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Can you see the Red Moon rising?

By on September 28, 2015

This was an amazing weekend for both stargazers and Manchester United supporters, as by the end, they both could see the sight of red when looking up! The 2015/16 Premier League season started with a Blue Moon rising, with Manchester City enjoying a flying start to the Premier League season; yet after Manuel Pellegrini’s men suffered two straight losses, they found themselves eclipsed by United, who go top for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s last day in charge of the club.

Louis van Gaal’s men beat rock-bottom Sunderland just hours after City were demolished 4-1 by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane to reshape the title race that had originally looked to be in City’s hands. United now sit a point above their noisy neighbors on sixteen points, having drawn one and lost on in their first seven matches of the season whilst City have suffered two setbacks.

Van Gaal will have a lot more to sing about should his “army” continue their march forward and come away with nine points from their next three tricky-looking fixtures. The Red Devils face crucial clashes away to Arsenal and Everton before the Manchester derby a month from now, which will truly determine if the moon should be blue or red.

If United remain top after the Manchester derby, there is no doubt that they’ll have announced their title bid. Juan Mata has already stated that he wants to win the Premier League and Capital One Cup to complete his medal haul in England, having won the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup with former club Chelsea. Mata was one of the scorers on Saturday against the Black Cats, along with captain Wayne Rooney and young Dutchman Memphis Depay. Next up for ‘”Louis van Gaal’s army” is a home encounter with German side Wolfsburg in the Champions League.

Summer investments paying off

United are reaping the rewards from their heavy summer investments, namely by signing 19-year-old striker Anthony Martial and keeping goalkeeper David de Gea out of the clutches of Real Madrid. Both of these moves seem to have transformed the confidence at Old Trafford, with the addition of a pacy number nine adept at runs in behind the lines that United so lack previously, and given there is no longer any uncertainty over who their number one is.

Manchester City also splashed the cash Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, who together have scored City’s last three goals, but conservative spenders and reigning champions Chelsa are still languishing in the bottom half of the table. Surely this signals a new wave in the title race; the rare supermoon eclipse will not be seen again until 2033 (ironically, it only appears once in a blue moon!), by which time the Red Devils would have surely added to their twenty league titles and French forward Martial would be thirty-seven. Jack Wilshere, meanwhile, would still be twenty-two.

Rooney should have also overtaken Sir Bobby Charlton’s United goal-scoring record by then, having equaled Denis Law’s 171 strikes with his goal against Sunderland. Rooney already eclipsed Charlton’s record for the English national team though his decorated career is already out of this world, has time yet to add a few more titles this season.

Writing’s On The Wal!

Manchester United weren’t the only red side that showed their potential title credentials on Saturday, as Arsenal created a crater in Leicester City’s defense with a 5-2 victory at the King Power Stadium. It was the Foxes’ first loss of the season and Alexis Sanchez’s hat-trick meant there will be no pepperoni pizzas heading in the direction of the Leicester squad from Claudio Ranieri’s credit card; or three points, but small matter.

Like Sam Smith’s new James Bond song for the upcoming movie Spectre, the writing was on the wall for the home side when Theo Walcott proved his pace useful in a lone forward position the Gunners, scoring to equalize Jamie Vardy’s opener. Walcott caused trouble for the Foxes’ backline all day, although it was Chilean winger Sanchez who received the headlines with his goals. Frenchman Olivier Giroud also scored a late goal as a substitute to complete the seven goal thriller, setting up a tasty battle for Arsenal’s starting forward position. Emirates manager Arsene Wenger must see the recent dropped points for Chelsea and City as an opportunity to climb almost as high as Sam Smith’s voice in the title race this season.

Arsenal have rapidly recovered after their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea last week, just in time for a critical home game with Greek side Olympiacos in the Champions League. Ironically, the North London reds will be facing another player former-Leicester in the form of Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, who joined the Greek side on a free transfer over the summer. West Brom flop forward Brown Ideye is also in the Greek champions’ squad.

Homepage photo credit: Erik Drost (Flickr: Vincent Kompany), via Wikimedia Commons

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.