Baleba ruled out for weeks as Maresca defends Donnarumma

Michael Carrick revealed Manchester United midfielder Carlos Baleba will be sidelined for weeks after sustaining a hamstring injury in Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over Roma, and Enzo Maresca said Gianluigi Donnarumma will retain his place for Manchester City’s trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday despite recent errors.

Baleba, a 22-year-old Cameroonian signed from Brighton in the summer for £70m, had made only seven appearances for United, his first on 10 October after recovering from an ankle problem he had when he joined. Carrick said: "It’ll be a number of weeks. It’s definitely not this week and it won’t be any time over the international break [which starts on Monday]. It’ll be a little bit longer than that." Carrick also updated Patrick Dorgu’s fitness, saying: "He trained with us at the start of the week, so we’ve got to be patient with Pat," and added: "He’s had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage. But he’s slowly getting back with us, so we’ll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend." Friday marked the 40th anniversary of Alex Ferguson’s appointment as United manager and United sit 17th, separated from the relegation zone by goal difference.

Donnarumma has been beaten by errors this season, making three mistakes leading to goals, most notably when he was badly caught out of position against RB Leipzig on Wednesday. Maresca confirmed the goalkeeper "will keep his place when City travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening" and noted the hosts are yet to score at home and sit second from bottom.

On Donnarumma’s form Maresca offered a measured defence, saying: "Overall he’s good. He’s quite relaxed, in terms of he recognises that he has done some mistakes but at the same time, as I said after the last game, also he has made some good saves. So it’s just a matter of balance, try to avoid mistakes and continue to do the right things." He added that Donnarumma’s position is not under threat from his deputy, Gerónimo Rulli.

Maresca explained his approach to handling mistakes: "There are players that when they make some mistake you need a conversation with them, and there are players that when they make some mistake you just need eye contact to understand that he recognises, he knows," and said: "With Gigio it’s quite easy because every time he has made some mistake or something that was not correct, he recognises immediately. I spoke with Gigio, but again sometimes you don’t need to be so deep with some players."

Nico O’Reilly is available but was left out of the England squad on Friday because he is not fully fit; the left-back will have treatment over the next fortnight for a back problem.

Mikel Arteta praised Declan Rice’s determination after the midfielder was one of five Arsenal players called up to Thomas Tuchel’s England squad, noting Rice has contributed five Premier League assists this season – the most of any player – and a Champions League goal. Arteta said: "The mentality to go out and win football matches and to add another level to his game, another kind of threat and be much more unpredictable, and we’ve been working a lot on that." He added: "He’s desperate to improve every part of his game, and we need to do that while we maintain so many incredible things that he’s already done, but he’s on the right trajectory." Arteta also explained his thinking behind dropping Rice deeper, saying: "We cannot restrict his qualities and his capacities. He can drop back, he can progress play. He can drop back, he can carry the ball, he can be incredible in transition. He can win duels. He can produce passes by arriving, by playing far, by crossing the ball left or right, it doesn’t matter. On set pieces [too], he’s got a lot to offer. His shooting ability from long range as well is something that we need to use more."

Unai Emery confirmed he has held talks about a new contract as part of plans to build a "stronger" project at Aston Villa, after the club said they had discussed long-term strategy beyond 2029 when Emery’s deal is due to expire. Emery said: "My ambition is to keep our consistency and how we are improving and building lots of things positively. It is a huge challenge. They decided, speaking with us last year, to build a new stand to add more supporters at Villa Park. That is a clear step forward to get better." He outlined commercial and sporting aims, adding: "How we are increasing our budget each year, and revenue through our performance by playing in Europe and improving players, selling players, then buying young talented players, this is the process and ambition we should keep in the future." Emery confirmed his meeting with the club chair, saying: "I had a good meeting with Nassef Sawiris, very good meeting, very positive. Let’s talk next week, trying to get everything we spoke about together. We were speaking about how we can set our project stronger with a deal, yes."

Manchester United host Aston Villa on Sunday, and Manchester City travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.