ManchesterCity manager Pep Guardiola has expressed doubts over whether Manchester United can challenge for the Premier League title but believes they have a realistic chance of finishing in the top four.
Holders Manchester City were eliminated from the League Cup by West Ham United after a penalty shootout at London Stadium on Wednesday, ending Pep Guardiola's team's four-year domination of the competition.
Jose Mourinho's wretched week ended on a high note as Manchester United's big guns Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba finally began firing, both finding the target in a 3-1 win at dismal Swansea City on Sunday. Mourinho watched from the stands at the Liberty Stadium following his touchline ban imposed by the Football Association on Wednesday and was buoyed to see Ibrahimovic score twice -- his first league goals in eight weeks -- and Pogba net a superb volley. United, vastly improved after their midweek Europa League defeat at Fenerbahce, went ahead with a 15th minute strike from Pogba worthy of his 89 million pounds price tag before Ibrahimovic ended his goal drought with a sharp first-half double in the space of 12 minutes.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was facing the biggest crisis of his career after Sunday's 8-2 mauling by Manchester United but the Frenchman vowed not to panic on the field or in the transfer market with fans questioning his future for the first time.
West Ham beat Premier League strugglers Leicester City 2-0 at the London Stadium on Thursday thanks to an early strike from Tomas Soucek on his 30th birthday and an own goal just before halftime.
Bukayo Saka scored either side of halftime as Arsenal crushed second-bottom Burnley 5-0.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday night.
Arsenal thrashed Middlesbrough 7-0, while Manchester United lost 3-1 at Manchester City in the Premier League.
Manchester United and Manchester City left their tortured opponents and the Premier League in no doubt they are the teams to beat this season after hugely confident demolitions of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Manchester United have knocked champions Arsenal out of the title race with Tuesday's emphatic 4-2 victory at Highbury, according to both teams' managers.
Arsenal shoved Chelsea off the top of the table but Leicester City's Jamie Vardy, with a dazzling hat-trick, was the man of the moment on Saturday as the struggling Premier League champions blew aside Manchester City 4-2.
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Images from the English Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Arsenal have the chance to return to the top when they visit Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
Arsenal manager hailed Thierry Henry as "world class" after the prolific striker netted his 100th premier league goal against Southampton on Tuesday.
Goals rained in for Manchester City and Manchester United but Juergen Klopp's first game in charge of Liverpool was solid rather than spectacular with his new side drawing 0-0 at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Saturday.
Arsenal's 2-1 Champions League win at Montpellier on Tuesday was another sign the club is building real momentum this season, and it could not have come at a better time with Premier League champions Manchester City up next.
The sporting world, from football giants Manchester United to glamorous tennis star Maria Sharapova, has united to help raise money for victims of Asia's tsunami disaster.
Arsenal remain top on 37 points, one ahead of Manchester United who beat bottom club Derby County 4-1 on Saturday while Chelsea are two points further back after beating Sunderland 2-0.
An intoxicating day of Premier League action on Saturday ended with leaders Manchester United beaten for the first time this season, title rivals Arsenal blowing a 4-0 lead and a record 41 goals across eight fixtures.
'It's not easy to handle a team at a big, big club... always demanding to win competitions and every manager needs time. I have the feeling United started to play the way he wants'
Images from Saturday's English Premier League matches.
Something will have to give when in-form Liverpool and bitter rivals Manchester United clash in one of the Premier League's showcase fixtures at Anfield on Sunday.
The team was forced into self-isolation after manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for Coronavirus earlier this month.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson predicted on Friday the Premier League title will be won by either his team or their fierce rivals Manchester City.
Images from the EPL matches played on Sunday.
City dominated the early exchanges, pinning Arsenal back, but were stopped in their tracks when Aubameyang produced a neat finish in the 19th minute following a flowing end-to-end move.
Robert Pires and Jermaine Pennant fired hat-tricks in a 6-1 win, a dress rehearsal for next week's FA Cup final.
Arsenal bounced back from their shock defeat by Birmingham City in the League Cup final when Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of Leyton Orient in the FA Cup on Wednesday.
Arsenal will begin their quest to become the first club since 1886 to win the English FA Cup three years in succession.
If there is one thing that still riles Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, it is the suggestion that his English Premier League success is down to money. After City were cleared of breaking UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the club's two-year European ban, the Spaniard was in a fiery mood as he railed against the idea that cash was behind the club's two Premier League titles.
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