UNITED INVINCIBLE

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

United had had a pretty impressive start to the Premiership season so far. Yeah, De Gea looked a bit iffy to start with but coming into the back end of August it looked as though we were going through the hears pretty smoothly. Unbeaten with the noisy neighbours of all teams looking like they might be shaping up as our main challengers. Of course this being United controversy wasn't far away and Fergie shooting his mouth off at the FA was...slightly the wrong target when it came to the cold war between MUFC and a lot of England fans. Still, there was at least one big game coming up that would privide the biggest est yet of United's title credentials this season.

That match was Arsenal at Old Trafford. Well Wellbeck opened the scoring for United before Young opened his MUFC account and Wayne put us three up before Arsenal were sure what hit them though Theo Walcott pulled one back for the Gunners before half time. The second half was even more insane, Wayne got his second and Nani joined the party with his first goal of the season before Robin van Persie grabbed what already looked like it would be a consolation goal for Arsene Wenger's crew. We weren't done yet though. Park grabed his first goal of the season, Wayne completed his hat-trick with a pen then Young grabbed his second before the end. Gloriously insane.

Next up came Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. Well United didn't hang around here either, Hernandez grabbing his first United goal of the season before Wayne made it two and then three in quick succsession. Bolton were in pieces already. Bolton tried to find a way back into the game early in the second half but got nowhere and when United got back on the attack, Hernandez grabbed his second. Wayne then went on to complete his second Premiership hattrick in a row. Bolton were never coming back after that. Another awesome performance from the Reds and the most stunning start to a Premiership season I can remember from United.

Elsewhere, City beat Spurs 5-1 at White Hart Lane. The Blues were two up before half time and by the time the home side had hit the net the game was already over. Given that Harry Redknapp's crew are no mugs that's quite a statement from the Blues. It was followed up with a 3-0 win over Wigan at the City of Manchester Stadium, City opening the scoring early on and were just able to cruise through the first half before burying their opponents later. That means that United move to the top of the Premiership, level on points with nearest challengers City but with a +3 goal difference advantage. So far, pretty much perfect from the Reds.

North of the border, Aberdeen continued their SPL campaign. First up came a 2-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox. Dons fans can't really complain about this one with the Blus hitting the net either side of half time, never easy to get anything out of the Old Firm on their own turf. That was followed up with a 0-0 draw against Hibs at Easter Road. A matter of "nae goals nae fitba" between two sides that are both underachieving at the moment. That means that the Dons drop 11th in the SPL, three points behind Hearts and the top half of the table but just one point ahead of Hibs and relegation. A few good results should get the Dons out of trouble and getting them is the hard part.

In the meantime the Champions League playoffs were taking place and Arsenal were facing Udinese. Arsenal won the 1st leg 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium but that was a less than ideal result against the low-profile but seemingly useful Serie A side. Then came a 2-1 win at the Fruilli Stadium in the 2nd leg which was quite as smooth as first appeared, the Gunners were trailing at half time and on the verge of dropping into the Europa League. Still, they servived and won the tie 3-1 on aggregate. The Gunners fans and Arsene Wenger in particular celebrated with a large degree of relief but the bottom line is, once again they'll be four Premiership sides in the Champions League group stages.

The group draw has been made though and United and now in the picture. The Reds have been drawn in Group C alongside Benfica, Basel and reigning Romanian champions Otelul Galeti. Benfica are known to be a pain in the backside on occasion and had a decent run in the Europa League last time around. Basel are also a known quantity, baring braindead moments neither side should be anything that we can't handle. As for Otelul, I'd never even heard of them before and I was out in Romania during the summer of '04. They seem to have come out of nowhere and I expect the Reds to give them quite a reality check. Bottom line, we should survive this group pretty smoothly.

Elsewhere, this is what the other Premiership sides face. Chelsea find themselves in Group E and face Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and Genk(Chelsea should survive this one). City take their Champions League bow and have found themselves in Group A and will have to deal with Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal(welcome to Europe's elite City, if they survive this group I'll be pretty impressed). Finally there's Arsenal who have wound up in Group F alongside Marseille, Olympiakos and Bourissia Dortmund(I wouldn't be taking any of these sides lightly if I was Arsene Wenger, too close to call for the Gunners!). Not as straightforward for Premiership sides as it could have been.

Going down a level, the Europa League playoffs were also taking place. Spurs beat Hearts 5-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Tynecastle. Stoke beat FC Thun 5-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Arena Thun. Fulham beat Dnipro 3-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Craven Cottage to complete a prefect run for the Premiership sodes. On top of that thee'll actually be a Championship presence in the European group stages after Birmingham saw off Nacional 3-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at St Andrews. SPL fans are not so happy though. Rangers were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by NK Maribor with the 1st leg at Ljudski vrt. Celtic were seen off 3-1 on aggregate by Sion with the 1st leg at Celtic Park, wiping out the SPL presence in European competition before it's really even started!

However the draw for the group stage of that competition has also been made. Spurs find themselves in Group A, alongside PAOK Salonika, Rubin Kazan and Shamrok Rovers of all teams(Spurs to reach the knockout stages). Stoke find themselves in Group E, alongside, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas and Maccabi Tel Aviv(think City have their work cut out here). Fulham are in Group K, alongside Odense, FC Twente and Wisla Krakow(I fancy Fulham's chances here). Birmingham are in Group H and face Braga, Club Bruges and Maribor(further progress for Brum is rather unlikely). The SPL has also been given a reprieve due to Sion being disqualified and Celtic have been drawn in Group I and they'll face Athletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes(toucch and go for the Celts!).

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