• Chief of football operations rails at ‘high degree of untidiness’
• IT department and age-group dressing rooms ‘reflect poorly’

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has ordered ­Manchester United’s staff to raise standards after describing the level of ­untidiness in offices as a “disgrace” and some dressing rooms as “not much better”.

Ratcliffe, the minority owner who controls United’s football policy, made his comments after a two-day tour of Old Trafford and the ­Carrington training ground.

Elijah Adebayo’s return boosts Luton, Wolves seek another City shock and Alexander Isak eyes golden boot

Friday night’s clash between deeply imperilled Luton and newly safe Everton ought to mean contrasting moods among the two sets of supporters at Kenilworth Road. Still, off-field alarms at Everton are likely to dampen the mood in the away end despite the impressive three straight wins that have delivered safety for Sean Dyche’s side. Luton’s much-admired campaign against the drop, by contrast, looks as if it is running out of road yet this well-run club have less to fear from relegation than many around them. There are hopeful portents for Rob Edwards’s team too: the Hatters’ first Premier League win of the season was secured at Goodison in September. The return of Elijah Adebayo, who came on for the final 12 minutes of last Saturday’s loss at Wolves after two months out, can also give their attack extra verve against an Everton side whose thoughts might just be beach-bound after recent exertions. Victory would lift Luton out of the bottom three and give Nottingham Forest more than conspiracy theories to worry about. Tom Davies

Luton v Everton, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Arsenal v Bournemouth, Saturday 12.30pm

Brentford v Fulham, Saturday 3pm

Burnley v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm

Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm

Although he was superb for Dortmund against PSG, this is not the time to start clamouring for a Euros place or United return for player who has had a tough two years

Perhaps the most telling Jadon Sancho clip to emerge from a wonderfully creative attacking performance during Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League semi-final first leg was the one that appeared after the match.

This was Sancho’s interview on CBS sports with a visibly buzzed-up Jamie Carragher, who had spent the evening pushing the broadcasting envelope by drinking eight pints of beer in the Yellow Wall end and was able afterwards to provide a real-time demonstration of just how hard it is to do the job of professional broadcaster while drunk. Belated respect for the scotch-sodden Ron Burgundy‑style anchor gods of yesteryear. It’s clearly not as easy as it looks.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has denied reports that Manchester United are set for a summer clearout of their players in the transfer window, calling them a 'joke' and 'totally crap'. 'It's a joke,' he said. 'As long as I've worked here, every summer, every window, I think 200 players are getting interest from Manchester United. I think be calm and also take some responsibility when you make such a headline. Think, find a good source if there is some truth in it and this is totally crap.' The Dutchman also commented on Jadon Sancho's impressive Champions League performance for Borussia Dortmund and underlined his 'high value'

• Manager praised winger’s display for Dortmund against PSG
• Sancho was loaned to German club in January after fallout

Erik ten Hag has said he is happy for Jadon Sancho after the winger produced a display in Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain that showed he “represents a high value” for Manchester United.

Sancho was among Dortmund’s best performers in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory in the semi-final first leg. The 24-year-old joined the German club in January on loan having not played for United since August after a disagreement with Ten Hag regarding why the manager left him out of the squad for the 3-1 loss at Arsenal in early September.

• Patrick Stewart and Cliff Baty will leave at end of season
• Jean-Claude Blanc will be interim CEO until 13 July

Manchester United have announced that their interim chief executive, Patrick Stewart, and chief financial officer, Cliff Baty, will leave the club at the end of the season.

Jean-Claude Blanc, the chief executive of United’s minority owners Ineos Sport, will step into Stewart’s role until 13 July, when Omar Berrada will take over after his impending arrival from Manchester City. Roger Bell, the former CFO at Ineos Sport, will replace Baty.

Erling Haaland grabs vital goal, Richard Masters gets a Molineux earful and Brighton’s season fades out

Ange Postecoglou found enough blue sky in the Spurs squad he inherited to make a pair of sailor’s trousers out of the opening 10 games of the season. The rest of the season since then feels like a return to the mean. Spurs would currently be eighth in the Premier League if their form outside of that supercharged start was rolled out across an entire season. Fifth place is probably above par for this miscellaneous group of players and the manager’s own first look at the league. And while defeat in the north London derby will sting, as will the high likelihood now that Spurs will finish outside the Champions League spots, it is also important to remember that fast start was also real, a taster of how Postecoglou can make this team hum with the right ingredients. Spurs are well-placed financially. The lesson here is that Daniel Levy needs to back his man in the summer – does this sound at all familiar? – and build on the good times of Ange Year Zero before any judgment can begin to be passed on the ultimate ceiling of this Spurs iteration. Barney Ronay

Match report: Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal

Match report: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City

Match report: West Ham 2-2 Liverpool

Match report: Manchester United 1-1 Burnley

Match report: Everton 1-0 Brentford

Match report: Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton

Burnley FC says it was informed about ‘offensive footage’ on social media from some of its supporters

A football fan has been charged with causing harassment, alarm or distress over alleged tragedy chanting during a Premier League match between Manchester United and Burnley.

Burnley FC said it was informed about “offensive footage” on social media from some of its travelling supporters at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.

After yet another late Manchester United capitulation, Erik ten Hag invoked a rare trophyless Sir Alex Ferguson vintage to try to explain it. The Dutchman compared his work to that of the rebuild of 2004‑05, at the start of which a 19‑year‑old Wayne Rooney was signed and Darren Fletcher, 21, was in his second season as an ­established first-team player.

Within two years United were champions and the ­following season they retained the title and won the Champions League.

• United manager expresses sympathy for out-of-form forward
• Rashford responds to social media post supporting him

Erik ten Hag has backed Marcus Rashford but said the forward must take some responsibility for his fall-off in goals after the England international described months of criticism as “abuse” and said “enough is enough”.

Rashford is enduring a disappointing campaign in which he has scored only eight times in 41 appearances for Manchester United, having managed a career-high 30 goals last season. The manager was asked what lay behind the marked change.

The England manager’s honesty and systems expertise are just what is needed at the haunted house Old Trafford has become

And so we entered the age of the noble, blameless bald men. This is a pretty good moment to be Ineos at Manchester United. Nothing really matters yet. Every problem is someone else’s problem. Every solution is your own.

For now you’re just hope, blue sky. You’re a silent reproach on a gantry. You’re a tieless Tony Blair jamming with Shed Seven in the Downing Street garden. And even the bad things are kind of good, because you’re not the bad things.

The Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has defended Marcus Rashford after the England forward criticised the abuse he has received this season and said on social media 'enough is enough'. Rashford is enduring a disappointing campaign in which he has scored only eight times in 41 appearances for Manchester United, having managed a career-high 30 goals last season. At 12.36am on Friday Rashford retweeted a post on X, formerly Twitter, that said: 'The way Marcus Rashford is being treated is absolutely disgusting. It’s cruel. It’s abuse.' Above this he wrote: 'I appreciate your support! It is abuse and has been for months. Enough is enough.'

• ‘Enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford hits out after receiving months of abuse

• Premier League: 10 things to look out for in this weekend’s football

Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up and things could get spicy at City Ground

David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park. West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of the season, but they should take heart from how Everton unsettled Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. Everton scored twice from set pieces and West Ham pose a similar threat from dead balls. James Ward-Prowse’s deliveries towards Tomas Soucek, Kurt Zouma and Michail Antonio will have Klopp’s defenders sweating. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Fulham v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Sheffield United, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Ethan Wheatley became the latest homegrown talent to make their first-team debut in the win over Sheffield United

The quarter of a millenia has been 93 years in the making at Old Trafford and it was poignant that a local lad, Ethan Wheatley, became the 250th academy graduate to make their debut for Manchester United’s senior men’s team on Wednesday night.

The 18-year-old had spent the previous evening scoring two goals to help defeat Manchester City to win the Premier League Cup. Wheatley, who like his teammate Kobbie Mainoo was born in Stockport, became the 101st player from Greater Manchester to make the leap from academy to elite when he replaced Rasmus Højlund late on against Sheffield United.

With 81 minutes gone Bruno Fernandes collected a Kobbie Mainoo pass and with a swish of his left foot fired a laser past Wes Foderingham and Manchester United were 3-2 ahead. The question now was could they, at last, hang on to a lead.

This was answered emphatically by Rasmus Højlund, whose strike as the end of regulation time neared gave Erik ten Hag’s team security and was the best way to close before a watching Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, who will lead the football department until Dan Ashworth joins from Newcastle.

• ‘Anchoring’ would tie wages to bottom club’s TV revenue
• United said to prefer model of higher investment across league

Manchester United will push back against new proposals that would change the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), creating the possibility of more discord within the competition.

The club is understood to be strongly opposed to the introduction of “anchoring” for the top flight, a system whereby the biggest spenders in the league would be tethered to the income of the last-placed club.

Erik ten Hag has called media coverage of Manchester United's win over Coventry in the FA Cup semi-final a 'disgrace'. Having a 3-0 lead at Wembley with 20 minutes to go and then won on penalties, United were criticised by pundits and fans. Asked if he understood the response, Ten Hag said: 'No, absolutely not ... is it [the result] embarrassing? No, the reaction from you [the media] was embarrassing ... For me as a manager, four cup finals in four years. The comments are a disgrace.'

• Ten Hag calls reaction to Manchester United’s win over Coventry a ‘disgrace’

• Dutchman hits out at claims that victory was ‘embarrassing’
• Manager also defends Antony over ear-cupping celebration

Erik ten Hag has called the comments regarding Manchester United’s victory over Coventry in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final, in which they allowed a three-goal lead to slip, a “disgrace”.

United were 3-0 ahead against the Championship side going into the 71st minute of the game and seemingly comfortable only for Mark Robins’ team to stage a remarkable comeback and force extra time, with their third goal coming in the 95th minute. While United ultimately progressed to the final by winning 4-2 in a penalty shootout they received criticism for the ultimately narrow manner of their triumph. Prior to Sheffield United’s visit to Old Trafford on Wednesday, Ten Hag was asked if he could understand this reaction and made clear his feelings on the matter.

Head coach has been hampered by injuries but has not established a discernible playing style – while Thomas Tuchel will be available

With Erik ten Hag’s job at Manchester United safe until the summer, the focus turns to whether or not the club will, and indeed should, keep the Dutchman in the long term. While Sir Jim Ratcliffe controls United’s football policy, the final decision on Ten Hag’s future may well be influenced by the judgment of Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada, the incoming technical director and chief executive respectively. (Presuming compensation is not agreed with Newcastle that would allow Dan Ashworth to begin his role as head of football at Old Trafford before the summer.) We assess the case for and against those in power sticking with the current manager beyond the current campaign.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Troy Townsend and John Brewin as Coventry go so close to one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks ever

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On the podcast today; total agony for Coventry, inches away from a winner in injury time that would have seen them complete the most unlikely of turnarounds to beat Manchester United 4-3 and reach the FA Cup final.