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Chloe Kelly, Barbra Banda and Klara Bühl have made it between places 40 and 11 as we continue our countdown to the year’s best players

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Pep Guardiola said that it had been “impossible” for him to enjoy Manchester City’s 5-4 victory against Fulham that moved them to within two points of the Premier League leaders Arsenal, given how close his team came to throwing away a four‑goal lead.

City were 5-1 in front at Craven Cottage after 54 minutes and seemingly cruising to an easy win. But then came an extraordinary fightback from Fulham.

Two late goals from Cristian Romero enabled Thomas Frank to leave Tyneside celebrating the sort of dramatic draw that can be construed as a form of moral victory.

The Tottenham captain’s equaliser in stoppage time, his second leveller of the scrappiest of games, not merely camouflaged plenty of visiting flaws but surely reinforced his manager’s recently fragile-looking job security.

• Salah left out for champions’ victory at West Ham

• Slot: ‘It’s not a nice thing for him and not for me’

Arne Slot has admitted feeling unease at dropping Mohamed Salah after the striker’s eight phenomenal seasons at Liverpool, and said he wants him “doing something special” on the pitch rather than sitting misera­bly on the bench.

Omitting Salah was Slot’s big call at West Ham on Sunday when the ­Liverpool head coach found a ­solution to the Premier League champions’ dismal run of results. The Egypt international, who will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations on 15 December, has struggled to hit his customary heights this season and is not guaranteed to return against Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday.

• Arsenal represent Europe in four-game tournament

• Matches to be played in London from 28 January

Fifa has been unable to sell TV rights to its first global women’s club competition, the Champions Cup, which is taking place in London from 28 January. The Champions League holders, Arsenal, will represent Europe in the competition that features the winners of the continental championships.

The situation has echoes of Fifa’s struggle to sell TV rights to the men’s Club World Cup this year, bought by the global streaming platform Dazn, which sold a $1bn stake to the Saudi Arabian vehicle SURJ Sports Investment.

Plus: the shambles that was 1950 World Cup qualifying, and plenty more brawling teammates

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“Has any player been shown a second yellow card while being substituted for not leaving the pitch correctly?” wonders Ken Foster.

They have indeed, Ken. Let Robin Horton take you back to a bitter January in 1980, when Stoke City were the visitors to Burnley in the FA Cup third round. “Stoke’s Denis Smith, already on a yellow card, limped towards the touchline with an injured ankle, only to linger on the touchline as substitute Paul Johnson was not properly warmed up,” Robin recalls. “Referee Kevin McNally therefore sent Smith off for time-wasting. McNally was not in Stoke’s good books; Burnley won the tie via a penalty, and Stoke’s Ray Evans also got his marching orders, for what manager Alan Durban described as ‘heavy sarcasm’.” That’s as good a reason for a dismissal as we can remember.

Too slick, too quick and, ultimately, just too good at football; Spain reaffirmed their standing as the best team in the world as they outclassed Germany and retained the Women’s Nations League title in spite of the absence of their injured superstar Aitana Bonmatí.

The world champions were playing their first game since their Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder was ruled out for five months after undergoing surgery on a broken leg, but anybody who worried that her absence may disrupt Spain’s stylish football was immediately proved wrong, as they demonstrated the extensive depth of talent across their classy team and eventually played some ruthless football to dispatch their rivals at the Estadio Metropolitano.

• England 2-0 Ghana

• Young star Kendall earns praise from Wiegman

Lucia Kendall was already living the dream, slotting into life in the Women’s Super League after she joined Aston Villa from Southampton this summer with an ease that earned her a first senior call-up in October.

In the cold and rain at St Mary’s against Ghana on Tuesday night, it took her just six minutes to ensure the dream remains a recurring one, slotting in from close range after Bénédicte Simon had scuffed her clearance from Chloe Kelly’s cross and the ball fell fortuitously at the midfielder’s feet.

Failings of legal system mean 97 people were unlawfully killed, but no one will be held accountable

When the Independent Office for Police Conduct published the final report on its mammoth investigation into the Hillsborough disaster, the response from bereaved families and survivors was conflicted.

Some of the IOPC’s findings could be regarded as historic, in particular that 12 former officers would have had cases to answer for gross misconduct, including Peter Wright, the chief constable of South Yorkshire police at the time of the 1989 disaster.

Two major figures from the last 15 years of global soccer have largely met in big-game contexts. They’ll do so again in MLS Cup on Saturday

This was the matchup Thomas Müller wanted.

“My history with [Messi] forces me to hope for a final against Miami,” the former Bayern Munich and Germany star told Calen Carr in a recent interview previewing the MLS playoffs ahead for his new side, the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Our cartoonist on the people and themes that are fuelling the buildup to next summer’s tournament in North America

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None of the former officers named by the IOPC will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired

• Timeline: decades seeking justice and change

The families of those who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster have said it is a “bitter injustice” that no police officer will ever be held accountable for a catalogue of failings set out in the final report of the police watchdog after a 14-year investigation.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that 12 police officers, most of them senior, would have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct if they were still serving.

Another game to show off the concertinaed qualities of the Premier League this season. If anyone can beat anyone, they can also play out landlocked contests such as this.

It took a deflection to win it, Jack Grealish’s shot smashing off Bafodé Diakité’s shins and into the opposite corner. Two clubs from the mid-table blob that stretches from seventh to 15th fought and ran hard, effort never in short supply. The same could not always be said of quality, entertainment or chance creation.

Barcelona recovered to secure a 3-1 win against Atlético Madrid as goals from Raphinha, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres handed the visitors their first La Liga defeat since August and extended the champions’ lead at the top after an intense clash on Tuesday.

The result puts Barcelona on 37 points, four ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who visit Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday. Atlético, arriving at Camp Nou on a seven-game winning run in all competitions, remain in fourth place with 31 points.

• Arsenal host Brentford in Premier League on Wednesday

• Kai Havertz still weeks away from first-team return

Mikel Arteta has challenged Declan Rice to improve his long throws to match the standard of Michael Kayode after describing the Brentford defender’s as the best in the Premier League.

Kayode has the longest average throw-in distance in the division by more than five metres (33.2m) and has helped Keith Andrews’s side to score three times this season. Arsenal, who host Brentford on Wednesday, have yet to register a goal from a throw-in but lead the way for set-piece goals, joint with Manchester United, on 10.

• Pair verbally and physically abused as they left team bus

• Nice to await police report before deciding on response

The Nice players Terem Moffi and Jérémie Boga have been placed on sick leave after the team were confronted by supporters upon their return from a 3-1 defeat at Lorient.

Moffi was given a week’s leave and Boga five days, both effective from Monday, after an estimated 400 fans gathered outside the club’s training centre on Sunday night. The pair were verbally and physically abused as they left the team bus after the travelling party was swamped by ultras unhappy at a sixth consecutive loss in all competitions. The club’s sporting director, Florian Maurice, was also among those targeted.

Sports Interactive has included the women’s game after its tireless effort of collating a comprehensive database

Within minutes I am in the deep end as the Arsenal manager before the start of the 2025-26 season, sizing up a transfer budget that does not match my ambitions for the club. I am immediately at odds with the board when I launch a rogue bid to sign Aitana Bonmatí, which is immediately rejected.

I manage to recruit Alex Greenwood to shore things up in the wake of Leah Williamson’s injury and my late bid for Patri Guijarro, who wants to be part of my project, falls through at the last minute with the budget once again the problem. I demand answers from the board as to why they will not release more funds when the player-in-question wants to join, pointing out that our scouting report says she’s a necessary replacement for Lia Wälti.

In the past, moments like Chelsea’s shorthanded goal might have sent Arsenal reeling. No longer

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The gap at the top is five points. Arsenal have now played two of their three toughest away games of the season. They’ve come through a potentially extremely tricky week with reputation enhanced, despite being without one of their starting centre-backs for all three games and both for one of them. If there is any sense of disappointment, it is only that they failed to beat Chelsea, whom they have become accustomed to getting the better of, despite having a man advantage from the 38th minute on Sunday.

But really there shouldn’t be any disappointment. Coming out of the international break, having conceded a late equaliser to Sunderland in their previous game, Arsenal looked potentially vulnerable. Despite having been by far the most impressive side this season, their lead over Manchester City was only four points. They were without Gabriel, who probably ranks alongside Declan Rice as their most important player. They faced Tottenham, Bayern and Chelsea over the course of eight days, and Manchester City appeared to be beginning to gather momentum.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team had key players missing but still enjoyed a first triumph at the Sánchez-Pizjuán since 2018

“What can I say?” Pablo Fornals said, “really nice”. Mostly, in truth, it hadn’t been, but it was in the moment when he had illuminated everything, taking Batista Mendy, César Azpilicueta and Kike Salas out for a walk – first this way, then that – and it was now, the 144th Seville derby finally ending 20 minutes behind schedule and with a Real Betis win.

“You dream of playing games like this, just playing them,” Fornals said as high in the south-east corner of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium, 600 supporters in green sang, adding: “so to score and win, well, me, my teammates, all those lunatics up there and back home, you can imagine how happy we are”.

In MLS and NWSL alike, edge-of-your-seat contests have delivered indelible moments that even the best title race run-in can’t match

There’s a TV commercial that’s been running on Apple TV during MLS games for Lowe’s hardware stores. Lionel Messi carefully places a soccer ball on a field, ready to take a free kick. He is flanked by Lionel Messi and Lionel Messi. On the sideline, manager Lionel Messi, assisted by Lionel Messi, gesticulates. Lionel Messi lays off the ball for Lionel Messi, who crosses it to Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi chests and volleys it into the net and is mobbed by another half dozen Lionel Messis (or is it Lionels Messi?).

Facing Inter Miami in the ongoing MLS playoffs must feel more or less like living inside this ad. Before Saturday’s Eastern Conference final against New York City FC, Messi had either scored or assisted on all 12 goals Miami had scored in the postseason. Messi has smashed up the league this year, but he has saved the real savagery for the playoffs.

Your essential guide to Friday’s draw in Washington DC, including where to watch it, who to watch out for and a look at Fifa’s peace prize

The World Cup draw will start at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center at 12pm local time on Friday 5 December (5pm GMT/4am Saturday AEST). Although don’t worry if you tune in late: based on previous draws there will be a few speeches about Fifa being on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, some interpretive dance about Fifa being on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, some videos with kids kicking a ball about to show that Fifa is on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, and then, hopefully, Fifa actually bringing about world peace via the medium of football. And if you miss any of that, don’t worry Fifa will also be awarding a peace prize to the person most likely to bring about world peace in the next few months (more on that zinger later). At some point in all of that, they’ll place teams into groups and at long last give this expanded tournament an actual schedule.

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

Elsewhere, Arsenal’s season keeps getting better with Mikel Arteta’s side winning 3-1 against Bayern Munich to follow up the weekend’s north London derby victory. Next up come Chelsea, with the Gunners now clear favourites for the title and are arguably Europe’s most in-form side.

Meanwhile, Spurs followed up their woeful weekend performance with a more spirited effort in Paris. They led twice but still fell to a 5-3 defeat, their first in the Champions League this season

No team in Serie A have collected more points this year, so the Giallorossi remain upbeat in a stacked title battle

Gian Piero Gasperini was a victim of mistaken identity last week, after an Italian news story about a man who allegedly impersonated his dead mother to collect her pension was picked up by media outlets around the world. Roma’s manager has no connection to any of this, yet one Argentinian broadcaster included an old photo of him in their coverage.

The segment for Telefe Noticias showed Gasperini’s face between those of the accused and the deceased. A silly meme, circulated by football fans on social media to imply some (dubious) resemblance, had been confused as being authentic. The online version of the video was quickly taken down from YouTube, but not before it created a fresh set of headlines back in Italy.

Luis Enrique was scathing after PSG’s ‘worst match of the season’ but Marseille are too flaky to make them pay

By Get French Football News

Paris Saint-Germain were flat and lethargic in their 1-0 defeat to Monaco on Saturday afternoon. Luis Enrique called it their “worst match of the season” and “a very bad night”. His players created very little, although it might have been a very different story had the Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara been sent off for his lunge on Lucas Chevalier early in the first half. The France international said his “career could have taken a turn” and that he considered himself “lucky” to continue after the tackle that was sanctioned with a yellow, rather than a red.

Takumi Minamino gave Monaco the lead midway through the second half before they did go down to 10 men, Thilo Kehrer receiving a red card in the 80th minute, but PSG failed to create any clear openings. It felt like a simple off night, even if the lack of goals from their forwards remains a cause for concern. The result gave Marseille the chance to land a psychological blow.

Late equaliser was a kick in the teeth for Eder Sarabia’s plucky promoted side who threatened first win since 1970s

“It sounds a little crazy,” David Affengruber said but it didn’t sound crazy at all, not to anyone who had actually been watching. “We only come into this league this year and we’re a little bit disappointed to get a point against Real Madrid,” Elche’s Austrian centre-back concluded, standing at the side of the pitch where, Sunday’s game at the Estadio Martínez Valero finally over, a handful of kids and Endrick were now allowed to run about a bit. It was late and the stands had emptied, 31,024 people heading out the gates and into the night, but he was still in kit and sliders. Together, they’d had a lot of fun yet there was “frustration” too, he said.

Which was one way of putting it, as calmly understated as his play, but there were others. And if that was like him, this was like his coach, rarely one to hold back. A little bit disappointed? How about bloody annoyed? Eder Sarabia had just watched his side, runners-up in segunda last season, score as many in one night as Madrid had allowed in five; seen a team who hadn’t won since September and a club who hadn’t beaten Madrid since the 1970s get a 2-2 draw against league leaders who had only dropped points twice; and witnessed his men match a monster with a budget 19 times bigger, subs more expensive than all of Elche’s players ever, and a left-back whose cost could cover his entire club for a year. But was he happy?

Cheikh Touré died after being lured abroad in one of a growing number of extortion schemes tricking talented teenagers with dreams of making it big

The last time Diodo Sokhna spoke to her teenage son, he seemed subdued, his voice sapped of all the optimism he had set off with on a journey supposed to put him on the road to a career as a professional footballer.

After that call Cheikh Touré went silent. His mother’s WhatsApp messages to his phone received only the dreaded single tick, indicating they had not been received. Soon afterwards a man with a foreign accent rang her from a number she did not recognise. He told Sokhna her son was dead and then hung up.

The New York mayor-elect’s devotion to a north London club shows how the global game is winning hearts across the US

• Bryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian US

When Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show last week, the newly elected mayor of New York was expecting the typical nimble rundown of politics, jokes and conversational detours. What he wasn’t expecting was Ian Wright suddenly filling a phone screen with a congratulatory video. The former England and Arsenal striker saluted him on “what you’ve achieved”, urged him to channel that “winning energy” into the job ahead before signing off with a nod to the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta. Mamdani cheesed guilelessly as it played before finally blurting out: “I love this man.”

For a moment, the incoming mayor of the most powerful city in the United States was simply another geeked-out Arsenal obsessive left weak by one of his childhood heroes. And in that moment lies something revealing about how football fandom in the US has changed. This was not a politician deploying a sports reference for relatability; it was a display of genuine allegiance that’s planted at the intersection of two different stories about how Americans have come to love the global game.

Bryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian US

For a man who insists football isn’t political, the Fifa boss is putting a lot of effort into courting the most divisive politician on Earth

Gianni Infantino was 18 years old the first time he ran for office. It was a presidential election at FC Brig-Glis, the local amateur football club in the small Swiss town where he grew up. Running against two older men, and with no discernible footballing record of his own, the little red-haired kid with freckles was, unsurprisingly, the rank outsider in the race.

But he had a vision. He had a ferocious work ethic, boundless enthusiasm, well-established networks in the town’s Italian immigrant community. And even at this tender age, he had a flair for an eye-catching scheme. To the shock of many veterans at the club, Infantino surged to victory: partly on the back of his pledge to attract new sponsors and revenue streams, and partly on something more tangible. Infantino promised that if he won, his mother Maria would wash all the players’ kits, every week, for as long as he was president.

Top-four seeding shows Fifa prioritising marketing over sporting integrity once again but even best-laid plans can flop

The plastic balls rumble around the glass bowls of destiny. Portentous music plays. There is a sense of possibility, as though the inner workings of the universe have suddenly been laid bare, a door opening to reveal the three Fates sitting by their spinning wheel, measuring rod and shears in hand.

A World Cup draw is a moment of perfection, a platonic vision before reality has had time to intervene. Everybody is fit and in form. Every nation is playing as an ideal version of itself – no injuries, no disputes over bonuses, no concerns about fatigue or the temperature or whether a player might be distracted by a possible transfer; it’s the World Cup as pure potential. With Friday’s draw, next summer will suddenly feel a lot closer.

When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find

For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel.

On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.” Thompson: “SHOOT, SHOOT.” McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.” (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.” McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …” The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wondrous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy.

Our cartoonist on a simple win over Spurs that boosted the Gunners’ title hopes, smug Australians and more

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Liverpool have dropped to 12th in the table – matching the lowest finish by reigning Premier League champions

By WhoScored

Six defeats in 12 top-flight games is not just a wobble. It’s one of the worst starts ever made by defending Premier League champions. The last team to begin their title defence this badly was Leicester City in 2016-17. They finished 12th that season – where Liverpool are now – with Claudio Ranieri sacked midway through the campaign. The same fate befell José Mourinho at Chelsea in the 2015-16 season. They started with seven defeats in 12 games, a collapse so severe that Mourinho was shown the door a week before Christmas. For Liverpool and Arne Slot, the warning signs could not be clearer.

The transformation from champions to chaos has been stark. Just six months ago, Slot was heralded as a record breaker, the man who had taken on the unenviable task of replacing club legend Jürgen Klopp and done it with apparent ease. Under his guidance, Liverpool clinched the title with four games to spare, an achievement only three other teams have managed. Slot became the third-youngest manager to win the Premier League, the fifth to win it in his first season in England and, most importantly, he brought the title to Anfield for just the second time in 35 years.

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

Englishman was not an obvious candidate to lead them but Swedes pushed Nottingham Forest all the way in 1979

Early in the 1979 European Cup final, Kenny Burns misjudged a long ball and ended up lobbing it up in the air for Jan-Olov Kindvall. He, in turn, attempted to knock the dropping ball over Peter Shilton but the goalkeeper was not as close as he had perhaps anticipated and Shilton ended up catching it simply. The chance was gone and, with it, Malmö’s hopes of beating Nottingham Forest.

“I had quite a good chance to score and then they were the better team,” says Kindvall. “But maybe if we had got the first goal, maybe we had a chance. We were very good when we didn’t have the ball ourselves. We had good organisation in the defence. And Forest were very good without the ball as well. It was more difficult for us to play against a team who were more like our team. We played the English way.”

Former defender on his challenge as sporting director at Ligue 1 club and using Arsène Wenger as an inspiration

Returning to Brittany was the obvious choice for Laurent Koscielny. Having left Lorient for Arsenal in 2010, the former defender is back at the Ligue 1 side as the sporting director.

“My wife and I were keen to come back, it’s a beautiful region, and the people are welcoming and kind,” the Frenchman says of the seaside town, known for its annual Celtic music festival and military naval base.

The Euro 2025 semi-final remains fresh in the memory, but this contest exists in a very different context

Just for a moment, cast your mind back to that summer’s evening towards the end of July when Spain earned their first win over Germany. The illustrious newcomers (relatively speaking) needed the genius of Aitana Bonmatí and her 113th-minute goal to eventually break down the resilience of the traditional trailblazers and book their place in their first European Championship final.

Just four months on, Christian Wück’s team have the opportunity to avenge that night in Zürich, albeit in less distinguished circumstances as they battle for a trophy that carries less prestige. The second edition of the Uefa Women’s Nations League comes to a close this fortnight with a two-legged final between the holders Spain and Germany.

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If anything, Guglielmo Vicario almost certainly wasn’t booed enough. That was the view of one Tottenham Hotspur fan Football Daily heard venting on the wireless this morning, as he made the not unreasonable point that for an annual season ticket outlay of £1,400 a year, he expects to see his team’s goalkeeper demonstrate basic common sense by hoofing the ball into the sanctuary of a nearby stand while under pressure after a rush of blood to the head led to him charging out of his penalty area like a headless chicken. Conveying the impression that he would have happily followed Vicario home and spent Saturday night booing loudly through the letterbox of the Italian’s front door if he didn’t already have other plans, the caller was dismissive of the notion that Spurs’ fans relentlessly booing their own players after they make mistakes was unhelpful and hardly likely to boost the goalkeeper’s confidence. In his view, once Harry Wilson had capitalised on Vicario’s mistake to score a wonder-goal that put Fulham 2-0 up inside seven minutes it meant the jig was already up for Tottenham in yet another home game, so relentlessly taunting the man he held responsible felt like the most appropriate reaction.

What can one say about the gentleman player Billy Bonds that most already do not know? Not only was he fit well into his forties but he hardly ever swore. If I have to identify one incident from his life that cements his clarity in thinking it is the fact that he refused an offer from Spurs” – Krishna Moorthy.

David Moyes likely has ruined it for all proper fitba supporters. After Friday’s Quote of the Day, Trump will likely ban Scottish residents from entering our USA USA USA” — JJ Zucal.

Research is on ‘an upward curve’ and the next five years could be vital in trying to limit cruciate ruptures

Players who compete in the top two levels of German women’s football are four times more likely to rupture their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts, according to the German Football Association (DFB).

The governing body has funded a central injury and illness registry in women’s football for three years. So far in the Frauen Bundesliga, Germany’s top flight, there have been a reported seven ACL injuries 10 games into the current campaign. In the men’s Bundesliga, meanwhile, there have been three such injuries.

Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick and Manchester City’s loss to Newcastle means Arsenal are in control of their own destiny

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So it turns out those who had already handed the title to Arsenal were right after all.

It’s absurd, of course, to start handing out the title in November but a feature of modern football is how obsessed it becomes so early with title races. It’s perhaps a legacy of the Pep Guardiola-Jürgen Klopp rivalry’s peak, when being champion meant amassing more than 95 points. It made sense then to scan the track far ahead for any potential hurdles because there were so few. But less than a third of the way through this season, Manchester City, who remain probably the biggest danger to Arsenal, have already dropped as many points as they did in the entirety of 2017-18, their 100-point campaign.

Arsenal rout Bayern to stake a claim as Europe’s best, Liverpool spiral again, Benfica revive under Mourinho, and Estevão dazzles on a crowded week of stars

• Bayern Munich’s unbeaten run and claim to be the best team in European football were both punctured at the Emirates. Arsenal were rampant against an opponent who have handed them so much pain in the past. The Gunners opened the scoring through their habitual set-piece goal, Jurriën Timber fulfilling the role of the absent Gabriel Magalhães. Lennart Karl, the 17-year-old, showed off his chops with a fine goal; from within Bayern have found the player they desired when they were thwarted in moving for Florian Wirtz. After that, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze took control in midfield, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli scoring the goals, the latter a humiliation of Manuel Neuer’s sweeper-keeper stylings. Amid the fug of the extended Champions League group-stage format, where matches between elite clubs are routine rather than novelty, this was still a statement victory. “I think they had an incredible match against, in my opinion, the best team in Europe,” Mikel Arteta said of his players. That status surely now lies with his team: Arsenal top the group-stage table with a 100% record.

Plus: long waits to play at a World Cup, champions being thrashed and title-winners with a negative goal difference

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“Idrissa Gueye’s red card for slapping Michael Keane at Old Trafford made me wonder – which other players have put hands on a teammate during a game?” asks Conor Humphries.

We covered this in a question back in 2004 – but 21 years is a long time in football, never mind intrasquad violence, so it’s due an upgrade. First, a brief summary of those we mentioned in the 2004 article.

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

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On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Theo Lloyd-Hughes for an NWSL special, looking at the final between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit, as well as the season as a whole, and all of the latest news from the home nations

On today’s pod: we have a National Women’s Soccer League Special for you – after Gotham FC were handed the keys to New York City following their 1-0 Championship win over Washington Spirit in the final. We’ll reflect on the game itself as well as the season as a whole.

Also, it’s the International break so we’ll also take a look at how the home nations are looking and react to the news that Tanya Oxtoby has left Northern Ireland to become Newcastle United’s head coach.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves