Ruud van Nistelrooy given fast-track access to Manchester United management

Ruud van Nistelrooy finally gets to lead a club that has won the Premier League title for the past decade. His dreams came true. All that hard work paid off.

He would undoubtedly prefer this team to play in red, but he now has a fast-track spell in the Old Trafford hot seat.

Leicester are the second favorites to be relegated by the bookmakers, although the table indicates that four clubs are worse than them. This shows the seriousness of the task at hand.

If Van Nistelrooy maintains them, he will have proven his pedigree to manage full-time in England's top flight.

But if the Foxes go down, the players, who showed their true colors by lashing out at Steve Cooper with an Enzo Maresca banner at their Christmas party, should rightly take the brunt of the criticism. It’s a win-win situation for Van Nistelrooy.

It would also have been difficult to say “nein” to the management of one of the greatest No.9s, nine years after his record for goals in consecutive Premier League matches was broken.

There's still life in old dog Jamie Vardy, even without his blistering pace.

And Van Nistelrooy's wise header will help the 37-year-old spot even more chances and extend his career as a fox in the box.

Guardiola nail file

PEP GUARDIOLA should pack a nail file for her trip to Liverpool – not for style, but for survival.

After scraping himself raw against Feyenoord, he will be desperate to prevent Manchester City's wings from being clipped further.

Anything less than a win and City's title ambitions will be reduced to dangerous levels.