Football matches don’t get much more exciting than Manchester United vs. Liverpool. Talked about across the globe in the same breath as El Clasico, the Superclasico and the Milan Derby, when the two North West sides meet, the world stops to watch on, waiting for the guaranteed entertainment coming their way.

Granted, the pair’s meeting earlier this season – a 0-0 at Anfield – was not a traditionally thrilling match, but it was fascinating in the way Jose Mourinho approached the game with a defensive midset, while Jurgen Klopp shied away from his normal touchline gesticulation for the bulk of the 90 minutes.

We’re expecting a very different return clash this weekend, though, and have made this epic bout our Fixture in Focus. With that in mind, we thought it’d be interesting to ask Mancunian supporters to put their disdain for their Merseyside rivals aside and let us know which players they would like to snatch from a few miles down the M62.

We put that very question out to the masses earlier this week, and here are the THREE Kop stars most wanted at Old Trafford…

3) Roberto Firmino

In at number three we have Firmino. Not a universally popular player among Premier League fans, he sometimes frustrates with misplaced passes and anonymous performances, but he does put numbers on the board, even when not playing that well. Indeed, he’s notched six goals and three assists already this season, taking his tally in Premier League football to 16 and ten respectively, despite a slow start to life in England under Brendan Rodgers.

And it seems Man United fans have a little bit of appreciation for him, even though a ‘false nine’ would mean that Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford would have to make way if this completely hypothetical transfer were to ever come to fruition.

2) Sadio Mane

In second-place we have a player that Man United, once upon a time, were very much interested in. In the summer of 2015 the Red Devils were reportedly on the trail of the then Southampton man, who was fresh from a stellar debut season in English football. Alas, they eventually opted to look elsewhere – Memphis Depay – and he would now be lining up against them at Old Trafford if not for the African Cup of Nations.

The Senegal international would offer Man United the sort of pace they lack out wide when Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are not in the side, while also providing the sort of technique and eye for a pass that the likes of Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan supply.

1) Philippe Coutinho

Could it be any other player? Even though Man United fans despise Liverpool Football Club and everything about it, the little Brazilian is seemingly relatively popular among them. And there’s no wonder why they appreciate him as a footballer, with the former Inter Milan star one of the finest creative attackers in the Premier League. He has an eye for the speculator, as he showed with a wonderful solo goal at Old Trafford in the Europa League last season.

CLICK HERE TO REVEAL THE FULL LIST OF RESULTS…

Results…

Arsenal are set to allow young striker Stephy Mavididi leave North London today to join Charlton Athletic, according to The Daily Mail.

What’s the word?

England U17 international Stephy Mavididi is yet to make a first-team appearance at Arsenal but he remains highly-rated in North London and tipped for a bright future. However, the Gunners have decided a loan move would be best for his development.

Mavididi is now in-talks to join Charlton Athletic until the end of the season, with the League One side looking to land his services as they look to secure a place in the play-offs. Should they miss out, MK Dons, Southend United and Chesterfield are also expressing an interest.

Handed a first-team squad number at the start of the season, 57, Mavididi is tipped to break into the first-team soon and a decent loan spell in the lower divisions would certainly help him achieve his ambitions.

Who else could leave?

Arsenal are set to be active on Deadline Day but it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see any players moving to the Emirates Stadium. Instead, the Gunners will look to send more young players on-loan to aid their development.

Gedion Zelalem has joined Dutch outfit VVV-Venlo and Chuba Akpom has moved to Championship leaders Brighton & Hove Albion, with Ismael Bennacher moving to French outfit Tours.

Speculation suggests that Krystian Bielek could also move today, potentially with Mavididi to Charlton, whilst there were even suggestions earlier this month that Per Mertesacker to leave to return to fitness- but that’s extremely unlikely.

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Arsenal got their season back on track with a professional performance against a committed and impressive Hull City side at the Emirates on Saturday.

A potential banana skin given Hull’s resurgence under Marco Silva, the Gunners managed to bounce back from two consecutive Premier League defeats to pick up a vital three points.

Alexis Sanchez was the hero on the day, scoring a brace and winning points on his own again for Arsenal.

The win eases the pressure on Arsene Wenger a little and gives him a bit of breathing room ahead of a massive week of UEFA Champions League action.

Hull came out of the game with a lot of credit themselves and if they keep up that level of performance then surely they will haul themselves out of the relegation zone?

These are the FIVE photos that summed up all the action at the Emirates…

Sanchez’s bundle of joy

To say Alexis Sanchez’s opener was controversial is an understatement. With the ball popping up off of Andrew Robertson’s attempted clearance, it clearly hit Sanchez’s hand, bundling into the net to give the Gunners the lead. Hull City were furious but the goal stood and it was a lead that Wenger’s side would not relinquish.

The Chilean striker celebrated the goal like nothing untoward had happened and although he probably didn’t mean to score with his hand, he undoubtedly knew he’d gotten away with something massive.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s new role

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s change of role in the Arsenal midfield over the last few matches has been a joy to watch. He’s become a key creative force in the middle of the park after spending so long trying to make an impact from a wide position.

His deeper, more measured role suits his style of player perfectly and he also adds the massive positive of being able to make lung-bursting runs from the heart of the pitch to support his teammates in the final third.

Also with the passing ability to pick out players from long-range, he looks like an obvious choice to remain in the side in the weeks to come.

A tale of two handballs

The first goal was caused by a handball and so was the second with Hull City conceding a very late penalty with the offence. It allowed Sanchez to slot the ball home and put the game beyond doubt.

In truth Arsenal probably would have hung on for three points but the Tigers were piling on pressure at the time and could have snatched a late equaliser.

Sanchez never looked like missing and stuck it away with confidence to score his 17th Premier League goal of the season.

Sideline shepherd

Spending another match in the stands due to his touchline ban, Arsene Wenger had to watch on with the rest of the Arsenal supporters as his team made hard work of seeing off Hull.

He no doubt found frustration with certain aspects of the Gunners performance but must be delighted to reverse the losing trend and get back to winning ways.

He’ll return to the dugout for Wednesday’s trip to Bayern Munich and we’ll see if that provides an improvement to the team’s performance on the pitch.

Silva’s frustration

It says a lot about the way Marco Silva has revitalised Hull City that the manager will probably be unhappy not take something from the match at the Emirates.

A threat throughout the ninety minutes, his side had a number of chances to equalise before Sanchez killed the game off with that penalty.

On loan Liverpool star Lazar Markovic looked particularly impressive, a constant thorn in Arsenal’s side and looking capable of cutting through their defence.

If Silva can maintain this form, they should have no problem surviving relegation come May.

As reported in a Sunday Express exclusive, Tottenham Hotspur star Dele Alli is the subject of shock interest from Premier League rivals Manchester City.

What’s the word?

The English international is doing the business for Mauricio Pochettino this season but come the summer he could be calling Pep Guardiola boss.

The Express reports that City are so interested in the attacking midfielder that they are prepared to break the world transfer record set by Manchester United for Paul Pogba last summer.

That means any offer could be in excess of an eye-watering £89m. The report reckons that such a deal has already been sanctioned by the City hierarchy, with the club believing he could be a key part of future success at the Etihad.

Should Spurs sell?

Dele Alli has been almost invaluable to Mauricio Pochettino’s side this season. He’s contributed 13 goals and 2 assists so far this term, one of the most effective attacking midfielders in the entire country.

If Spurs truly have ambitions to win the Premier League in the coming years then keeping players like Dele Alli will be absolutely key. There’s no doubt that on current form he’d get a game for any side in the country and most teams in Europe too.

Still just 20 years old, the future is incredibly bright for the young Englishman and whether it is at Spurs, Man City or anywhere else, he is destined to become one of the best players around.

That’s worth knocking back any offer that comes Tottenham’s way.

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Newcastle’s side is arguably one of the best that the Championship has ever seen, but it has been far from plain sailing from Rafa Benitez’s team this season.

Though they stormed ahead early in the season, Brighton have seriously impressed under Chris Hughton and have now stolen a march on their Championship title rivals, with the Seagulls currently one point ahead of the Magpies.

That makes tonight’s game between the two sides particularly interesting, with the winner of the clash likely to go into the tail end of the season as favourites for the Championship crown.

Ahead of the game, we posed a very simple question to Newcastle supporters. Given how impressive Brighton have been this season, which players within the Seagulls’ first team would you like to see Benitez make a move for this summer? After all, the Magpies are sure to upgrade their squad at the end of the season, and nobody in the Championship has been more impressive than those turning out at the Amex Stadium. As is so often the case, the results were very interesting.

Unsurprisingly, Anthony Knockaert topped the list – with the lethal attacker having already bagged 11 goals so far this season. Lewis Dunk and Solly March followed shortly behind, though Knockaert certainly came out as the clear favourite amongst the Newcastle fans.

Conversely, veteran midfielder Steve Sidwell finished at the bottom of the list – with his age likely a determining factor in that one. That being said, you certainly wouldn’t bet against the 34-year-old putting in a good shift this evening.

See the full results of the poll below…

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Newcastle United fans have hit out at Sky after one of the club’s Championship fixtures was rearranged to accommodate the broadcaster.

The Magpies announced on their official Twitter page on Wednesday that their clash against Preston at St James’ Park will now take place on Monday, April 24.

The kickoff will be at 7.45pm, which has caused havoc among fans who have already made travel arrangements.

The match was previously scheduled to take place on April 22 at the normal Saturday kickoff time of 3pm.

The game itself could be a crucial one as Rafael Benitez’s side continue their campaign for Premier League promotion.

As it stands, the Magpies are at the top of the table, but their lead has been cut following one draw and a defeat, which means that they are now level on 77 points with second-placed Brighton.

Newcastle are six points clear of the playoff places, while the same amount of points separate Preston from sixth.

After the North-East outfit confirmed the fixture change, fans let their feelings known on social media.

According to reports in the Liverpool Echo, Everton manager Ronald Koeman wants to sign Hull City defender Harry Maguire this summer as he looks to bolster his defence.

Despite having the joint-fourth best rearguard in the Premier League, the Dutchman is keen to strengthen an ageing backline which includes the likes of Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams and Leighton Baines.

Toffees captain Jagielka could be on his way out of Goodison Park at the end of the season having been in and out of the side in recent weeks, while Williams is getting no younger.

In addition, Ramiro Funes Mori suffered a knee injury while on international duty with Argentina this week that will keep him out of action until the end of the season at the very least.

It means Koeman is likely to step up his search for a more youthful player at the heart of the defence, and one of his top targets seems to be Maguire, who has been an impressive performer for a struggling Hull side this term.

Despite being just 24 years of age, the centre-back has often led by example and his stats from the 22 Premier League appearances he had made this season show just how influential he has been.

Maguire has made an impressive 103 clearances and 53 interceptions, as well as making 36 successful tackles and not a single defensive error.

He is also impressive in the air, having won 47 aerial duels, but it is perhaps his ability on the ball that will have especially impressed Koeman.

The former Sheffield United defender is comfortable at bringing the ball out from the back and has completed 19 take-ons, while he has also shown that he can be a threat in the opposition penalty area too.

He has had 22 efforts on goal and provided two assists for his teammates, and his impressive showings suggest that he is ready to make an instant impact if he were to move to Mersyside.

When you start to look for the patterns, they usually appear in some form.Like how spookily similar Tottenham Hotspur’s starts to Premier League seasons are under Mauricio Pochettino, where poor form gives them a lot to recover from in the second half of the campaign. Or how they just seem to draw too many games without suffering defeats. Take this season, for example: Spurs have lost fewer games than leaders Chelsea, despite the seven-point gap between the two clubs. But draws and a stuttering start is why they find themselves behind.And then there’s an even spookier one. Exactly one year ago, to the very day, Leicester were top of the table with 69 points – the same count Chelsea currently have – while Tottenham were in second with 62 points – and yes, you’ve guessed it, that’s the exact tally they have right now.Of course, there are differences: due to EURO 2016, more games had been played by April 3rd last season than have been played this time around. Last season we started earlier and finished earlier, and so Spurs’ 62 points after 29 games this time is a significantly better tally than their total after 32 games last year. But replace Leicester with Chelsea, and it starts to look like a little bit of history repeating, albeit with a slightly better, more mature Tottenham and a rampant, reinvigorated Chelsea.

In fact, that’s perhaps the biggest similarity between this season and last. Although Leicester’s title victory was a one-off bolt from the blue which is unlikely to be repeated ever again, Chelsea’s resurgence still hits a similar note. This is a team made up of the champions of the previous season, with a few helpful additions, and so Antonio Conte’s side are hardly a 5000/1 shot. But just as Leicester’s compact 4-4-2 which comprised a defensive solidity and a blistering counter-attack that shocked the league, similarly Conte’s 3-4-3 has been a tactical surprise of Leicester City proportions.

And perhaps that’s where Mauricio Pochettino’s side have been unlucky. They’ve come up against two sides who didn’t just beat the rest of the league, but ‘out-tacticed’ them, too, to borrow a Sam Allardyce-ism.

Chelsea’s defeat at the weekend leaves a small hope of reigniting a title race, but that could get even bigger over the coming weeks. Manchester City travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in arguably Chelsea’s toughest game of the run-in: there’s a real chance that the leaders could drop even more points, and two defeats in a row really would be taken as the signs of a crisis. They will also visit Manchester themselves this month, playing United at Old Trafford; a Jose Mourinho side desperate to avenge their 4-0 humiliation at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, but that was the last time they suffered defeat in the Premier League.

And yet, if it’s a straight shoot-out between Tottenham – the team whose implosion played out so publicly under the lights at Stamford Bridge last year in a game which handed Leicester the title – and Chelsea – a side in which every member of the starting XI except Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso has at least one league winner’s medal to their name – you get the feeling it’ll be the Blues who hold their nerve the longest.

There seems to be an inescapable sense of history repeating. Whilst Chelsea might well drop points, the same was said about Leicester last season, and whilst Tottenham are the team who will pounce if they do, they still contrived to finish third last year, rather than first.

This time 12 months ago, Tottenham were in the same position as now. You’d imagine they’ll have learned from the experience, their young team a year older, a year wiser. And yet their opponent this time is the opposite to what Leicester were last time: they are seasoned winners.

Chelsea could still lose this, but Spurs could still drop further back.

Michael Owen has claimed that West Ham United will be in deeper danger of relegation if they fail to get a result against Swansea City this weekend.

Manager Slaven Bilic has been given a vote of confidence from the board, but one wonders if that will change should the team suffer their sixth straight defeat this weekend.

There were high hopes for the Hammers heading into the new season after finishing seventh in the Premier League in the previous campaign.

A move to the state-of-the-art London Stadium was met with anger from numerous fans, and results have not been welcomed.

The team have lost 16 of their 31 games in the top flight and have only won on nine occasions.

Ahead of this home game against relegation battlers Swansea City, the East London outfit reside five points above the drop with seven games left to play.

In his predictions for BetVictor, Owen has backed Swansea to cause an upset in Stratford, either with a win or a draw.

“If the Hammers are not already in a relegation battle they certainly will be if they don’t pick up at least a point from the visit of Swansea. If Slaven Bilic’s side don’t score early, it could easily be a tense, nervous affair for the home supporters.”

Last summer, Manchester United parted with £89million to prise former youth team star Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford from Italian giants Juventus. The France international was expected to set the Premier League alight, and continue the fine form which saw United value him as the world’s most expensive player.

Pogba is a central midfielder; a man destined to play down the middle. At Juventus he proved he could consistently find the back of the net, and at United he has scored goals this season. There have been questions over exactly where Pogba should play in the middle of the park. Is he a holding midfielder, or should he be playing behind further forward? He has the ability on the ball to play behind a central striker, and in this forward role, would rack up goals and assists in abundance.

United already boast a world class striker in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but talk has been rife about the Red Devils’ interest in France striker, and Pogba’s close friend, Antoine Griezmann. Should Griezmann grace Old Trafford next season, the partnership that could form between himself and his international teammate could be something of legend.

However, if Pogba is to play a more forward role, who should partner Ander Herrera behind this plethora of attacking talent?

Marouane Fellaini has found himself in the role this season, as has Michael Carrick. Fellaini is not a long term option for this role by any means, with many United fans feeling it is time that the big Belgian moved on from Manchester.

Carrick has held the United midfield together for over a decade, but at 35-years-old, his time is coming to an end. High hopes were had for Morgan Schneiderlin, but the new Everton man did not have the ability to step up to the elite level at which United expect.

Many have been touted as possible options to replace the ageing Carrick in the middle, but these three players stand above the rest as realistic, reliable options for the role of Jose Mourinho’s midfield general…

Tiemoue Bakayoko

Before this season had begun, not many outside of France would claim to have heard of Tiemoue Bakayoko. Not many may even have heard of him before Monaco’s heroics against Manchester City. Yet now the young Frenchman is being touted as one of the most promising holding midfielders in European football.

Only 22-years-old and on the verge of a Champions League semi final appearance, Bakayoko has been a stalwart in the Monaco team that scores for fun. Patrolling the gap in front of the back four, Monaco have been able to build attack after attack through Bakayoko’s reading of the game, as the midfield man boasts an average of almost three interceptions per game in the Champions League this season.

He also scored the goal that took Monaco past Manchester City, so is already endeared to the Old Trafford crowd. Bakayoko would be an excellent addition to United’s midfield.

Franck Kessie

Franck Kessie is another man unheard of before this season. With 15 international caps for the Ivory Coast already under his belt, the 20-year-old is a star of the future. A successful loan spell in Serie B last term paved the way for his return to the Atalanta starting XI this year, and he has continued his form in the Italian top flight.

In 22 starts the midfielder has been involved in nine goals, which is a fantastic return for a holding player. Kessie’s form has contributed to the success of his side, with Atalanta pushing for an unlikely European spot. Due to his ability to control a game from the middle whilst having an eye for goal, he has drawn comparisons with compatriot Yaya Toure, and rightly so.

Team mate Alejandro Gomez suggested in February that Kessie had agreed a deal with Roma but since then no deal has materialised. Chelsea have been strongly linked with the player, and Mourinho should move fast should he wish to sign one of Africa’s hottest prospects.

Kessie would slot straight into the United line up, and a partnership in the middle alongside Ander Herrera could be seen at Old Trafford for many years to come.

Toni Kroos

The one that got away for ol’ David Moyes. The former United manager claimed that he was extremely close to securing the German’s signature for United only to be scuppered by the board. Ouch!

Toni Kroos is one of, if not the best player in his position. The German international proved this on the big stage by winning the World Cup in 2014, and has continued to do so since his move to Real Madrid.

The former Bayern man has the ability to control games, and does so with consummate ease. Unbelievably, Kroos may be a realistic option for United this summer. In their endless search to bring together a team of ‘Galacticos’ Real Madrid have pinpointed United stopper David De Gea as their future number one.

They have chased De Gea for a number of windows, and this summer may finally be the year the Spaniard moves back to his home city. United will not let their prized asset leave on the cheap however, and Kroos may well have to be included in any deal which sees De Gea leave Old Trafford.

If United are offered Kroos plus cash in the summer for goalkeeper, they should be biting Madrid’s hand off.