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This weekend’s early match features Sunderland playing host to Manchester United at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats are looking to get out of the bottom three, but have a daunting task playing a Manchester United team that has been improving over the last few weeks.

The Red Devils currently sit in fifth in the table, six points behind City for a top four spot after drawing with Chelsea last Sunday. United need to take three points wherever they can, especially in fixtures like this if they want to qualify for next year’s Champions League.

Sunderland came back from 2-0 late last week against Liverpool to earn a point, and are looking for a similar result against United this weekend. They’ll have to get past David De Gea, who has proved to be the Premier League’s top goalie this season.

Here are five things to know ahead of the match…

Sunderland Can’t Seem To Score Against United

Sunderland have failed to score in eight of the last 12 Barclays Premier League matches against Manchester United, and just once in the other four.

United Have Had Sunderland’s Number

The Red Devils have won 21 and lost just two of their 29 Premier League games against the Black Cats.

Even At Home, The Black Cats Are No Match For The Red Devils

Sunderland have never beaten Manchester United in the league at the Stadium of Light.

Leaking goals

Sunderland are on the longest current run without a clean sheet in the Premier League at 11 games.

United Have Been Poor On The Road This Season

The Red Devils have collected just six points from their last six Premier League away games in the 2015/16 campaign so far.

Manchester City star Yaya Toure is set to be on the receiving end of a host of offers following speculation that he will leave the club at the end of the campaign, Daily Star reports.

The 32-year-old is one of the highest paid players in the Premier League, but is expected to be sold once incoming boss Pep Guardiola is appointed.

Guardiola is believed to have named Juventus star Paul Pogba as his potential replacement with a number of clubs now keen on signing Toure in the summer.

MLS sides New York Red Bulls, Orlando City, and New York City FC, have all emerged as possible destinations.

Clubs in the Chinese Super League are also hoping to lure him to the Far East by offering a mega wage package worth about £450,000-a-week.

Despite talks of an exit, the midfielder is still seen as a valuable member of the squad, so far featuring 34 times in all competitions this term, scoring six goals while providing another six assists.

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So what’s all the fuss about?

Something that appears to be decidedly obvious to most is a huge talking point now. Andy Carroll must go to the EUROs in France this summer.

However, the one person with the power to make it happen, doesn’t see it.

West Ham fans, and in fairness most football followers, can see the legitimate reasoning for taking the Hammers striker to the finals. Yet Roy Hodgson appears to be continuing his stubborn stance that he won’t take him.

Certainly to most Upton Park dwellers, Mr. Hodgson is colour blind when it comes to claret and blue and a little corner of east London, but why? If players are good enough, in form and playing well for a club playing above expectations, why not look at them when your favourites are out of form, not playing well and in teams below West Ham?

The argument for Carroll is that he has hit form at exactly the right time after a succession of injuries that has blighted what could have been a stellar career with the capital club. The team and the fans have not seen the best of the Geordie, and his bit-part cameos haven’t really helped his cause.

Yet, for the first time in his whole career, the 27-year-old has scored in three consecutive games – hitting a truly majestic hat-trick against Arsenal. Carroll must have thought his birthday and Christmas had come together that day. No Petr Cech and no Per Mertesacker, just two clowns covering as centre backs.

Despite the goals, the England boss still refuses to be honest about Carroll. Recently Hodgson said: “Every time someone scores a goal and he’s English it is ‘why is he not playing for England?”

“I’m certainly not going to pick him on the basis that he scored a hat-trick so therefore has to be in the England team. We know Andy, we know his qualities,” added the 68-year-old. “In an ideal world, if you had a lot of places at your disposal, you’d always include a guy like him because he is exceptional in the air – but whether or not I’d be able to include him with all these others, I don’t know.”

All these others? Only Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy should be assured of their place up front. You cannot seriously overlook Carroll for Daniel Sturridge or Wayne Rooney or even Danny Welbeck?

Sturridge is as bad as Carroll for injuries, Rooney has been off form all season, but will go because he’s the captain and scored more England goals than anyone else and Welbeck is injury prone also.

What the others don’t have is Carroll’s ability to cause absolute mayhem in the penalty box. And alongside his ariel ability he has ‘a great touch for a big man’. If you don’t believe me, I refer you to Carroll’s second goal against Arsenal, the goal at the Liberty stadium last season and his quick thinking against Watford this week.

The problem lies with the fact that Carroll is not a favourite of the England manager.

It’s great that Hodgson is loyal to his team, you have to admire that, but England are going to the finals to try and win it. If you go to the finals with players that are not performing at club level and then England come home after group stages, where has your loyalty got you?

You pick a team on their current form and take those players that give you an edge, and Andy Carroll will give him something that the team doesn’t already have.

Obviously, Carroll wouldn’t start, but when you need him, you put him on and he could turn a game for you. The European defenders wouldn’t know what’s hit them.

Carroll hasn’t given up and he needs to carry on his fine form for West Ham until the last whistle blows at the end of the season. He said: “Without a doubt I’m keeping half an eye on the Euros this summer, but I’ve got to keep that in the back of my head. At the minute I just have to play each game here and see how it goes.”

Keep going Andy – all the way to the finals in France.

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So who, at the beginning of the season, would have thought that Jamie Vardy would be packing his bags to play for England in France this summer?

Not you – no one I know of either.

Like a flash, Vardy’s rise to prominence has been nothing short of meteoric and not only has he been playing for a Leicester team punching way above it’s weight, but now the man playing in non-league football just a few years ago has his first England goal as well. Quite a season.

Both Harry Kane and Vardy are surely convinced they can thrive at international level despite their exploits for club and country potentially establishing them as marked men at the summer’s European Championship.

Certainly before the game in Berlin, Germany Boss Joachim Low knew all about the threat the Leicester man posed.

“We did watch him and he is a spectacular player,” he said. “A great performance, we did talk about him the last couple of days, not only him, but he is a player who is straightforward and is always looking to find the gap in the defence and get in behind the defence.

“That is where it hurts the most and I think that is one of his biggest qualities.”

After the terrific comeback win over Germany at the Olympiastadion on Saturday night, the whole of Europe will be aware not just of Vardy, but of Kane and England as a whole.

Vardy and Kane, who have 40 Premier League goals between them this term, were briefly team-mates at Leicester City in the Championship three seasons ago, starting on the bench and their collective brace inspired England to another famous win, and this time over the reigning world champions no less.

Vardy said: “Football is a funny game and things can change so quickly. It shows what hard work and dedication can do. We have all come a long way, but it does not stop here. We have a lot more hard work to do to keep progressing and moving forward.”

“Maybe I will be a marked man in the summer. Again, that is football. If you want to be one of the top players in the world, you have to deal with that. I am happy for the challenge. I want to keep working hard, to keep getting better and better and to have more nights like that on Saturday, scoring more goals for England because they are special. You dream about scoring against teams like Germany on the big stage.”

While Kane scored his fourth goal in nine appearances for England, that sublimely taken goal was Vardy’s first international strike and there are surely more to come. The word is that Vardy will start against the Netherlands on Tuesday, but his play and his goal against Germany justified Joachim Low’s pre-match suggestion that the 29-year-old is “a spectacular player”.

Vardy continued: “If people get to know how I play, that just means I have to go and work harder when I am on the training field,” he said. “I have to look at ways I can still hurt them that. It’s down to a lot of hard work now which I am more than happy to keep doing. It’s good to have as much competition for places as possible.”

The 29-year-old has scored 19 goals this season to help take Leicester five points clear at the top of the Premier League, as they head for their first title and their first taste of Champions League football next year. He also scored in a record 11 consecutive Premier League matches in 2015, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record, but for this season, so far, that goal was the high point of the enthralling fairy-tale.

“Yeah, it’s definitely the high point of the season. When you start off as sub you want to come on and try and make an impact if possible and I’ve done that in the first few touches and we’ve gone on to win the game.

“I just wanted to get across the near post. The ball can go in any position and at the near post I can get something on it. Luckily I’ve tried the little back-heel and pulled it off. It just shows what a team we have got and the character in the squad.”

It just shows what a gem Nigel Pearson unearthed when he bought Vardy from Fleetwood Town in May 2012 for a reported fee of £1m, a non-League record.

At 29 years old, he is a bit of late starter, but then so was Ian Wright and Italy’s Salvatore Schillaci, if you remember him from the 1990 World Cup?

If you have the talent and more importantly, the self belief, then the world is indeed your oyster.

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Liverpool, like a lot of clubs, have a tendency to continue to nag along at signing one player for a long period of time. Whether this is a result of a stubborn transfer committee or a lazy scouting system, it’s hard to know.

This summer presents the ultimate shop window for clubs. EURO 2016 will see many of the continent’s best stars in full flow as their respective teams push for the ultimate prize: becoming European champions. Jurgen Klopp will likely have half an eye on the German team’s fortunes, but he will surely be checking out some of the other talent at next month’s tournament.

Previous targets may well crop up in the Liverpool debate when they really are getting desperate towards the end of this window. Luckily we’ve given Klopp a hand by compiling a list of FIVE of their previous targets that could slot right into the squad, even now.

So, here they are…

Ryan Bertrand

Southampton’s former Chelsea left-back has been in sublime form on the south coast for the last couple of seasons. Filling in at left sided centre-half on occasion, Bertrand is a far more secure alternative to Alberto Moreno.

The England man doesn’t have the same electric pace that you would often associated with Klopp’s football, but, after the shoddy defensive work of Moreno, there may well be a temptation to take on a more natural defender.

Marco Reus

One of the poster boys of Klopp’s Dortmund, Marco Reus will be a central figure in the German side this summer.

His terrorising pace and superb goal ratio makes Reus one of the most in-demand players in the whole of Europe and Liverpool would be pulling off quite the coup if they could sign Reus.

Xherdan Shaqiri

After a slightly surprising move to Stoke, Shaqiri endured a rather indifferent season last time around. Playing on Stoke’s right hand side, he was not surrounded with the quality he would be in the Liverpool set-up, though.

Switzerland will be a challenging side to face this summer and that is largely down to the threat posed by Shaqiri. The former Bayern man has the ability to switch between both of his feet and, when coupled with his electric pace, he is the nightmare player to see as a full-back.

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Marc Bartra

Continually on the fringes at Barcelona, Marc Bartra has remained a member of the Spanish national team squad. With the quality centre-halves ahead of him in the pecking order, it is unlikely we will see the Barca man starting too many games this summer, but Liverpool must be considering adding to their options defensively.

Bartra might not be quite the calibre that some Liverpool fans would hope for, but he has experience at the highest level that others cannot offer.

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Shane Long

A revelation over the last season or two, Shane Long has become a desired commodity. His relentless pressing and gut-busting runs behind the defence will appeal to a manager like Klopp.

While Benteke is a surly, languid character, Long’s almost hyper-active approach will be on show with Ireland this summer and he’ll know he’s just dancing in a shop window.

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As the post-mortem continues into what went wrong for England at the European Championship – the short answer being nigh-on everything – the small matter of the new Premier League season begins to loom large on the footballing horizon.

Pre-season will soon be underway, arguably the most important part of the year, as clubs look to assemble a team capable of challenging for honours and managers aim to implement their tactics. The importance of pre-season will be perhaps no better demonstrated anywhere than at Liverpool this summer as Jurgen Klopp looks to turn his side into something similar to his Borussia Dortmund team.

The German came to the club once last season had already ended and it’s widely expected now that this summer his players are going to be worked into the ground to adopt his high pressing style properly. It’s a time for Klopp to really see who’s going to be a part of what the Anfield faithful hope will be a legacy, and there are certainly plenty of players with a point to prove if they want to feature.

Here at FootballFanCast we’ve had a run through of the Liverpool squad and think this FIVE need to show what they’ve got this pre-season if they want to be a part of the former Dortmund man’s plans…

Jon Flanagan

Everyone connected to the club wants to see Jon Flanagan do well.

The most predominant scouser on the Reds’ books, Flanagan carries the expectation of a city on his shoulders as he looks to emulate those that have gone before him. It’s a big label to carry around and the full-back seems to relish it, but it’s now time for him to prove his fitness and win a place in the side.

He may have the backing of the crowd, but only strong performances will retain that. It’s time for him to fulfil the potential he’s shown so far.

Simon Mignolet

Strangely enough the signing of Loris Karius could be exactly what the Belgian needs.

Mignolet’s time at the club has been overshadowed frequently by a number of high profile mistakes and that could ultimately be down to complacency. In his time at the club he’s gone nearly completely unchallenged for his position and when a change has been made his replacement has blown it.

You can’t think that’ll happen with Karius though and so the former Sunderland man will have to step up at last.

Jordon Ibe

Ibe is one of the very few orthodox wingers Klopp has at the club and the Englishman should be embracing this.

He has a real chance to force his way into the side by offering Klopp genuine width – Liverpool’s team is quite narrow – but so far he hasn’t made much of an impression. You get the feeling with Ibe that if he strings a decent run of games together his confidence will soar, but first he needs to show his manager exactly why the Reds need his width in their line-up this summer.

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Lazar Markovic

Markovic returns to the club after a season on loan and could arguably be the one Klopp is most excited about working with.

The Serbian has all the attributes of a Klopp player, he’s quick, technically good, possesses great work-rate and can play in a number of positions going forward. If Markovic impresses during pre-season his Liverpool career might finally kick into life under a manager that will know exactly how to play him.

It’s an intriguing proposition on paper and will only be more-so if the former Benfica man performs.

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Mario Balotelli

This man’s had so many drinks in the last chance saloon he should get a loyalty card!

The Italian spent last season on loan at AC Milan where he failed to impress and to have any chance of figuring for Liverpool next season he really needs to buck his ideas up. On his day he looks like a good player, but his day comes around about as often as Halley’s Comet and you’ve got to say that if he doesn’t knuckle down this summer he’ll be out on his ear.

The next few months are truly make or break for the career of Mario Balotelli.

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The Champions League draw was made last week and the fact that Tottenham would be playing in the competition this season confirmed itself as more than just a dream for some Spurs fans.

The White Hart Lane faithful have been waiting for this moment since the days of Gareth Bale and are rightly excited to see how their new generation do against some of the continent’s finest.

They’ve got a good group too, and it’s one they’ll no doubt feel they can get out of. The London club will face CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in the group stages with the added bonus of playing their home games at Wembley this season.

There should be no reason why the club can’t get into the knockout stages then but Mauricio Pochettino might feel before the window shuts on this summer’s transfer market that some more signings would go a long way to help them through the group.

There are plenty of options out there and here at FootballFanCast we think these FIVE Ligue 1 stars would be ideal…

Bernardo Silva

Silva has impressed down the right and centrally in midfield for Monaco and should be on Tottenham’s radar. The young Portuguese ace scored seven goals in 31 Ligue 1 games last season and also has six caps for Portugal after making his debut last year.

Clearly, his career is on an upward trajectory and with Monaco starting the season so well his stock should only get higher meaning Spurs might want to act now.

Maxime Gonalons

The Lyon captain is the ideal holding player – something Mauricio Pochettino is rather fond of. The Argentine manager likes Spurs to play with two deeper midfielders, but this can sometimes lead to the team looking rather negative.

If Pochettino wants to flip the midfield three and have one holding player he’d likely go for Eric Dier over the more mobile Mousa Dembele who’d play further forward, but Gonalons should come into the equation as he knows what it takes to be that pivot.

Yann Bodiger

The 21-year-old midfielder has worked his way through the system at Toulouse and became a regular feature in their midfield last season making 22 league appearances. He only scored one goal last year, but it was a vital one as it helped his club avoid relegation against Angers in May.

With this in mind it’ll be hard for the French club to keep hold of him and Spurs should try and test the water.

Lucas Moura

Spurs really need some extra width in their team. They rely on Danny Rose and Kyle Walker on the flanks to overlap, but if they get hemmed in by the opposition Tottenham become very narrow indeed.

Lucas Moura would be an ideal outlet for the club with his pace and trickery, whilst his Champions League experience would be beneficial as the club return to the top table of European football this season.

Rachid Ghezzal

Why stop with one wide-man though? Algerian Ghezzal is part of the exciting Lyon front line that includes Alexandre Lacazette and would certainly fit the profile of Pochettino’s young team, too.

He scored ten goals last season in all competitions, but it’s his link up play that should interest the London club especially given Harry Kane and Vincent Janssen are still working on their partnership.

We’re only five weeks into the new Premier League season, yet already a template is emerging for Fantasy Premier League teams.

Seemingly everyone has Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Sergio Aguero (or both), while most sides are littered with players from Arsenal, Chelsea and the Manchester clubs.

Guardiola’s Manchester City will expect to comfortably beat Swansea City and rack up the goals, but a lot of the other top sides face trickier fixtures.

With Chelsea and Arsenal facing each other and United having a potentially difficult clash against champions Leicester City, the chances of FPL’s most popular picks scoring highly are greatly reduced.

As a result, some of the big point scorers this weekend are likely to come from more obscure sources – namely those sides a little further down the league table.

Football FanCast looks at three differentials to get in your team for Gameweek 6 and hel you move up your mini-leagues.

CHARLIE AUSTIN

Currently the most in-form Southampton player, Charlie Austin with be licking his lips at the prospect of facing a West Ham side in dire straits.

Austin followed up a brace in the Europa League against Sparta Prague with goals against Swansea in the league and Palace in the League Cup.

There have been question marks over Austin’s game time this season, with the former-QPR man only starting one Premier League fixture thus far. Austin was substituted on 57 minutes in midweek however, and therefore should start this week. His stock is boosted by being first in line for penalty kicks.

ISLAM SLIMANI

Islam Slimani announced himself with a bang on his debut against Burnley.

The powerful Algerian scored twice in a 3-0 win, picking up maximum bonus points to deliver a monster 13-point haul.

At the start of the season, a fixture against a Mourinho-led Manchester United wouldn’t inspire much confidence. But with the Red Devils conceding three against Watford and failing to shut out League One Northampton on Wednesday, Slimani and Leicester will be fancying their chances.

ANDRE GRAY

After scoring only once in the opening five gameweeks, the Burnley striker now sits in just 7.8% of fantasy teams.

But after finding the net 23 times in 41 games in the Championship last season, Gray has shown he knows where the net is. The former Brentford man may well get his chances against a Watford side expected to attack from the kick off.

The axe has fallen for the first time this Premier League season. The news Francesco Guidolin feared when his side were beaten at home by Liverpool on Saturday has come around, with the Swans having relieved him of his duties and named Bob Bradley his successor.

The American, who can count the USA national team among his previous managerial conquests, has apparently been handpicked by Swansea’s new American owners, who are seemingly worried about the prospect of a relegation battle following a tricky opening seven games.

Naturally, opinion is divided on the subject, but the bulk of fans on Twitter are outraged with the decision to let Guidolin go, especially on his 61st birthday! Here are some of the best reactions below…

However, it wasn’t all rage, and some fans seized the opportunity to mock the Swans’ American owners with some questionable ‘banter’…

According to an exclusive from IBTimes, Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla believes it would be a mistake to let Hector Bellerin leave the club.

What’s the word?

The Spain international’s future at the Emirates Stadium has been the subject of much discussion in recent weeks, with Barcelona and Manchester City both reported to be chasing his signature by The Daily Mail – after Sport discussed interest from the Catalans.

That prompted Arsene Wenger to tell journalists last week that the club want to agree a new contract with the right-back – his current terms are due to expire in 2019 – that will improve his salary to the level his rapid development has justified.

As quoted by Sky Sports, he said; “He has nearly three years to go, we always try to get the players to the [financial] level where we think they deserve to be. We will try to extend his contract, his long-term future is here.

Where does Cazorla come in?

Countryman and teammate Cazorla has now given his take on the situation in an exclusive interview with International Business Times, insisting Arsenal must do what they can to keep hold of the 21-year-old defender.

He said: “We’ll see [what happens with Hector]. It is clear that Hector is the right-back of the future. You could see in the victory over Swansea how good he is. He was all over the place and never stopped running. For Arsenal it would be a mistake to let him go.

“It is obvious that many teams want him. There has been talk about Manchester City and Barcelona. He is a player with great potential and I am sure he will also be a key part of the future of the Spanish national team.”

How important is Bellerin?

Since becoming an Arsenal regular during the 2014/15 season, Bellerin has established himself as one of the best attacking right-backs in Europe due to his combination of speed, technical ability and creative instincts.

He claimed a place in the PFA Team of the Year last season and a report from Football Observatory in July ranked him as the most valuable defender in the world.

With that in mind, there’s an obvious temptation to cash-in, especially if Arsenal can inspire a bidding war between Manchester City and Barcelona. Right-backs aren’t exactly hard to replace, after all.

But Bellerin’s overlapping runs have become an integral feature of the Gunners’ forward play in recent campaigns, this season allowing Theo Walcott to tuck inside and operate almost as a second striker alongside Alexis Sanchez. That’s paid dividends for the England international, who has already claimed five goals and two assists in the Premier League this season.

Here’s a look at Bellerin (left) and Walcott’s (right) heat maps from their 3-2 win over Swansea City last weekend, courtesy of Whoscored, to illustrate our point.