London: Outplayed and outfought in the Europa League, the two Manchester clubs must ensure there is no hangover when they resume their battle for the Premier League title with testing fixtures on Sunday.
Second-place United found itself in the unusual position of being utterly dominated at Old Trafford in a humbling 3-2 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the last-16 first leg on Thursday.
And while West Bromwich Albion may not provide quite the same challenge as Marcelo Bielsa's slick team, the Midlanders are in good form having won their last three matches, most recently a 1-0 victory over Chelsea that ultimately cost Andre Villas-Boas his job.
West Brom was also the only team in the Premier League to avoid defeat at Old Trafford last season.
"We'll be ready for Sunday," United midfielder Michael Carrick said. "There'll be no carry-over from (Bilbao). We'll regroup, gather ourselves again and we'll go again. It's a disappointment, but we'll move on."
Holding a two-point lead over United, Manchester City looks to rebound from a 1-0 loss at Sporting Lisbon when it visits Swansea, which has lost only two of its 13 home matches this season since being promoted.
City has won its last four league games but will be without one of its outstanding performers this season after center back Vincent Kompany injured his calf in Portugal.
Like Carrick, City manager Roberto Mancini doesn't believe there will be any lasting impact of the loss in Europe.
"I am not worried," the Italian coach said. "We will go through in the Europa League and Sunday will be a different game."
It appears to be a two-horse race for the title after United beat Tottenham 3-1 last weekend to open up an 11-point advantage over Harry Redknapp's third-place team.
After back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and then United, Spurs now face a trip to improving Everton on Saturday with just four points separating the team from fourth-place Arsenal.
Redknapp will have to cope without England internationals Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson, who were injured in the midweek win over third-tier Stevenage in an FA Cup replay.
"Don't get me wrong, we had some difficult moments in the last two games but every team in the league will have those moments," Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor said.
"We have to believe in ourselves, to keep going. We will win points, lose points, so will Arsenal, Chelsea, City and United. We have a big chance to finish in the top three and we have to keep going until the end of the season."
Spurs will be looking over their shoulder at Arsenal, which has closed the gap with wins over its north London rival and Liverpool. Tuesday's 3-0 win over AC Milan didn't manage to secure Arsene Wenger's team a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals but lifted morale even further.
"People don't realize that we basically had half a squad at one stage and the team was just down to its bare bones," Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs said. "Everybody has come together now and we have overcome a difficult period. We need to be consistent like this now for the rest of the season."
Arsenal hosts Newcastle on Monday, with fifth-place Chelsea at home to Stoke in Roberto Di Matteo's first league game in charge since replacing Villas-Boas as manager on an interim basis.
Chelsea has won just one of its last six league games, allowing Arsenal to climb above them in the race for the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Sixth-place Newcastle, which is five points behind Arsenal, may still have designs on fourth but Liverpool's hopes look doomed after defeat by Arsenal left it five points further back.
Liverpool could welcome back Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson from injury for the trip to Sunderland on Saturday.
The rest of the weekend's games center on the relegation fight, where five teams are separated by two points.
Bottom team Wigan visits Norwich on Sunday, while second-last Bolton hosts Queens Park Rangers and third-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers is at home to Blackburn on Saturday. Fulham makes the trip to Aston Villa in the other game.
Comments
0 comment