All eyes on City, United
london — A year later than expected, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola appear set for a season-long fight for the Premier League title.
Having overseen successful close-season spending sprees after lacklustre first seasons in charge at Old Trafford and Eastlands, Mourinho and Guardiola have put United and City in pole position among the early pace-setters.
After five matches, Mourinho and Guardiola have led their teams to identical records, four wins, one draw, sixteen goals scored, two conceded, and only alphabetical order is keeping leaders City above second-placed United.
There is little love lost between old rivals Mourinho and Guardiola and their close proximity in Manchester should make the title race an explosive affair.
Here AFP Sport looks at the key areas that transformed United and City:
Aware his most successful teams have always been built around a battering ram capable of combining power and poise at the focal point of his attack, Mourinho is reaping the rewards of splashing out £75 million on Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.
At Chelsea, it was Didier Drogba and then Diego Costa who fuelled Mourinho’s title-winning teams, while at Inter Milan he used Diego Milito to bully defenders into submission.
Lukaku, prolific but sometimes lacking desire at Everton, is following in those footsteps, scoring seven goals in seven appearances for United to transform an attack that was often held in check too easily last term. “If you play for a big club, then you have to act like a big player and perform, week in, week out, Lukaku said of his United excellence.
When Guardiola splurged £130 million on three full-backs over the summer, some critics suggested the Spaniard would have been better off using the money to strengthen other areas. But Guardiola was convinced the additions of Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo, from Tottenham, Monaco and Real Madrid respectively, were essential for his purist principles to be successful in England.
Guardiola loves to retain possession as his teams build from the back, while putting stress on opponents by using over-lapping full-backs to outnumber them in the final third. —