Manchester United

Four matches make up Saturday's Premier League action after the postponement of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool because of adverse weather conditions, and we will bring you every moment.

• Aston Villa v Southampton

• Brentford v Newcastle

• Crystal Palace v Manchester City - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Manchester United v Nottingham Forest - 17:30 - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

All kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all the action and reaction here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.

For week 15 he takes on Dougie Payne, bassist with rock band Travis.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

I saw Manchester United's defeat by Arsenal as the easiest prediction of the week, and I was right.

That is not me taking aim at United boss Ruben Amorim, but with what he has to work with, getting anything against the very top teams is going to be really difficult. The magnitude of the job means that he will need months and months to really turn things around.

I don't see this game as being straightforward for United, either. Forest have already won at Anfield this season and they created chances against Manchester City on Wednesday, so I am expecting more of the same from them here.

I am going to be a bit of a coward with my prediction, though. I backed Forest to get something at Etihad Stadium and I was wrong, so I am not brave enough to back them again on their return to Manchester.

I'm disappointed in myself with this prediction, to be honest - although I do think Forest will score this time.

Payne's prediction: 2-1

Forest were the first poster on my wall and I have always had a soft spot for them. They are so entertaining to watch at the moment and of course 'The Wood Chopper' [Chris Wood] has been in unbelievable form, although he did miss a sitter against City.

I just think Ruben Amorim is affecting United already, though. Marcus Rashford looks happier and Bruno Fernandes is going to come into his own.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United need to improve their position in the Premier League, that much is clear.

When Erik ten Hag left in the wake of the 2-1 defeat at West Ham, his side were 14th in the table.

Initially under interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy and now head coach Ruben Amorim, it feels United have made progress.

But two wins, two draws and a defeat in five Premier League games - coupled with Bournemouth's victory over Tottenham on Thursday means they are 13th.

It is not good enough for a club of United's size.

Amorim finds himself in a very tricky situation, with hardly any time to work with his players because of the huge number of matches they are playing.

But slowly he is starting to work out his best team - and that should allow for consistency in selection and results.

Manchester United cannot afford to be in the bottom half of the league for that much longer.

Josh Lobley
BBC Sport Journalist

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Nottingham Forest (kick-off 17:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Amorim paid tribute to Kath Phipps, who passed away this week after working for the club for over 50 years: "You can feel that today is a sad day, everybody talks about Lady Kathy. I met her seven years during the internship [with Jose Mourinho]. She was the lady behind the reception. You feel the love, [especially] the way Darren Fletcher speaks about her. She was an important person here who represents everything this club is. It's a sad day for us."

• He confirmed that centre backs Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof won't be available for Saturday's match: "Jonny is still is not training. Victor has returned to training but is not available for tomorrow. Maybe in the next game he will be available."

• When asked if he is close to knowing his best starting line-up, he said: "More or less. You have an idea, but we have the problem of players returning without training, then we need to manage the load."

• He added: "You have to understand what kind of players you have. For example Bruno Fernandes, he was a little bit tired in the end against Arsenal but you know that he is going to recover very well. If you think about Manuel Ugarte, I've known him for so long and I know he needs a little bit more time. We are in that process of knowing the players and we are managing that."

• He spoke on his priorities in the early stages: "In just two weeks and four matches, they [the fans] just want to see effort. Then they want to see us win games. After a while with effort and winning games, they will want to see a dominant team. These are the phases that we have to follow. This one is the easy one, effort. Full sprint back, full sprint forward. Our focus is a lot on that."

• On the importance of learning on matchday: "What kind of situations are better for one guy, or for another? These kind of things, I need to be close to them, I need to see the games in the dugout, not on TV. We as staff are learning really fast what they are able or not able to do. We are trying to learn everything at a fast pace."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Manchester United have made signing a striker the club's top priority in the January transfer window. (Mirror), external

Bayern Munich have made significant progress regarding a contract extension for their Canada international Alphonso Davies, with Manchester United aware the 24-year-old left-back is likely to sign a new deal despite their interest. (Floran Plettenberg, Sky Germany), external

Manchester United are behind Chelsea in the race to sign Lecce's 20-year-old Denmark left-back Patrick Dorgu. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

Image source, Getty Images

If you are a Manchester United fan then there are reasons to be excited.

Ruben Amorim has done a good job so far, despite not having enough time on the training pitch.

I can see how these players can benefit Amorim's style and plan and what has impressed me the most is how many players he has used.

Amorim is giving the players the opportunity to show what they can do and that makes a big difference to morale. Some managers go into clubs and immediately freeze players out, but at United everyone seems to be involved.

The first step was to make them solid and I think they look more solid than before.

For United to score four goals against Everton was huge. It was an imperfect performance because Everton still had chances to score but it will have helped to build belief.

There were also times against Arsenal where their switch of play was really good. They struggled with Arsenal's set-pieces but everyone will struggle with that this season! They just felt more solid and the United side of old would have probably folded.

The final stage will be making them more creative because they weren't really able to do that against Arsenal.

As time passes, I think they will get better and better and in the second half of the season I expect them to be pretty good.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Katie Stafford

Image source, Getty Images

Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and David de Gea are among the Manchester United players past and present to have paid tribute to former colleague Kath Phipps, who has died at the age of 85.

The club described Phipps as "an omnipresent figure at Manchester United since the late 1960s", having worked in a variety of roles for more than 55 years.

Rooney, United's all-time leading goalscorer who is now manager of Championship side Plymouth, said: "The heart and soul of Manchester United. Everything what the club is about. A legend who will be greatly missed. Thanks for the memories Kathy. Thoughts with family and friends."

Current captain Bruno Fernandes reposted the club's announcement with a heart emoji, while England international forward Rashford said: "Awful news, admired by all at the club and beyond, you will be missed."

Defender Harry Maguire said that Phipps was "a legend that will never be forgotten", while former United goalkeeper De Gea wrote: "Such a wonderful woman! Thanks for taking care of everyone."

The club said in a statement: "A childhood United fan from Irlam, Kath became the Reds' switchboard operator in September 1968, shortly after the Reds' first European Cup success, and was soon forging friendships with Sir Matt Busby, Jimmy Murphy and United's star-studded squad, spending countless hours with Ballon d'Or winners George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law as they signed autographs to send to their fans.

"Kath was a one-woman institution, whose memory will be cherished by everyone at the club who had the privilege of knowing her.

"She said last year: 'I can't imagine doing anything else'. Well, we can't imagine the place without her."

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester United.

Here are some of your comments:

Arsenal fans

Paul: We didn't play as well as I'd hoped until the first goal went in, then the result was never in doubt. Also, who doesn't love a corner goal?

Ish: I can't understand this talk of dark arts and Stoke 2.0? Did Tony Pulis ever challenge for the title? A team came to park the bus. Arsenal had a Plan B!

Bergkamp66: Some say we are long ball and corner specialists - they clearly didn't watch our 5-1 and 5-2 demolitions of Sporting and West Ham. Fantastic management and tactics I say - Plan A, Plan B and Plan C!

Haskins: I hope we don't start depending on these corner goals, although they are a great bonus. I still think a regular goalscorer would make the difference.

Man Utd fans

Clive: The good news? Our defence prevented Arsenal from scoring from open play - quite an achievement! The bad news? We had no means of preventing them scoring from cleverly taken corner kicks. More good news? We can quickly develop a defence against that and then use the same ploy ourselves - it's just part of Ruben's learning process.

David: Looking more organised and frustrated Arsenal, but faded badly in the second half. They need additional players sooner rather than later. They are carrying too many who will just not be able to operate in the intended system Amorim wants to implement.

Andrew: Disappointing. Parking the bus in the first half is not the way to play football. Frankly, it was dull. I'm afraid we look terrible going forward and I'm not sure Hojlund is good enough. He can't hold the ball up, doesn't link play and doesn't anticipate. He's just out of his depth. Not good.

Mahir: We played with a very calm and assured defensive mindset. I think this reflects the manager's personality, and it is a good thing. We have a lot of work to do, but I think this was a reasonable performance in the current circumstances.