Ruben Amorim defended his approach after Manchester United were held to a 2–2 draw at Nottingham Forest, a result that stopped the club’s run of consecutive wins. He said he feared bringing on another striker late in the game might have done more harm than good.

Amorim made attacking changes by introducing full backs Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui while leaving Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee among the substitutes. He replaced Diogo Dalot and Leny Yoro as he looked to create different crossing angles and movement from the flanks.

“Sometimes, if you put more strikers on, I don’t feel we are going to play better,” Amorim explained. “If you see Diogo Dalot, many times with space to make a cross but he has the right foot and is always coming inside, without space…

“With Patrick, we are going to do the same thing but, when you have the ball, got to the side and cross from the spaces there. Because, if you want to come inside, Matheus Cunha is always there to receive the ball.

“If you see the start of the second half, Leny is always the one with the space to run with the ball. Nous is a full back so I try to use the characteristics of the player. It’s not the quality because we have the quality on the bench.

“Also, if I stop the game all the time, I have the feeling I am going to break something. We were going to improve in the second half so the feeling was not to change anything.

“I know Amad can do much better, he is really dangerous one-on-one so, sometimes, we expect it just from that one guy. He was not doing a great game for us but managed to score. He has the potential to do so much better and we lost two points today.

“If [Kobbie] Mainoo and Mason Mount was there, also Josh [Zirkzee] and then you have to imagine the game. Josh is better like a little bit like Cunha, playing between the lines. If you see the game, we need a guy who needs to be inside the box. Ben [Šeško] is the best one to do that.

“Sometimes, it’s the characteristics of the game and they know that it’s just the moment. We try to do our best, it’s nothing to do with the quality on the bench. We have a lot of games where that happens.”

Amad Diallo’s late volley salvaged a point but the young winger was subdued after the final whistle, focusing on the draw rather than the quality of the finish.

“I don’t know if it is Goal of the Season,” he said. “We are really disappointed to go home with one point.

“It’s always difficult to play Nottingham Forest. We wanted to win this game coming from three in a row. We are a bit disappointed because we go home with one point. But we will learn from this.

“I think we have confidence now. We believe in the manager and we believe in the system. We are training to do the best. Everyone is now focused. We had three wins in the row and we wanted to make it four and were unlucky.

“We are doing things step by step and we believe in the manager like he believes in us. Every game for us is like a final. We wanted to bring this team to the top level. We wanted to win this game and we are disappointed as a team.”

Wayne Rooney set out his preferred Premier League five-a-side while also using a half-an-hour long Q&A session to reflect on career highs and regrets. He deliberately named no current Manchester United players in his selection.

On his first pick Rooney said: “Phil Foden, definitely,” Rooney said almost instantly and without hesitation with his first pick. “Five-a-side, Phil Foden, tight areas, brilliant.” He followed that up by adding: “Probably Cole Palmer as well in there,” Rooney continued. “[Bukayo] Saka, I’m not having a goalkeeper. I’ll put [Moisés] Caicedo in there, he’d be the defensive one but he can attack as well.” His final selection came from Liverpool: “Mo Salah. So yeah, that would be my five players,” Rooney finished.

The group Rooney assembled draws from teams across the league, including players who represent Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea, and a Liverpool forward.

Rooney also assessed his own career in the session. He described the FA Cup trophy he conquered as Man Utd captain in 2016—the only FA Cup triumph of his career—as the biggest achievement of his nearly 20-year career. By contrast he identified one major regret from international duty. On the 2006 World Cup he said: “[My biggest regret] Going to the World Cup in 2006,” Rooney said. “I wasn’t fit, I shouldn’t have went. And it ends with getting a red card . So yeah, if I went back I probably wouldn’t have gone.”

The 2006 tournament was also a difficult personal moment: Rooney failed to tally a single goal involvement in four World Cup appearances in 2006 and was sent-off in the quarterfinals before England lost in a penalty shootout. The Q&A underlined how Rooney balances admiration for the current crop of Premier League talent with frank appraisal of his own career milestones and mistakes.

The Premier League has confirmed a significant adjustment to its winter schedule for the 2025/26 season: Boxing Day will feature a single top-flight fixture, Manchester United vs. Newcastle United at Old Trafford. The decision marks a departure from the long-standing holiday period format and follows a reworking of the December calendar.

Instead of a crowded Boxing Day, the league said there will be 10 matches between Dec. 20–22, no matches through Christmas Day and then Manchester United hosting Newcastle at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. The league pointed to congestion across competitions as the root cause: European club competition expansion, a revised domestic calendar and changes to the FA Cup reduced the number of available weekends.

“The Premier League would like to acknowledge the circumstances that have led to a reduced number of matches on Boxing Day this season – impacting an important tradition in English football,” the league said Friday.

The statement elaborated on the scheduling constraints. “There are now several challenges to Premier League fixture scheduling rooted in the expansion of European club competitions—which led to a revision of our domestic calendar ahead of last season, including changes to the FA Cup. This ultimately left the Premier League as a 33-weekend competition—fewer than previous seasons, despite being a 380-match competition since 1995,” the league said.

“With fewer weekends to work with, the League is bound by how the calendar falls. The League can give an assurance that next season there will be more Premier League matches on Boxing Day—as the date falls on a Saturday.”

The recent changes guarantee no team will play two matches within 60 hours of each other. The league published the full slate from Boxing Day through New Year’s Day as follows:

Dec. 26, 2025 — Manchester United vs. Newcastle United
Dec. 27, 2025 — Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester City
Dec. 27, 2025 — Arsenal vs. Brighton
Dec. 27, 2025 — Brentford vs. Bournemouth
Dec. 27, 2025 — Burnley vs. Everton
Dec. 27, 2025 — Liverpool vs. Wolves
Dec. 27, 2025 — West Ham United vs. Fulham
Dec. 27, 2025 — Chelsea vs. Aston Villa
Dec. 28, 2025 — Sunderland vs. Leeds United
Dec. 28, 2025 — Crystal Palace vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Dec. 30, 2025 — Burnley vs. Newcastle United
Dec. 30, 2025 — Chelsea vs. Bournemouth
Dec. 30, 2025 — Nottingham Forest vs. Everton
Dec. 30, 2025 — West Ham United vs. Brighton
Dec. 30, 2025 — Arsenal vs. Aston Villa
Dec. 30, 2025 — Manchester United vs. Wolves
Jan. 1, 2026 — Crystal Palace vs. Fulham
Jan. 1, 2026 — Liverpool vs. Leeds United
Jan. 1, 2026 — Brentford vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Jan. 1, 2026 — Sunderland vs. Manchester City