. Manchester United won the first two with an aggregate of 8-2, Ruud van Nistelrooy was interim manager for each, then Ruben Amorim made the Dutchman unemployed when taking over as the head coach in mid-autumn. Now returning to Old Trafford as Leicester’s No 1, Van Nistelrooy can expect a warm welcome due to his former status as a star United striker. But if he engineers a knockout of the holders, Van Nistelrooy will be recast, temporarily, as the villain of the faithful. Jamie Jackson
For Leyton Orient to keep hope flickering that their best FA Cup run – to the semi-finals in 1978 – can be emulated or bested, the champions of England have to be downed. Richie Wellens’ tilt at plotting a seismic shock is bolstered by four new arrivals: Randell Williams, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Dilan Markanday and Azeem Abdulai , a midfielder, defender, winger and utility player respectively. But Manchester City, too, signed a quartet of new recruits – Omar Marmoush , Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico González , the former a forward, the latter a midfielder and the other two defenders, in a splurge that cost £172m: an outlay that, for their League One hosts, would only be a pipe dream. JJ
After almost a decade as a professional footballer, Alex Palmer is finally about to becomea Premier League No 1 . The goalkeeper has spent his entire career at West Brom, apart from the odd loan move or seven, but only made the bench during their time in the top flight. Ipswich have offered him a chance to achieve his dream but he will start life back in the West Midlands with a tricky trip to in-form Coventry. With Christian Walton out injured and Arijanet Muric out of favour after a string of poor performances, there is plenty of pressure on Palmer to get things right – behind a defence that has conceded 12 times in its …
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