'Man United not winners by default'

Lauded ... Fox Sports' Adam Peacock says Manchester United haven't won the EPL by default. Source: Jon Super / AFP

101 points. Most points in a Barclays Premier League season. 33 wins. Most wins in a Premier League season.18 home wins. Equal most in a Premier League season.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	30	25	2	3	39	77
2	Man City	30	18	8	4	29	62
3	Tottenham	31	17	6	8	15	57
4	Chelsea	30	16	7	7	27	55
5	Arsenal	30	15	8	7	26	53
6	Everton	30	13	12	5	12	51
7	Liverpool	31	13	9	9	19	48
8	West Brom	31	13	5	13	0	44
9	Swansea	31	10	10	11	1	40
10	Fulham	30	10	9	11	-3	39
11	West Ham	30	10	6	14	-9	36
12	Southampton	31	8	10	13	-9	34
13	Stoke	31	7	13	11	-9	34
14	Norwich	31	7	13	11	-19	34
15	Newcastle	31	9	6	16	-15	33
16	Sunderland	31	7	10	14	-10	31
17	Wigan	30	8	6	16	-20	30
18	Aston Villa	31	7	9	15	-26	30
19	QPR	31	4	11	16	-23	23
20	Reading	31	5	8	18	-25	23

All of the above is possible for this current Manchester United side that is being lauded as one of the all-time, never-seen-before, amazingly, incredibly, splendiferously........ fair to middling teams in recent memory.

Erm... why?

Have we become that hungry for dynasties and unthinkable feats that elite performance amongst the best is diluted to the point of blandness?

Are we that in need of quick answer to everything that we can’t patiently watch a team evolve over the course of a whole season to judge them?

Manchester United win again. Ho hum. The opposition were no good. City got comfortable. Chelsea are a rabble. Arsenal prefer profit to prizes.

Sure, Manchester United have faults, and those directly below them on the table have more faults, but that is a point of conjecture. Some random examples (not comparisons) if I may…

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Watch Manchester United attempt to push 18 points clear of City, LIVE and in stunning High Definition at 4.45am (EDT), on Tuesday April 9 on Fox Sports 1 and 1HD.

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Does the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” become less of a great song because it won two Grammy’s against competition from Taylor Swift and LMFAO?

No, Wally de Bakker won’t be seen at Old Trafford as Taylor’s 326th  boyfriend, but the point is an exceptional football team will be just that, regardless of what is going on at other clubs.

Manchester United have won 11 away games this EPL campaign. Next best, Manchester City with seven. Of the 11 grounds United have coming back singing from, City have won four games, Chelsea three, Spurs five. Surely if it were that easy, they’d all be doing it? 

You could make the argument for how many of this squad would make the say... Treble-winning squad of 1999.

Sure, fun to do, but what do you get out of it? It’s a team sport and lining up individuals against individuals doesn’t work as a preview to matches, so why should it work as revision? It’s about the sum total, the effectiveness of the machine, not the parts that make it up. Look at QPR at the start of the season. What a side they looked on paper.

Of course, there will be no treble this season, even a double, which automatically casts dispersions.

They got a bit of luck on that famous May night in 1999 at the Nou Camp, yet little or no luck at Old Trafford on March 5, where their Champions League plans combusted.

You can pick holes in anything - including that Treble-winning team, who won the title by a point, beat Newcastle United in the FA Cup Final and won less than half of their Champions League matches.

Mythical? No. Yet on each massive occasion, they did the job required and are rightly lauded for it.

So you can twist it and turn it any way you want really – or just live in the present and realise Sir Alex Ferguson had one overriding objective this season - win back the Premier league title lost so gallingly last season.

They will do so in emphatic fashion, becoming more ruthless with every minute they go without conceding (627 and counting).

Already one record is gone – first team to win 25 of the first 30 games in English top division history.

The run home is neither daunting or simple. Included are trips Stoke City, West Ham United and Arsenal, Chelsea at home and before all that – the derby with City next Tuesday morning (EST).

That’s the next big trick – win the derby, putting them 18 points clear, and the race to 101 points most definitely on. Heck, win the derby and they could afford to lose 2 of the remaining seven and still equal Jose Mourinho’s awesome side of 2004-2005 for most points in a Premier League season.

If all three of those records go at the top of the page – where does that place this Manchester United side?

Perhaps they wouldn’t surpass Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2003-2004, Mourinho’s 2004-2005 edition or other Manchester United sides, but at the very least, they’d be in the conversation.

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