Rashford: No one better than Solskjaer for Man Utd job

LONDON: Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has given his backing to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the wake of Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking by Tottenham Hotspur.

Pochettino was one of the leading contenders for the United job when Jose Mourinho was sacked in December but the club appointed Solskjaer on an interim basis instead, and named the Norwegian permanent manager in March.

“Ole is a great guy and he has the club’s interests at heart so there’s not a better person for the job in my opinion,” Rashford told Sky Sports.

Solskjaer came under scrutiny after United made their worst start to a league season in 33 years, but the team appear to have turned a corner in recent weeks after winning five of their last six games in all competitions.

United are up to seventh in the Premier League after beating Brighton on Nov 10, but are still 18 points adrift of leaders Liverpool and nine shy of fourth-placed Manchester City, who currently occupy the final Champions League qualification spot.

Rashford said he bought into Solskjaer’s vision for the club and that the manager was one of the main reasons he agreed to extend his contract in the close season.

“I could see where his head was at, where he wanted the club to be at and for me it was just a nobrainer,” the 22-year-old added.

“We were on the same page and wanted the same things for the club ... There was no hesitation from me over signing a new contract.”

 LONDON: Arsenal manager Unai Emery was given a reminder of how cut throat Premier League management can be with Tottenham’s sacking of Mauricio Pochettino this week and needs a quick turnaround in fortunes if he is to avoid the same fate.

Emery’s side face Southampton at the Emirates today with the Spaniard’s position coming under increasing scrutiny after a dismal run that has brought just two wins in the last ten Premier League games.

Emery has far less credit in the bank with the Arsenal fans than the Argentine did across north London and the natives at the Emirates are growing increasingly restless at not just a lack of results, but lack of entertainment.

A forward-line built around star strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette and supported by £72 million (RM387 million) record signing Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos was expected to be the side’s major strength.

But Emery’s men have managed just five goals in their last six league games to fall nine points off the top four.

Aubameyang has shown his class to score eight league goals despite largely living off scraps, but Lacazette and centre back David Luiz are the only other Arsenal players to have scored more than once in the Premier League this season.

Lacazette has not scored in six games since returning from an ankle injury, but Pepe’s inability to make an impact is even more alarming.