LONDON. — The English Premier League soccer table does not lie but the truths it offers can sometimes feel bewildering.
How can it be that Manchester United, after this season of gripe and gloom, can lie second, nine points clear of the defending champions? How can there be such a fug of insecurity and compensatory self-assertion about their every game when Liverpool, two points behind, are borne on a swirl of positivity?
Largely, of course, it is an issue of perception and starting points. Liverpool fans, 28 years after their last league title, are understandably more enthused by Champions League qualification and a vague sense things are getting better than United fans struggling to adapt to a post-Ferguson reality. — The Guardian.



