Manchester United have overseen a chaos-filled three-game Premier League run and will, therefore, be hoping for a calm victory over Bournemouth at the weekend.
Last night, the Reds claimed a point from their derby clash with Liverpool, putting a significant dampen on their Premier League title hopes in the process – the win saw Jurgen Klopp’s side drop from first to second place.
As has been the case throughout the majority of the campaign, Erik ten Hag was navigating a depleted, injury-stricken squad. One area that’s been affected most by the fitness crisis is the backline, and he entered yesterday’s fixture with Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans all unavailable.
It left just Harry Maguire and 19-year-old Willy Kambwala to form United’s centre-back partnership on Sunday. The young Frenchman was making only his second start as a senior player, the first of which came away to West Ham United in December 2023.
He’s since gone on to receive plaudits from the Old Trafford faithful for his mature showing, as well as pundits and former players.
Kambwala given his flowers after Liverpool display
Micah Richards singled out Kambwala for praise on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football, saying: “I want to give a quick shout-out to Kambwala at the back.
“He started out quite nervous, as you would expect, not many appearances in the Premier League, but to come into a game of that magnitude, it’s daunting for any player, and I thought even when he made mistakes, he didn’t make a second or a third mistake.
“He composed himself, and if you are looking at the whole game overall, I thought he was excellent.”
