^ ^ Nicky Butt makes Man Utd title prediction as Paul Scholes questions Arsenal

Ex-Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt (Picture: YouTube)

Nicky Butt has backed Manchester United to challenge for the Premier League next season following their resurgence under caretaker boss Michael Carrick.

United have won four games in a row under former midfielder Carrick to climb into the Champions League spots.

Butt says qualifying for the Champions League can propel his former club to even greater heights next season, claiming a Premier League title challenge might not be far away.

One of the reasons Butt is bullish about United’s title prospects is the fact he cannot see any of their rivals ‘dominating’ over the next few years.

Arsenal are on course to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time in 22 years under Mikel Arteta, currently sitting six points ahead of second-placed Manchester City, but Butt says the Gunners do not possess the same fear factor as some former champions.

Asked by fellow Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes if he believed Manchester United could challenge for the title next season, Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast: ‘Yeah, if they get the right players in I think they could, yeah.

‘But that’s more a reflection on the other teams that are around. It’s not two amazing teams fighting for the title and United are right underneath them.

Get your football fix

Don't want to miss the week's biggest football stories? Metro's exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.

From the latest transfer rumours and managerial moves to analysis of the biggest games and a lot more, our experts have you covered.

Sign up here, it's an open goal.

Man Utd are enjoying a resurgence under Michael Carrick (Picture: Getty)

‘I said a few months ago that we’re five or six years off winning the league because it’s a plan you need to go through. So I sound like a d*** saying we can challenge next season but I just can’t see any of the other teams running away with it.

‘We’ve spoken about Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool – there’s no team there that you can guarantee are going to dominate the Premier League now.

‘There’s no team that look like dominating for the next ten years. Arsenal don’t scare me… they are a great team and have a great squad but they don’t put the fear into other teams like Man City did or Arsenal and United did back in the day.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are favourites for the title (Picture: Getty)

‘If you asked me this question two months ago I would have said no but now it looks like we’re going to get back into the Champions League.

‘That means your target audiences for players is a lot bigger and you’re going to get better players with more quality.

‘If they get back into the Champions League and then get their recruitment right, I think United will have a chance, yeah.’

Up Next

Scholes cannot see Arsenal ‘dominating’ in the Premier League either despite looking likely to lift the trophy for the first time since 2004.

‘You’ve got to do it over a season but if you look at the last few weeks, Man United have beat the two teams who are challenging for the title,’ he said.

‘I don’t see Arsenal dominating. You don’t see mind-blowing performances from them, do you?

Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes (Picture: Getty)

‘You know when a team is special – you looked at Man City under Pep Guardiola and thought, “how do we beat them?”

‘I’m not looking at Arsenal and thinking they’re miles ahead of everyone and they’re going to win the league for the next few years. I just don’t see that dominance from Arsenal.

‘We saw Liverpool win the league last year with that team and then they go and spend £450m and you think, “f****** hell, Liverpool could win the league for the next five years, they’re going to be dominant.”

‘And look what’s happened to them. Football is funny like that, things can change quite quickly.’

Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-0 last time out and return to Premier League action on Thursday night against London rivals Brentford.

The Gunners’ lead at the top of the table could be cut to just three points by the time they make the trip to west London as Manchester City play host to Fulham the previous evening.

The Premier League trophy will be changing hands this season as defending champions Liverpool have endured a shocking title defence, slipping to sixth in the table.

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comments Add as preferred source

^ ^ Eni Aluko says Ian Wright should ‘sacrifice’ his job on TV for her

Eni Aluko reveals she called on Ian Wright to help her get more punditry work with ITV (90s Baby Show)

Eni Aluko has called on Ian Wright to give up his job as a pundit in women’s football in order for her to get more opportunities on TV.

Speaking on the 90s Baby Show podcast last week, Aluko doubled down on her criticism of Wright’s involvement in the women’s game and hit out at ITV for not including her as a pundit for England’s win over Spain in the Euro 2025 final last summer.

Aluko had initially criticised Wright during an interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour last April when she accused the former Arsenal and England striker of ‘blocking’ opportunities for female broadcasters on television and said that he is ‘dominating’ women’s football.

The 38-year-old subsequently issued an apology to Wright, which he did not accept.

In the second part of her appearance on the 90s Baby Show podcast which was released on Monday, Aluko accused Wright of not being an ‘ally’ and claims he ignored her plea to scale back his work for ITV in women’s football.

‘ITV, at the end of the men’s Euros, came to me and said we can’t extend your contract,’ Aluko said.

Eni Aluko has accused Ian Wright of ‘dominating’ the women’s game (Getty)

Get your football fix

Don't want to miss the week's biggest football stories? Metro's exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.

From the latest transfer rumours and managerial moves to analysis of the biggest games and a lot more, our experts have you covered.

Sign up here, it's an open goal.

‘I met with Ian’s agent, I had a face-to-face coffee with him. I met with him and said: ‘Listen, this is the situation, I can’t believe this is happening.’ I said: ‘They’ve told me that Ian is the priority, they’ve told me that his contract is the priority for them, and they’ve also said to me when Ian is not available, you might get a call-up.’

‘So I said, ‘how can we work together so I can stay in the game? How can we work together when Ian is not available, you give me a call or what can we do?’.

‘This is what I think black people should do, at the highest levels we need to strategise, we need to really help each other. We can get sidelined very quickly. I went to him and I was vulnerable, I said: ‘Listen, I need your help, I need Ian’s influence.’

‘I had that meeting with his agent, a month went by and I was like ‘what’s going on?’ so I messaged him and said: ‘Did you manage to have a chat with ITV?’ He was very dismissive, didn’t really want to help me, was a bit like: ‘Listen, it’s not going to work.’

‘I fully expected Ian to use his influence to keep me in the game. I’ve seen him do it with others, he did it with Gary Lineker at the BBC.

Eni Aluko has accused Ian Wright of not being an ‘ally’ (Getty)

‘There’s nothing that would make me think he wouldn’t do that for me, because you’re the ally, you’re ‘Uncle’. So the question to you is, why didn’t he do that for me? I say all this to say, you don’t want to help me, you don’t want to use your influence, you don’t want to be an ally for me in the most difficult time in my career and that’s fine, that’s cool.

‘But nine months later, when I’ve been off screen and I’ve seen that you’re doing the games and you’ve cracked on, the fact of the matter is you have the level of influence to say: ‘I don’t need to do every game, what Eni means to women’s football is much more important than me doing all of these games. Eni is one of the main characters of women’s football, I know that this is bigger for her. It’s going to be harder for her to get this opportunity in men’s football.’

‘That’s what I expect from an ally – sacrifice. You can’t have it both ways, you can’t have this brand that says ally, that’s not my experience of you. When it comes down to it, you never really tried.’

Laura Woods described Eni Aluko’s views as ‘damaging’ (Getty)

Aluko has also issued a response to ITV presenter Laura Woods, who described Aluko’s suggestion that women’s football should only hire female broadcasters as ‘one of the most damaging phrases I’ve heard’.

‘I respect Laura’s opinion as I have always done,’ Aluko said in a statement to Daily Mail Sport.

‘For 11 years I have worked alongside the likes of Laura and all those considered the best pundits in the game. It’s therefore clear I was considered one of the best too if I was part of the same punditry team.

‘No one who has ever hired me as a pundit has said I wasn’t good enough or did not have all the attributes Laura referred to. Quite the contrary. I believe that women’s football should prioritise women as the faces of the sport – it’s as simple as that.

‘I think women should be the dominant force in the women’s game in the same way that men are the dominant force in the men’s game. That means men should play more of a supporting role.

‘No one is saying any man should be excluded but the roles do need to be defined. That’s all I’m saying – and people are quite free to disagree whilst respecting my right to an opinion too.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comments Add as preferred source

^ ^ John Terry sends blunt message to Arsenal after Man City comeback against Liverpool

Erling Haaland scored Man City’s dramatic late winner against Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

John Terry believes we will find out imminently if Arsenal have the stomach for a Premier League title race following Manchester City’s dramatic comeback against Liverpool.

The Gunners looked set to take a nine-point lead into the next round of fixtures after Dominik Szoboszlai blasted Arne Slot’s side in front with a blistering second half free-kick.

Arsenal wouldn’t even have minded too much when, against the run of play, Bernardo Silva equalised with seven minutes remaining but Erling Haaland’s injury-time penalty dramatically changed the dynamic of the title race.

With momentum in their favour and a renewed sense of hope, City will almost certainly cut the gap to three points when they host Fulham on Wednesday, 24 hours before the Gunners face a tricky game at in-form Brentford.

‘Wow the title race is officially on,’ said former Chelsea skipper Terry with a healthy degree of relish. ‘What a comeback that was, 78 minutes looking dead and buried in the game.

‘Trust me, I’ve been there many times at Chelsea with Man United breathing down our necks. You look at the fixtures ahead, who they’re playing, are they playing early? Do they close the gap on us?

‘As an Arsenal player you’re sitting there yesterday going okay, we’ll take a draw here worst case, let Man City pick up a draw with Bernardo Silva’s late goal. Then, all of a sudden, it’s reduced to six points.

Get your football fix

Don't want to miss the week's biggest football stories? Metro's exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.

From the latest transfer rumours and managerial moves to analysis of the biggest games and a lot more, our experts have you covered.

Sign up here, it's an open goal.

Up Next

‘Also a big thing, Man City play on Wednesday night. The race could be reduced to three points before Arsenal go away and play Brentford on Thursday night.

‘Great opportunity for Man Ciyy to go and close the gap and put a bit of pressure on.’

‘The title race is on with the big man Haaland stepping up with all the pressure on his shoulders delivering a great penalty.

‘Exciting times in the Premier League, let’s see what Arsenal are made of.’

Bernardo Silva’s goal brought Man City level at Anfield (Picture: Getty)

While City now appear intent on making a fist of it, the precarious nature of their situation was summed up by Silva who confessed he was ready to concede defeat after going behind at Anfield.

The City skipper told Sky Sports: ‘For the distance that we have to Arsenal, coming here – it is the toughest place in the Premier League by far – but we needed to go for another goal.

‘When I scored, I was happy but we needed another and Erling got it. I feel the whole team knew before the game if we lost it then the title race was probably over. We felt like we needed to win.

‘The hope is there and we are going to fight until the end. We need to keep doing our job that we haven’t lately.’

Man City’s players knew the significance of winning against Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

It was only City’s second win in seven games and manager Pep Guardiola was not getting carried away.

Guardiola said: ‘Six points is better than nine, but it’s still a lot considering how strong Arsenal are in all departments.

‘But 13 games is a lot in the Premier League. The FA Cup is coming, the final of the Carabao Cup, the Champions League is here. There are many games, injuries, every team playing for something.

‘The last 10 games, from my experience, are not a drama but so difficult. The important thing is to be there and improve.’

Comments Add as preferred source

^ ^ Gary Lineker jokes Man Utd star should ‘sue’ Ruben Amorim over ‘baffling’ treatment

Gary Lineker is ‘baffled’ by the way Ruben Amorim treated Kobbie Mainoo at Manchester United (Picture: Getty)

Gary Lineker has joked that Kobbie Mainoo should consider ‘suing’ Ruben Amorim for ‘taking a year out of his career’ when the Portuguese was in charge of Manchester United.

Mainoo found himself effectively frozen out of United’s starting XI, with Amorim pitting United’s 20-year-old academy star against club captain Bruno Fernandes.

All 14 of Mainoo’s Premier League games this season under Amorim had been substitute appearances – and there was even talk of the midfielder leaving Old Trafford ahead of the January transfer window.

But Mainoo has experienced a dramatic turnaround since Michael Carrick took over the reins last month, starting and impressing in all four of the Red Devils’ wins against Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham.

United’s remarkable 100 per cent record under Carrick has seen the club rise into the top four and just three points off third-placed Aston Villa.

‘Do you know what? If I was Kobbie Mainoo – and I say this in jest – I’d be thinking about whether I should sue him [Amorim] or not,’ ex-England striker Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast following United’s latest victory over Spurs.

‘He’s taken a year out of that kid’s career. This kid is a wonderful footballer.

Get your football fix

Don't want to miss the week's biggest football stories? Metro's exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.

From the latest transfer rumours and managerial moves to analysis of the biggest games and a lot more, our experts have you covered.

Sign up here, it's an open goal.

Mainoo is thriving again under United interim manager Carrick (Picture: Getty)

The England midfielder failed to make a single league start under Amorim this season (Picture: Getty)

‘God, he makes it look so easy. He wants the ball, he receives it with anyone around him and he turns, always makes the right decisions, he’s graceful.

‘I mean, come on! He’s been absolutely detrimental to his career.’

Lineker is confident Mainoo will be selected in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup should he continue on the same trajectory under Carrick.

‘If he doesn’t make the World Cup squad… and I sense he probably will if he can stay fit and if he keeps playing because he’s just a seriously good footballer,’ the former Match of the Day host added.

Up Next

‘I know his brother got in a bit of trouble for saying on the T-shirt, “Free Kobbie”, but he has absolutely got a point, his brother. What was he [Amorim] thinking?!’

Lineker is ‘baffled’ by the way Amorim handled ‘arguably England’s best player’ at Euro 2024 during his time in the hot seat at the Theatre of Dreams.

‘I say this [that Mainoo should sue Amorim] in jest, obviously, but I mean, come on!’ he went on.

‘It’s so, so baffling that he couldn’t see how good that young man is.

The Red Devils have risen to fourth in the table under Carrick (Picture: Getty)

‘I thought to myself, “Has something happened? Has he got above his station?”, but he’s come back in and you think, “No”, and he’s exactly what he was before which was, when you think about, arguably England’s best player in the Euros.’

While Lineker expects there to be ‘tougher times’ ahead for Carrick, he pointed out how the ex-England midfielder has got United ‘looking like a team’ once again.

‘People will jump on and say, “Yeah, but it might just be a quick bounce”, but I don’t see that,’ he explained.

‘You look at them now and they look like a team.

Summer signings Mbeumo and Cunha have impressed Lineker (Picture: Getty)

‘Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, really good signings, settled in really well. Senne Lammens in good, it looks like they’ve got a really, really promising young goalkeeper there.

‘They’ve brought back Harry Maguire, who is stable and really good in both boxes, and he’s playing Bruno Fernandes further forward.

‘It’s a clever little system, very good how he’s worked it Carrick.

‘Everything is coming off at the moment. There will be tougher times, obviously.’

Amorim will be ‘cringing’ watching United under Carrick, says Shearer (Picture: Getty)

Alan Shearer feels similarly about Amorim’s treatment of Mainoo and believes the Portuguese will be ‘cringing’ at how Carrick has managed to turn the side’s fortunes around so quickly.

‘How embarrassing does it look for Ruben Amorim at the minute? It’s unbelievable,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top scorer – said.

‘That [leaving Mainoo out] isn’t the only one. I mean the system… goodness me, the system that he refused to go away from and when he did he won the game… and then reverted back to his own system!

Carrick’s men return to action away to West Ham on Tuesday night (Picture: Getty)

‘There are so many things that he must be cringing at the performances of Manchester United now, the atmosphere now and what Michael Carrick has done since being in there.

‘He really must be cringing if he is watching. I’m not sure he will be but he has to be because of everything they’re doing.’

According to Shearer, United now find themselves in a ‘great position’ to secure Champions League qualification.

‘Michael Carrick has put them in an absolutely great position to get Champions League football which, I must admit, that seemed impossible two months ago,’ the ex-Newcastle forward continued.

‘He’s done a fantastic job, he’s obviously settled everything down and the noise coming out of there is all positive now instead of all negative which it was under Ruben Amorim.

‘It really is a remarkable turnaround.’

POLL

Will Manchester United finish in the top four?

• Yes
• No

Sign up to In The Mixer, your guide to the week in football. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk – sign up, it’s an open goal.

Team ?

Let us know which team you support.

Select All

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Bournemouth

Brighton

Burnley

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Everton

Fulham

Leeds United

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester United

Newcastle

Nottingham Forest

Sunderland

Tottenham

West Ham

Wolves

Email

I agree to receive newsletters from Metro

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comments Add as preferred source