Spirited United primed to dent Reds’ title bid
MANCHESTER: Manchester United may not be in the title race but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side could have a big say in who does win the Premier League, starting with Sunday’s clash against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Manchester City lead the Premier League on goal difference from Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool with both teams on 65 points — 14 ahead of fourth-placed United.
United still have to play Manchester City again in this campaign, but , perhaps surprisingly to some, their fans would probably prefer them to do more damage to Liverpool’s ambitions.
Local pride aside, however, this is also a crucial game for Solskjaer as he bids to convince the Old Trafford hierarchy that he is the right man to lead the club on a permanent basis after his interim period runs out at the end of this season.
United moved into the FA Cup quarter-finals with an impressive 2-0 win at Chelsea while Liverpool head into this weekend’s game after a 0-0 home draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur will also hope to close the gap on title holders City and their captain Harry Kane could be back in the starting line-up at Burnley on Saturday after a few weeks out with an ankle injury.
MAKE-OR-BREAK WEEK FOR CHELSEA: RUDIGER
LONDON: Chelsea’s next two fixtures will go a long way to determining the success of their season, defender Antonio Rudiger has said, with the club set to face Malmo in the Europa League and Manchester City in the League Cup final. Chelsea lead Malmo 2-1 from the away leg in Sweden. “We need to be prepared because the game is not over, nothing is decided. Then looking forward to the Cup final, we need to gain confidence and have a good performance,” he said.
KLOPP FINED BY FA FOR REFEREE COMMENTS
LONDON: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was fined £45,000 pounds by the Football Association (FA) on Thursday for comments he made about the referee after his side’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United on February 4.
BENGALURU PUMP THREE PAST GOA
BENGALURU: Ten-man Bengaluru FC sealed their place at the top of the table with a stunning 3-0 win over FC Goa in the Indian Super League here Thursday. Full-back Nishu Kumar was sent off following a second yellow card in the 42nd minute.
But Bengaluru produced a brilliant show in the second half to pick up all three points as Juanan (50), Udanta Singh (58) and Miku (69) scored for the victors.