Manchester United squad set for Dubai training camp after FA Cup clash

Manchester United are to fly in to Dubai this weekend for a warm weather training camp, according to reports.

United face Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday, and will then spend four days in the Emirates prior to their next fixture Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on January 13.

Spirits are high at the club after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as manager from Jose Mourinho last month, and has overseen victories in each of his first three matches in charge.

Solskjaer and his team will reportedly stay at the One&Only Royal Mirage Arabian Court, close to Palm Jumeirah.

United headed to Dubai at a similar time last year, and on that occasion were greeted by heavy rain when they arrived for some intensive training and rehabilitation.

The weather cleared up ahead of a session at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex where the players were put through their paces in contrasting conditions to those found in England at this time of year.

On returning home last year, they produced a strong display in the 3-0 victory over Stoke City, and will be hoping that the effects of their Dubai trip pay off once again.

They face Newcastle United in the Premier League this evening, as they attempt to continue to haul themselves up the table after their terrible start to the campaign under Mourinho.

There has been a dramatic upturn in form since Solskjaer arrived and they currently sit sixth, six points behind fifth-placed Arsenal.

One United player who knows all about Dubai is Paul Pogba.

The Frenchman, who has scored four goals in the past two matches, was here in November when he was spotted at the Nusret-Et Dubai restaurant along with Lionel Messi.

They will likely just miss out on being in Dubai at the same time as former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

He has been in the UAE in recent days ahead of the Globe Soccer Awards at Madinat Jumeirah on Thursday night.

He has been making the most of his visit with a boat trip, helicopter ride and a meeting with Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

He returns to action with Juventus after the Serie A winter break on January 21.

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Marcus Rashford looks a liberated soul under the guidance of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Paul Pogba steps up as Manchester United shine again under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

No Shame

Lily Allen

(Parlophone)

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Manchester United squad set for Dubai training camp after FA Cup clash

It will follow on from a similar trip to the UAE in January last year

Conflict, drought, famine

Band Aid

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets