Patrice Evra

It has been an amazing week at Old Trafford with star striker Wayne Rooney (12/1 to finish as the Premier League’s Top Scorer) firstly insisting that he would not be signing a new contract with the club and wanted out, before performing a dramatic U-turn to put pen to paper on a new five-year deal.

Rooney had originally stated that with the burgeoning debt at Manchester United the club could no longer compete at the top level, and could not match his own personal ambitions.

Evra was obviously worried of the impact of Rooney’s stance at the time and said: “If one player in the team does not trust the others, he should not play in the team.”

Since Rooney’s change of heart, though, Evra is keen to get matters sorted on the pitch and insists the current squad is very capable of challenging for honours this season.

Evra told the Sunday Mirror: “I myself would not play for this club if I knew we were not strong enough to win the league. That is why we all play for Manchester United.

“At this moment, I think everyone just needs to focus on their own job again and we will see at the end of the season. I agree with the criticism that United have not had the winning mentality this season.

“We draw, we win and then we draw again and, of course, people will talk about this not being the same United because we are already behind Chelsea in the league.

“I know this is not normal for us, but after what has happened this week we need to make sure we win against Stoke and then everything will look better.

“I only stay in Manchester to win trophies and my message is that if people think that United are finished they are making a big mistake. I say this because it is the truth and I believe it.”

Manchester United (8/11 in the match betting) take their unbeaten record to Stoke (4/1 to win, 5/2 the draw) on Sunday but they are still looking for their first win away from home this season.

Rooney was stretchered off the training field with United last week with an ankle problem and has been ruled out for three weeks, while Jonny Evans, Michael Owen and Ryan Giggs are also unavailable for Sir Alex Ferguson.

Striker Ricardo Fuller aggravated a shoulder injury at Bolton last week but could still make the bench for Stoke, although midfielder Dean Whitehead will sit out through suspension after picking up his fifth booking of the season.

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Real Madrid

Real finally got the win and performance their supporters had been craving since Jose Mourinho was installed as the new manager in the summer, to serve notice of their Primera Division intentions.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most expensive footballer, scored twice in a one-sided contest against basement club Depor at a rain-drenched Bernabeu to leave Real in third place behind leaders Valencia and Villarreal (13/8 Valencia – La Liga Primera W/O Barcelona & Real Madrid).

The manner of the win had a whiff of inevitability about it given that Real had found the net just nine times since the start of the season prior to the Depor drubbing.

The Spanish giants had come under fire in the recent home match against Osasuna but the shackles finally came off against Miguel Lotina’s strugglers.

Mourinho refused to get carried away by the goal-fest and insisted his players still had work to do to win their first Spanish crown since 2008.

He said: “We look above and see there are still teams in front of us. We need to continue working.”

The Portuguese coach, who led Internazionale FC to an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles last season, said he would thrive on the desire to win over his detractors.

Mourinho endured a stormy relationship with the Italian press during his time in Milan and doubts remain whether his conservative approach will win over seasoned Real fans accustomed to champagne football.

The former Chelsea coach admitted he still had work to do to appease the Bernabeu faithful but shrugged off personal criticism of his brand of football.

He said: “The doubts people have motivate me and make me laugh. I don’t understand why there are doubts about a coach who has won what I’ve won.

“I haven’t won three Champions League and seven championships – I’ve won two Champions Leagues and six championships. Is that sufficient to coach here? If so, I’ll continue working with calmness.”

He added: “I have the confidence of the president and the board. If they let me work here for four years, I promise a great team. We will have games likes this one and like the one against Levante.”

Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw by Mallorca at Camp Nou on Sunday but totesport.com still has the champions as 5/6 favourites to retain their crown.

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Arsenal

The North London club play Braga in the opening Group H game on Wednesday with the Gunners hoping to get off to a flying start in the competition (Arsenal 1/4, draw 9/2, Braga 11/1).

Arsenal have had a strong start to the Premier League season picking up 10 points from a possible 12. The Gunners scored late on against Liverpool in the opening match of the season to come away from Anfield with a draw but since then the side have won three consecutive matches.

Wenger will be hoping that his squad will take their excellent domestic form into the Champions League and the Frenchman has warned his team?s potential opponents that his team are ready.

He said: “For us the confidence is high enough. We have to show we can focus every three or four days now, keep our flow going.

“To play well, you need to be happy and enthusiastic.”

“Normally if you love football you enjoy to play with a lot of drive going forwards and we always try to cultivate that,” he added.

Arsenal are one of only three teams that have consecutively come through the group stages in the last decade despite spending far less than many big clubs from across Europe.

Wenger knows what has to be done to progress in the Champions League and he will be hoping his side can go at least a step further than the quarter-final stages that they reached last year before being dumped out of the tournament by Barcelona thanks to an outstanding display from Lionel Messi.

He said: “The mental side is the issue of everybody.

“The problem as well is that the level of competition is high and in the second part of the tournament, it becomes a real cup game, when it is knockout it becomes a different competition.”

“You have to have your best players available, the decisions to go for you and all that,” he added.

The Gunners look like favourites to qualify from their group as they face Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk and Partizan Belgrade.

However Wenger will be hoping the long distances his side will have to travel for away fixtures will not affect their main focus which will be the Premier League.

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Slovenia

England beat Slovenia 2-1 at Wembley last September, after Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson had awarded a dubious penalty as Wayne Rooney and Bostjan Cesar tugged each other’s shirts in the box.

England’s second goal also owed much to fortune as a Jermain Defoe shot took a heavy deflection off Slovenia midfielder Aleksandar Radosavljevic before finding the net.

Koren, whose side only need a point from the game to qualify, says this meeting will be a very different affair.

He said: “We didn’t really prepare for that game and we still gave them a really good game. They were lucky in that game to get a result, the referee was up and down when we played them at Wembley.

“It will not be about revenge for us on Wednesday, it was a while ago since we played them. It was completely different, because we were just preparing for a game in the qualification group, we didn’t think too much about the England game.

“But we’re not thinking about that game, it is already behind us. This is a new opportunity for us and we will be up for it.”

Former West Brom midfielder Koren was pleased with his side’s performance in the 2-2 draw against the USA.

He said: “In the first half we played really well, we got two goals and the game looked easy for us. Still in the second half we were in control and I think we were disappointed in the USA, they didn’t show too much good football – it was lucky for them to score two goals.

“The England game is a different story, but we will go through the (USA) game and see where we were not good enough and try to do better against England.

“Like all the games at the World Cup it will be a hard game but we are full of confidence to get the three points.”

Koren expects his side to be able to match England in every area and would not single out any individuals who they will need to pay special attention to.

“Of course, you expect every game to be hard,” he said.

“It was a hard game against the US, they tried to play aggressive and strong football but we coped with this really well and I think we deserved the three points more than them.

“There is nobody in particular we will have to watch out for when we play England; we will play team against team, 11 against 11, the game starts at zero. We are full of confidence because we have four points so far, we are not worried.”

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