[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 25, 2025

Barclays Premier League
Dover (8-0-0, 24 points, 1st) vs. Manchester United (6-2-0, 20 points, 3rd)
Old Trafford, Manchester, England

Betting Odds: Manchester United: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 7W 4D 13L

We’ve lost three in a row to United but the games are usually pretty close these days. There’s not much to be said about these guys - they are always awesome and once again are defending Premier League champions. They are missing a couple key players in Luiz Carlos and Omar Hernandez due to injury but Yaya Sanogo is healthy and once again leading the goal scoring ranks for United with 6. They also have former Dover players Manuel Perez, Cristian Rodriguez and Said Henni.

Rafinha starts at ML for the injured Mads Pedersen and Arsene Bamba is on the bench, as he begins to work on regaining match fitness. Sergio De la Vega starts at right midfield in place of a tired Gianluca Bolis. Claudio Contreras is back in at DC. We’ll stick with a control mentality here as slight underdogs.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - Rafinha, B. Raab, Jose, S. De la Vega
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - R. Lopez, M. Mutesa, E. Harvey, N. Cairney, A. Bamba, G. Bolis, A. Broomes

Flat 4-4-2 for United, with Sanogo up front alongside Tom Bull. Perez is in goal after shutting us out earlier in the season in the Community Shield. I tell the team they can win this game.

16’ - We’ve started out decently here and have possession at midfield with Sergio De la Vega. He lays it off to Jose, who then feeds a ball up to a streaking Chiquinho. He gains a half step on old friend Cristian Rodriguez, approaches the top of the box and fires a low, hard shot that goes under a diving Perez and JUST hits the inside of the goal post and bounces IN! BEAUTY! DOVER GOAL 1-0

19’ - United strike right back, as Sanogo feeds a ball through the middle of our defence and Tom Bull speeds past Contreras and Hamon, is in on goal and shoots past Wilke and it’s in. Porous defending. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-1

23’ - United score again on a beautiful header but it’s called back due to being offsides. NO GOAL.

28’ - We earn a corner and Benedikt Raab crosses to the far post and Contreras. He heads it toward Perez but there is Paul Moses, sliding to send the ball past the keeper and IN! DOVER GOAL 2-1

36’ - There’s a wild sequence that sees two potential United fouls go uncalled then Contreras gets called for a ticky-tack foul in front of our area. United sends the free kick into our wall but the ball deflects right to the wrong guy, Yaya Sanogo, who sends a quick volley into the back of the net with trademark power. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 2-2

43’ - We start a counter attack by heading it up to Moses and he shows his incredible skill by cutting to the middle then juking back on defender Gutierrez, eluding his tackle attempt and running in on goal before shooting low past Perez and IN!! That’s two for Moses and this game is officially nuts! DOVER GOAL 3-2

HALFTIME - Well, the Spartak game was a snooze fest and this is anything but, as we combine for five goals in the first half alone and the neutrals are loving it! We hold 54% of possession but United outshoots us 15-10 (7-7 on target). A manager’s worst nightmare! Shots and chances galore! We’ll pull back a bit and start the second half in a counter attacking mentality. I tell the team I’m pleased.

75’ - United are pressing hard but Ingo Wilke has been terrific this half and is holding the fort down. We take out Rafinha and bring in Arsene Bamba for his first action of the year.

82’ - I take Jose off and bring in Neil Cairney.

88’ - We continue to try to milk the clock, bringing in Rodolfo Lopez for Sergio De la Vega.

A fantastic road victory!!

Manchester United 2 - 3 Dover
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.1), Chiquinho (8.0)
Assists - Jose (7.2), Benedikt Raab (7.5), Chiquinho
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.9)
Attendance - 73,513

We ended up with 55% of the ball but they pushed hard in the second half and dominated the shot totals, with 26 versus our 17 (14-8 on target for United). Still, we held on well and Wilke was sensational in goal. A wonderful win against a top club.

-- Chelsea begin to claw their way back into contention with a 1-0 win over second placed City, which now gives us a lovely five point cushion at the top of the table. Wolves continue to surprise everyone as they win 1-0 over Newcastle. Huddersfield win by the same scoreline over Sheffield United, as does Liverpool over Birmingham.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 9 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 27 points
2. Manchester City - 22 points
3. Manchester United - 20 points
4. Liverpool - 18 points
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5. Wolves - 16 points
6. Huddersfield - 16 points
7. Sunderland - 14 points (after 8 games)
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Dover U18 Update

-- Another game, another big win, as we beat Crawley 5-0 behind four goals from Bakary Kone. Michel Benard notches our other marker and adds two assists.



Team of the Week

-- Paul Moses is named to the Premier League team of the week.



Injury Update

-- Mads Pedersen is our only injured player and will miss about two more weeks of action.



Next Up

-- We face Championship promotion contenders Leeds United in League Cup action.