This Saturday afternoon, Manchester United traveled to Sunderland for the 32nd day of the Premier League. Guaranteed to compete in the Champions League next season, the Mancunians were in 3rd place in the standings. After an exciting victory against Liverpool, Michael Carrick’s men knew they would finish on the podium at the end of the day either way. For their part, the Black Cats were positioned in the soft underbelly of the table (12th), but had to secure at home. Mathematically, before kick-off, the locals were still candidates for Europe. It obviously took a combination of circumstances to achieve the feat. Sunderland also tried to destabilize the Red Devils with 10 attempts, and they struggled to respond from the first minutes. The first period seemed timid and no one was able to make a difference. Returning from the locker room, the two teams looked at each other, without taking any big risks. Despite local domination, it is the only 0-0 in the multiplex. United therefore remains in 3rd position, just like Sunrderland which is stagnating in 12th.
At the same time, Brighton (8th) challenged Wolverhampton (last in the championship). Under bright sunshine, Danny Welbeck’s teammates had no trouble against Wolves who were not very involved. De Cuyper sent a cross for Hinshelwood and his header ended up in the back of the net (1st). Then, Dunk scored the second goal a few moments later (5th). In great form, the locals terrorized their opponents thanks to Minteh (83rd) to climb to 7th place. Finally, Fulham, 11th before this day, faced Bournemouth. Furthermore, the 6th in the championship found itself down to ten before the end of the first period following a violent foul by Christie. And since the match was very choppy, the match referee also punished the locals, reduced to ten after Andersen’s tackle. Rayan (53rd) finally opened the scoring for the Cherries and scored the only goal of the game. The two teams thus remain in the same position in the ranking.
The results from 4 p.m.:
Sunderland 0-0 Manchester United
Brighton 3-0 Wolverhampton: Hinshelwood (1st), Dunk (5th), Minteh (83rd).
Fulham 0-1 Bournemouth : Rayan (53rd)
