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• Updates ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifiers

• Get in touch! Email Matchday live here

Feels like international break fatigue is setting in already.

Things you never thought you’d see, and really don’t want to see: Boris Johnson in conversation with Nottingham Forest president Evangelos Marinakis. The Greek tycoon has some interesting views on the Ukraine-Russia war, one that rather contravenes his stance on Morgan Gibbs-White being allowed to join Tottenham.

• WSL updates from 1.30pm BST | Email Rob

• WSL and WSL2 players to get minimum salaries

Here’s more on London City Lionesses’ remarkable signing of Grace Geyoro from PSG

Arsenal’s record signing Olivia Smith goes straight into the starting XI. With Leah Williamson injured, the teenager Katie Reid starts in defence.

• French champions’ coach to undergo surgery

• Setback follows Ousmane Dembélé’s hamstring injury

Luis Enrique broke his collarbone in a cycling accident on Friday and the Paris Saint-Germain coach was to undergo surgery, the French champions said.

The 55-year-old Spaniard, a cycling enthusiast, led PSG to their first Champions League triumph last season, and the team have won three straight games to open their Ligue 1 title defence.

Forward opens the scoring against Manchester City and could dominate her side’s front line this season

Once the smoke from the pyrotechnics cleared and the orange WSL-branded carpet was rolled up, as prolific striker Sam Kerr sat on the bench and club record signing, Alyssa Thompson, in the stands, it was the academy graduate Aggie Beever-Jones who stood by the centre circle ready to lead the line for Chelsea as they kickstarted the new season against Manchester City. That it was the 22-year-old forward who opened Blues’ account on Friday night was fitting. This is home.

For all the hype about Kerr’s return 20 months out from her anterior cruciate ligament injury and the Blues’ late £1.1m swoop to pry Thompson from NWSL side Angel City, it was the lifelong fan who would announce, in style, 30 minutes in, that she is so much more than an impact player, turning in Ellie Carpenter’s tight cross from the right.

A penny for the thoughts of Christian Eriksen. Denmark could justify leaving the 33-year-old out of their squad for the meetings with Scotland and Greece on the basis he remains unemployed. Yet as the hosts huffed, puffed and failed to unpick a magnificently drilled Scotland defence, the issue of what Eriksen could have contributed was such an obvious one. Denmark in this form will not play at next summer’s World Cup.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland were worthy of their point. But for a lack of composure in front of goal, they would have departed Copenhagen with all three. The winners from this opening night of a truncated section were the Greeks, who swept Belarus aside 5-1, but Scotland richly deserved their full-time ovation from an appreciative support. Denmark were booed off.

Head coach steps back from tactical tinkering, as a smaller squad prioritises intensity against Andorra on Saturday

For Thomas Tuchel, the fundamentals will never change, the ones that he outlined when he breezed into the England job on a one-man wave of positivity and excitement. The head coach regards it as essential that his team play with the passion of the Premier League; as a band of brothers, high-fiving, encouraging, selfless.

It is about energy and intensity; after a ball loss, for example. Tracking back. They must enjoy the freedom to express themselves. Harry Kane can drop off a bit from the No 9 position but not too much. There needs to be speed around him, space and incisive patterns throughout.

After lifting European titles with Arsenal and England this year, forward aims to knock WSL champions off their perch

Beth Mead leans back slightly in her seat, the wall behind her displaying iterations of the Arsenal crest through decades of change and says: “It’s a tough club to walk away from.”

After a year of gossip, wondering and a summer of speculation, the transfer window has shut and Mead is heading, hungrier than ever, into her ninth full season at the club she joined at 21.

Domestic game risks being ripped from its fabric as La Liga and Serie A seek approval from Uefa to play fixtures abroad

It has been called the biggest existential threat to European football since the ill-fated Super League. Now it is on the verge of becoming reality and the implications will be far reaching if, as widely expected, La Liga and Serie A are given permission in the coming weeks to host domestic games abroad. The sport risks being ripped from its fabric should Barcelona and Villarreal be allowed to break the mould and stage a top-flight fixture in Miami this December.

The topic has dominated discussion in football’s corridors of power recently and, at the heart of a complex and deeply emotive problem, the immediate equation is simple. If Uefa’s executive committee agrees to the plans when it convenes in Tirana on Thursday the final say will be down to Fifa, probably at a meeting of its council on 2 October. The global governing body would be unlikely to put up opposition and the question, at that point, will be just how earth-shattering a precedent has been set.

• ‘I understand why our fans were frustrated’

• Isak joined Liverpool for British record £125m

Dan Burn has said he remains friends with Alexander Isak and wishes him well after the most controversial transfer saga of the summer ended with the striker leaving Newcastle for Liverpool for a British record fee of £125m.

Although Isak has few allies left on Tyneside after forcing his way out of St James’ Park, Burn is keen to move on from a testing transfer window and said that he is not as upset as supporters who feel betrayed by the Sweden international’s behaviour.

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

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

England’s rebranded second tier begins on Friday and our club-by-club guide features all the pre-season news

Last season: 2nd. Predicted finish: 2nd
After missing out on promotion on the final day of last season, finishing two points behind London City Lionesses, Birmingham looked virtually WSL-ready on and off the pitch but were the victims of the old format’s lone promotion spot. Under Amy Merricks, they had the best defensive record in the division but too many draws ultimately cost Birmingham dearly. With a second automatic promotion spot up for grabs – and one playoff spot too – they should just about have enough, after some strong summer signings, including the return of the Greece winger Veatriki Sarri and the Haiti forward Batcheba Louis.

Lionesses and Bayern Munich midfielder on ‘stressful’ Euro 2025 success, ‘world-class’ Sarina Wiegman and online abuse suffered by players

Georgia Stanway has more than 100 tiny tattoos inked into her skin and, stretching out her arms to show me some of them, she reveals that since helping England win a second consecutive Euros at the heart of their midfield this summer, “I’ve probably had about 10 new ones. Sometimes, I’ll be sat in the living room and say: ‘Ah, let’s just go to the studio.’”

The numbers 19:32 stand out in blue on one arm and she says: “That’s the time the final whistle blew when we won [2022] the Euros and on the back of my arm I’ve got II in Roman numerals because we’ve won it twice now. But I’ve obviously got plenty of random and sentimental tattoos as well.”

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

Shekiera Martinez is primed to be integral once again as the club close in on more investment to catch up with their rivals

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Sophie Downey’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 9th

Spurs will look to bounce back after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign and have brought in Martin Ho as their new manager

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 11th

Third-place WSL finish will be hard to repeat but Champions League group stages are in reach and Fridolina Rolfö is an eye-catching signing

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 3rd

New head coach Andrée Jeglertz will be expected to return City to Europe after they missed out on the Women’s Champions League last season

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

• Terry Dunn to face AFC Totton after 28 years in retirement

• ‘Playing in goal is like riding a bike – you never forget it’

Fifty-four-year-old Terry Dunn’s leisurely Saturday lie-in and afternoon trip to watch his beloved Dorking Wanderers has been scrapped this week. Instead of cheering the National League South side on from behind the goal against AFC Totton, he has answered the Surrey club’s emergency call and will put his well-worn goalkeeping gloves back on after 28 years in retirement and take his place between the sticks.

Dunn, whose former clubs include the now extinct North Holmwood and who was a multiple promotion winner with several local clubs before hanging up his gloves in 1997, is joining the playing squad on a temporary basis … till Monday when Dorking can get in a new keeper and solve their injury crisis.

• France midfielder Grace Geyoro joins WSL club from PSG

• Manchester United manager Skinner says fee is ‘crazy’

London City Lionesses have broken the world record for a women’s football transfer by signing the France midfielder Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain for €1.65m (£1.43m), the Guardian understands.

The deal is believed to have gone to the wire on Thursday but was completed before the Women’s Super League’s transfer window closed at 11pm BST and the 28-year-old has become the third player to break the world record in the women’s game in less than two months.

Many supporters regard winning as the only thing that matters but the fan on the street doesn’t understand the intricacies of running a club

When Daniel Levy took over as Tottenham’s chair in 2001 I was introduced to him by Alan Sugar and promised that, as director of football, I would help him get his feet under the table as quickly as possible. The club he leaves behind almost 25 years later is one many players from around the world would love to be part of.

Daniel very swiftly understood the difficulties of running a big football organisation with so much emotion attached. He had to parry a great deal of hurtful and at times unfair criticism but he remained a sensible custodian and a workaholic who was astute and principled.

Midfielder reveals decision behind Scotland snub as he aims to join luminaries who began at Wallsend Boys Club

A sense of pride and achievement should accompany a first call-up to a senior national team yet it planted a seed of doubt in Elliot Anderson. Two years on and that seed has borne fruit for England, while adding to Scotland’s regret.

It was August 2023 when Anderson was named in the Scotland squad for the first time. An international debut beckoned for the youngster from Whitley Bay, who is eligible to play for Scotland through his grandmother, in the following month’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Cyprus and the friendly with England at Hampden Park. “He had a little think about choosing between Scotland and England,” the manager, Steve Clarke, said at the time.“We had some good discussions with the boy and his family and he has chosen to come with us, which is good for us now and certainly good for us in the future.” Anderson would never come good for Scotland, as it transpired.

• Defender again out of England squad due to injury

• Tuchel adds Mason Greenwood ‘not in our thoughts’

Thomas Tuchel has thrown John Stones’s hopes of going to the World Cup into doubt after the defender’s latest injury setback forced him to pull out of England’s qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia.

Stones is one of the squad’s leading figures but he has been held back by a series of fitness issues during the past 18 months and has not featured for England since last October.

US Soccer will belatedly honor one of its most accomplished players on Saturday – as good a time as any to re-assess his groundbreaking career

In a sense, the real surprise isn’t that it took almost six years for Michael Bradley to get his flowers for his long and laureled United States men’s national team career. It’s that he agreed to receive them at all.

That sort of thing is, after all, extremely un-Michael Bradley.

At one point not long ago, the world governing body at least tried to look like it cared about growing the game worldwide. Not any more

If there’s the tiniest sliver of an upside to the latest news about ticketing for the 2026 World Cup, it’s that we can finally dispense with the pretense that Fifa is interested in growing the game any more.

Fifa confirmed on Wednesday that it will, for the first time, use a dynamic ticket pricing model for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. While tickets will initially range from $60 for the cheap seats in some group-stage matches to $6,730 for the best vantage point at the final, those prices will then be algorithmically handed over to the market to respond to demand, which will probably cause them to skyrocket. After all, the first tranche of tickets goes on sale through an application and lottery system next week, but the World Cup draw will not take place until December. The gap between ticket sales and the assignment of teams to those actual matches all but guarantees a surge of demand for a diminished supply.

Bolivia, Peru, struggling Nigeria and flagging Italy face an uphill struggle, but others have reason for optimism

There are only three automatic places available via the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers because the USA, Mexico and Canada have secured their spots as hosts, although the two best runners-up head into the inter-confederation playoffs. Suriname have made it to the final round of qualifying only once before and will be hoping to kick off their campaign with a victory when they host Panama in Paramaribo on Thursday. Managed by the former Netherlands goalkeeper Stanley Menzo, they have been steadily climbing Fifa’s rankings since allowing players born in the Netherlands with Surinamese heritage to represent the national side and have the Huddersfield defender Radinio Balker in their ranks.

The manager has been bold – £320m of new players, a new assistant and new tactics – but fans will have to be patient

By WhoScored

Few clubs embody ambition quite like Manchester City. They have won 18 trophies in nine years under Pep Guardiola but, for just the second time in his tenure, they finished last season without one. Given that City had won the previous four Premier League titles, it was easy to downplay it as a mere stumble, a season disrupted by injuries and a cloud of legal issues.

They have responded by investing £320m in the squad in 2025 – including a staggering £180m in the January window, almost matching the rest of the Premier League’s combined spend – so the ambition for this season was clear. City were supposed to regain their aura of invincibility and win again. On the opening day of the new season, they looked every bit that side. Their 4-0 dismantling of Wolves felt like a warning sign. The message seemed clear: Guardiola’s six-time champions were back to their ruthless best.

The former Chelsea midfielder has been on a long, gruelling journey, but he has earned a long-awaited international recall

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was riding high. The 2018‑19 season had been very good for him. The midfielder scored 10 goals for Chelsea and there was one game to come: the Europa League final against Arsenal. Beyond that, he had an eye on the Nations League finals with England and the chance to add to his 10 caps. Four of them had come at the 2018 World Cup in Russia; memories that will never fade. He was only 23. He was about to take the next step. And then it all fell apart.

Loftus-Cheek is addressing the media at St George’s Park. He could be forgiven for pinching himself after being given an England recall on Tuesday as a late replacement for the injured Adam Wharton. Did anyone expect Thomas Tuchel to turn to him for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia? Did Loftus-Cheek dare to dream himself? His previous call-up had been in March 2019 when he was forced to withdraw through injury. The last of his caps was against USA in November 2018.

Familiar tones of rage, pain and betrayal that envelop men’s football were missing during England’s joyful run to glory

“You can’t stand their voices? ALL women’s voices?” “Yes.” “Are you married to a woman?” “I am. And she feels the same.” Hmm. To be fair to Dave from Egham, whose name has been changed to protect the confused, the whole setup here was pretty bleak. It was Dave’s destiny a week on from England’s victory at Euro 2025 to find himself going viral after an appearance on LBC radio.

In the clip Dave objects to the sound of all women’s voices, even if they’re Adele or Billie Holiday. Specifically he objects to women talking about women’s sport, which Dave hates because it is being thrown down his throat, and thrown down his throat to the extent he has to ring up a radio station and talk about the women talking about the women’s sport, simply to disentangle its tendrils from his throat, to steal a few gargling, sputtering final breaths.

Its young, diverse and passionate fanbase offers a huge opportunity, but too many clubs are only scratching the surface

The Lionesses are simply the most successful England football team in history, winning back-to-back European Championships and becoming the first England senior team to win a major tournament on foreign soil. It is an incredible achievement and one that will reverberate through the women’s game for many years to come.

The head coach, Sarina Wiegman, is simply world class; it’s an overused phrase but absolutely fitting in this case. To reach five major finals in a row (including a European Championship win and a World Cup final with the Netherlands before joining England) is a record that may never be surpassed. She was an inspired choice by Kay Cossington, the former Football Association technical director who targeted her for her ability to build a strong culture and sense of team as much as her obvious tactical acumen.

• Carter feared Lauren James would face similar abuse

• ‘It’s about knowing how it’s going to be if we miss’

Jess Carter has said she was relieved when three of her white England teammates joined Lauren James in missing penalties in the Euro 2025 quarter-final shootout against Sweden. Carter, who was the target of online racism during the tournament, feared James would be on the receiving end of similar abuse if she had been the only one to miss.

Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton then missed as well, but the Lionesses progressed before going on to defeat Spain in the final in another shootout.

Choosing the best matches from Switzerland provokes plenty of debate along with the outstanding players and the pick of the goals

England seemed to have lost it once, twice, three times against Sweden on a night of nail-shredding drama that sharpened the sense that destiny had rich bounty in store for Sarina Wiegman’s side. It was also the first match, no doubt of many over the coming years, that made a hero of Michelle Agyemang. Nick Ames

• Argentina captain scores twice in win over Venezuela

• Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay grab World Cup spots

Lionel Messi made sure he had good memories of playing a home qualifier with Argentina for the last time in his illustrious career.

Messi scored twice on Thursday in Argentina’s 3-0 victory over Venezuela in front of a raucous sellout crowd that had gathered at Estadio Monumental to bid him farewell.

Captain Robert Andrich bemoaned his team’s ‘misery’ while those upstairs did little to back Xabi Alonso’s successor

“You say it best, when you say nothing at all,” was how Ronan Keating put it in a 1999 cover version. Whether Erik ten Hag will choose to get over his latest breakup with a tub of ice-cream in front of a rewatch of Notting Hill is open to conjecture but if he did, lyrics dotted through the film are sure to have an added poignancy.

Ten Hag didn’t need telling that in only his second Bundesliga game in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, they and he had a bad afternoon. Going to a diminished and depleted Werder Bremen (it is probably too early to say lowly, even though we strongly suspect that is the part of the table where they may end up spending most of their time), Die Werkself appeared to be on top of things, holding a 3-1 lead and a man advantage.

Fans sang for the striker to ‘take us to Europe’ as he arrived in Italy to join an unfancied team brimming with positivity

Jamie Vardy had not reached his destination, but already he was getting a taste of what may await him, a crowd of Cremonese supporters greeting him at the exit of Milan’s Linate airport – 50 miles away from their team’s home town. Never mind the fact it was almost midnight on a Sunday. He hopped out of his car to sign autographs – one over a tattoo of his own face. They sang for him to “take us to Europe”.

Even in a summer of famous names making unexpected late-career moves to Italy – from Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli to Luka Modric at Milan – Vardy joining Cremonese feels most improbable of all. A player who once finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or vote, signing for a club with a 16,000-seater stadium who have made only fleeting appearances in the top flight since they were founded in 1903.

The small, proud Madrid club are back in Europe this season but playing against a backdrop of a civil war

The drunk, the brainless and the idle enjoyed this. They had said they wouldn’t sing, but the best nights aren’t planned they just happen, and in the end it was their kind of night. Chaotic, wild, a lot wrong but alright, like a picture of who they are, sticking it to the man up here and down there. Packed into crumbling, filthy stands, Rayo Vallecano’s fans didn’t see their team get a deserved victory against Barcelona on Sunday but on a torn-up, dried-out pitch with not much grass, in a ground where VAR became the latest thing to fail, they did watch them fight and do it their way too, flying into the team with a budget 18 times bigger as if they weren’t big at all. “Fantastic,” Hansi Flick called them.

It started as a protest and never stopped being one but it became something else too, something fun; they had been infuriated, worn down over years, and then they had been insulted but they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves, protest and party in one. Three days after Rayo had definitively qualified for the Conference League the team that is not just in the neighbourhood but of the neighbourhood almost comically incongruous in Europe, Rayo’s supporters announced they were going on strike. Rayo’s players meanwhile laid into the treble winners, worthy of more than the 1-1 draw it finished. But for a Lamine Yamal penalty which the broken video assistant system couldn’t correct, they might have got it. But for goalkeeper Joan García they definitely might.

As toxic nationalism spills over into our shared spaces, the England shirt is freighted with meaning for better or worse

The crosses of St George are flying all around me. Fair to say the opening line of Three Lions ’98 hits a little differently in 2025. The crosses of St George are being daubed on an Islamic centre in Basildon. The crosses of St George are being used to deface a Chinese takeaway in York. The crosses of St George are draped over men shouting at a three-star hotel from a mini-roundabout. The crosses of St George are retailing for about £2.36 on Temu, depending on whether you want them car-window sized, or big enough to write the words “GET OFF MY LAND” in the white spaces.

Keir Starmer has declared that he is “a supporter of flags”. Alas, at the time of writing the prime minister’s position on other items of tactile fabric remains unclear. What does he think about blankets? Does he endorse or condemn the dishcloth? Not to be outdone, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, disclosed that she has St George’s bunting on display at home. “I would put them up anywhere,” she confirmed, which – anatomically speaking – is not an image any of us needed right now.

Defender should still end up at Anfield despite deadline drama, but the manager’s hardline stance may worry the club board

“Marc and me, we have the same fate,” Oliver Glasner said with a smile. It was the eve of Crystal Palace’s meeting with Liverpool in the Community Shield and – not for the last time over the next few weeks – the unavoidable question of his captain’s future had just been broached.

Marc Guéhi had entered the final year of his contract at Palace and everyone knew a swift resolution was needed. “Of course, everybody wants Marc to sign a new contract,” said Glasner, who had broken off negotiations about extending his own deal after leading Palace to their first major trophy by winning the FA Cup a few weeks earlier. “It will be his decision. We never know what will happen in this sometimes crazy transfer market.”

The juggernaut was captured in one three-month tracking shot, but this summer market told us something deeper – about football and the nation

By the time the clock hit 7.30pm the main presenter on Monday’s Sky Sports Window Slam Countdown looked not just frazzled, but oddly heroic, like a man who has ingested a potentially fatal overdose of late-breaking excitement and is now being encouraged to keep talking in a low, dogged voice about massive deals and unexpected snags just to keep himself awake until the paramedics arrive.

There was something of the Situation Room about the whole tableau, five nobly dishevelled talking heads leaning in around the curved tables, lists of names earnestly reeled off. Eberechi Eze. Randal Kolo Muani. We’re hearing that Coventry has fallen. In the bottom corner of the screen a picture of Marc Guéhi would flash up now and then reproachfully, Guéhi wearing a strange, lost smile as though he has in fact died. And below it all the countdown clock replaced with the simple end‑of‑days message: WINDOW CLOSED.

Fans will continue to lap up massive games but perhaps the teams involved will conclude they are not that important

Liverpool v Real Madrid! Arsenal v Bayern! Chelsea v Napoli! Madrid v Manchester City! Bayern v Chelsea! Newcastle v Barcelona! Inter v Liverpool! PSG v Bayern! City v Napoli! Madrid v Juventus! Chelsea v Barcelona! It can’t be denied that the Champions League draw threw up some ties that look like massive games.

These are games that have massive teams in them. They are happening in a massive competition. There will be famous players in famous kits in famous stadiums. There will be Champions League branding. They will play the Champions League theme tune. They will use the Champions League ball, taking its cues this season from the night sky and featuring hand-drawn zodiac signs in gold that symbolise heroic deeds and heavenly destiny. It will all look like something really important.

Our cartoonist on chaos at Craven Cottage, Nicolas Jackson’s gap year and Howard Webb’s apology muffins

• Buy copies of David’s cartoons in our Print Shop

• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

We assess how each top-flight side fared in the search for quality and value during the summer window

• Transfer interactive: all the deals from across Europe

Andrea Berta’s first transfer window since taking over as sporting director has been busy. Headline moves for Viktor Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze have given Mikel Arteta the firepower and creativity he asked for, while Martín Zubimendi has added class to midfield. The arrival of Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Nørgaard, Noni Madueke and Kepa Arrizabalaga has also added depth to Arsenal’s squad that is already being called on after a series of early season injuries, while the late signing of the exciting Ecuador defender Piero Hincapié should prove to be a shrewd addition. Ed Aarons

Behind the scenes on transfer window’s final day as the Hatters bagged their top target in a loan deal

“Can my dog live in the apartment?” Ben Osborn asks Stockport’s first-team scouting operations manager, Dale Hargan. The Derby midfielder is about to undergo a medical before joining the League One side on a season-long loan and there are questions that need to be answered.

It is deadline day and Osborn has left his East Midlands home for the prospect of more regular playing time. He will be one of three arrivals at Edgeley Park before the window closes, the end of half a year of planning for Stockport. It looks like everything has gone smoothly when Osborn eventually signs the relevant paperwork at 6pm in the boardroom at the club’s training ground clad in official merchandise. Relief can be seen on the faces of the recruitment team. Their hard work has paid off.

Swede is not a classic central striker, but could his signing herald tactical tweaks and what does it mean for Salah?

On the face of it, it’s not hard to see why Liverpool would want Alexander Isak. He will not turn 26 until later this month and has scored more than 20 Premier League goals in each of the past two seasons, something matched only by Erling Haaland. But he offers more than just goals; he’s a very modern centre-forward.

Thirty or 40 years ago, when 4-4-2 was still the dominant formation, strike pairings tended to come in two forms: either target-man and finisher, or creator and finisher. These days, the very best centre-forwards combine traits of all three. This is not entirely new: the days of Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush or Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips are long gone and football has been familiar for some time with players of the ilk of Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko and Radamel Falcao, forwards with pace and some blend of physicality and technical ability.

Arsenal’s cautious, cagey, risk-averse approach showed a lack of adventure and they paid the price against Liverpool

You can get it if you really want. You really can. You can get it. Getting it is a distinct and achievable outcome. There is just one caveat. You do have to actually show some sign of wanting to get it, to throw a little risk to the wind.

This seemed to be the catch for Mikel Arteta at Anfield, on a day where for long periods his Arsenal team were in the ascendancy, dishing up a performance that was assured and compact, but also a bit like watching a politician giving a campaign interview on live TV where the idea is to simply say nothing, wear the right tie, filibuster, convinced that if nothing happens then good things are probably happening. This felt like a kind of high-end Starmer-ball. Hold the line. Let the other guy lose.

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Leighton Baines, John Stones, Luke Shaw, Kieran Gibbs, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose, Nathaniel Clyne, Aaron Cresswell, Kyle Walker, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Ben Chilwell, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Bukayo Saka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Tyrone Mings, Tyrick Mitchell, James Justin, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Fikayo Tomori, Rico Lewis, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly.

The new season starts on Friday with Sonia Bompastor’s side chasing a seventh consecutive title but rivals have hope

After a breathless summer that included heart-stopping penalty shootouts, a swath of managerial changes and even the women’s game’s first £1m transfer fee, as the new Women’s Super League season arrives, the million-dollar question is, can anyone stop Chelsea?

The defending champions have won six WSL titles in a row and they notched up a record points tally last term to win the championship by their largest margin yet – 12. Ominously for their rivals, they were trying to strengthen their squad even further during the final hours of the transfer window with the signing of the United States winger Alyssa Thompson from Angel City. Chelsea are, undeniably, the dominant force in the modern English women’s game and appear to be getting only stronger.

Star names have been missing but second half of campaign should bring renewed interest after ratings spike last year

Halfway through the NWSL’s 13th regular season, the league reported TV ratings were trending down. But August has already shown glimmers of recovery and context adds important caveats to that downward slope.

As first reported by Sports Business Journal, when the league took a month-long break midway through the year in July, ratings were down by 8% across their multiplatform media partnership. That partnership, which is now in its second year, was signed in November 2023 with CBS, ESPN, ION (Scripps Sports) and Prime Video for a deal worth $240m – a huge increase from their previous one-party partnership with CBS worth $4.5m. In its first year, the league saw a big uptick in viewing numbers as matches proliferated across a variety of outlets, reaching a wider audience.

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The joy of a Bigger Cup European tour is what makes a season for the fans – the trinket on offer in Budapest is merely a bonus. Six Premier League sides will get to test themselves against the best over the coming months and there are a few new faces in the competition and some intriguing passport stamps to collect. Who wouldn’t want to travel to the Cypriot city of Paphos in September to watch their beloved club play David Luiz’s Pafos FC? The temperature reaches 29C and there is no chance of rain. There are miles and miles of beaches to enjoy with a Keo in hand. If anything, the prospect of a 90-minute match is a bit of a distraction. The even better news is there are flights from London, Manchester and Newcastle.

I’m someone who is passionate and will fight ever[y] time I step on the pitch. But I need to set a better example and you fans know how much I love you and this club” – West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen takes to InstaChat to expain why he appeared to lose his cool with a West Ham fan after they were knocked out of the Milk Cup by Wolves.

A doff of the cap to the Leeds fans, who went from chanting Sheffield Wednesday’s hopefully soon to be ex-owner, Dejphon Chansiri’s name to booing their own side and leaving during the penalty shootout as they lost to what is essentially our under-21 team. And an extra doff of the cap to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, making his debut for Leeds, who fluffed three easy chances to win it for them in the last 10 minutes and then, in the penalty shootout, did his own heartwarming tribute to Wednesday legend Chris Waddle (circa Italia 1990). Hurrah!” – Noble Francis.

Thank you Celtic for giving us the daunting prospect of impossible away-day draws, cheesy headlines and, worst of all, hearing about that teenager Chelsea have already signed until 2068 every single week. Yes Kairat Almighty, the unbeaten at home Beast from the Far East. The broadcasters and tabloids are going to milk this to the last drop aren’t they? As a Spurs fan, I am already dreading the second half of our inevitable fixture against them. I hope you enjoy Bigger Vase, Celtic” –Yannick Woudstra.

I can assure Alex Cameron (yesterday’s Football Daily) he was not alone in his interpretation of your wine-related strapline. Maybe readers could suggest suitable managerial or player candidates to receive a bottle of Chateau d’Arse, an amusing little Fitou from the Languedoc-Rousillon region” – Max Maxwell.

Federico Macheda (yesterday’s Football Daily) – now there’s a blast from the past! The last time I heard that name, I looked like Jack Grealish before he signed for City. Fortunately, as someone who’s only 40 in January, I’m still some ways away from looking like Everton Grealish” – Rowan Sweeney.

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 During Tottenham matches in recent and not-so-recent years, the name of Dr Tottenham was often on fans’ lips. Rarely in complimentary terms. “I don’t care about [Dr Tottenham], he don’t care about me, all I care about is [Dejan] Kulusevski,” was one such song. After Thursday’s yellow-ticker trembler, all those fans need worry about is when Kulusevki’s knee-knack allows him to return to Spurs’ teams. Did Levy jump or was he pushed? The suggestion from Big Website is the latter, the executive-chairman, Levy’s job title, shunted for a fresh suit structure. Instead of Levy as an all-seeing eye with hands pulling tight the strings on the purse, two suits will divide duties. Peter Charrington as nonexecutive chair arrives, Vinai Venkatesham, named as chief exec in April, will grow further in influence. The Lewis family who majority-own Tottenham are, it is understood by proper journalists, looking for outside investment.

I like the thrill and the pressure. All I’m focused on is making sure that I do my best for you” – England and Bayern Munich midfielder Georgia Stanway on … her fledgling career as a tattoo artist in this wide-ranging interview with Donald McRae. The Frauen Bundesliga campaign begins on Saturday.

It does affect the rhythm. If we want tempo in the game and we cannot find the ball boy, the ball girl or the ball itself, then of course the tempo drops. There must be training. I am serious. It is a problem, because we cannot waste half a minute here and there” – Norway head coach Stale Solbakken solves the mystery of why a hugely talented side have so far failed to qualify for a tournament under his watch: the ball boys and girls have not been pacy enough.

“Actually West Ham actually have 12 supporters groups, not 11 (Thursday’s FD letters). Members of this additional group range from those with a casual interest in the team to others (like me) who’ve followed them for over 50 years through the good times (yes, there have been a few) and bad (plenty). Our common denominator is that we haven’t joined any of the formal supporters groups, but like every other club this is the biggest, most diverse collection of fans, we just don’t have a name or organisational structure. Not sure what this says about us or the supporters groups. Over to Noble Francis …” – Martyn Shapter.

Daniel Leavy” – James Vortkamp-Tong.

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

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“When Reinildo Mandava started for Sunderland in their 3-0 win over West Ham, he became the first Mozambican to play in the Premier League, which has now hosted players from 125 different countries,” noted Owen Collins last week. “That only dates from 1992 though – are there any nationalities that played in the old First Division that haven’t yet been represented in the Premier League?”

Mandava’s debut actually takes the number of Premier League nationalities to 127, but are there any countries only represented in the English top flight before 1992? Well, the logical starting point is nations that only existed prior to 1992. Take it away, Darren Jalland: “Sergei Baltacha was, as far as I can tell, the only player from the Soviet Union whose entire club stint in England came before 1992 – he played for Ipswich Town from 1988 to 1990.”