The Premier League has almost entered the final stage of the season. The competitions are getting tougher and each and every team is battling it hard to reach their respective goals. The championship quest has become more of a two-way battle with Chelsea as the front runners to claim the title. Manchester City is giving them tough competition. Arsenal, Manchester United, Southampton, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs are fighting neck to neck to finish among the top four teams, thereby qualifying directly for the UEFA Champions League next season. All the five teams are just a point behind each other playing the same number of matches.
Manchester United recently receded from the third position to the fourth spot due to a series of inconsistent performances in the New Year. Arsenal has climbed up into the third spot and they are looking pretty strong up there.
Manchester United’s strike force has not fired as per expectation. Except for Wayne Rooney, the other two superstars looked pale so far. Both Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao are finding it hard to regain their prime form and that is hurting Manchester United’s Champions League aspirations. Also Louis van Gaal has a perennial trouble with his defense. He doesn’t have quality defenders in his squad.
Louis van Gaal’s men have still quite a few tough matches to play which includes the top teams of the league. They cannot afford to lose a single point against the supposed minnows of the competition and look forward to capitalise in their home games against the top sides.
It is definitely a tough given their poor run in the current year. The Dutch manager needs to make quite a few changes in his starting lineup. Wayne Rooney must feature as a striker is absolutely compulsory. It has been a common practice for the manager this season to just experiment with his team. Well, he has to stick to a particular combination. Another important player for the squad whom the legendary manager is overlooking in most of the games is Juan Mata. A player of Juan Mata’s caliber does not deserve to warm the bench when his team is facing desperate situations. Manchester United needs the creativity of Mata in the midfield, who can feed the ball to the strikers.
Another important thing is that either of Robin van Persie or Radamel Falcao should find their scoring boots soon. They must support the captain in the upfront. In the previous match against Swansea City, where the team lost 1-2, Wayne Rooney struggled at the forward position due to lack of support.
If all the above mentioned factors click, Manchester United is definitely one of the strong contenders to win the Champions League spot eventually at the end of the season.