On Monday City opened their new state-of-the-art £200million training ground in the presence of playing legends past and present.

Robin van Persie’s double secured a 2-1 victory for United – their fifth on the bounce – against Southampton on Monday evening, though they only managed three shots on goal, their lowest tally in a game since 2003.

At a meeting with Manchester City’s 1894 fan group to discuss rail seating, the safest standing system, Lib Dem MP for Withington John Leech questioned whether clubs would be vilified for introducing them.

The Latics suffered yet another loss on Saturday at home to Norwich City, who saw the struggling club off in the first five minutes to come away with a 1-0 win that left Wigan three points from safety.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £50million investment will be split between building all-weather pitches and coaching on the recommendation of the Football Association at the opening of Manchester City’s state-of-the-art facility.

Manager Keith Hill could only name five players on the bench for the second round tie, with three members of his team succumbing to a virus the evening prior to the game.

United manager Louis van Gaal has again been promised another vast transfer budget to continue re-shaping his United squad, on top of the £150million spent in the last window.

The Scotsman, who is going into his third game in charge of the Latics, made over 200 appearances for Norwich City between 1998 and 2004.

Bolton will be hoping to continue their recent resurgence which saw them go the whole of November unbeaten and rise to three points clear of the relegation zone in 18th.

The Icelandic record goalscorer, who left the club 14 years ago, had been training with Wanderers following his release by Club Brugge.

After Man Utd’s victory over Hull, manager Louis van Gaal, who has managed some of Europe’s most prestigious clubs in the form of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, bemoaned the fact that the Reds have to play over Christmas.