Man City and Arsenal look to close title gap

LONDON – With Liverpool in League Cup final action against Chelsea tomorrow, the chasing pack have a chance to close the gap on the Premier League leaders. Manchester City can move within one point of Jurgen Klopp’s team if they win their game in hand at Bournemouth, while Arsenal must beat Newcastle to stay in touch with the title pacesetters.

Declan Rice has urged Arsenal to use the frustration from their surprise Champions League Last 16 first-leg loss at Porto to fuel their bid for Premier League glory.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have no concerns over Erling Haaland’s form, according to the Norway striker’s close friend and teammate Oscar Bobb.

After scoring in just one of his previous seven matches – two goals against Everton – Haaland silenced his critics with a priceless winner against Brentford on

“There’s no real worries. When you have the quality he has, it is just about getting to the right spots,” Bobb said ahead of today’s trip to Bournemouth.

“As long as he gets in those situations, if he misses a few one game it’s not like he’s going to start missing all his chances.”

After Jim Ratcliffe finally completed his purchase of a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United this week, the British billionaire boldly declared his desire to knock Liverpool and Manchester City off their perch.

Having spent the past decade in the shadow of their two bitter rivals, Ratcliffe, who will take control of football operations from majority owners the Glazer family, knows that repackaging an old line from United’s former boss Alex Ferguson will play well with a disgruntled fanbase.

But even Ratcliffe, 71, acknowledged it will take time to put United in position for a first title since 2013.