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• Head coach believes ‘competition for places is on’

• Bellingham, Palmer and Foden all still to come back

Thomas Tuchel has insisted he is brave enough to omit star names from his England XI if it better balances the team. The head coach feels competition for places has increased after the 5-0 World Cup qualifying win against Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday – especially in the No 10 role.

Tuchel watched Morgan Rogers produce an outstanding performance in the position, the Aston Villa player’s best moment being the first-time flick that sent Noni Madueke through to score the second goal. Roy Keane, who covered the game for ITV, compared Rogers to Paul Gascoigne in terms of the X factor he provides.

British prime ministers have been pretty much invisible on the terraces … until now. And football is always telling you things

If you’d told Keir Starmer last summer that just over a year after his election as prime minister he would single‑handedly, and by the sheer force of his own personality, have stopped England fans from singing songs about the IRA and Ten German Bombers, he would no doubt have been delighted. I guess they must really like me then. Phase One Goals. You warned me off, Jeremy, but I knew the Arsenal thing was a good idea.

Either way Starmer has now made this happen. England fans are not singing about those things any more. They are instead singing about him being a wanker and how he should fuck off, something they continued to do this week from Birmingham to Belgrade. So, a partial success then, Sir Keir. Delivery. Pragmatism. Yes, I think we can work with this.

• Australian says: ‘The club wants more – that’s what I want’

• Postecoglou replaced Nuno Espírito Santo on Tuesday

Ange Postecoglou says he is determined to take Nottingham Forest back to “its rightful place” in English football. Postecoglou sealed a rapid return to the Premier League on Tuesday when he was appointed as Nuno Espírito Santo’s successor at the City Ground – only four months on from being sacked by Tottenham.

Spurs parted company with Postecoglou despite a first trophy in 17 years in May with Europa League success, and with two-time European Cup winners Forest back in a continental competition for the first time in three decades, the 60-year-old is full of excitement about the challenge ahead.

• Former official due to appear in court on Thursday

• Allegation refers to video recovered by police in February

The former Premier League referee David Coote, who lost his job last year after a series of scandals, has been charged with making an indecent image of a child. According to Nottinghamshire police, the charge is of the most serious Category A offence and relates to a video recovered by officers in February.

The charge of making an indecent image of a child refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or saving abuse photos or videos. Images that are classified Category A customarily show children involved in “penetrative sexual activity”, according to Sentencing Council guidelines.

Former Brentford striker missed out on England’s qualifiers but he believes the standard of Saudi football should not be ignored

Ivan Toney is aware of the outside noise. He hardly needs reminding that plenty of people have had their say since he swapped the Premier League for the Saudi Pro League just over a year ago. An Asian Champions League winner’s medal and 35 goals for Al-Ahli later, the striker is defiant, even if he found himself on the outside as England played their latest World Cup qualifiers.

“Those that know me, know that I do what I want to do,” Toney says. “If there is something I want to go for, to try, then I will do it. If people want to talk, they can talk. It doesn’t hurt me, doesn’t bother me, I just concentrate on myself. I do what makes me happy.”

Forty-eight teams will participate in next summer’s World Cup and 30 places are still up for grabs

Forty-eight teams will participate in next summer’s World Cup, with the hosts, Canada, Mexico and the United States, granted automatic entry. A further 43 places are determined by qualifying competitions from the six confederations and the remaining two will be decided at March’s six-team intercontinental playoffs in Monterrey and Guadalajara. After this month’s internationals, 18 countries have places booked. The draw is due to take place on 5 December at Washington’s Kennedy Center.

An upbeat Jamie Vardy insists he is ‘never to old to learn’ on his unveiling at the newly promoted Serie A club

In Cremona everything is about music: the city, located in the heart of the Po Valley, is where the greatest luthier of all time, Antonio Stradivari, was born. His violins – unique pieces, each identified by a name – are today in the hands of some of the greatest musicians in the world and can fetch a price of more than £10m.

So it was no coincidence that the Violin Museum, in Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, was chosen to unveil who the city’s football team, Cremonese, hope will become their greatest soloist: Jamie Vardy.

• Striker ‘will never advise a child of mine’ to go into football

• Mpabbé remains in dispute with PSG a year after leaving

Kylian Mbappé has admitted the football world would have “disgusted” him long ago if he did not have a ­passion for playing the game. The France and Real Madrid forward also said he would never encourage a child of his to follow in his footsteps.

In a long and occasionally bitter interview, Mbappé told L’Équipe: “I’m fatalist about the world of football, but not about life. Life is won­derful. Football is what it is.

• Egypt forward injured knee in World Cup qualifier

• Rayan Cherki also out for six weeks with injury

Omar Marmoush is poised to miss Manchester City’s derby with Manchester United on Sunday, and there are fears that a knee injury sustained against Burkina Faso could rule him out for a sustained period.

The Egypt forward was forced off in the ninth minute of the 1-1 draw in a World Cup qualifier in Ouagadougou on Tuesday.

Brazil lost qualifiers in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia … just like they did before the 2002 World Cup

Despite how it might look on paper, Brazil did not necessarily hit a new low at high altitude by losing 1-0 to Bolivia this week. As their place at the World Cup was already reserved, Carlo Ancelotti could afford to field a second-string side with seven changes. It looked like they would return home from 4,000 meters above sea level with a draw until Bruno Guimarães gave away a penalty.

Miguel Terceros smashed the spot kick past Alisson, securing a place in the playoffs for the hosts, who are now dreaming of reaching the World Cup for the first time since 1994, which is, of course, when Brazil won the tournament in the US. This has been a successful campaign for Bolivia. Not so Brazil, who finished fifth in the table with just 28 points from 18 games, making it the worst qualification campaign in their history.

Moldovan-Romanian striker Vladislav Blanuta says he was unaware what he was reposting and that he is pro-Ukraine

Some signings are better received by fans than others, but it is questionable whether any new addition has been at the end of such anger as Dynamo Kyiv’s acquisition of Vladislav Blanuta.

The 23-year-old Moldovan-Romanian striker joined last week for €2.6m (£2.3m) from U Craiova and the transfer had barely been made public before it transpired he had shared content by a Russian propagandist on TikTok, to the fans that made him pro-Putin.

• Hallgrímsson under pressure after 2-1 away defeat

• Haaland hits five but City teammate Marmoush injured

Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dream was torn to shreds in Yerevan as Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men lost 2-1 against Armenia.

A little more than three years after they endured an embarrassing 1-0 Nations League defeat at the Republican Stadium, Ireland lost 2-1 against a side ranked 105th in the world, in a game they had to win if they were to stand a realistic chance of qualifying from Group F following a 2-2 draw with Hungary in Dublin on Saturday.

• Game on Sunday to be played at Johan Cruyff Stadium

• Club’s last match at old Camp Nou was in May 2023

Barcelona have announced that their opening home game of the season against Valencia will not be played at the Camp Nou – five days before it was due to take place.

The club had been given permission to play their first three fixtures away from home in order to complete the first phase of construction work at their stadium, and that was followed by the international break. But they were still unable to fulfil the requirements needed to get the permits in time, leaving a public deadline unmet for the third time having originally set an opening date of November 2024.

• Job in Denmark is his first since leaving Leicester

• ‘I want a team that wins trophies,’ Cooper tells fans

Steve Cooper has declared his determination to take Brøndby back to the top of Danish football after being appointed their head coach. The 45-year-old Welshman returns to management for the first time since leaving Leicester last November.

Cooper had previously been a World Cup winner with England Under-17s and had spells at Swansea and Nottingham Forest, whom he guided into the Premier League in May 2022. He has a contract to 2028.

In a truncated qualifying campaign the immediate Scottish task was not to make the road to the World Cup an even longer one within one double header. Job done on that front, with four points out of six a wholly acceptable return. The visit of Greece to Hampden Park next month is hugely significant.

The stodginess of Scotland’s display before Ché Adams nudged them in front against Belarus ultimately proved irrelevant. Belarus lacked the nous and guile to inflict a bloody nose on Scotland. Still, recent struggles against packed defences meant nobody of Scottish persuasion could rest entirely easy until a 65th-minute own goal was added to the Adams effort. Greek success and a comfortable one in Glasgow in March serves as a warning. Still, the Scots would have readily taken this position and opportunity before a Group C ball was kicked. Back-to-back clean sheets to start the campaign bodes well. This looks like a robust, well-drilled team once again.

• Dispute over associated party transaction rules ends

• Club still face charges of breaching financial rules

Manchester City and the Premier League have settled their dispute over rules that limit the ability of top-flight clubs to sign sponsorship deals with companies related to their ownership.

The fight over so-called associated party transaction rules had been seen as a potential challenge to the entire Premier League rulebook, but both parties have now stepped back from the brink, with City agreeing to accept the legitimacy of the APT rules as they stand.

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

Major step to qualification with win in Serbia brings back memories of Waddle, Gascoigne and Italia 90 for head coach

Thomas Tuchel has not been short of recommended reading material since his appointment as England’s head coach. Or documentaries to watch. The suggestions have come from everywhere, but especially the media, who are eager to help out with presumed gaps in his knowledge of the nation’s football history. This is the real cost of turning to a guy from overseas.

Has Tuchel seen the fly-on-the-wall programme with Graham Taylor from 1994: An Impossible Job? No? He has to put that right. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if Tuchel could allow the cameras in for a sequel as he targets glory at the 2026 World Cup? It was put to him a few months back. Strangely, he did not seem keen.

TV host explains how a new Premier League initiative can help to end the taboo around mental health issues

“I go to football every week, all my life. Home, away, England away, all of it,” says Roman Kemp. “And there is something about it that is transcendent. It almost feels like religion to me. Like if you go on holiday and you go into a church, even if it’s empty, you can feel the energy it’s got in there. A football stadium is the same.”

Kemp, the kind of Gooner who performs his own statistical analysis of Arsenal’s season (“I look at the league and I do a side-by-side comparison of points gained, points lost”), brings to his passion for football the same all-encompassing enthusiasm that has made him a star of TV, radio and podcasting. And he believes that the game, and its unique place in society, can play an important role in addressing another subject close to his heart: suicide.

Nuno exit was inevitable after he went public but successor will need to win over squad and learn from errors

Crossing the Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, is rarely a wise move. When Nuno Espírito Santo went public about the deteriorating relationship between the two most important men at the City Ground, a parting of ways became inevitable.

Nuno deserved better after leading Forest back to Europe after 30 years away and his popularity within the club means it will be difficult for Ange Postecoglou to replace him. Players and staff will not immediately embrace the change because of the admiration and warmth they felt for Nuno.

The new Nottingham Forest coach will be better for his two years at Spurs and has unfinished business in Europe after his sacking

Ange Postecoglou is used to mixed reactions when he takes a new job. So the response of Nottingham Forest fans to his appointment on Tuesday was par for the course. At Yokohama F. Marinos in 2018, fans were nonplussed at this Australian coming in. At Celtic, it was a case of, “Ange Who?” At Tottenham Hotspur two years ago, there were concerns about how a coach who had worked all over the world but never in a big European league would manage in the Premier League. Earlier in his career, doubters had been won over with trophies. When he moved on, fans from Australia to Japan to Scotland were sad to see him go.

At Spurs it was more complex. The initial scepticism quickly transformed into loving Big Ange, and then into something else again. The second season a trophy was won, the biggest for Tottenham since at least the FA Cup of 1991, but as the club came 17th in the league, the axe fell. That has been an unfamiliar scenario for the 60-year-old.

After a 2-0 loss to South Korea and a win by the same scoreline against Japan, our experts consider the state of the program overall

Yes, any time a World Cup host country and a generation of prodigies lose a handful of consecutive games with their A-team, or what passes for one, alarm bells should be ringing. That’s not to say all is lost. While Mauricio Pochettino’s optimism rankled after a 2-0 loss to a South Korea side that had a disconcertingly easy time of it, there was much more to feel good about in the 2-0 win over Japan. Still, it was one game. Japan rested a lot of regulars. (Then again, the US were hardly at full strength.) LS

Defender’s understated brilliance during away win against Serbia, just days after Palace transfer saga, is nothing new

After a summer when the noise around the transfer window threatened to reach deafening levels, with players forcing moves through by going on strike and releasing angry statements on social media, it was refreshing to see Marc Guéhi do his talking on the pitch during England’s thrashing of Serbia on Tuesday.

The defender’s understated brilliance during an impeccable team performance in Belgrade was nothing new. Guéhi is a fine player, so smooth in everything he does on and off the ball. It is why Liverpool wanted to sign him. Unfortunately for the 25-year-old it is also why he became the main character in one of the transfer window’s biggest stories when Crystal Palace ended weeks of uncertainty by refusing to sell him to the Premier League champions on deadline day.

Mauricio Pochettino made big changes to the US setup, and the moves paid off with the team’s most complete performance in a long while

This United States’ international window once looked like it could be disastrous. Now, it has been upgraded to strangely uneven.

A much-improved US got goals from Alejandro Zendejas and Folarin Balogun to beat a heavily rotated Japan side 2-0 at Lower.com Field in Columbus. The result lends some credence to Mauricio Pochettino’s insistence that the US’s recent subpar results were all part of a plan with a single target: arriving at the World Cup in peak form.

Supporters are putting money into their teams in a typically collective response to financial crisis

There seems to be a not-for-profit association for everything in France, from amateur mycology to choral music and international disaster relief. There were one and a half million Associations Loi 1901 at the last count, which equates to one for every 48 inhabitants, with 60,000 to 70,000 new groups created each year. They constitute an essential part of the fabric of French society, a natural response to every kind of need felt by local communities – except when it comes to organised football.

This is odd, considering professionalism was introduced by the French FA as late as 1932 after a decade of hand-wringing and it would have been natural for practitioners of the game to take the matter in their own hands. Yet in France, club ownership at all but the lowest level has always been the preserve of private individuals, local authorities and, a very French trait, businesses that have set up teams for their employees, the football corporatif or football entreprise, which has its own leagues and federation.

Real Betis fans were overjoyed at the arrival of the Manchester United outcast but like many La Liga teams, the club were only able to buy by selling some of their stars

A goat crossed the Guadalquivir, which was when they knew. They had been made to wait until the last day of summer and on the footage it was a CGI creature scuttling over the Isabel II bridge (no animals were harmed in the making of this announcement) but Real Betis had actually done it. There were four hours left on deadline day and they had signed Antony Matheus dos Santos, or Antonio of Triana as they call him. When they’re not calling him the Goat.

Triana is the Betis neighbourhood, Seville’s artistic heart on the west bank of the river, and Antony could not be more popular there. Last season he arrived on a six-month loan and changed everything, leading them to a European place, a derby win that was celebrated like it was the World Cup, and a European final. He had been changed too, happy again, the footballer he was supposed to be. This was his place, somewhere they loved him. He had wanted to come back the moment he left and they had been desperate for him to return.

True Turkish hospitality means providing more food and drink than your guests could ever consume. Here’s a great way to do it … with a little help from the 2024 Young MasterChef judge, best known as Big Has

I spent a lot of my childhood sitting in the passenger seat of my dad Kamil’s Volvo, on the barbecue run, listening to Turkish radio. We would usually get the same things: chicken breasts for mum, boneless thighs for the rest of us, and some sort of lamb on the bone for dad. He would purposely butcher it poorly, leaving bits of meat on the bone to grill slowly and pick at as he cooked for the rest – a “trick” he had learned from his dad. My love for barbecues, cooking over live fire, and entertaining, definitely stems from him.

Barbecues would always start with an impromptu announcement at the table after Sunday morning family breakfast. Mum would begrudgingly agree, knowing the mess my dad can produce in about 20 minutes. It didn’t take much persuading in my house to get the mangal [Turkish barbecue] lit. We didn’t need perfect blue skies. A dry day and enough sunlight to see us through to the evening would be enough to seal the deal, although dad has been known to barbecue under a tree in a bin bag if the weather didn’t cooperate.

Superhost and influencer Saff Michaelis loves nothing more than throwing a party. And if there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s to let shops she trusts do some of the heavy lifting

There is something so deliciously informal about summer hosting. Gone are the elaborate table lays, multiple courses and floral arrangements of the colder months. In exchange, we simply dust off the garden furniture, open a pack of olives and hope for the best. Picnics in the park segue straight into rosé-fuelled suppers – usually under the dappled shade of a tree your partner has been aspiring to prune since the sun first appeared.

Through these little moments with family and friends, it becomes apparent that hosting is more than a hobby; it’s a love language. Independently of what’s served at the table, hosting is a way of providing meaningful in-person interactions in an age when much of our lives feel digitised and somewhat mundane.

‘Special moments demand a suitably special menu’

From picnics to pavlova, nothing says ‘summer’ quite like strawberries – they’re exceptionally moreish, and one of Ocado’s bestsellers

Conjuring visions of sunny days at Wimbledon, decadent desserts and wholesome homemade jams, British strawberries simply can’t be beaten when summer rolls around. No wonder they were among Ocado’s bestselling products last summer and, as these shoppers can attest, they’re reclaiming their starring role this year …

From fizz destined to make a girls’ night sparkle to a watermelon needed for an alfresco summer salad, we asked three shoppers to share the meaning behind their latest online order

The meaning behind the choices we make can get lost in the rhythm of routine, particularly when it comes to the groceries we order week in, week out. But there’s a whole lot more than dinner in our shopping baskets, as these shoppers reveal. Even the most prosaic items can conjure a memory, speak to a value, or make good on an intention. It’s life, delivered by Ocado …

Reena Mistry. Photographs: Helena Dolby

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.

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.

Our cartoonist looks back at a departed hero’s memorable moments after his 25-year reign at Spurs

• Buy a copy of this cartoon 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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Well, that was rather straightforward. This was built up as a brutal, menacing encounter, England entering the furnace of the Rajko Mitic Stadium and forced to navigate The Tunnel, the venue’s 240-metre long quirk – labelled as “terrifying” by one of the tabloids; “not so agreeable” by the more reasonable Thomas Tuchel. Chuck in Tuchel’s readiness to embrace the enduring spirit of Rory Delap and you would have expected a Royal Rumble in Belgrade, the visitors unlikely to look all that pretty in pursuit of victory.

I like to say that people who go to the stadium are lucky enough to just come to see a show and not know what goes on behind the scenes. Honestly, if I didn’t have this passion, the world of football would have disgusted me a long time ago” – Kylian Mbappé, there, sounding like he’s all out of love with the beautiful game at the grand old age of 26..

It’s great to see that Tommy Tuchel has finally found what he was looking for … an opponent worse than Andorra. By the way, as well as finding out that Only Fools and Horses was extremely popular in Serbia, perhaps it might be worth Big Website tapping up its Serbia expert to also explain why they have frequently been so much worse than Croatia despite having a population that is 70% larger?” – Noble Francis.

Regarding Kev’s letter in yesterday’s Football Daily: if we are referencing sit-coms in Australia, look no further than the late 80s. Although I’m not sure if Forest are about to get their ‘Acropolis Now’ or ‘Apocalypse Now’ moment. Should be entertaining either way” – David Bell.

England were pretty good last night, so heaven knows why I was so absorbed with the pitch-side advertising. I wonder when ‘the UK’s #1 piles treatment’was last promoted at a match in Serbia? With perfect timing, the ad popped up (out?) straight after Harry Kane made himself a pain in the collective Serbian @rses by scoring the opener” – Phil Taverner.

Regarding Ange Postecoglou’s record of second-season heroics, can we expect a trophy next year or does he need two full seasons to win something?” – Craig Limesand.

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

Plus: more First Division players from unusual places, and the first team with a star on their shirt

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“In their Conference League game away to Legia Warsaw, Hibernian wore parts of all three of this season’s kits – third shirt, away shorts and home socks,” noted Euan Williamson last week. “Has any other team done this before?”

As mixed kits go, the ensemble worn by Hibs in Poland – black shirt, green shorts and green socks – looked good. Hibs, who had lost the first 2-1 at Easter Road, came within seconds of a famous triumph before eventually losing in extra-time.

Any more examples? Email us here…

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Dan Bardell and Ali Maxwell to discuss all the latest World Cup qualifying action

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On the podcast today: another England qualifier, another low block they labour to break down – this time from Andorra. The panel ask, does it always have to be like this? Thomas Tuchel’s England side are yet to be good, so how long do fans have to wait for it to click?