Manchester United vs Chelsea: Premier League – live | Premier League

A lot has been written about Erik ten Hag this weekbut nothing better than this forensic piece by Tim de Lisle. It is full of great lines, clever analysis and original observations.

It wasn't just the results. Ten Hag's team had less identity after 26 months than Unai Emery's Villa or Ange Postecoglou's Spurs had in six months. He often sent out a team that you knew would be overrun in midfield. His substitutions rarely made them better: he managed to undo the proud United tradition of Fergie-time winners by losing more PL games by goals in more than 90 minutes than all his predecessors combined.

A reminder to the teams

Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Onana; Mazraoui, de Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Ugarte, Casemiro; Rashford, Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Lindelof, Zirkzee, Diallo, Evans, Wheatley, Amass, Fletcher, Fitzgerald.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, James; Caicedo, Lavia; Madueke, Palmer, Pedro Neto; Jackson.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Cucurella, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Fernandez, Mudryk, Joao Felix, Nkunku, Veiga.

referee Robert Jones.

Match report: Tottenham 4:1 Aston Villa

Ruud van Nistelrooy's thoughts before the game

It was a week of mixed emotions – Erik leaving, him taking over, the game on Wednesday and how it went.

There was no contact [with Ruben Amorim]. The players were told that I would take over until next Sunday and then the new coach would take over. This means we can concentrate on winning the next three games.

From the archive

A League Cup tie on New Year's Day that would be instantly forgotten were it not for one of football's greatest Beauty and the Beast encounters ever. Ron Harris had many qualities, but subtlety was not one of them.

Here he swivels into view from the outside and works George Best's ankle with a proper old-school reducer. It's a model of excessive force – a vicious tackle, perfectly timed and executed, as graceful as brutality can be – but it was all in vain. Best ignored Chopper's galoot-isms, somehow kept his balance – despite being kicked almost horizontally in mid-air – and continued his run.

Beauty and the Beast. While the willowy, long-haired Best runs around the goalkeeper and slips home calmly, as androgynously as you want, Harris, bloated with testosterone, struggles to get up from the grass.

However, this passport. I just can't get enough.

Read Jacob Steinberg on the quietly impressive Enzo Maresca

This is a process, not the story of a man reviving a sinking ship. The bigger point is that Maresca fits into Chelsea's structure. He has worked with sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart and judging him on results alone is reproductive. The bigger question is whether Maresca will improve his players, find common ground with the recruiting team and be productive in a lineup implemented by Stewart and Winstanley. So far the answer is yes.

“I don’t know enough about football People throw around words like “tactical discipline” and so on, but when you watch Cole Palmer now, you get the feeling that he would never have thrived under Pep, doesn’t it?” says Phil Podolsky. “It's not that Pep is exactly Tony Pulis, but you know what I mean, right? This reminds me of what you once wrote about RvN's move to Madrid – that it was a rare transfer that was beneficial for all three parties involved. Maybe Palmer was like that at Chelsea too? However, I suspect City wouldn’t mind having him in the squad now.”

I agree. Palmer does best with a blank canvas, and Pep doesn't really do that. However, Palmer could still have played from the right for City and scored more than 20 goals per season.

Full time: Tottenham 4-1 Aston Villa

Spurs, trailing 1-0 at half-time, blasted Aston Villa away in an electrifying second half. John Brewin has all the details.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in charge of United for three more gamesall at Old Trafford while Ruben Amorim hands in his notice at Sporting Lisbon.

Read Jonathan Wilson on Ruben Amorim

With Amorim, United finally have one of the most promising young players in European management, who has attracted interest from both Liverpool and Manchester City. Not only that, but there is an obvious similarity to it [Sir Alex] Ferguson brought a third force to the title in a league that is essentially a duopoly.

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