The Sun Newspaper

SERGIO AGUERO has told Manchester City’s Premier League rivals not to count them out of the title race.
Pep Guardiola’s men have endured a tough start to the season — with their 252-goal all-time leading goalscorer on the sidelines for much of it.

Sergio Aguero is yet to score this season – but says Man City will continue to fight for the title despite stop-start formCredit: Getty Images – Getty

City travel to in-form Southampton way back in ninth place and eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
Tuesday night’s 1-1 home draw with struggling West Brom meant they have won only five of their 12 matches so far.
And even more concerning is City — who once scored for fun — have managed just 18 goals in that time.
Aguero has played in only three of those matches as he edges his way back to fitness following knee surgery in the summer.

The 32-year-old is into the final few months of his Etihad contract and as yet nothing is agreed over his future.
If this is to be the end of a glittering decade, the man who has won four titles with City wants to make sure there is a fitting finale.
And the veteran striker, who joined the club in July 2011, has a message for those writing off his team’s season already.
He said: “I know it’s difficult because the results haven’t been good but we know every year anything can happen in the Premier League.

Aguero is a veteran of four Premier League title wins and the club’s record goalscorerCredit: Getty Images – Getty

“We always believe that we can challenge for the title. In the Premier League, you win two games and then you’re near the top.
“We need to be calm, play the same way, because Manchester City always fights for the titles. Always.”
Almost a third of the league season has passed already and Aguero has yet to register his first goal of the campaign in that competition.
Yet despite his concerns over his knee problems, he still believes he can have a big part to play in what could yet be his final year in a sky blue shirt.
He said: “Now I need time, but it’s a long season. I came back in the week, and I hope to be at my best.”
Aguero has rescued his club on countless occasions over the years — now they need him to do it again to re-ignite their flagging title challenge.
Guardiola has backed the former Atletico Madrid man and his fellow South American Gabriel Jesus by saying he will not get the chequebook out for a new centre-forward in January.
But he admits his mis-firing team are going to have to start stringing some wins together soon or their hopes of another Premier League crown will soon be gone.

Aguero has been doing his bit for charity of lateCredit: Manchester City

The Argentine has been spreading Christmas cheer to kids in hospital via Zoom
He said: “We know that we have to start to win games. If not, it will not be possible. We know it.
“There are eight teams in front of us. We have played a game less but you have to win it. So we have to start to win games in a row to be there at end.”
Despite falling well behind Jurgen Klopp’s Reds last season — finishing a massive 18 points off the champions —  Guardiola’s men were still the top goalscorers in the league with an impressive 102 goals.
So the lack of seeing the net bulge this season has been alarming for the manager, although he dismissed the idea that he might look to the transfer market to solve the problem next month.
He said: “Absolutely not. The last 32 or 33 games we played, Sergio played four or five. Not much.
“Gabriel has incredible numbers. In terms of goals to minutes since he came to the Premier League, he is one of the top three or four in history.
“But it’s not just on their shoulders. Anyone can score.
“The strikers have to defend, it is the same at the other end of the field. They all have responsibility. Everybody is involved to try and win the game.
“How do we solve it? Insist, insist and insist. There is no other way. If 25 shots against West Brom is not enough, we have to create more. We have to be positive and one day the sequence will break.”
Aguero and his team-mates took time out from their preparations to spread some festive joy among kids in Manchester this week.

I’m very happy to be here giving out some presents to children. It’s very special for me and also for the club
Sergio Aguero

The striker visited Ravensbury  Primary School to deliver some presents and also spoke with children in local hospitals over Zoom.
He said: “I’m very happy to be here giving out some presents to children. It’s very special for me and also for the club.
“Normally we go to the hospital but it’s impossible at the moment because of Covid so it’s good to be able to spend a little bit of time here with the kids at school.
“The hospital visits can be difficult, I feel very bad when I see the kids suffering, but I think ‘OK, the kids are so happy to see me’.”
The club has distributed 5,500 presents to primary school children in East Manchester and every child in the care of Manchester City Council.
A further 550 gifts have also gone to children who are currently in hospitals around the city as the festive season approaches.
The City squad also gave cash to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for new equipment — boosted by a generous donation from the manager himself.

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DANNY MILLS refused to take his kids to Manchester United v Leeds games because the atmosphere could be so “vile”.
The former England international’s children grew up in Yorkshire as Leeds fans.

Danny Mills in action against Paul Scholes during a match in 2002Credit: Getty Images – Getty

But after his experiences playing for the Elland Road club against their enemies from across the Pennines, he drew the line at exposing them to the toxic rivalry.
Mills, who still lives in the area, said: “The atmosphere was unbelievable.
“The rivalry between the two sets of fans, between the two clubs, and I have to say it, the hatred . . . it was vile in some circumstances.
“The songs that were sung — the songs that still get sung, sadly — are really horrific at times.

“It’s spiteful. It goes beyond banter. There’s a real nasty undercurrent — from both sets of fans.
“To the point where, even after I left Leeds and went to the cup games against Man United as a fan, I wouldn’t take my kids, who were ten, 11, 12.
“I thought, ‘I’m not going to put my kids in that situation’.
“I’d taken them to all sorts of places but Leeds v Man United never sat particularly well with me.”

The rivalry was already fierce by the time Mills joined Leeds from Charlton in 1999.
But after two Leeds fans were stabbed to death in Istanbul before the team’s Uefa Cup semi-final clash with Galatasaray in 2000, another horrible ingredient was added to the poisonous relationship.
Some Leeds fans did, and still do, mock Manchester United about the 1958 Munich tragedy.
Former right-back Mills, who made over 100 appearances for the Whites in a five-year spell with the Yorkshire club, said: “Let’s be honest, Leeds fans have sung all sorts of songs — the Dambusters theme tune, people with their arms out pretending to be aeroplanes . . . You can’t pretend it doesn’t happen. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it.
“Equally, I’ve seen Man United fans with Galatasaray shirts on and Galatasaray flags. I went to a League Cup game at Elland Road when Leeds were no longer in the Premier League in 2011.
“There was all sorts of trouble outside the ground. Police got hurt, a police horse got hurt.
“It’s a real needle match and I don’t think it’s ever going to change.”
Mills recalls how Leeds fans even used to abuse Brian Kidd, who was appointed first-team coach in 2001, because he had been a Manchester United player.

Danny Mills made the move to Leeds from Charlton in 1999Credit: Getty Images – Getty
On the pitch, the rivalry has for a long time been pretty one-sided in favour of the red side of the divide.
But that has only made the rare Leeds wins all the more precious.
Jermaine Beckford scored a famous winner in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in 2010.
And Mills was part of the last Leeds team to achieve a league victory in the fixture, on the famous day back in September 2002 when England defender Rio Ferdinand returned to Elland Road for the first time since his £30million move to Manchester United.
Mills, 43, said: “None of us begrudged Rio going at that stage.
“We knew he was an outstanding player and Leeds pretty much doubled his fee in a very short space of time.
“There hadn’t been that many players that had gone from Leeds to Man U.
“There was the Eric Cantona situation where he wins the title with Leeds then goes across and wins it with Manchester United for the first time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer up against Jonathan Woodgate in 2002Credit: AFP – Getty
“Rio went and got all sorts of abuse.”
Leeds beat a United side that included their current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 1-0, thanks to a headed goal by Harry Kewell.
Mills said: “The atmosphere when you have done your lap of honour after the game and the fans are euphoric . . .
“Terry Venables had just taken over. We had only lost Rio at that stage, it was before we imploded.
“We beat them and were doing well at that stage. But from then onwards, we started on a dreadful slide down the Premier League.”
Leeds did not win again for three months and were relegated the following season amid a financial crisis that sent the club sliding down the divisions.
Tomorrow’s game at Old Trafford will be the first league clash for 16 years and, even without a crowd, it is likely to be an intense affair.
Mills, now a pundit on talkSPORT, said: “I have a lot of friends who are Leeds season-ticket holders.

David Beckham challenging for the ball during a showdown with Leeds UnitedCredit: EPA
“I know Leeds fans that won’t have a red car, won’t have anything red in their house.
“If you said to a lot of Leeds fans, ‘You can finish tenth and we get beat twice by Man United or you finish 17th and you beat Man United,’ they’d take the second option all day long. That’s how intense it is.
“They will all be watching on the telly.
“This is the game that they have been looking forward to.
“This is the game that they want to do well in.
“This is the one game of the season that they want to win more than any other.”
⚽ Read our Man United live blog for the latest news from Old Trafford

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SERGIO AGUERO admits he is struggling with his return from knee surgery.
The Manchester City legend went under the knife in late June and has started only three games since.

Man City star Sergio Aguero is yet to score this season and admitted he’s struggling with his return from knee surgeryCredit: Getty Images – Getty

And the Argentina striker, 32, says he does not know from one day to the next how the knee is going to feel — which will strike fear into the hearts of City fans.
Each time Aguero has returned to Pep Guardiola’s side, it has been followed by a setback. And the Etihad club’s 256-goal all-time leading scorer said: “It’s difficult. Sometimes my knee is good, sometimes a little bit bad.
“I am doing everything to help the physio and medical staff to help me improve — I need a little bit of time.”
Guardiola revealed Aguero had missed a day of training this week after playing the final 14 minutes of Tuesday’s 1-1 home draw with struggling West Brom.

But the City boss is adamant it was nothing to do with the knee problem.
And City will leave it until the last minute to decide if Aguero can play some part against in-form Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Guardiola said on Friday: “Sergio could not train on Thursday and today he trained really well but I don’t know how many minutes he can play.
“It’s important he can make training sessions.

The Argentine was a late replacement against West Brom this weekCredit: Reuters

“After the game it was nothing about the knee, it was another thing — but today he was training.”
Pep also warned born-again John Stones he must not let his standards drop again.
The £47.5million defender, 26, lost his way at the Etihad early in 2019 and is only just recapturing his best form.
Guardiola added: “His personal life, now it’s settled, is much better.

If he can avoid injuries he can be the player we’ve always believed he can be
Pep Guardiola

“What he’s gained in the way he lives his life and takes care of himself — his body, mind — he’s got to keep for ten years, 12 years.
“If he can avoid injuries he can be the player we’ve always believed he can be.
“He’s given us a good feeling but it’s just two or three games.”
Stones has 18 months on his City contract and now has the opportunity to earn an extension beyond summer 2022.
Pep said: “His attitude was always the same but we see him happier and stronger now and that helps a lot.”

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