Minamino’s Merseyside derby baptism, Woodgate’s Tottenham reunion and non-league Fylde take on Sheffield UnitedConsidering they have been fairly regular visitors over the years, Derby’s record at Selhurst Park is pretty miserable. Indeed in their past 15 trips – a run stretching back to 1983 – they’ve won only once. That victory came in 2002 when Georgi Kinkladze scored the only goal of the game. A big-name big-money player past his peak helping the Rams to an unlikely win in south London? You might be able to spot where this is going. Wayne Rooney made his playing return to English football on Thursday night and played a full 90 minutes in the 2-1 defeat of Barnsley in which his free-kick supplied...
Planning for the future is laudable, but at some point there must be evidence of a plan being enacted in the here and nowFor eight minutes at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, everything looked to be going well for Manchester United. And then suddenly it wasn’t. As it was in the game, so it has been for Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s career at Old Trafford. Have patience, the message comes again and again from the United board. Look at the youth in the squad. Wait for it to flower. But for how long, and at what cost? Related: Paul Pogba’s foot surgery could force Manchester United to recruit in January Related: Possessed Arteta coaxes Nicolas Pépé back from the living dead...
Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Manchester United shows new manager may already have discovered how to make the most of £72m signingWelcome to the Emirates, Nicolas Pépé. We’ve been expecting you. On a chilly, boisterous night in north London, Arsenal’s £72m record signing produced a performance that started tentatively, then revved into full life with an early goal.At which point Pépé proceeded to unpick the left side of Manchester United’s defence with a deceptively easy sense of verve. So much of football at this level is about pressing an advantage when it comes, and the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, did so here. At times in the first half Luke Shaw just looked horribly out of place in Pépé’s company, a single...
Lamptey may not last long at Chelsea, Leicester can be regular title contenders and have Pereira and Ndombele finally arrived?Welcome to the Premier League, then, Tariq Lamptey. And – quite possibly – farewell. For the 19-year-old right-back, the Emirates Stadium was some place to make a professional debut. He rose to the challenge, keeping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang quiet and making one thrilling foray into Arsenal territory before playing in Tammy Abraham. It says plenty about Chelsea’s short-term youth policy that Lampard felt able to throw an untried teenager into a game of this magnitude. It says plenty about Chelsea’s long-term youth policy that they may not be able to keep him. Lamptey’s contract is up at the end of the season,...
Assumption that calamity is only just around the corner is perhaps new manager’s most toxic inheritance at EmiratesYou can sense trouble brewing for Arsenal the moment they go on the attack. This sounds paradoxical, but once you’ve watched a club like this for long enough reading the early signs of calamity becomes a sort of sixth sense, an almost shamanic instinct, like being able to see tomorrow’s weather in the pattern of a leaf. Perhaps it’s the way Nicolas Pépé retreats indeterminately towards the touchline, killing the momentum stone dead. Or the way Bukayo Saka advances just a few more yards than is probably wise. Perhaps it’s simply the breath of the wind on your cheek. Either way, you just...