Fred is finding his feet under Solskjær, Maddison and Grealish jostle for England attention and do Everton have a new plan?Fred has described Fernandinho has his role model in the past but, until recently, it seemed like the only thing the pair had in common was that they both moved from Brazil to Shakhtar Donetsk before arriving in Manchester. Over the last month, however, Fred has finally started showing the quality that persuaded United to spend £52m on him last year. He and Scott McTominay form a midfield partnership of formerly maligned players who have become more than useful. They, along with Marcus Rashford’s refulgent form and the fact that United now relish being underdogs, are reasons why City might...
Chelsea toothless without Tammy Abraham, Everton better than results suggest and clever Jonjo Shelvey helps LiverpoolAfter a medley of mid-table finishes, could this be the season Crystal Palace return to the top half? They finished 10th four years ago under Alan Pardew and after victory at Burnley are part of a chasing pack on the tails of fifth-placed Tottenham. The win stopped a worrying rot of five games without victory and, with Wilfried Zaha having come to the fore in recent outings, there is plenty for a painfully inconsistent Palace to build on. December looks kind, too, with Bournemouth the visitors to Selhurst Park on Tuesday before matches against Watford, Brighton, Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton. After a quiet start...
Flawed City defence meets hapless Newcastle attack, Leicester can end Silvas service and only a miracle can save EmerySteve Bruce said Newcastle were too passive during Mondays sorry defeat at Aston Villa. One thing he can actively do about that is drop Jonjo Shelvey, who was irrelevant in midfield at Villa Park. With Sean Longstaff available again after suspension, and Matty Longstaff in line for a return to the starting lineup, Shelvey should be parked on the bench. Bruce probably wishes he could also make changes up front to try to exploit Citys defensive flakiness. There is not often a good case for starting Andy Carroll but this time there are two: Citys fragility and Joelintons haplessness. At least Allan...
Jos Mourinhos squad reached the last Champions League final and going one better would make him uniqueJos Mourinho says he will not make the same mistakes at Tottenham that he made at some of his previous clubs, and though naturally he is not about to reveal what those mistakes were it is safe to assume Alexis Snchez will not be reappearing in north London any time soon.The unlikely Mourinho admission that he spent the first two days of his new job smiling may give some sort of clue. Not only must a fat new contract and players of the calibre of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to work with give him plenty to smile about, it must have entered his...
This was a derby with the surface tension of lukewarm custard tart, but there were still glimpses of a brighter future for SpursStill humble, five days in. At the end of this strangely brittle Tottenham victory, a sustained thrashing of an invertebrate West Ham that somehow ended up a chancy 3-2 win, Jos Mourinho appeared on the London Stadium turf wearing his most convincing relievedyetrespectful face.Behold: for I am the humblest. The humblissimus, a superstar of humility. Frowning deeply, face contorted into a rictus of dignified integrity, Mourinho pointedly shook the hands of the West Ham players, who looked a little surprised. There was a tentative round of applause towards the Tottenham fans, but from a distance, like a tremulous...