy neighbors" when he talked about the current situation in the Premier League.
A short day later, just as the Red Devils blew the horn to counterattack with a 5: 0 victory, the Manchester City players actually stumbled and were obstructed by West Bromwich Albion.
After a dull 0-0, the Blue Moon Legion's advantage on the scoreboard was completely gone. They only managed to maintain their position at the top of the scoreboard with five goals.
From leading Manchester United by six points at one point to now being caught, it could be said that Mancini's team finally felt the pressure from the team they had massacred at the beginning of the season with a 6: 1 score. At the same time, the defending champions, Liverpool, were always behind them and could overtake them at any time!
Mancini, who was not very experienced, still cheered for his team after the game. "This may not be a bad thing for us. At least we still occupy the top position and suppress them because we still have a huge advantage in goal difference. And for a team, it's impossible to occupy the top position from beginning to end for all 38 rounds."
However, psychological warfare was psychological warfare. After being unable to get all three points from West Bromwich Albion in this game, it could be said that the Manchester City Legion was under real pressure.
First of all, there was the intensive competition schedule in January. Compared to their rival, Manchester United, the Blue Moon Legion had at least two more EFL Cup matches to play. Mancini's team would engage in a close-quarters battle with Liverpool in the two-legged EFL Cup semi-finals. The Red Devils had already "withdrawn" from this competition.
After this game, Manchester City would first visit Sunderland in an English Premier League match on the night of January 1st. Then, in another English Premier League match two days later, they would return to their home ground to face the challenge of the defending champions, Liverpool!
This was far from over. In another three days, on the night of January 7th, the focal battle of the third round of the FA Cup would be between Manchester City and Manchester United!
After the fierce battle with Manchester United, Mancini's team would once again meet the Red Army's Liverpool. Only this time, it would be a match in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
After that, Manchester City would successively visit Wigan Athletic, face Tottenham Hotspur, and once again come to Anfield to challenge Liverpool!
In other words, between January 1st and 25th, Manchester City would have to play seven matches in a row. On average, they would have to play a match every three to four days. Furthermore, this included three encounters with Liverpool, a Manchester derby, and a fierce battle with Tottenham Hotspur.
Once Mancini's team was unable to withstand the pressure, it was likely that they would be defeated in the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup, ending the competition for the entire season ahead of time. They might even become the laughingstock of the entire Europe!
What was even more infuriating was that at this critical juncture in the intensive competition schedule, Manchester City's team might also face the dilemma of having their core players transferred to the African Cup of Nations.
"When the time comes, Manchester City will have two important players participating in the African Cup of Nations. Kolo Toure may not have regained the main force, but he is an important player. Yaya Toure's importance to the entire Manchester City team this season is simply irreplaceable. Therefore, we'll see whether Manchester City can continue their ferocious state at the beginning of the season until the end of the season. "
Jamie Redknapp was not optimistic about Manchester City's performance in the short term when he commented on the competition for the title.
It was no exaggeration to say that now was the time to test the ability and means of Manchester City's manager, Mancini. Whether they could hold the overall situation in the next month or completely turn half of the season's efforts into nothing would depend on the Italian manager's strategy.
Manchester City's top management was discussing the contract renewal with Mancini. The latter was about to renew his contract with Manchester City for three and a half years. The new contract would expire in 2015. Once Mancini officially signed the contract, he would receive a salary of five million pounds a year, surpassing Ferguson, Comain, and other famous managers to become the highest-paid manager in the Premier League.
Was Mancini worth this price? The answer would be clear in the next month.
In short, the one billion pounds that Sheikh Mansur had invested after taking charge of Manchester City would not be wasted!
Manchester City was faced with a huge test.
On Liverpool's side, Qin Xiong was facing the critical point of breaking the record.
He had scored a total of 84 goals in the national team, the Champions League, the Premier League, and the domestic cup this year. He was one goal away from tying with Gerd Muller's annual scoring record. If he could score one more goal, he would break the record!
Fortunately, Liverpool's match was scheduled to be on December 31, unlike Manchester City's match, which was scheduled on January 1, for the first half of the Premier League season.
On the last day of 2011, Qin Xiong stood in front of the threshold of the football world's annual scoring record!
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