Arsenal’s sitting first with 48 points from 20 games.
The Champions League race this season looks messier than usual, though, which is saying something for the Premier League.
Liverpool and City are obviously still there, Chelsea’s kind of floating around fourth, and now United just brought back Michael Carrick as manager, which nobody really saw coming.
Current State Of Things
Arsenal spent a huge amount of money in the summer, and it shows.
Viktor Gyokeres finally gives them a real striker after going years without one, which was weird for a club that size, honestly.
Martin Zubimendi adds quality to midfield, Noni Madueke gives them wide options.
Fifteen wins from twenty games puts them in a good spot, but they’ve been close before and not won it.
Liverpool is the defending champion and somehow got better in terms of player quality.
Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, and a bunch of expensive signings.
They’re not just gonna hand the title over.
Manchester City wobbled last season, which felt strange to watch, but Pep brought in reinforcements, and Rodri’s healthy again, so they’ll be fine, probably.
Chelsea’s fourth right now, but had drama.
Won the Club World Cup, which seemed like a big deal at the time, then Enzo Maresca left on New Year’s Day after falling out with ownership or something.
Liam Rosenior took over, so that’s another manager change to deal with.
Can United actually finish fourth from wherever they’re at now?
Probably not if we’re being honest, but football’s weird, so maybe.
No European games helps like I said.
January window just opened so they could bring in more players if they find the right ones.
People tracking the race check fastest withdrawal betting sites to see how odds shift on who makes top four.
United’s listed as outsiders, odds between 5/2 and 9/1 depending on where you look.
Tottenham and Newcastle have similar odds; everyone is scrapping for whatever spots are left after the big teams take theirs.
United’s Mess And Carrick Coming Back
Last season was just bad for United. Fifteenth in the Premier League, like that’s relegation battle territory for a club that thinks it should win titles.
Tottenham finished 17th too so misery loves company I guess.
Ruben Amorim was supposed to fix things but only lasted 14 months before getting sacked January 5th.
His win rate of 38.1 percent was literally the worst any United manager has had in the Premier League era, which is pretty damning.
The club moved quickly, though, announcing Michael Carrick as interim manager a few days later.
Carrick played 464 games for United, winning everything basically. Five league titles, Champions League, all of it. He did the caretaker thing before in 2021 for three games when Solskjaer got fired.
Went unbeaten too, beat Villarreal and Arsenal, drew at Chelsea.
Then he managed Middlesbrough for about two and a half years, got them to the playoffs in the first season, which was impressive, but eventually got sacked last June after they finished tenth.
Can He Actually Do It Though
United bought better in summer at least.
Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford knows the Premier League and scores goals.
Matheus Cunha brings creativity and can play multiple positions.
The big thing is that there is no European football this season, so they can just focus on the league without midweek games wearing them down.
That actually matters more than people think.
Other teams fighting for the top four are playing Champions League or Europa League matches every few days, rotating squads, and dealing with injuries from the extra games.
United can rest players properly, have full weeks to train, and put everything into league matches.
Carrick’s first game is the Manchester derby on Saturday.
Not an easy start, but he faced City 30 times as a player and won half of them somehow.
His Middlesbrough teams played possession football that tried to attack, which fits the players United have now better than whatever Amorim was trying to do.
The tactics will be tricky to figure out. United’s squad has too many players who want to play as the ten behind the striker.
Bruno Fernandes, Cunha, Mason Mount, and Kobbie Mainoo all prefer that spot.
They can’t play them all there, obviously, so Carrick has to find a system that makes sense.
He’s not locked into one formation at least, showing he can be flexible at Middlesbrough and in those three United games.
Other Teams Fighting For It
Newcastle doesn’t want to drop out of the Champions League after getting back in.
Their whole project depends on staying relevant.
Aston Villa missed out by a hair last season, started this year poorly, but Unai Emery usually figures things out eventually.
Crystal Palace won the FA Cup, and Oliver Glasner has them playing good football.
Nottingham Forest surprised everyone for parts of last season.
Brighton always does more with less, which makes sense.
Bournemouth’s hanging around too.
More teams have genuine quality this year compared to before.
Used to be you could basically guess the top four by Christmas, maybe one spot was up for grabs.
This season feels more open because the quality’s spread wider and some traditional big clubs are struggling.
What United Needs From Here
Carrick needs to win first, just stop losing games.
Their confidence onfidence was destroyed after last season and Amorim’s failure.
Beating City on Saturday was massive for morale.
January signings have to work out quickly.
Bruno Fernandes has to get back to his level.
He’s been playing deeper this season, which doesn’t really work for him.
Carrick needs to get him higher up the pitch, creating chances and scoring goals again, doing what he’s actually good at. Defense keeps leaking goals, which is a problem.
Patrick Dorgu came in, but organization matters more than just buying new defenders.
Carrick has to set up a system where they’re not getting cut open every single game.
Conclusion
Even if United somehow makes fourth, it’s just a band-aid on a bigger problem.
They need a real manager for next season, proper rebuilding, and fixing the recruitment mess.
Carrick’s basically doing damage control and maybe salvaging something from a season that went sideways.
Football does weird things, though.
Leicester won the league at 5000/1.
Forest finished fourth back in the day after getting promoted.
Stranger stuff has happened than United going on a run under someone who knows the club and doesn’t have long-term pressure on him.
Arsenal, Liverpool, and City will most likely take three spots.
Fourth spot is up for grabs between everyone else, and United at least has a shot now with Carrick there.
Whether he can actually do it is what United fans will stress about until the season ends in May, checking the table constantly and hoping other teams drop points while they somehow string together enough wins to sneak into that last Champions League spot.
