To have quality proves warmly A player of Cavani’s coming off the bench Ole’s squad should be fancied to win the title
IF THERE was a moment when even the most ardent of Manchester United sceptics should have been won over, it came after 75 minutes of this intriguing game.
It came when Edinson Cavani entered the fray.
Never mind his decisive intervention did not guarantee all three points for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
Never mind his fine assist for the Bruno Fernandes goal did not count towards three points that would have taken them to within striking distance of Liverpool.
Never mind Solskjaer and United will look back on Leicester’s pointearning leveller as something of a disappointment.
Even in a draw, this was further evidence that United are very, very serious players at the summit of the Premier League.
Quite simply, when a footballer of Cavani’s immense class can be made to wait until the final quarter of a game for some action, that squad should be warmly fancied not just to compete for but to win the title.
Leicester City are also players in the race, of course, but this SHOULD be a United outfit that gets stronger and stronger.
Cavani must be the best substitute in the Premier League, unless that is Paul Pogba.
Quite how Pogba could not get ahead of Daniel James – who he eventually replaced – for this particular contest was something of a mystery.
As well as Solskjaer is now doing, he does make the odd bizarre decision. That was one of them, along with fielding Victor Lindelof at right-back.
Maybe his myriad options sometimes confuse him.
But, apart from that one enforced defensive change, this was the starting side that swept Leeds United away, so it was hard to argue with it.
And had Rashford been more precise with his finishing, they would have won this match.
With his head and right foot, he squandered two great chances, although his finish midway through the first half was tidy enough after yet another Fernandes assist.
Harry Kane to Tottenham Hotspur? Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City? Mo Salah to Liverpool?
Name a player more crucial to his team, more fundamental to its fortunes, than Fernandes is to Manchester United.
None of the above, it could easily be argued.
Even after he makes a mistake, as he did in the preamble to Harvey Barnes’ equaliser, Fernandes is irreplaceable.
In less than a year, he has proved himself one of the best recruits of recent Premier League times.
We will come to the statistics soon enough.
But you cannot quantify the lift he gives this Manchester United squad.
You cannot quantify his footballing nous, his anticipation and his vision.
He is sly and cunning in every sense of the words, whether it is stretching to poke the cutest of set-ups for the Rashford opener or leaving a stud on Youri Tielemans.
And now, those numbers. Thirteen assists and 18 goals in 28 Premier League games.
There are a fair few penalties in there but mightily impressive all the same.
But the really telling figures can be found in the points won by United since his arrival back in January and prior to it.
In the 24 Premier League games of the 2019-20 season that he did not feature in, United were averaging just over 1.4 points per match.
Since then, they have averaged
just over 2.1 points s per match.
His arrival was as transformative for or the team.
Fernandes, who was actua l ly fortunate to be spared a second yellow card, was suitably downcast at the final whistle and his REFLECTION Solskjaer and Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers after the game team’s tea finishing and Solskjaer’s sel selections might come under scrutiny.
But while Fernandes might see this as two points dropped, this was further proof United are bona fide contenders.
And that’s how it should be. That’s how it should be when Edinson Cavani can be restricted to a cameo.
This is a squad of depth and quality that has a duty to be in the bat battle for supreme honours right until the bitter end.