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Given how both teams’ seasons have panned out so far, Palace getting demoted to the Conference League and replaced by Nottingham Forest looks to have actually worked out in the Eagles’ favour.

Feyenoord (4-3-3): Wellenreuther; Read, Ahmedhodzic, Watanabe, Smal; Valente, Steijn, Hwang; Hadj Moussa, Ueda, Sauer.
Subs: Bijlow, Bossin, Nieuwkoop, Larin, Borges, Bos, Tengstedt, Diarra, Targhaline, Lotomba, Sliti, Plug.

The Crystal Palace juggernaut is showing no signs of letting up. Goals from Daniel Muñoz and the substitute Eddie Nketiah ensured Oliver Glasner’s side marked their first appearance in the main phase of a European competition with a comfortable victory over Dynamo Kyiv despite a late red card for Borna Sosa.

It was the perfect reward for the 3,500 supporters who had made the pilgrimage from south London to southern Poland as Palace made it 19 games unbeaten in all competitions to establish a new club record that dates back more than 50 years. Against opponents who have enjoyed plenty of famous European nights in their storied history but are no longer the same force of old due to the ongoing war with Russia, there was only ever going to be one winner as Glasner’s side showed they are well equipped to go all the way to Leipzig despite their inexperience at this level.

• Viccars, who pleaded guilty, targeted three girls aged 15

• PGMO said he was suspended when allegations emerged

An English Football League assistant referee who “preyed upon young women” has been jailed for a string of child sexual abuse offences involving teenage girls.

Gareth Viccars, 47, of Shackleton Place, Oldbrook, Milton Keynes, previously pleaded guilty to 16 counts, including sexual communications with a child, meeting with a child following sexual grooming, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity with a child. The offences spanned three years between November 2021 and October 2024 and involved three girls aged 15, Snaresbrook crown court previously heard.

• Chief executive says spending ‘breathes life’ into rivals

• ‘I don’t see how it’s suffocating [the European game]’

Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, has denied that the English top flight’s transfer spending is damaging European football, arguing instead that it “breathes life” into rival competitions.

Masters made the claim as he took stock of the Premier League’s global position and laid out plans for its growth. Noting that England’s elite clubs had a “bigger share of the world’s best players” from this summer’s record-breaking £3bn spending, Masters said: “Seven of our clubs were net recipients in lots of inter-Premier League transfers. But a lot of that money does percolate out of the big European leagues, a substantial portion of that, and breathes life into their own transfer markets. So I don’t see how it’s suffocating [the European game].

It is more than 500 days since the Blues last lost a WSL game, but coach warns, ‘We did not achieve anything yet’

It has been more than 500 days since Chelsea last lost a Women’s Super League game. That sentence alone tells you how exceptional they are, and whichever way you frame the statistics they are daunting. How about “Sonia Bompastor is yet to lose a WSL game after 15 months in charge”, “The Frenchwoman has won 23 of her 26 WSL games without defeat” or “Bompastor is unbeaten in 34 domestic matches since moving to England”? All are true, all sound formidable, and – after four wins from four this term – they are showing no signs of letting up.

Who will bring this run to a halt? Eventually, Chelsea will lose a WSL match. It might not be this week, it might not be in 2025, it might not even be this season. Maybe it won’t even be during this parliament, but one day it will happen, and logic suggests that the fixtures where their streak has the highest probability of ending is in one of their away games against their main title rivals, Arsenal, Manchester City or Manchester United. On Friday, the latter of that trio will have their turn, and form-wise they have rarely been better placed to have a go at it.

• Attacker has chance with Palmer and Madueke ruled out

• Bellingham and Saka could also return to squad

Phil Foden is pushing for an England recall after enjoying a resurgence at Manchester City. The attacker asked to be left out of the squad in June, in part because he wanted to refocus by spending some time away from football after a difficult season, and was not picked by Thomas Tuchel for last month’s World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia.

Foden struggled with an ankle knock during pre-season and has been working his way back to peak physical condition. The 25-year-old has impressed for City in recent weeks, particularly in victories over Manchester United and Napoli, and will hope to be involved when Tuchel names his latest squad on Friday.

There was a compelling clash of heavyweights in Catalonia, some unhappy rumblings at Real and a legend of Azerbaijani football roared

• The viewers. Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain was the final many wanted last season. Wednesday’s group-stage meeting showed why. The fixture did not disappoint, even if, with red tape delaying the opening of the renovated Camp Nou, it was played in the less atmospheric Lluís Companys Stadium. Luis Enrique’s young Parisians staged a comeback in Catalonia, thanks to their coach’s expert use of his squad. Senny Mayulu, 19, upstaged Lamine Yamal by scoring the equaliser – Wednesday was the first match this season Yamal had failed to either score or contribute to a goal. Instead, the resurgent Marcus Rashford set up Ferran Torres’s opener for Barça. PSG were shorn of Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the forward line that claimed last season’s crown. No matter: 23-year-old Bradley Barcola stepped up as the senior forward and ravaged Hansi Flick’s high-line, high-wire defence. The youngsters kept coming for PSG: 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye was replaced by another teenager, Quentin Ndjantou, to play alongside the lively Lee Kang-in. In the end, Achraf Hakimi supplied the assist for Gonçalo Ramos, another sub, to score the 90th minute winner and inflict Barcelona’s first loss this season. “If you’re the best team, you have to show it on the pitch, and not talk,” said Ramos, who habitually scores late goals off the bench. “We are the champions of Europe.”

Nordi Mukiele, Mohammed Kudus and Hugo Ekitiké have started quickly, unlike Florian Wirtz, Anthony Elanga and Benjamin Sesko

By WhoScored

Six games into their first Premier League season since 2016-17, and Sunderland are flying high in fifth place. It’s their best start to a top-flight campaign in 70 years. A lot of that success can be attributed to their new signings, none more than the outstanding Mukiele – WhoScored’s second-highest rated player this season after Erling Haaland.

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During a week when Wheel of Fortune made history by paying out its highest ever cash prize to a marketing manager from Connecticut, the first of the 4.5 million fans who have applied for Geopolitics World Cup tickets were selected to buy them through the system Fifa has named after the long-running American gameshow. While Christina Derevjanik walked away with $1,035,155, two different holidays and the best wishes of co-hosts Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, those who got lucky in the Fifa equivalent will have to pay handsomely for the privilege of getting to watch matches despite not having the foggiest idea who will be playing in them until the draw is made. Although a certain, very small number of tickets for some group games will start at $60 (£44), for anyone who doesn’t mind sitting nearer the Kármán line than the halfway line, the key word is “start” because they could go for a lot more given Fifa’s decision to channel their inner Oasis and embrace the wheeze of dynamic pricing. With the cheapest tickets for next year’s final starting at $2,030 and the most expensive starting at $6,000, England fans hoping to see their team lift the trophy in New Jersey will be forced to budget and may have to stick considerably cheaper pre-match firecrackers where the sun don’t shine.

Am I among 1,057 who have gone from automatically supporting English teams (even Arsenal) on European nights to rather hoping that anyone will beat one of the moneybags teams, or is it just me?” – Bob Cushion (and no others).

A response to Martin Fisher (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) about fixture congestion: all you have to do is look at a fixture list to see that clubs play more than twice a week. From 13 September to 4 October (three weeks), Arsenal will have played seven games. That is 2.33 games per week” – Thabo Caves.

Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday is eight days. Last time I looked a week was seven days. Also, you can’t have a Saturday being the last of three games in one week and the first of the next set of games the following week, if you start counting it twice will they be worth six points? Will relegation matches become 12-pointers? That’s all Southampton got last season” – Chris Harrison.

How disappointing that ref Adam Herczeg missed a trick by only sending Chris Wilder to the stand after booting the ball smack in the choppers of some poor, hapless Blades fan at half-time (yesterday’s Football Daily). How much more effective would his punishment have been if he’d sent him to the stand and made him sit next to said fan and endure 45 minutes plus stoppage time of the poor gent’s views on where the Blades are going wrong this season? Surely the EFL powers-that-be would consider that suitable redress and the cost and inconvenience of a hearing could have been avoided. Come on referees, let’s start thinking outside the box” – John Collins.

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Former New Zealand captain led takeover of French club and wants Crux Football to add more teams to portfolio

“I wanted to try to build something that I wish had existed when I was playing.”

At the core, that is what has driven Bex Smith, the former New Zealand captain, to set up a multi-club ownership group and attempt to create environments for women’s teams that her generation could only dream of. On Wednesday, her vision took a step towards reality as her investment group Crux Football completed the purchase of their first team, buying a 100% stake in the French club Montpellier.

A feeling of loss and dislocation surrounds the East End club, which has never been part of tourist or establishment London

Graham Potter still turned up for work on Saturday morning, even though there was no work left for him to do. A team meeting was arranged, at which Potter announced to general bewilderment that he had been sacked. Potter left. Training was delayed because nobody was available to take it. Eventually the new coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, arrived on site and hastily began preparations for the Everton game on Monday.

Perhaps on reflection it was inevitable that West Ham United’s big set-piece appointment went the same way many of their set pieces have gone this season. “We’re not West Ham any more,” disgruntled fans have been chanting at recent protests against the club’s ownership, but consider the evidence. A bungled sacking. A fiesta of contradictory leaks and briefings. Chaotic performances on the pitch. A vacuum of leadership and direction. Catastrophic recruitment. An early relegation battle. Fans in open revolt. I don’t know. Sounds pretty West Ham to me.

Arsenal substitutes have scored in five consecutive games and a sense of purpose is growing in Arteta’s side

Gabriel Martinelli started the sequence when he came off the bench to open the scoring in Arsenal’s 2-0 Champions League win at Athletic Bilbao last month. He continued it when he came on again in their next game to conjure the stoppage-time equaliser against Manchester City in the Premier League. And together with everyone at Arsenal, not least Mikel Arteta, who has not stopped talking about the importance of “finishers”, he can luxuriate in how it has grown.

When Bukayo Saka was introduced to score the clinching goal in Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Olympiakos, it was the fifth match in a row that an Arsenal substitute had found the net.

The goal that won this game was a portrait of how it had been played: all in, all the way to the end. A move that started deep in Paris Saint-Germain’s half with Lee Kang-in chased backwards, turning, escaping and going at the same opponents who had been pursuing him, ended in the Barcelona penalty area with Gonçalo Ramos slotting past Wojciech Szczesny. There were six seconds left, it was the 26th shot of an exhausting and enjoyable night, and now it really was over, Barcelona beaten.

For an hour of generous effort and high quality, they had gone at each other; for the last half an hour, as Barcelona tired and PSG somehow didn’t, Luis Enrique’s side kept pressing and ultimately justice was done. The European champions still look a step ahead even with illustrious absentees, the Ballon d’Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé, among them.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Mark Langdon, as Monaco score a late penalty against City in Europe and there are straightforward wins for Arsenal and Newcastle

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On the podcast today: what better way to be reminded that Eric Dier joined Monaco in the summer than for him to score a 90th-minute penalty and earn a 2-2 Champions League draw against Manchester City. It was easier for the other English clubs in Europe, as Arsenal and Newcastle won comfortably against Olympiakos and Union Saint-Gilloise, respectively.

• Tyler Adams left off US squad

• Team will play against Ecuador and Australia

Mauricio Pochettino has named a 26-player roster for the US men’s national team’s upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Australia that includes many familiar names – and has one very notable omission.

Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams, a usual mainstay of the squad who captained the US at the 2022 World Cup, is not included, with Pochettino breaking the news that the midfielder is expecting his second child in the days to come.

• Wright inspires 4-0 win for Frank Lampard’s side

• Josh Maja goal gives West Brom 1-0 win at Norwich

Haji Wright added two more goals to his early-season collection as Coventry dismantled Millwall 4-0 at the Den to move second in the Championship table. The USA international Wright is the top scorer in the Championship with seven goals after his double against a Lions side who became the latest to feel the power of the Sky Blues’ rampant attack this season.

Frank Lampard’s side remain unbeaten in the league and closed to within two points of pacesetters Middlesbrough after taking their goal tally to 22 goals in eight matches.

The USA women’s manager on the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, and how coaches need more support to navigate the modern game

With hands raised eagerly, the children from Abbott Community primary school want to quiz the USA head coach. The plan was for Emma Hayes to take just a few questions from the youngsters at the National Football Museum, but she wants to answer them all. Even her son, Harry, watching on, raises a hand. The tone is light, fun and educational as Hayes celebrates induction into the Hall of Fame.

The former Chelsea manager, who is being honoured by the museum for her coaching achievements, not least her seven Women’s Super Leagues titles and Olympic gold medal, is quick to point to how glad she is that the “women’s game is in a better place in this country” compared with when she took the Chelsea job in 2012. Alongside her smiles, though, there is a deep sadness. When later sitting down to speak to the Guardian, Hayes has words of warning for the sport: namely that it must learn lessons from the death of her predecessor at Chelsea, Matt Beard, after the shock news of his death aged 47 last month.

The ultras are celebrating 20 years of bringing tifos, noise and passion to the terraces at Selhurst Park

When William McGregor founded the Football League in 1888, his vision was for the original dozen clubs to be at the heart of their communities. The clubs would be a focal point for local people to come together and watch football on Saturday afternoons. As money and television have changed the game, supporters have become a secondary concern and Saturday afternoon kick-offs, especially in the Premier League, have become a rarity rather than the norm. In response to these developments, supporters formed ultra groups to ensure their voices are heard.

One of the most prominent of these is the Holmesdale Fanatics at Crystal Palace, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Leaning on the experience of fans of Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels, Red Star in Paris and St Pauli in Hamburg, they have generated their own brand of coordinated, passionate support over the past two decades.

With an enticing run of fixtures coming up and the captain back to his best, an enjoyable autumn seems on the cards

And … breathe. As Bukayo Saka shot low, hard and ultimately through Kostas Tzolakis in the Olympiakos goal to complete an occasionally uncomfortable 2-0 win, the noise from the home crowd was more a weary, sofa-flopping sigh than a roar of triumph, with the sense, finally, of a midweek putting-to-bed.

This was a game Arsenal always looked like they were winning, despite seeming to realise this a little too early in the piece against eager and purposeful opponents. Nobody attracts the stern and unforgiving eye quite like this Arsenal team, for whom squad depth, the unforgivable act of acquiring a potentially title‑winning team, is the latest crime on the rap sheet.

Under pressure from prevailing winds in society, football has to stand together to protect and celebrate diversity

Football is deeply woven into the fabric of society, so perhaps it is no surprise that at Kick It Out we have seen a rise in reports of discrimination since the summer. The recent protests in central London show many more people are becoming nationalistic and want firmer action against immigration. People from ethnic minorities are being targeted with abuse.

Debate may continue about why people turned out to march with their union jacks and St George’s flags. But we can’t hide from the fact that the far-right has a historical link to football hooliganism, and we know there have been signs of it becoming more apparent at football this season, leaving the communities that we serve feeling vulnerable.

Plus: teams on epic draw streaks, early season pitch invasions and long-throw world records

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Manchester City had 32.8% possession in their 1-1 draw at Arsenal last month, the lowest of Pep Guardiola’s career,” begins Graham Murphy. “Do any managers have a higher lowest-possession figure in the English top flight?”

That figure of 32.8% was the lowest for Guardiola in a league game, as mentioned in last week’s column. We can’t compare him to every Premier League manager, mainly because possession stats were only recorded from the 2003-04 season onwards. Instead, we asked our friends at Opta to deliver the statistical goods on selected managers, past and present.

The World Cup is in reach for Patrick Kluivert’s side and, though problems persist, things are looking up in one of Asia’s most passionate football nations

Three years ago this Wednesday, 135 football fans died at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Indonesia after security forces deployed teargas and created a stampede for the exits. 1 October 2022 was the nadir of a curve that had been sliding downwards for decades. This is a country that, in this century alone, has seen its FA president run the federation from a prison cell while facing corruption charges, the creation of rebel national leagues, federations and national team Fifa bans and fans being killed by other fans.

In March 2023 there were more negative headlines when the country was stripped of hosting the Under-20 World Cup just months before kick-off after the governor of Bali said that Israel would not be welcome on the island. Erick Thohir, former owner of Inter and DC United and current co-owner of Oxford United, had just become boss of PSSI, as the federation is known, and did his utmost to save the tournament. Football fans braced themselves for Fifa punishment and more chaos to come. Instead, the world governing body was sufficiently impressed with the efforts of Thohir, who has been a cabinet minister for years, to give the country the Under-17 World Cup in November. It was a success and brought some much-needed positivity.

After scoring 100 goals in record time, the striker is open to extending his stay at a club where he is now treasured

As the flight carrying Bayern Munich’s squad and staff glides into the south-western corner of Cyprus in Monday’s early evening, some of their experienced, decorated players might reflect that, until very recently, they never expected to be here as they gaze out of their windows. Their hosts, Pafos, have certainly come a long way to breathe this rarefied air, removing from their path along the way no less a name than Crvena Zvezda, whose vintage team vanquished Bayern in an epic semi-final on their route to becoming European champions in 1991.

Finding yourself somewhere you didn’t necessarily expect to be is a continued theme from Bayern’s weekend. Yes, they certainly expected their routine 4-0 win against Werder Bremen (a name that, like the boys from Belgrade, has known more glorious incarnations in the past) on Friday night, but for once it felt like it was about the individual achievement rather than the collective one.

Emotions abound at the Metropolitano as Atleti’s five goals left the coach crying on the touchline and his team revitalised

In the final few minutes before the derby day that was destined to be the best they ever had, Diego Simeone gathered his players and asked if they were OK. The pressure was intense, their need desperate, but of all the things that are truly important in your lives, he wanted to know, is there anything that’s not right? Does anyone have any problems?

“All of them said ‘no’,” Atlético Madrid’s manager admitted later, when the Metropolitano had finally fallen silent, the singing drifting in from down Avenida de Luis Aragonés instead. “So I said: ‘then play, have fun. You’re good. Enjoy yourselves. A footballer’s life passes quickly, make the most of it; these games don’t come back.’”

Despite going down to 10 men, Massimiliano Allegri’s side held on and went top of Serie A

The league billed Milan v Napoli as a showdown between two “Masters of Midfield”, Luka Modric and Kevin De Bruyne, defining talents of a world football generation who each chose Serie A this summer. Players who have won a combined 58 trophies in their careers, including Champions League, La Liga and Premier League triumphs.

Past their prime? Certainly. But over the hill? Hardly. Modric, at 40 years old, had started Milan’s first four league games, taking more touches (329) and creating more shooting opportunities (19, per fbref.com) than any teammate. De Bruyne, at 34, was the only Napoli player with more than one goal so far this season, having struck in wins over Sassuolo and Fiorentina.

A pattern familiar to Manchester United fans is emerging at Nice: every time the owners intervene, results start to tank

By Get French Football News

What if correlation did imply causation? The “best season” of Ineos’s ownership of Nice correlated with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co being forcibly distanced from the club due to Uefa regulations. “They have been so much better without our interference,” Ratcliffe admitted last season, as Nice achieved their highest league finish since 2017. With Nice and Manchester United no longer competing in the same European competition, Ineos regained operational control of the French club at the start of the summer and have only corroborated Ratcliffe’s previous assertion.

Already out of the Champions League at the first hurdle having been outplayed by Benfica in the qualifiers at the start of August, Nice have lost three of their first six games in Ligue 1 as well as losing their Europa League opener against Roma last Wednesday. “We can’t say that we’re swimming in joy and confidence,” the club’s manager, Franck Haise, said before their 1-1 draw against the newly promoted Paris FC on Sunday.

Obdurate manager’s Ruben-ball could arguably take the blame for Fernandes’s penalty fluff in another utterly bloodless performance

You’ve got to hand it to the reliably prolific pain-content generator that is Manchester United. Even at the end of a performance that was, if nothing else, a perfect example of empty and bloodless systems football, 90 minutes that felt like watching a robot with a cold go for a walk, this thing can still offer you stories, mini-arcs, narrative Easter eggs.

The only shame is we will have to wait another six months, April at Stamford Bridge, to see if Bruno Fernandes can complete the perfect hat-trick of weirdly missed west London penalties.

Graham Potter’s great mistake was to think that he could build while the fire was raging around him

The timing of the news left a sour taste in the mouth. Graham Potter has been in trouble for more than a month. There was no decision after West Ham continued their dreadful start to the season last Saturday nine days ago, losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace at a deflated London Stadium, and it seemed Potter had been given one last chance to save his job given that he conducted his usual media duties. Instead Nuno Espirito Santo, immediately installed after Potter’s unceremonious sacking on Friday, will manage the team against Everton on Monday .

There was defiance from the 50-year-old on Friday. Blame the coach all you like, Potter said, but it is worth looking at the wider context. “You have to look at where the club was at,” he said. “Because then you can make an assessment of how long it needs to turn results around. What was the environment like? What was the culture like? What was the team like?”

Sport should not be used to normalise abnormal conduct and it’s no longer possible to dispute the idea that Israel shouldn’t currently be participating

One big thing about deals with the devil. Faustian pacts. Soul exchanges. The get-you-in-front-of-me-Satan dynamic. The key thing here, an element that often gets overlooked, is that consideration must also flow the other way. This is in the end an exchange, and one you don’t get to default on. When Pauly buys a share in the restaurant, well, Pauly buys you too.

Watching Gianni Infantino on stage this week at the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards you wondered about this. There he is, our dear leader, alongside an iconic squad of fellow global rain-makers. To his left is a generic square-jawed galactic commander mail-order wellness powder type. On the edge of the group is a US politician who just looks like money made flesh, face as hard and blank as a government bond.

In alarming Women in Football survey, four in five report sexism and only 29% from underrepresented ethnic origins feel they can excel in the sport

The latest Women in Football survey into the experiences of women working in the sport is full of alarming statistics again, with four in five women reporting that they have experienced sexism in the workplace.

Included for the first time in the survey, which had 867 members take part, is distressing but unsurprising data on the experience of ethnic minority women.

Our cartoonist looks at the visit of another polarising figure … this time in the Champions League

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• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Only three footballers have won three straight Ballon d’Or awards: Lionel Messi, Michel Platini and Bonmatí

By WhoScored

Winning one Ballon d’Or is the mark of footballing greatness, winning two puts you in a very exclusive group of greats, but winning three in a row? That gives the 27-year-old Aitana Bonmatí footballing immortality. The Barcelona and Spain midfielder has become the first woman, and only the third player overall, alongside Lionel Messi and Michel Platini, to have achieved this feat. What exactly sets her apart?

Born and raised in Catalonia, Bonmatí joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy at 13, soaking up a philosophy of technical excellence and football intelligence that would shape her career. By 16, she was already in the senior side, modelling her game on legends such as Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.

Some stories can’t be proved wrong, but Karel Prince’s HMRC of Football podcast is exposing those who have embellished a little too much

Those of you who follow my content with even the faintest interest will know I have been squeezing every last drop out of perhaps five anecdotes for more than two decades.

So with no apology, presuming that Stockholm syndrome has set in and you have been trained to enjoy their retelling, here is the day I almost won a header against Jaap Stam.

Mercury13’s purchase of WSL 2 club is not traditional and aims to attract ‘hundreds of millions’ from investors

Figures from Mercury13 have said they want their purchase of Bristol City Women to allow “hundreds of millions of pounds to flow in” to the women’s game from other investors. They believe their deal will provide a blueprint for how to separate a women’s team from a men’s club.

Mercury13, which also owns Italian side Como Women, completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Bristol City on 18 September, subject to league approval. The WSL 2 side’s new era began with a 1-0 victory at Southampton on Sunday.

Charges tribunal is still to report on rule breaches, but does the league want to discredit its eight-time champions anyway?

Happy one-year anniversary! How has it been? How do you feel? More, or less, in love? Have you counted down the days? Are you happier, wiser, more centred, like a man in a porridge advert going for a soulful morning run in a sunlit cul-de-sac?

Perhaps, to offer another perspective, you feel so viscerally nauseated at the prospect of leafing through the pre-planned partisan responses to a highly complex piece of legal wrangling there’s a danger your own intestines will liquefy and snort out of your nostrils straight into the toaster. Who knows? Maybe that was the point all along.

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While the likelihood of fans at Bramall Lane getting hit by wayward shots struck by Sheffield United players is higher than usual this season, when Football Daily heard breathless reports that their recently re-installed head coach had been shown a red card for booting the ball into some hapless bystander’s face last night, we immediately presumed he’d lost the plot and deliberately committed an aggressive act of potentially career-ending violence. It was only upon seeking out footage of the incident on some social media disgrace or another that we realised he’d done nothing of the sort. Indeed, the only crime the Blades boss was even remotely guilty of was submitting to one of humankind’s most basic and primeval urges, specifically: kicking a football that was rolling towards him. As he walked off the Bramall Lane pitch at half-time, one was tossed in the direction of some nearby substitutes who were about to warm up and happened to trundle directly into Wilder’s path. Without breaking stride, the 58-year-old undertook the civic and some might say moral obligation of every sentient male who finds themselves in a similar circumstances and put his boot through it without so much as a second’s hesitation or malice aforethought.

The photo of John Aldridge (Tuesday’s letters) reminded me of a game 39 years ago (yikes!) on Saturday in which we beat that team 6-1 at Hillsborough, despite the two best players on the day – Aldridge and Ray Houghton – playing for our thrashed opponents” – Alan Burgess.

All the talk these days about how players/clubs can’t possibly be expected to play three games per week is just numerical nonsense. The generally accepted fixture accumulation method appears to be as follows: Saturday, then no midweek game, then Saturday = one game a week. Saturday, midweek game, Saturday = three games per week. What happened to teams with European or domestic cup commitments having to play twice a week? Am I missing something here?” – Martin Fisher.

I tittered like a schoolboy at Richard Pringle’s letter, which is pretty much what he would have hoped for I imagine. However, as far as football-related puerility goes, surely nothing beats Bern’s marvellously-monikered W@nkdorf Stadium?” – Phil Taverner.

I’m not sure why Macclesfield FC isn’t at the top of your (obviously made up) Model Club Table (yesterday’s Football Daily). It ticks all the important boxes. Community revival of a bankrupted-but-now-phoenix club? Tick. Redeveloped stands and investment in women’s team? Tick. Rising through the lower leagues to the precipice of professionalism? Tick. Got rid of Robbie Savage as the face of the club? Tick, tick, tick!” – Mike Wilner.

Re yesterday’s bob: “Arne Slot has claimed Liverpool’s defensive laps (sic) are definitely, definitely nothing to do with two new full-backs …”. Is he making them all run around the pitch every time they ship a goal?” – Steve Postle (and 1,056 others).

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

With late goals a major factor, the four major players for the trophy saw their narratives crystalize over the weekend

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There’s always a danger this early in the Premier League season of reading too much into a single set of games. Titles may be lost in September but they are very rarely won. This past weekend, though, did feel like one where many of the prevailing narratives crystalised as Arsenal dug deep to win the sort of game they’ve become used to losing, Liverpool’s defensive shortcomings were exposed as they lost for the first time this campaign, Manchester City swept aside lesser opposition in the manner of old and Chelsea fell apart again.

Liverpool have looked defensively shaky all season. Having been the team of control in the last campaign, making the unremarkable 2-0 win a trademark, they have become the side of the late winner, clinching games this season in the 88th, 94th, 100th, 83rd, 95th, 92nd and 85th minutes. That was never going to be sustainable, but the question was whether general performances would improve, or whether the late strikes would dry up.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

Grounds have traditionally been designed for men but growth of women’s game is rapidly changing the landscape

“It was a pitch in the middle of a park, basically,” Peter McFarlane, secretary of the Everton Women Official Supporters’ Club, says in describing Walton Hall Park, the 500-seat stadium that eventually held a further 1500 spectators before the team moved to Goodison Park.

Walton Hall Park was the smallest stadium in the Women’s Super League, charming and nostalgic with its railed-off standing space, somewhat isolated outside of the city, and otherwise simply lacking food options and a bar. “It’s worlds apart compared to what Goodison offers us,” McFarlane says. “I mean, it helps we have a roof for the fans.”

The Green Shirts went up in the rankings after the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers with the side ushered along by players who had yet to visit the country

Due to international bans, political infighting, corruption and plenty more besides, there has been genuine equality in Pakistan for much of the past decade. Neither the male or female national teams have played much. Indeed, from 2014 to 2022 the women had no fixtures at all. However, the female Green Shirts are making up for lost time, helped by a bunch of British-born players.

An 8-0 defeat would not usually be the start of something special but that is what happened in qualification for the 2026 Asian Cup in June and July. That thrashing came against Chinese Taipei, who are ranked 42 in the world, 119 places above Pakistan. Next up were Indonesia, then ranked 95 and the tournament hosts, and Pakistan won 2-0. Qualifying ended with a 2-1 victory against Kyrgyzstan, then ranked 136 in the word, and a second-place finish. In the end only the top team from the group qualified, but for Pakistan that represented a huge step forward for a new-look side.

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The Matildas’ legacy was meant to supercharge the domestic game. Instead the league has lost a team, leaving many to wonder if the boom has gone bust

The transformative effects that England’s hosting of the 2022 Women’s European Championship had on its domestic game are well known in Australia. The country got its version of this phenomenon when it co-hosted the 2023 Women’s World Cup and its domestic competition, the A-League Women, basked in the reflected halo’s light as it grew to 12 sides, secured a new collective bargaining agreement increasing spending limits and became the first Australian football code to introduce a full home-and-away women’s season. There were record crowds and TV ratings.

Come the start of 2025-26, however, on the eve of Australia preparing to host its own continental showpiece, the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup, and those heights feel increasingly bygone. Most of the news dominating the buildup for the new year has been less than ideal, the coming campaign seeing the league – a closed competition without promotion and relegation – contract in size for the first time since Central Coast went on hiatus before 2010-11. It will do so after Western United’s teams were placed into a period of “conditional hibernation” amid their embattled attempts to stave off collapse.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Tom Garry and Sanny Rudravajhala to review the weekend’s WSL action

On today’s pod: is Arsenal’s title challenge already under threat? The panel ask how Renée Slegers’ side failed to close out the game at the Emirates, and whether Aston Villa’s late equaliser signals a turning point for Natalia Arroyo’s team.

The panel reflects on an emotional match as Manchester United win at Liverpool, and discusses Hinata Miyazawa’s growing influence and what United’s unbeaten start reveals about their own title credentials.

Mikel Arteta proves he may have changed his ways while Eddie Nketiah shows off his worth for Crystal Palace

St James’ Park has done strange things to Arsenal. It had become Mikel Arteta’s bogey ground, defeats the last three visits, his team unable to score. Each time, bright beginnings had given way to becoming bogged down by refereeing controversy, Arsenal pulled into the rolling maul football that better suits Newcastle’s muscle. Sunday’s attacking team selection and Arteta throwing the kitchen sink in chasing a win when a point had already been rescued hinted at a change in mentality. Arteta’s team eventually wrested control of the physical battle to push for three. If the dimensions that Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres have added failed to pay off, the Premier League’s deepest squad found the aerial power within itself, via Arteta’s attacking substitutions. An early overturned penalty and missed chances felt all too familiar. Arsenal’s response to those reverses, overturning their St James’ mental block, suggested a fresh determination that will serve them well in the title hunt. John Brewin

Match report: Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal

Match report: Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham

Match report: Brentford 3-1 Manchester United

Match report: Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool

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