Ole to prove a point against his erstwhile club
Former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, named caretaker manager at Old Trafford this week following the sacking of Jose Mourinho, is gunning to make a statement on Saturday at Cardiff City, where he flopped as coach in 2014.
The caretaker coach’s new club comes up against the Bluebirds in an English Premier League clash.
At the top of the table, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have a chance to open up a four-point lead over Manchester City at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday, with Pep Guardiola’s team not in action against Crystal Palace until the following day.
Third-placed Tottenham, five points behind secondplaced City, face a tricky trip to Goodison Park to take on Everton while Chelsea host Leicester and Arsenal, smarting after Southampton ended their 22-game unbeaten run and League Cup defeat to bitter rivals Spurs midweek, welcome Burnley to the Emirates.
Manchester United's rotating cast of players have failed dismally to live up to the club’s tradition of swashbuckling football in a dire season that led to Mourinho’s dismissal this week.
And, therefore, all eyes will be on caretaker manager Solskjaer as he begins his attempt to turn around the club’s fortunes at Cardiff.
Among the issues facing the Norwegian are bringing Paul Pogba back into the fold, liberating stifled attacking players and tightening up a leaky defence.
Solskjaer, who managed Cardiff from January to September 2014, has a special place in the hearts of United fans and has talked about the “very talented squad”.
Disgruntled supporters will not be expecting miracles but they will want to see an immediate change in style.
And as far as Manchester City are concerned single Premier League defeat, against Chelsea, hardly spelled disaster for the team, it notably came with both Kevin De Bruyne or Sergio Aguero missing.
Both players started in the midweek League Cup win on penalties against Leicester, with De Bruyne scoring his first goal of an injury-blighted season.
For all their much-vaunted strength in depth, Guardiola needs De Bruyne's creativity and Aguero's goals as he remains in the hunt for a trophy clean sweep.
Mauricio Pochettino is reportedly Manchester United's first choice for their next permanent manager – potentially meaning months of anxiety ahead for Tottenham fans.
Spurs' multi-pronged trophy assault risks being sidetracked by constant speculation linking their highly-rated manager to the United job and on Thursday he was stopped from answering questions on the issue at his press conference.
Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is among those who believes he should stay put in north London, saying Spurs are a better team than United.
"Man United is a massive club but I think in his situation when he's building such a good team at Tottenham – there's a lot of work to be done at Man United to build a good team," he told talkSPORT.
"Where do you find the players? It’s getting more and more difficult.”
Fixtures (5pm unless stated)
Saturday:
Arsenal v Burnley (2.30pm), Bournemouth v Brighton, Chelsea v Leicester, Huddersfield v Southampton, Manchester City v Crystal Palace, Newcastle v Fulham, West Ham v Watford, Cardiff v Manchester United (7.30pm). Sunday: Everton v Tottenham (6pm). —AFP