Old rivals, Manchester United and Manchester City return to domestic duty on the back of Champions League triumphs, the Sky Blues sinking Porto 2-0 before the Red Devils doubled that total in a 4-0 slaying of Sabah.
Pre-season optimism has quickly become early-season pessimism for those of a Man United persuasion, who have been left underwhelmed with the Red Devils’ meagre total of four points from an opening three Premier League games, all of which were mismatches on paper.
However, Michael Carrick’s men only made their squad dominance count in their 5-2 battering of Ipswich Town, sandwiched in between a horrendous 2-0 Hull City defeat and gut-wrenching 2-2 draw to an Everton side boasting just 18 senior players.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles’s astonishing leveller for the Toffees last weekend condemned Man United to an unwanted and unfamiliar fate, as they have now conceded two goals in each of their opening three league games for just the second time in 50 years, after also doing so in the 2020-21 season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils ended up taking second place that year, suggesting that there is no reason for premature panic at Old Trafford.
