We keep saying how difficult it is to be competitive in the Premier League for three consecutive seasons; Arsenal will now have to win almost every game to be among the greats.

It’s worth noting that no team has ever breached 90 points in a row, with Liverpool sandwiching a 69-pointer between their three 90-plus seasons,

No surprises which team are at the top of this list…

6) Manchester United 2010-2013 (258)
2010/11: 80
2011/12: 89
2012/13: 89

That these were the last three seasons of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign and United have only once since breached the 80-point mark – and are now desperately trying to reach 50 points – is pretty damning. That three-season run delivered two titles and one heartbreaking failure on goal difference.

One interesting aside is that Ferguson clearly thought he needed to improve on that first 89-point haul to win the title, so invested heavily in Robin van Persie. He was brilliant that season but United actually scored fewer goals (and conceded more) but still matched that points haul while City fell off the pace. The very next season United finished with 64 points. Ooft.

5) Manchester United 2006-09 (266)
2006/07: 89
2007/08: 87
2008/09: 90

While their first three-in-a-row reaped only 250 points, this was different; Manchester United had to improve to keep up with the new power of Chelsea. And they improved not by buying players but by selling Ruud van Nistelrooy and placing faith in Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Add Carlos Tevez and United had put together their greatest striking trio.

What happened next? Ronaldo left and that was enough to allow Chelsea – now managed by Carlo Ancelotti – to win the title. United could not keep up that kind of pace without one of the world’s greatest players, oddly enough.

4) Chelsea 2004-07 (269)
2004/05: 95
2005/06: 91
2006/07: 83

Ah, the classic third season for Jose Mourinho, with friction developing within Chelsea not helped by the £30m signing of Andriy Shevchenko at the owner’s behest. Having swept to the title in his first two seasons, Mourinho lost his sparkle, the team lost their edge and Chelsea contrived to draw 11 games and end up second behind a Manchester United hitting the first strike of their title hat-trick.

3) Liverpool 2017-20 (271)
2017/18: 75
2018/19: 97
2019/20: 99

Let’s not pretend they did not spend to record such a ridiculous improvement – a 22-point leap in one season is truly astonishing – but the exploits of 2019/20 had continuity rather than extravagance as their hallmark. They fell just short of the 100-point mark, which is a shame as that brilliant Liverpool side probably deserved some kind of record.

The challenge was on to become the first side to hit 90 points in three successive seasons but injuries hit a tired squad and they came up well short with 69 points. A year later they returned to form with a 92-point haul that was followed by another duff season, proving that this sh*t is hard.

2) Manchester City 2021-24 (273)
2021/22: 93
2022/23: 89
2023/24: 91

After cruising to the title in 2020/21 with an exhausted Liverpool nowhere in sight, City needed to be far better in 2021/22, securing the title on the final day of the season with a comeback v Villa. Not satisfied, City went out and bought the best young striker in world football, which helped them to the Treble if not another 90-point haul. Last season – with no sign of what was to come – they hunted down Arsenal to win a fourth successive and unprecedented title.

It went to sh*t soon afterwards but they had peaked in quite some style.

1) Manchester City 2017-20 (279)
2017/18: 100
2018/19: 98
2019/20: 81

Proof here that Manchester City have been here before…logging an 81-point season just two years after hitting the 100-point mark, belatedly realising that there were too many ageing players that needed replacing. In the summer of 2020, they brought in Ferran Torres, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias in a blatant attempt to lower their average age, allowing them to phase out Fernandinho, Sergio Aguero and co.

But we have that 2017/18 vintage pegged as the greatest Premier League team of all time. Absurdly, City boasted the top four names in the assist charts for the league that year, with Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, David Silva and Sterling all reaching double figures.

Marcus Rashford has reportedly made a ‘decision’ on whether to leave Manchester United for Aston Villa ‘permanently’ in the summer.

The England international announced at the end of 2024 that he intended to leave Man Utd during the winter transfer window as he was “ready” for a new challenge.

Rashford was linked with several European clubs in January, but his huge salary and poor form over the past two seasons proved to be stumbling blocks.

FC Barcelona were consistently mooted as his preferred destination, but he eventually settled on a move to Aston Villa as they needed a new forward after selling Jhon Duran to Al Nassr.

Man Utd head coach Ruben Amorim often bemoaned Rashford’s attitude before he left the Premier League giants, but the forward has settled in well at Villa Park as head coach Unai Emery is starting to get the best out of him.

READ: Premier League winners and losers: Liverpool crowned champions, all eyes now on European scramble

Rashford contributed two assists off the bench in Aston Villa’s recent 2-1 win against Chelsea. As things stand, the Premier League side will be tempted to make his loan permanent in the summer.

The 27-year-old joined Aston Villa on an initial loan deal with an option to buy for around £40m in the summer.

A report from The Sun claims Aston Villa has ‘made a decision’ as he’s ‘prepared to turn his January loan move to Aston Villa into a permanent deal’.

There are reportedly three reasons for Rashford’s stance: he ‘feels revitalised at Villa Park, believes Emery is the perfect manager to resurrect his Premier League and international career and he’s veering towards the idea of remaining in the Premier League rather than relocating overseas’.

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This report emerged after former Premier League chief scout Mick Brown claimed Barcelona and Bayern Munich have ‘entered the race’ to land Rashford in the summer.

He said: “I hear Barcelona and Bayern Munich are looking at him. If he keeps performing to his best level, it’s a three-way win-win-win situation.

“Villa win because they get a very good player for six months, Marcus wins because he has the opportunity to show off his talent and potential earn a big move.

“And at the end of the day, Man United win because they’re more likely to get their highest-paid player off the books rather than having an unhappy player at the club.

“If these top clubs are interested and they come in, his value will shoot up. United will look to drive his price tag up and make as much money as they can from him.

“Having these top teams interested will do them no harm at all. So then everybody’s a winner – but only if he keeps performing as well as he can.

“He’s certainly got enough in his locker, it’s just a question of if you can get it out of him, and I think he’s got to help himself by working hard to be the best he can be.

“So the likes of Bayern and Barcelona will be looking at him to see if he’s going to be at that level. It all depends what he can do while he’s at Villa, that’s the expectation.”

Rio Ferdinand has picked out four Manchester United stars who are unsuited to Ruben Amorim’s system at the club, claiming the Red Devils boss needs to seek alternative players to meet his tactical and physical demands.

United showed some welcome grit at Old Trafford on Wednesday, coming from behind twice against relegation-threatened Ipswich to claim a crucial three points to lift them above Everton into 14th place in the Premier League.

Patrick Dorgu gifted Ipswich the opener early in the piece after a complete lack of communication with Andre Onana saw him pass the ball to Jaden Philogene, who tapped the ball into an empty net.

READ MORE: Man Utd pit of despair has fresh meat but Red Devils show welcome grit to beat Ipswich

A Sam Morsy own goal drew United level before Matthijs de Ligt gave the Red Devils the lead after some pinball in the box.

But it’s never plain sailing for Amorim’s side and they were reduced to ten men after Dorgu was given his marching orders for a horror challenge on Omari Hutchinson.

Philogene scored again to draw the visitors level, as Liam Delap waved a leg at his cross, which went all the way through to beat Onana at the far post.

United looked set for another implosion, but Harry Maguire put them back in front soon after half-time and they clung onto their lead relatively comfortably despite being on the back foot for the second half.

Ferdinand gave his thoughts on the state of play at the club after the game, claiming Amorim just needs to get through to the end of the season in order to regroup and picking out four players he believes aren’t fit for purpose.

Ferdinand said on TNT Sports: “‘I think if we’re being brutally honest, there hasn’t been the progress that we all anticipated.

“Where he came from, how successful he had been and the silverware he brought to Sporting, the anticipation of him coming was like, ‘Wow! What an opportunity we’ve got now with this young manager’, and it hasn’t transferred here.

“I sat with him the other day and you can see there’s a desire, there’s a work ethic behind the scenes and he’s nipping at everything to try and get this right and turn it around, but things haven’t been smooth for him and he hasn’t managed to get it to where he wants to at this point in time.”

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Ferdinand added: “I think he needs to just get to the end of the season, really regroup and then start building again, building the team and coaching the team because right now they’ve been stuttering along and that’s probably being polite.

“I watched Sporting a few times, in Europe especially. They were an athletic, dynamic team. That was one of the staples of that team, the hallmarks of that good team that was winning things.” He continued, “This team aren’t a mobile, dynamic team. If you look through the heartbeat of this team they have other qualities but being physical, having the ability to overrun teams physically – they don’t have that capacity.

Asked whether Zirkzee is the type of player that suits Amorim, Ferdinand answered, “No… De Ligt, Maguire, Hojlund, it’s not their game. So I think he needs to find those type of players with the capabilities of carrying out not only tactically what he wants, but the physicality is equally important.”

Ruben Amorim says he will “talk to Alejandro Garnacho” after the Manchester United star went straight down the tunnel after being substituted against Ipswich and spoke out on the “Marcus Rashford connection”.

Garnacho was taken off at the end of the first half in the Red Devils’s 3-2 win over Ipswich after Patrick Dorgu was shown a red card for a horror challenge on Omari Hutchinson, and the winger was not best pleased.

He was clearly angry as he marched straight down the tunnel to the dressing room rather than sitting on the bench, before posting a picture of himself leaving the pitch on his Instagram story.

READ MORE: Man Utd pit of despair has fresh meat but Red Devils show welcome grit to beat Ipswich

Amorim offered a lame excuse for Garnacho’s reaction to being subbed and referred to the falling-out with Rashford which led to his loan to Aston Villa in January.

“It was cold and wet, maybe?” Amorim said. “You are making a connection with Rashford, right? I know, I know. What I’m saying is I’m going to obviously talk with Garnacho about that. So I will talk about that if you want in the next press conference.”

Garnacho and Rashford were dropped from the squad for the win over Manchester City in December over a lack of effort in training, before Garnacho was restored for the following trip to Tottenham.

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Asked about his decision to take Garnacho off, Amorim admitted it was a “risk” but was thinking about the Ipswich threat from set pieces with his side down to ten men.

“We have to choose someone to go out, we have to think about set pieces also, so it was Garnacho,” the United manager said. “The thinking was we’d play more in the 5-3-1. I know that is a risk because you are taking one – maybe the only player who has one‑against‑one pace. But I felt the team was OK in controlling the game.”

United showed some welcome grit at Old Trafford, coming from behind twice against relegation-threatened Ipswich to claim a crucial three points to lift them above Everton into 14th place in the Premier League.

Dorgu gifted Ipswich the opener early in the piece after a complete lack of communication with Andre Onana saw him pass the ball to Jaden Philogene, who tapped the ball into an empty net.

A Sam Morsy own goal drew United level before Matthijs de Ligt gave the Red Devils the lead after some pinball in the box.

But it’s never plain sailing for Amorim’s side and they were reduced to ten men after Dorgu was given his marching orders for a horror challenge on Omari Hutchinson.

Philogene scored again to draw the visitors level, as Liam Delap waved a leg at his cross, which went all the way through to beat Onana at the far post.

United looked set for another implosion, but Harry Maguire put them back in front soon after half-time and they clung onto their lead relatively comfortably despite being on the back foot for the second half.

Following news of further redundancies at the club, Amorim hailed the victory. “It is really important, well deserved. The fans’ support was amazing,” the Portuguese said.

Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim wants the Red Devils to sell Alejandro Garnacho as soon as possible with the winger causing ‘problems in the dressing room’, according to reports.

The Red Devils are having a season to forget in the Premier League with Amorim’s side currently 14th in the table after their narrow 3-2 win over Ipswich Town on Wednesday evening.

An own-goal from Sam Morsy and a close-range finish from Matthijs de Ligt cancelled out an early opener from Ipswich’s Jaden Philogene before Patrick Dorgu’s sending off swung the game back in the Tractor Boys’ favour.

Philogene scored another to equalise on the stroke of half-time but it was Man Utd who took the lead shortly after the break with former captain Harry Maguire slamming a header home.

Man Utd held on for a crucial win that puts them 16 points clear of the relegation zone, despite their lowly position, with Amorim now winning five of his first 16 Premier League matches in charge.

One player who was not happy on Wednesday night was Garnacho with the Argentina international reacting angrily to being substituted and stormed off down the tunnel.

When asked why Garnacho reacted that way, Amorim told reporters: “It was cold and wet, maybe? You are making a connection with Rashford, right? I know, I know. What I’m saying is I’m going to obviously talk with Garnacho about that. So I will talk about that if you want in the next press conference.”

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Asked about his decision to take off Garnacho, Amorim added: “We have to choose someone to go out, we have to think about set pieces also, so it was Garnacho. The thinking was we’d play more in the 5-3-1. I know that is a risk because you are taking one – maybe the only player who has one‑against‑one pace. But I felt the team was OK in controlling the game.”

And now Spanish website Fichajes claim that Amorim ‘wants’ Garnacho ‘out’ of Man Utd with ‘his attitude both on and off the field has caused him problems in the dressing room’.

The report adds that Garnacho’s ‘lack of discipline and some controversial episodes have ended up exhausting the patience of the board, who are already listening to offers for him.’

On Napoli reigniting their interest from the January transfer window, Fichajes adds:

‘In this context, Napoli is emerging as one of the clubs most interested in signing him. The Italian team, which is looking to reinforce its attack with players who can make a difference, sees Garnacho as a great opportunity to add speed and talent to its squad.

‘However, his arrival will depend on several factors, including the amount that Manchester United asks for his transfer and the player’s willingness to change teams.’

Manchester United fans: reminisce over the times you weren’t clinging on against Ipswich Town at Old Trafford…

United edged to a 3-2 win over the Tractor Boys on Wednesday night, claiming three points but convincing no one they are any closer to turner a corner under Ruben Amorim.

Indeed, the biggest talking point in the wake of victory is their winger’s strop.

It all feels a long time since United were sticking nine past Ipswich. Partly because it was. Almost exactly 30 years…

Can you recall Fergie’s XI that put Town to the sword in the 1994/95 season? One of the forwards scored more than half of the goals, and the right-back was playing out of position.

If you enjoyed that and need more reasons to dodge work, we’ve got plenty more quizzes here. And our friends at Planet Football have even more. We’ll have another new head-f*** for you tomorrow.

In the meantime, make sure you don’t miss these…

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