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Bruno hails Eriksen impact
Bruno Fernandes has hailed Christian Eriksen for making life easy for him since arriving at Manchester United.
Eriksen, 30, has started all six of United’s Premier League games alongside the Portuguese midfielder and they enter Sunday’s Manchester derby on a six-game winning streak in all competitions.
There were questions over whether the duo could play together given their similarities, but Fernandes is a huge fan.
The 28-year-old said: “It’s really good to play with Christian, he’s a player that can find the passes, find the pockets and obviously make my game easier because he finds me when I move between the lines.
“It’s something that’s not easy to do. I’m really happy to have him on the team because, as I’ve said before, he’s a quality player.
“He’s a player who’s showed in the past that he has really good qualities in the Premier League, in the Italian league, even for his national team.
“So, it’s always a pleasure to play with players like him.”
Fernandes, who has been United’s captain during their upturn in form with Harry Maguire named on the bench, believes the summer signings have all taken to life at Old Trafford with ease.
He added: “I think everyone has settled in very well, the new signings have been playing.
“So, when you play, it’s easier to get settled and you get that time to know your team-mates, the environment, the atmosphere and everything. That’s really important.
“But more than that, they’ve been really good on the pitch, they have had a good impact, a positive impact on the team and we are really happy for all of them.”
Gunners’ ‘weird’ night
Arsenal women boss Jonas Eidevall claims he has “never experienced anything” like their 1-0 victory over Ajax last night.
The Gunners booked their spot in the Champions League group stage as Vivianne Miedema’s goal gave them a 3-2 aggregate win.
But Eidevall revealed that they had to measure the goals, which were 10cm too small, ahead of kick-off.
And when Beth Mead was forced off after taking a blow to the head, he was incensed to find out it was not being classed as a concussion substitute.
Eidevall said: “It’s been a very weird experience being here.
“Playing against a big club like Ajax where we had to measure the goals before the start of the game — I have never experienced anything like it to be honest.
“It’s very weird but we can only control the things we can control.”
He added: “There is no doubt that Beth Mead needs to be taken off. The problem I have is that I asked the fourth official if we could do a concussion substitute and she says ‘yes’.
“We were preparing Lina Hurtig [to come on] then when we are going to do it she says ‘no’. We were getting her ready for two or three minutes.
“So I think that’s misinformation from the referee. I honestly don’t know how and why that can be, because for me it’s just such a simple question to answer yes or no.”
Premier League’s injury woes
The Premier League was the worst of Europe’s big five leagues for injuries last season.
New research shows that the English top-flight had 1,231 injuries to players, more than LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
Insurance broker Howden’s data also showed that Premier League sides also had the greatest financial loss with injured players costing £184.57m.
But Real Madrid actually had the highest number of injuries with 114 absences, at a cost of £33.95m, as they won both the Champions League and LaLiga.
Paris Saint-Germain were the worst hit financially, paying out slightly more at £34.22m to injured stars.
Chelsea were the worst hit in England (97), followed by Manchester United (81) and Liverpool (80), with all three clubs competing in four competitions.
As managers increasingly moaning about the strain the schedule puts on their players, the data shows there was a 20% increase in injuries across the five leagues to 4,810.
And while Under-21s only had 30 injuries in 2018-19, there were 326 occurrences last term.
