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Monday night football! Arguably the biggest game of matchday 10 of the Premier League was played when Tottenham Hotspur hosted Manchester City at Wembley.
It was an emotional night for a certain Riyad Mahrez, as his former Chairman at Leicester City, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, passed away in a tragic helicopter crash. Mahrez said, after the game against Spurs, that Mr. Srivaddhanaprabha was a father figure to him and his death was heartbreaking.
But the emotions surely didn't affect the Algerian winger's performance on the night, as he proved to be the difference maker against Spurs.
In the sixth minute of the match, a defensive slip-up from Kieran Trippier let Raheem Sterling have a run into the Spurs box. Mahrez was alert and on hand to dispatch the pass from Sterling into the back of the net.
Arms pointing towards the heaven as a tribute to his former chairman, the Algerian international sealed all three points for the defending champions with that goal and sent them to the top of the Premier League table.
As the commentators clearly pointed out during the game, 'once a Fox, now completely a Cityzen', Mahrez has lived up to his club-record price tag of £60 million and is clearly an integral part of Pep Guardiola's plans in the blue half of Manchester.
Now over to the Red half of the city, and things have not been great for Manchester United. Clearly, nothing has gone according to the plan for Jose Mourinho and his men this season.
While the team has collectively underperformed so far, one man has conspicuously failed to justify his big move to the Red Devils last January.
Alexis Sanchez did score the all-important winner against Newcastle United this season but has not made a remarkable contribution to the Red Devils' cause otherwise.
The Chilean international was linked to City multiple times and it appears the Cityzens have dodged a bullet and made a secure investment in Mahrez.
This is why we will now discuss why Manchester United should have spent on wooing the former Leicester City man instead of Sanchez.
#3 A solution to United's right wing problems
While Jose Mourinho has bemoaned the fact that United did not make any defensive signings this summer, an area that he seems to have given the least attention to is the right flank of his team.
Now, this is an area that the Red Devils should have strengthened a long time ago and still seem to neglect.
Most of the time, Mourinho fills the area with Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford. But they are not proper wingers and have a tendency to cut into the middle rather than hugging the touchline and delivering crosses on a regular basis.
Mahrez has been stationed by Guardiola on the right wing and he plays a role where he stretches the opposition defences and allows the midfielders of Manchester City come into play as well.
His gameplan has been so good that he has kept last season's PFA Young Player of the Year, Leroy Sane, out of the City starting XI.
The Algerian has scored four goals in the Premier League with his shots per game standing at an average of 2.4, overshadowing Sanchez's performance this season.
Even when it comes to passing success rate and crosses delivered per game, Mahrez steals the march on Sanchez with 86% and 0.5 respectively.
#2 A Jose Mourinho Player
Some of you may be thinking how is Mahrez a Jose Mourinho type of player. Well, remember how the Special One expects his wingers to put in a defensive shift and help out the wing-backs?
When it comes to defensive tactics used by Mourinho, Sanchez apparently does not relish the negative game plan by the United gaffer.
Mahrez is one player who is ready for the task all the time. From his Leicester days to Monday night's game against Spurs, the Algerian has always tracked back and helped out the defence.
He gave ample cover to Kyle Walker yesterday and made some good clearances towards the end of the game, where Spurs looked to be in the ascendency.
When compared to the likes of Mata, Rashford etc. who have been used on the right wing for Manchester United, Mahrez has racked up some good numbers on the defensive side with 0.7 tackles per game and 0.5 interceptions as well.
#1 Two players at contrasting ends of their career
At 27 years of age, Mahrez is seemingly at the peak of his powers. Who can forget Leicester's title-winning season of 2015-16 when the Algerian scored 17 goals and provided 11 assists, which ultimately gifted him the title of PFA player of the year.
While the season after being crowned as Champions didn't go as planned for the Foxes, Mahrez returned to fine form last season by hitting double-figures for goals and assists once again with 12 and 10 respectively in the Premier League.
Coming into this strong City side with the likes of David Silva, Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero around him, Mahrez is ready to recreate the form that helped the Foxes lift the Premier League title.
Sanchez, who turns 30 this December, appears to be going off the boil at the moment. While he enjoyed a sparkling 2016/17 campaign racking up 24 goals and 10 assists in the league, last season was not impressive for the Chilean.
Sanchez seems to have lost some of the pace that used to be one of the United forward's major weapons, and this may be a contributory factor to his current slump and toothless performances. Even the system he is playing under Mourinho at United may not be helping his cause, as he used to enjoy a free role at Arsenal.
With Martial finding form and keeping Sanchez out of the starting line-up, this season could also turn out to be a lacklustre one for the man whose arrival at Old Trafford was a much heralded and feted affair.
This is assuming that he stays with United after the January transfer window closes, with rumours suggesting that this far from guaranteed.
