MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Michael Carrick's start at Manchester United could not be more daunting.
First up is the fierce local derby with Manchester City at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday. Next is league leader Arsenal away.
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Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola gives instructions from the side line during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola applauds fans at the end of the English League Cup semifinal first leg soccer match between Newcastle and Manchester City in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
FILE - Manchester United's temporary coach Michael Carrick walks off the pitch at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)
Michael Carrick arrives at Manchester United's Trafford Training Centre, Carrington, England, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
That's the top two in the standings for a coach barely experienced at this level and taking on a role that increasingly looks like an impossible job after Ruben Amorim last week became the sixth coach or manager to make way since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
Not that Carrick, a man who won the full set of major trophies as a United player, gives the impression of being overawed by the situation.
“I feel in a really good place to be here. It feels very natural, to be honest, very normal,' he said this week. “I understand the job, what it entails and the responsibility of it.”
Carrick had an unbeaten three-game interim spell in charge of United in 2021 but his only long-term experience as a manager was at second-tier Middlesbrough from 2022-25.
He has a contract until the end of the season as United gives itself time to identify candidates to try to end a decade plus of decline. Carrick has the chance to put himself in the frame in the 17 remaining games this term.
City is still in the hunt for four trophies and rolled over Amorim's United 3-0 in September.
Carrick wants to put smiles on the faces of fans who jeered at the final whistle as United was knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton last week.
“I want to be off my seat (with excitement)," he said. "I want to be enjoying watching the boys play and results obviously need to come with that. You can feel my kind of enthusiasm for it because I’m buzzing to get started and see what we can do.”
Tottenham vs. West Ham brings together managers who are feeling the pressure to turn results around. Relegation-fighting West Ham is on a 10-game winless streak in the league under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Spurs coach Thomas Frank has only one win in his last six league games. It's one win in seven in total after his team was dumped out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa last week.
Arsenal plays another relegation candidate in Nottingham Forest.
Conor Gallagher is back in the Premier League after joining Spurs from Atletico Madrid.
Bryan Mbeumo should be available for United after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations and his strike partner Benjamin Sesko has found his scoring touch in recent weeks with three goals in his last two games.
Cole Palmer and Reece James have missed Chelsea's last two games as a precaution, according to coach Liam Rosenior.
Liverpool's Conor Bradley faces a lengthy period out after knee surgery and Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has also undergone surgery on his right hamstring.
VAR has been in the headlines again for the wrong reasons. Man City's Antoine Semenyo had a brilliant back-heeled goal ruled out by VAR because Erling Haaland was deemed to be interfering in a marginally offside position. What didn't help was the lengthy deliberation period that held up Tuesday's English League Cup semifinal at Newcastle.
It has led to more debate over the offside laws and when VAR should intervene.
James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola gives instructions from the side line during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola applauds fans at the end of the English League Cup semifinal first leg soccer match between Newcastle and Manchester City in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
FILE - Manchester United's temporary coach Michael Carrick walks off the pitch at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)
Michael Carrick arrives at Manchester United's Trafford Training Centre, Carrington, England, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
Iran previously closed its airspace during the 12-day war against Israel in June.
Here is the latest:
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union’s main foreign policy chief said the G7 members were “gravely concerned” by the developments surrounding the protests, and that they “strongly oppose the intensification of the Iranian authorities’ brutal repression of the Iranian people.”
The statement, published on the EU’s website Thursday, said the G7 were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and condemned “the deliberate use of violence” by Iranian security forces against protesters.
The G7 members “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
