Man Utd tipped for Premier League title as ‘mad aspect’ revealed

We’re not saying that certain ‘journalists’ are getting carried away but Man Utd could be about to win the Premier League .

And they would be fighting Liverpool if it wasn’t for all those pesky football results.

Every one-eyed football fan is prone to a spot of ‘if my Auntie had balls’, but it used to be the case that journalists were different. Not so anymore. Not in big 2026, when the line between fandom and journalism is very blurred indeed. Nobody wants objectivity; everybody wants their irrational thoughts to be validified.

Take Samuel (always Samuel, God forbid you should call him Sam; you will get an e-mail) Luckhurst, previously of the Manchester Evening News and now of The Sun . And always of the rabid Manchester United fan.

– Sunday, 25 January 2026

Yes, if seven results (almost a third of the season so far) had been different, Manchester United would be top of the Premier League . As would pretty much any team in the top half of the Premier League . Blows your mind, right.

Mad aspect of this nonsense tweet is that Luckhurst has included a ‘daft draw’ with Spurs when United equalised in the 96th minute. So, so close to that sweet victory that would have put them top (if six other results had gone their way).

And in the (other) red corner, we find Dominic King of the Daily Mail but mostly of Liverpool.

– Sunday, 25 January 2026

Shall we stop for a minute to talk about the late goals scored by Liverpool against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal , Burnley and Sunderland which won them nine points. Take them off the current tally and Liverpool would be 16th, in the thick of a race to stay clear of the bottom three.

Tha’s (sic) how febrile it all is right now.

This is the tweet from Jan Aage Fjortoft in its entirety about Michael Carrick:

Was standing at my position waiting for our Michal Carrick – interview today. Just as I was ready to ask the first question, a representative from Manchester United stopped my preparations and said: – Michael, Sir Jim wants to see! So out he went having a chat with him in the tunnel And we got Carrick outside at our table Pitchside, where we could ask him about his “meeting”.

And when they asked Carrick about what was said in the “meeting” (Fjortoft’s word, not Carrick’s), he replied: “No, not much as you would expect, I think. There’s a lot of happy bodies around the camp today and he’s delighted as well. So it was nice to see him.”

You might be forgiven for thinking there really is nothing to see here but the first rule of clickbait in 2026 is that there is never nothing to see here.

‘Michael Carrick summoned to see Sir Jim Ratcliffe as Man Utd interview stopped’ – Daily Star .

‘Michael Carrick walks out of interview as Man Utd boss summoned for Jim Ratcliffe meeting’ – Express .

And then the inevitable…

‘What Sir Jim Ratcliffe said to Michael Carrick in tunnel after Man United’s Arsenal win’ – Manchester Evening News .

You know already how this begins because by now, you know exactly how this sh*t works…

‘Michael Carrick has revealed Sir Jim Ratcliffe was delighted…’

It’s dynamite.

‘Manchester United: Roy Keane reveals who he wants as next manager after fresh Michael Carrick verdict’ – Evening Standard .

Altogether now…

It’s easy to get carried away with Manchester United have just beat Arsenal 3-2 but this from Mark Ogden on ESPN is just the wrong side of preposterous:

Does anyone want to win Premier League? Arsenal, Man City, Villa falter to let United in

Ogden begins by relating two previous 12-point gaps that were overturned, rather ignoring the fact that United would have to leapfrog three teams rather than one faltering bottle job, before concluding that ‘even an unthinkable United title charge can’t be ruled out’.

Oh it really can, Mark.

And we might have been more inclined to give you slightly more shrift if City and Aston Villa had not won this weekend.

It seems a ridiculous prospect considering that United were in turmoil less than a month ago following the dismissal of coach Ruben Amorim after just 14 months in charge, but the shortcomings of the top three have opened the door for anything to happen between now and the final round of games on May 24. So who will win the 2025-26 Premier League title? Right now, it is impossible to identify a clear favorite because Arsenal’s recent form has shown them to be vulnerable to title jitters well before most challengers begin to feel the heat of the run-in.

Well, the bookies make Arsenal 2/5 favourites and Opta give them a 81.74% chance of winning the title, so it feels like it’s not quite ‘impossible’ to identify a clear favourite. It’s almost too easy, if anything.