{"id":218081,"date":"2025-09-11T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218081\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:51:11","slug":"man-city-and-man-united-move-to-fix-problems-ahead-of-premier-league-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218081\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City and Man United move to fix problems ahead of Premier League return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Manchester City and Manchester United have <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/man-united-transfers-benjamin-sesko-f54c2e8114005b59d9e4224cd1b82dd2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:spent fortunes;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">spent fortunes<\/a> on some of the world&#8217;s best attacking players and yet Sunday&#8217;s derby will spotlight their goalkeepers.<\/p>\n<p>Both teams are likely to start with new keepers after transfer deadline day signings to solve problems in their lineups.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/man-city-ederson-donnarumma-7038dcabb7f183c68213c95410ae34a0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:City secured Gianluigi Donnarumma;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">City secured Gianluigi Donnarumma<\/a> from Paris Saint-Germain and United landed Belgium international Senne Lammens.<\/p>\n<p>Donnarumma was outstanding as PSG won the Champions League last season but was let go in the summer and will replace City&#8217;s long-time No. 1 Ederson. The Italian was not a typical choice for City manager Pep Guardiola, who usually wants his keepers to operate as almost auxiliary defenders, with an emphasis on playing out from the back.<\/p>\n<p>That is not Donnarumma&#8217;s natural game, though he is willing to change. He said, \u201cI always try to help the team and do what the coach asks of me. I do everything.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>United dropped former No. 1. Andre Onana for all three of its league games but backup Altay Bayindir failed to impress. United plucked Lammens from Royal Antwerp. He&#8217;s largely unknown outside of Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Key matchups<\/p>\n<p>The Manchester derby at Etihad Stadium already feels like a must-win for both teams.<\/p>\n<p>City, whose four-year title reign ended last season, is playing catchup after only three games (1-2). Back-to-back defeats to Tottenham and Brighton have highlighted concerns that Guardiola&#8217;s squad is not equipped to mount a challenge at the top.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal lost to Liverpool last time out and faces a Nottingham Forest team with a new manager in Ange Postecoglou after Nuno Espirito Santo was fired.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champion Liverpool is at newly promoted Burnley.<\/p>\n<p>Players to watch<\/p>\n<p>In the first round since transfer deadline day there could be a host of debuts.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Isak finally arrived at Liverpool but missed the start of the season and may not have a prominent role yet. He was a late substitute for Sweden against Kosovo on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle replaced Isak with Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.<\/p>\n<p>Aston Villa secured late loan deals for Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott, and Tottenham boosted its attack with Randal Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons.<\/p>\n<p>Out of action<\/p>\n<p>Injuries are mounting for City with Omar Marmoush injuring a knee on international duty with Egypt. Rayan Cherki will be out for around two months because of a torn left quadricep.<\/p>\n<p>New United signing Matheus Cunha hurt his hamstring against Burnley.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal&#8217;s injury list includes Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n<p>Off the field<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a new era at Tottenham.<\/p>\n<p>After nearly 25 years at the top, executive chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tottenham-daniel-levy-cde2b641156ded710c009a2225414a22\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Daniel Levy stood down;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Daniel Levy stood down<\/a> last week and Spurs said it was setting itself up to \u201cdeliver long-term sporting success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fans called for Levy to go for years, even after last season&#8217;s Europa League triumph ended a 17-year trophy drought. The fans have also been critical of club owner ENIC, accusing it of neglect.<\/p>\n<p>After Levy&#8217;s departure, campaign group Change for Tottenham said it would \u201ccontinue to make sure sporting success, not just financial success, are key priorities for the club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Nottingham Forest fans may also have something to say following the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nuno-fired-nottingham-forest-premier-league-3382f21e726c8d94f2ac039d84eb2a6a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:firing of Nuno;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">firing of Nuno<\/a> this week. Nuno became a fan favorite for turning Forest from a relegation battler into a team that challenged for Champions League qualification last term.<\/p>\n<p>Forest is at Arsenal on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>James Robson is at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamesalanrobson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamesalanrobson;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamesalanrobson<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP soccer: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Manchester City and Manchester United have spent fortunes on some of the world&#8217;s best&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[3678,44387,5407,18496,111,4807,97891,24937,119118,119120,45236,50546,24776,27634,215,216,119117,3782,12447,4072,16869,100450,119119,1722,5505,14462,106530,51093,221,62,129,4147,96379,67,132,68,93978,62620,12450],"class_list":{"0":"post-218081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-alexander-isak","9":"tag-andre-onana","10":"tag-arsenal","11":"tag-aston-villa","12":"tag-belgium","13":"tag-brighton","14":"tag-bukayo-saka","15":"tag-champions-league","16":"tag-city-manager","17":"tag-ederson","18":"tag-gianluigi-donnarumma","19":"tag-harvey-elliott","20":"tag-jadon-sancho","21":"tag-kai-havertz","22":"tag-liverpool","23":"tag-manchester-city","24":"tag-manchester-derby","25":"tag-manchester-united","26":"tag-matheus-cunha","27":"tag-nick-woltemade","28":"tag-nottingham-forest","29":"tag-nuno-espirito-santo","30":"tag-omar-marmoush","31":"tag-paris-saint-germain","32":"tag-pep-guardiola","33":"tag-randal-kolo-muani","34":"tag-rayan-cherki","35":"tag-senne-lammens","36":"tag-soccer","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-sweden","39":"tag-tottenham","40":"tag-transfer-deadline-day","41":"tag-united-states","42":"tag-unitedstates","43":"tag-us","44":"tag-william-saliba","45":"tag-xavi-simons","46":"tag-yoane-wissa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}