For about 20 minutes during the second half at Wastelands, you could sense United fans excitedly muttering to themselves all over the world: “Surely we’re not going to get away with this yet again?!”

One of the earliest and most hard-earned lessons I learned in the playground as a young football neophyte was that there was no team called Manchester.

Daniel Storey asks five key questions ahead of the Manchester Derby.

The tragic death of his brother, Andrew, has shaped Mike Ross’s outlook on rugby — and on life, where he never took no for an answer. And like Ross the player, his new book, Dark Arts, is an underrated gem.

Jurgen Klopp believes the expectation placed upon Liverpool following their finest ever start to a Premier League season means only becoming champions will qualify as a success.

There may not have been the regular exchange of messages or calls between Frank Lampard and John Terry this week.

It’s the ultimate battle of philosophies in Manchester tomorrow. A classic clash of styles as the family pulling every stroke to pump as much money as possible into their club faces the family working every trick in the book to take it out.

Some people say TV has ruined sport but there’s a strong case to argue that the opposite is true, writes Brendan O'Brien

Pierre-Emerick Augbameyang won the praise of manager Unai Emery after his winner at Bournemouth took Arsenal to within a point of the top four, but Mesut Ozil’s place in the club’s new era looks rather more shaky after he sat shivering and ignored on the sidelines.

Whenever United play Palace these days, I always find myself thinking of the loyal Irish Examiner reader out in Clonakilty once described to me as “the only Eagles fan in Ireland”. (Hello there, James.)

Just about the only piece of good news for Manchester United on Saturday evening was that they do not have to wait long for their next match. Jose Mourinho’s players will hope to use a Champions League meeting with Swiss side Young Boys to quickly get a dire goalless draw with Crystal Palace out of their system.

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini endured a miserable afternoon as former club Manchester City scored three times in the first 34 minutes of a 4-0 win at the London Stadium.

Simon Peach Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has refused to “play the game” and expand on comments made in a recent interview where he appeared to suggest some of his players lacked character.

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has refused to "play the game" and expand on comments made in a recent interview where he appeared to suggest some of his players lacked character.

There's nothing like the restorative powers of an international break - niggling injuries that kept players immobile for a fortnight miraculously disappear as a new round of league fixtures approach.

In the aftermath of a drab, scoreless draw against Denmark on Monday, Martin O’Neill assured the media that his players would be ready for the “big stuff” in March.

Southampton have locked in on former RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl as their number one target to replace Mark Hughes, who was sacked by the Saints yesterday.

Southampton have parted company with manager Mark Hughes, the club have announced.

Matches like this go a long way to forging football reputations and Unai Emery masterminded an emphatic victory to further justify Arsenal’s decision to make him their first choice to replace Arsene Wenger.

If Manchester United’s squad were called out in public by Mourinho, Pogba was privately admonished. A source claimed that Pogba was called a “virus” by his manager in front of the other players, telling the Frenchman that he “kills the mentality of the good, honest people around you”.