Aston Villa vs Manchester United live updates: Premier League ...
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As well as specific focuses on the two clubs involved in today's encounter, we'll also be bringing you some of the best reporting from around The Athletic.
Most notably: it is 66 years since the Munich air disaster robbed English football of one of its greatest young teams.
Eight Manchester United players from Sir Matt Busby’s brilliant side were killed when the plane carrying them crashed on February 6, 1958, and two more were so badly injured they never played again. Fifteen others aboard also died.
To mark the anniversary, and as a tribute to those who were lost, Daniel Taylor has written several special pieces.
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In the end, nervous glances from most Premier League clubs tilted towards the elephant sitting in the corner of the room.
Profit and sustainability rules (PSR) hamstrung January transfer business and contributed to the (relative) paucity of spending, simply to allay fears of breaking regulations. Yet the need for Aston Villa to alleviate PSR concerns was becoming ever more pressing.
As The Athletic reported last month, there was an unavoidable sense that Villa would likely need to sell a first-team player for substantial profit if they wanted to continue spending big but also comply with regulations before the end of the financial year on June 30.
Quickly, the question became whether Villa could keep the team’s core together in this window, while providing head coach Unai Emery with at least one incoming.
GO FURTHER
Aston Villa’s January transfer window: Rogers, Ramsey and realism
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Less than a year on from the sacking of Graham Potter, two defeats with eight goals conceded are all it has taken to drag Chelsea into the bottom half of the Premier League table and the project led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital back under severe scrutiny.
Mauricio Pochettino and his players are now facing open hostility from their own supporters, and no one at any level of the club is safe from criticism or questioning. It is hardly the ideal preparation for a Carabao Cup final against league leaders Liverpool at Wembley this month.
From the head coach to the ownership, the players and the supporters, The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey take a closer look at how Chelsea are dealing with this latest turbulence.
Check it out below.
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Chelsea and Project Pochettino: How a trying campaign is taking its toll
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Jurgen Klopp was genuinely taken aback recently when, having sent shockwaves through the sport with his announcement that he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, it was mentioned to him that Sir Alex Ferguson once called notice on his time at Manchester United — only to change his mind and stay on for… just another 11 years, as it happened.
There is no reason why he should have. Klopp was still getting to grips with his first coaching role, at Mainz in the second tier of the Bundesliga, when Ferguson announced he would step down and retire from management at the end of the 2001-02 season.
As Ferguson put it, it was a “textbook case” of how to “botch” leaving a job — which is perhaps why he did it so differently when he stepped down for real in 2013. It has become rare at the top level for a manager’s departure to be flagged months in advance.
Klopp says he went public because, with the club needing to intensify their search for his successor, it would have been impossible to keep it secret. Now, the noise has started.
Read more below...
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When a manager like Jurgen Klopp says they are leaving, the noise starts
After a packed day of fixtures yesterday, there are two games today before Crystal Palace host Chelsea in the Monday night match.
First, West Ham face Arsenal, kicking off at 2pm GMT, before this game, Aston Villa vs Manchester United, in the tea-time kick-off slot of 4.30pm GMT.
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If you want to tune in to the action live, without foregoing this live blog (obviously), you can do so via these channels.
UK: Sky Sports Main Event.
US: Peacock.
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Villa Park.
Capacity: 42,640.
Atmosphere: Very decent.
Fortress rating: 8.5/10.
The action begins at 4.30pm GMT in the UK, which works out as 11.30am ET and 8.30am PT in the United States.
Today, two of the sides not far off the top of the table are set to tussle for three points in the west Midlands: Aston Villa and Manchester United.
The Premier League title may prove beyond them both, but both are aiming for a top-four finish and automatic qualification for the Champions League.
It's the Dwight Yorke derby, Unai Emery vs Erik ten Hag, aaand it's live!
