Chelsea pose tough test for Van Nistelrooy, Gunners aim to bounce back
Manchester United hit the reset button again by sacking manager Erik ten Hag with the team mired in mid-table mediocrity and Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in charge for the home Premier League game against Chelsea on Sunday.
Dutchman Ten Hag was fired on after a fourth loss in nine league games left United languishing in 14th place – 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Van Nistelrooy was appointed interim manager until Ruben Amorim leaves Portuguese side Sporting and takes the reins after November’s international break.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals for United, got United off to a victorious start in the post-Ten Hag era with an entertaining 5-2 victory over struggling Leicester City in the League Cup on Wednesday, but Chelsea are a different beast.
Under new manager Enzo Maresca, a young squad have given the Stamford Bridge faithful a glimmer of hope that the London club can return to the Champions League.
Led by the imperious Cole Palmer, who has seven league goals and five assists this season, they sit fifth in the table.
They will also be desperate to improve their woeful record against United — who have lost to Chelsea only once in the last 13 Premier League games.
Such is Maresca’s attention to detail that the Italian is redoing his homework and analysing Van Nistelrooy’s managerial stint at PSV Eindhoven where he led the Eredivise club to a Dutch Cup title.
“I guess it will be Ruud (who takes charge of United). He’s a friend of mine, we played together, we spent a year together at Malaga and we still have a relationship,” Maresca said.
“We started to watch some PSV games. We’d already watched many Manchester United games. I’m sad for Erik and at the same time happy for Ruud. Hopefully I can see him Sunday.”
Chelsea are also looking to return to winning ways after Newcastle United took revenge for last weekend’s loss by dumping them out of the League Cup on Wednesday, a game where Palmer was rested.
Van Nistelrooy is hopeful he can stay at United long-term after arriving in the close season.
“I’m helping as long as I’m needed and in the future in any capacity… I’m here to give my everything for the club in any capacity,” Van Nistelrooy said.
The weekend kicks off with Newcastle, floundering in 12th place, hosting Arsenal whose title chase hit a couple of speed bumps against Bournemouth and Liverpool to leave them five points adrift.
While Mikel Arteta will be glad to have William Saliba back from suspension, question marks over the fitness of other defenders remain — including his centre back partner Gabriel — while skipper Martin Odegaard, the fulcrum of their attack, remains sidelined.
Champions City have a one-point lead and they visit Bournemouth, but Pep Guardiola now has nine players on the injury list after their League Cup loss at Tottenham Hotspur.
“I think we are in trouble, because in nine years we’ve never been in the situation with so many injuries,” Guardiola said.
Liverpool, who drew at Arsenal last weekend, have another stern test against Brighton & Hove Albion who have impressed under Fabian Huerzeler. It will also be a rematch of their League Cup encounter where Liverpool came out 3-2 winners.
Unai Emery’s high-flying Villa travel to London to face Spurs who have blown hot and cold this season to sit eighth. They will hope skipper Son Heung-min is fit again after he missed the 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace.
The bottom three of Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton will be looking to register their first wins of the season when they play Leicester, Palace and Everton respectively.