Chapter Ninety-Seven: Successive Battles

The match against Myburgh is the 19th round of the Premier League, and after winning this game, Manchester United is still one point ahead of Chelsea at the top of the table, which means that Manchester United have won the half of the Premier League - although the half title is not an official award, just a gimmick taken by the media, but most teams who occupy the top of the table after the league are halfway through the league will also win the championship at the end of the Premier League season!

The December league is over, but the December game is not over.

After the game against Middlesbrough, Manchester United have another home game, but this time it is not the league, but the FA Cup.

The Premier League and Championship sides joined the FA Cup in the third round, with Manchester United drawn at home to Championship side Reading in the third round.

Compared to other Premier League teams drawn in the lower leagues, Manchester United did not appear to have too much luck in the FA Cup draw. But in any case, Reading are also a Championship side, so in terms of quality, United will have no problem making it past the third round of the FA Cup.

In fact, in the face of Ancelotti's second-tier squad of Manchester United, Reading, who is playing away, has little desire to fight.

For Reading, the more important battleground is in the league.

At present, after the 22nd round of the Championship, the top team is Newcastle led by Benitez, and the second team is Seagulls Brighton, and the third team is Reading!

According to the rules of promotion in the Championship, the top two teams in the league will be promoted directly to the Premier League, while the third to sixth places in the league will go through two rounds of play-offs to compete for a promotion place in the Premier League!

Now Reading is five points behind Brighton in second place, with half a season left in the Championship, the five-point gap is actually not too big, for Reading, the safest way to be promoted to the Premier League is, of course, to compete for the top two direct promotion. If you go to the play-offs, four teams compete for a spot, and this is too much of a coincidence.

Therefore, the league is Reading's battleground, and a game like the FA Cup is not important for Reading, and they have to focus all their energy on the league when the team needs to be relegated.

As for the FA Cup, being able to draw Manchester United, being able to play a game at Old Trafford, just the broadcast share and ticket share achievements allow Reading to make a profit, as for whether they can qualify or not, it is up to fate. After all, if you can be promoted to the Premier League, the little money earned in the FA Cup is a drop in the bucket compared to the promotion of the Premier League and the broadcast share at the end of the season.

It's really a dime! First of all, of course, is the broadcast share of the Premier League, taking last season's Premier League as an example, twenty teams can get at least 84.4 million pounds! This is because in every part of the world except the UK, the broadcast costs are split directly and evenly among the teams. Coupled with the broadcast revenue in the UK, as well as more ticket shares, league bonuses, and the growth of the commercial value of the team after the promotion, the media estimates that as long as Reading can be promoted to the Premier League, then for Reading, they can earn at least 185 million pounds next season!

So for many teams, promotion to the Premier League and relegation from the Premier League can make a world of difference in terms of income. Whether to stay in the Premier League is absolutely closely related to the fate of the middle and lower teams, so the vast majority of teams will fight to the league to the death, and it is unrealistic to rely on the cup to survive, such as Everton, Tottenham, and West Ham in recent years, and they have sent substitutes to play in Europe. For example, Manchester United won the Champions League last season, but their Champions League prize money was only 80 million pounds, far less than the nearly 150 million pounds received in the Premier League. For most teams, winning the Champions League is something they don't dare to think about in their lives, but to reach the Premier League, this kind of thing can still be dreamed of - more than 100 million pounds in a season, for those small teams, this temptation is too tempting!

Therefore, Reading, who are playing away, is also sent to the second-tier lineup.

Manchester United eventually beat Reading 2-0 at home to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.

After this game, 2016 is coming to an end, and the next game for United is next year.

It is indeed next year, on January 3, 2017, not long after the New Year, in the twentieth round of the English Premier League, Manchester United hosted West Ham United!

The second half of the Premier League season has officially begun!

Entering 2017, Li Qingshan's goal momentum has not weakened at all.

West Ham United, who were playing away, soon surrendered under the strong attack of Manchester United. In the sixth minute of the game, Li Qingshan helped the team open the scoring with a powerful shot with his left foot!

West Ham United lost 3-0 at home in the last leg between the two sides, which put the West Ham team under a lot of pressure.

Before the start of this game, some media began to hype that this was a revenge battle for West Ham United, but the result did not cause any repercussions at all, and even West Ham fans did not echo such a statement.

It also turns out that West Ham really don't have much chance of playing Manchester United again.

In the thirtieth minute of the game, Manchester United scored again, and this time the player who scored the goal was still Li Qingshan!

The iconic header slammed open the door of West Ham United, and the suspense of the game was lost at this point.

Five minutes into the second half, Pogba's long-range shot from outside the box made it 3-0 and sealed the win!

West Ham United were beaten to a distemper and at the end of the game, West Ham conceded another goal, and substitute Marcus Rashford scored a goal for the team, 4-0!!

Manchester United have won seven in a row in the league and have managed to stretch their lead to three points thanks to Chelsea's draw away at Stoke City!

And after this round of league games, on January 10, Manchester United met Tiger Hull City in the semi-finals of the League Cup!

At this stage of the semi-finals, the League Cup is no longer a one-game elimination, but a two-legged home-and-away knockout format.

Manchester United now host Hull City and then go to Hull City for another round in the second leg.

At this stage of the semi-finals, Carlo Ancelotti no longer sees the Carabao Cup as a training game. Fortunately, December's tight schedule has passed, and January's schedule is not too tight for Manchester United.

Manchester United, who played all the main players, defeated Hull City 3-0 at home, Li Qingshan scored a goal in the game, Di Maria and central defender Chris Smalling helped the team to build an attack respectively!

Manchester United have taken the lead in the two-legged Carabao Cup semi-finals and have one foot on the threshold of the final!