MINA NOT READY FOR BRENTFORD CLASH

Colombia defender Yerry Mina is still not ready to return for Everton ahead of their Premier League duel with newcomers Brentford this weekend. The Colombia national team star won’t be in the Everton team for the Brentford game as he continues to receive treatment on a thigh problem.

Everton centre back Mina has missed over a month due to the aforementioned thigh injury. The Colombia footballer was ruled out by Everton manager Rafael Benitez during his latest pre-match presser ahead of the clash with Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Mina could also miss the upcoming Merseyside Derby league clash at home to Liverpool next week Wednesday with the thigh injury. The next league game, at home to Arsenal is a feasible match for the Colombia national team player to make his injury comeback.

In the absence of Mina, Benitez will most likely continue with the centre back partnership of Michael Keane and Ben Godfrey with Mason Holgate also expected to sit out the Brentford game. Holgate is in the middle of a three-match ban following his red card during the recent league game against Spurs at home. He saw red after coming on as a second half substitute for Brazilian footballer Allan.

Apart from Mina, Everton manager Rafael Benitez has a lot of other players on the treatment table as their poor run of form continues. Allan, Andre Gomes, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Tom Davies are all on the treatment table at Everton who have not won any of their last six games. The Toffees have two points from those six games. This is in stark contrast to the return of 13 points from their first six league games this season. Everton were in the top four after their first six league games this season, but they have since dropped to 11th spot after the failure to win any of the next six games.

UNITED LINE UP REPLACEMENT FOR OGS

Manchester United have lined up a replacement for embattled manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer(OGS) according to the latest reports coming out of the British media. It was revealed that Manchester United are confident that Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers would be their next manager. Senior Manchester United officials want Rodgers as the replacement forSolskjaer in the Old Trafford dugout despite his affiliation with Liverpool. Rodgers was the Liverpool manager for some years before he was relieved of his duties in 2015. The Northern Irishman was appointed the Liverpool manager in 2012. 

A specific report from the Daily Star disclosed that 48-year-old Rodgers is on course to take the Manchester United managerial job from Solskjaer and that he has an agreement in place to this effect.

The pressure on Solskjaer intensified over the weekend following the derby defeat to Manchester City at home. His team was totally outclassed as Eric Bailly (own goal) and Bernardo Silva scored in the first half to give Manchester City the derby spoils via a 2-0 scoreline.

Solskjaer has been able to survive the result from the Manchester Derby in addition to the 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool last month and he would be in charge for the next league game, away to Watford next week Saturday. However, his long-term future as the Manchester United manager is far from certain.

Leicester City manager Rodgers has a release clause in his contract that can be activated if a Champions League team comes for his services.

Northern Ireland manager Rodgers began his managerial career with the reserve side at Chelsea and he went on to take the managerial jobs at Watford, Reading, Swansea City, Liverpool and Celtic. He became the Leicester City manager in 2019.

At Leicester City, Rodgers has a record of 65 wins, 27 draws and 37 defeats from 129 games. He has won two trophies with the club and that was last season’s FA Cup title plus this season’s Community Shield.