Manchester United will need a serious improvement when they travel to face Chelsea in the Premier League fixture this Thursday night.

Erik ten Hag’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dealt a major blow after United’s dreadful display against Brentford last weekend, a result made even worse by the fact that Tottenham and Aston Villa had both won earlier in the day.

United will need to ensure they are a lot better at the back against a Chelsea side who are just as bad in front of goal, in what looks set to be a captivating and possibly chaotic encounter at Stamford Bridge later this week.

 

5. Victor Lindelof – 

Lindelof was set to undergo an assessment in the wake of the Brentford match. He appeared to be in some pain after being taken off and an official update should be issued tomorrow.

6. Luke Shaw – 

Ten Hag doesn’t want to put too much pressure on Shaw’s return but is expecting to see him back in action before the end of the season.

7. Anthony Martial –

The French forward is yet to return to team training but should be available before the end of the campaign. Ten Hag said it was ‘down to Martial’ if he returned or not this season.

8. Tyrell Malacia – 

Malacia has not played since undergoing knee surgery last summer. He then suffered a setback during his rehabilitation which required a further procedure and is not expected to feature at all this season.

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Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, dropped a two word statement about the title match between Man City and Arsenal

Current Arsenal news as Jurgen Klopp, who saw his team win the Premier League, makes his prediction for Manchester City vs. the Gunners.

In light of today’s Premier League title match at the Etihad Stadium, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has made light of the fact that he wants both Manchester City and Arsenal to lose.

Following their thrilling 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion earlier in the day, Klopp’s team took the top spot in the standings.At Anfield, Mohamed Salah scored the game-winning goal to elevate the Reds over both City and the Gunners.

Should Mikel Arteta’s men win at the Etihad Stadium, something they have failed to do since 2015, they will return to the top of the Premier League due to their superior goal difference.

If the defending champions are victorious, Liverpool will end the Easter weekend as league leaders with a point advantage going into the upcoming round of midweek fixtures.

After seeing his side defeat Brighton on Merseyside, Klopp was asked by Sky Sports what result he is hoping for between Arsenal and City. The German jokingly replied, “Both losing”.

The game has been labelled as one of the most important games of Arteta’s tenure in north London since departing City in 2019. The Spaniard suffered three defeats against the Citizens last season but has already defeated his former side in the Premier League and Community Shield this term.

Pundits throughout the week have claimed that three points for the Gunners in Manchester could be a huge step in their hopes of becoming English champions for the first time in two decades.

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How Liverpool could line up under Rúben Amorim with $86m transfer and formation change

Liverpool is looking for its next manager with Jürgen Klopp soon set to depart. Sporting CP head coach Rúben Amorim appears to be the number one choice right now.

Rúben Amorim could become the new Liverpool manager in the summer. (Image: Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

With Xabi Alonso now having publicly ruled himself out of the running to take over from Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, the attention from fans will switch elsewhere. Rúben Amorim, it appears, is now the number one candidate, and just because Alonso has only now publicly confirmed his intentions, that does not mean that it caught the Reds by surprise.

At Anfield, the work on finding a successor for Klopp will have been long underway. Klopp informed FSG of his decision to leave all the way back in November and while almost no one else knew that until the turn of the year, Liverpool had a headstart when it came to sounding out potential options. Michael Edwards is now back in the fold to further that process and Richard Hughes has been installed as the new sporting director.

If it is Amorim, though, what will Liverpool be getting? Compared with Pep Guardiola by many of those who have watched his career so far, the 39-year-old Portuguese is a very impressive coach. As it stands, his side is on track to win the Liga Portugal again this year after Amorim was the man in charge when Sporting’s 19-year wait for a league title ended in 2021.

A former player for Benfica, Amorim needed to win over the Sporting fans given that rivalry. Winning the league in his first season will certainly have helped and he could come out on top again before potentially bowing out. Winning is crucial, but so too is the manner in which that is achieved, with Sporting having a collection of interesting players.

Viktor Gyökeres, Ousmane Diomande and Gonçalo Inácio are among his roster and Amorim often plays with a 3-4-3 system that relies on wing-backs. While that would not necessarily stay the same at Liverpool, it is an interesting exercise to consider how it might look if he did stick with that.

Conor Bradley has played as a wing-back before, while on loan at Bolton, and Andy Robertson could certainly do that down the opposite flank, perhaps with Trent Alexander-Arnold playing in midfield. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté might have to get used to playing with another center-back alongside them, with O Jogo linking Liverpool not just with a move for Inácio this week, but also 20-year-old Sporting star Diomande, the latter of whom has a $86m (£68m/€80m) release clause to tempt the Reds (as well as Chelsea, Arsenal and Bayern Munich).

In the attacking positions, Darwin Núñez could be flanked by Mohamed Salah and Luis Díaz, as he is now, but they would have to tuck in even more than they already do. That forward role would be where Dominik Szoboszlai and Harvey Elliott would make most sense in a 3-4-3 as well, though fitting them in becomes more difficult.

Staying with a back four and keeping the system as it is — 4-3-3 with the squad set up to play like that — would appear to make a lot more sense. But the possibilities are there for Amorim, or whoever else it is that comes in, if they wanted to change things up, and regardless of the formation, signing another center-back is likely to be a priority this summer.

While Liverpool’s players are far more suited to playing with a back four as things stand, a couple of signings and an Alexander-Arnold position switch could open up new avenues. Just as was the case with Alonso, just because Amorim plays with a back three now, that does not mean that he would definitely do that at Anfield. It is, though, a possibility.