Why Wayne Rooney can fire Manchester United to the Premier League title this season

Wayne Rooney is one of the best strikers to feature in the Premier League and will lead the line for Louis van Gaal's side this campaign. The Red Devils, who lifted the title back in 2013, finished fourth last term and will be aiming to finish at the top of the division for the 20th time in their illustrious history.

Rooney, who is United's captain, could play a key role in their success this season. He will be looking to emulate his individual performances from the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons when the England international scored 26 and 27 league goals respectively.

Back in 2012/13, Sir Alex Ferguson’s final Champions League campaign at the helm of Manchester United was brought to an abrupt halt by Real Madrid at the round of 16.

The man to deliver the knockout blow was one Cristiano Ronaldo, with a former Old Trafford favourite returning to his old stomping ground to dash the dreams of those who once idolised him.

A similar story could be about to unfold in 2015/16.

We are not talking about club icons here, but United will be all too aware that familiar faces could come back to haunt them on European football’s grandest stage.

The England senior team may benefit from Manchester United defender Luke Shaw being left out of the England under 21 team for the upcoming European championships.

Harry Kane appears to have confirmed his breakthrough into the England senior team after featuring in back-to-back matches towards the end of March.

Roy Hodgson says that the quality of strikers available at his disposal has improved substantially from the time when he took over from Fabio Capello in 2012. Back then, England have only a limited choice when it came to top-class strikers.

We are just short of 18 months away from the next major international tournament which means lots of European countries are in the process of transition.

FA Cup fourth round time offers a chance for players to impress England coach Roy Hodgson.

There may still be two months until England’s next games against Lithuania and Italy at the end of March, but talk of international call-ups is never far from the headlines.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has been given the green light to go out and bring in his top transfer targets with a reported £150 million at his disposal for the remainder of the January transfer window.

As has been covered over on bluesq in recent days, there have been plenty of questions asked of LVG since the turn of the year, not least in terms of his plans for this transfer window.

Some months ago, Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers critiqued Roy Hodgson for his decision to utilize Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge in certain matches of England even though they were facing physical problems and now Sam Allardyce of West Ham United is the latest coach to question some of the decisions that England’s Roy Hodgson has been making with certain players.

England boss Roy Hodgson has denied speculation that he does not get along well with his Liverpool counterpart Brendan Rodgers.

The duo have been exchanging words over the fitness of striker Daniel Sturridge. It is yet another club versus country row, but it appears that Rodgers is winning this specific battle. Sturridge is unlikely to be included in the England squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers. The 25-year-old first suffered a major injury this season when he was with the national team. He is yet to feature for Liverpool or England since then.