London (AFP)

Manchester United was surprised at home on Wednesday by the red lantern Sheffield United (2-1) and lost control of the Premier League on this 20th day, marked by the timid debut of Chelsea Tuchel (0-0 against Wolverhampton ).

- Manchester United let go of the reins:

Manchester United crying, City laughing thanks to this surprise defeat against Sheffield United (2-1) who had won only one of their 19 meetings so far.

With this rather humiliating setback, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men find themselves one point behind the Citizens, who have, in addition, a game late to play.

United have not seen defeat in 12 Premier League appearances but this is their fourth loss of the season, all at home.

Solskjaer had decided to make a little turn by leaving Edinson Cavani on the bench to start Anthony Martial in tip, while Alex Telles had been preferred to Luke Shaw on the left side and Axel Tuanzebe was in the axis alongside Harry Maguire.

Used to the start of failed matches, Manchester seemed very sluggish and was surprised on a corner and a failed exit from David De Gea for the benefit of Kean Bryan who headed with the help of the post (0- 1, 23rd).

Nothing to worry about a team which has won 7 of the 10 matches in which it found itself led.

And it is almost without surprise that the equalizer was welcomed, also from the head and from a corner, by Harry Maguire (1-1, 64th).

But the Red Devils were caught by a certain smugness and on a relatively innocuous shot from Ollie Burke, Tuanzebe stretched his leg and deflected the ball which deceived De Gea, after having touched the crossbar (1-2, 74th).

A big disappointment for the Mancuniens before moving this weekend to Arsenal, one of the teams in the form of the championship.

- That's it for the premiere of Tuchel:

For his first match under the orders of Thomas Tuchel arrived Tuesday, Chelsea could not do better than 0-0 against Wolverhampton which leaves him in 8th place, 5 lengths of qualifying places for the Champions League.

For the former PSG coach, this first contact with the competing team was rather encouraging.

He had relied on experience by relegating young Reece James, Tammy Abraham and especially Mason Mount to the bench to prefer Cesar Azpilicueta, Olivier Giroud and Kaï Havertz.

Very active on the edge of the touchline, constantly giving instructions, Tuchel tried to make his mark on his team and in particular his immoderate taste for possession of the ball.

But faced with Wolves who, since they beat the Blues (2-1) in the first leg, in mid-December, had only taken 2 points in 6 matches, his team has struggled to be dangerous , even if Matteo Kovacic (83rd) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (85th) could have forced the decision.

The Londoners, however, also came close to the correctional on a breakthrough by Pedro Neto all in power, completed by a clever ladle, which bounced off the top of the crossbar (71st).

A lesser evil for Tuchel who knows however that expectations are high and impatience is real.

- Leicester clings to the podium:

By going for a valuable point (1-1) from Everton, another potential spoilsport in the race for the C1, Leicester consolidated his place on the podium.

With 39 points, Leicester (3rd) has 4 points ahead of West Ham (4th) and 5 over Liverpool (5th) who move Thursday to Tottenham.

The Toffees are 7th with 33 units and may regret having let slip the advantage that James Rodriguez had given them with a superb strike from 20 meters (1-0, 30th).

A draw all the more frustrating as the equalizer of Youri Tielemans, in the 67th minute, is marred by a fault of hand - one more - of Jordan Pickford (1-1).

The Foxes have earned this point, however, being the most dangerous team, and confirm that they are serious contenders for the top 4.

© 2021 AFP