Manchester United may go for jugular against Liverpool, Morgan Schneiderlin must settle quickly at Everton and Ahmed Musa has chance to shine for LeicesterManchester United were on the receiving end of heavy criticism when they shut up shop and successfully played for a 0-0 draw when they visited Liverpool in October. It was a classic exercise in parking the bus from an unapologetic José Mourinho, who reasoned that a cautious approach was necessary against a team who regularly overwhelm their opponents with blistering attacking play. But while it was possible to grudgingly respect Mourinho’s plan, there is no need for the United manager to play it safe at Old Trafford on Sunday. Although United are unlikely to veer too far...
Individual errors at vital moments left West Ham on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline against Manchester City and Slaven Bilic looking for a hole to climb intoNowhere in English football does the manager appear more isolated than at the London Stadium. This match had a television audience of millions, a stadium attendance of tens of thousands, a matchday staff in the hundreds, a few dozen players, coaches and physios and beyond them all, standing alone on the touchline with the bench a good 20 yards distant and no one but an occasional passing linesman for company, the two men carrying responsibility for it all. Related: Manchester City cruise past West Ham thanks to David Silva masterclass Related: West...
Today’s fluff glows white on the mountain tonightWest Ham have given the world license to gossip after printing an anonymous article on their website, bylined “The Insider”, which reveals that “the board … have allocated significant funds to bolstering the squad. To that end, a bid of £20m was submitted for a player from Scotland. Meanwhile, an £8m bid was made for a player who currently plies his trade in the Championship, and a £6m bid for a current Premier League player. It is my understanding that the board will do their best to bring their selected targets to London Stadium, if at all possible.” Related: Mikel John Obi announces he is joining Chinese Super League from Chelsea Related: Transfer...
Liverpool, Manchester United, Sunderland, Leicester and others may be hit by loss of players to tournament as clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City capitaliseNow is the time for top clubs to prove that to be forewarned really is to be forearmed. Everyone knew that the Africa Cup of Nations was on the agenda for early 2017 and now, with 23 Premier League players among those heading off to Gabon to compete for their countries in what their employers view as the world’s worst-timed international tournament, rich clubs must show they are resourceful enough to cope. Otherwise they will pay a heavy price. Related: Liverpool’s matchwinner Sadio Mané will head to Gabon with a heavy heart Related: Wilfried Zaha accepts Ivory...
Ibrahimovic achieves statistic of 19 Premier League starts, 13 Premier League goals, showing teenage team-mate how it is done against West HamZlatan Ibrahimovic’s contribution was the garnish rather than the main course but compared with the kind of nourishment he had proposed for some onlookers earlier in the week, it still went down rather well. His had been a supporting part in a Manchester United performance that offered little more than fits and spurts before the game-changing introductions of Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata that terminally stretched West Ham United, but the 35-year-old Swede possesses a knack of having the last word at will. His first goal of 2017 showed once more that time’s passage means little when a showman...