Key events
Thanks Rob and hello to all the matchday livers out there. Here’s a little reminder to get your fantasy teams done nice and safely before the deadline.
Time for me to tag in Tom Bassam for the next couple of hours. Bye!
Manchester City v Manchester United (4.30pm)
Here’s Jamie Jackson on After Fergie, the reality TV show that is still gripping the nation in its 13th season.
Soap opera, wall-to‑wall media coverage, a sporting Truman Show and real-life panopticon. Ruben Amorim, like those before him, blinks in the glare of the endless fascination with Manchester United’s leading man, and may wonder whether this is the impossible job.
Three games into a first full campaign the 40-year-old seemed to believe so. The desultory 12-11 Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat at Grimsby followed a 1-0 loss to Arsenal and 1-1 draw at Fulham. Three matches, zero wins, and the executioner’s song began to wail for the Portuguese’s job security.
So is it reasonable to consider Amorim’s position under threat three league games into a season? Certifiably not. Is this simply life for the gent in the hottest of football seats? Certainly.
European football results
There were a handful of games last night in the BF leagues.
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Bundesliga Bayer Leverkusen beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 in Kasper Hjulmand’s first game as manager. Leverkusen were down to nine men by the time Alex Grimaldo, who also opened the scoring in the first half, sealed victory in the 98th minute.
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Ligue 1 Marseille beat Lorient 4-0, with Manchester United alumni Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes among the scorers. Lorient are having a rough time of it; their last match before the international break was a 7-1 defeat at home to Lille.
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La Liga Peque scored an 85th-minute equaliser for Sevilla in their 2-2 draw with Elche.
Championship fixtures (3pm unless etc)
As well as the south coast ding-dong tomorrow, there are some interesting fixtures today, including a lunchtime trip to Preston for the early leaders Middlesbrough.
Stoke v Birmingham also has a sniff about it, and I don’t mean oatcakes. And the überweirdos among you will have noticed that, in six of the seven 3pm games, the name of the home teams begins with S or W.
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Charlton v Millwall (12.30pm)
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Oxford v Leicester (12.30pm)
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Preston v Middlesbrough (12.30pm)
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Coventry v Norwich
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Sheff Wed v Bristol City
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Stoke v Birmingham
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Swansea v Hull
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Watford v Blackburn
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West Brom v Derby
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Wrexham v QPR
Championship
The weekend’s big game takes place at high noon midday tomorrow: Southampton and Portsmouth, together again after 13 years in different leagues.
Ben Fisher spoke to Portsmouth midfielder John Swift about the prospect of a bucket-list experience.
Burnley v Liverpool (Sunday, 2pm)
Liverpool have had to rely on their considerable attacking options to bail them out of a couple of situations this season and head coach Arne Slot knows they remain key to their success. The defending champions have won all three of their fixtures so far but required late goals against Bournemouth and Newcastle after twice conceding two-goal leads, which pointed to defensive frailties.
Against Burnley on Sunday he will again need those resources up front – now bolstered by British-record signing Alexander Isak – against a team they will find hard to break down. Liverpool have scored eight goals, the most in the top flight, without creating that many clear-cut chances and Slot was asked how he hoped to improve that.
“To implement as best as possible the way we want to play,” he said.”But in the end the final third, it is also the form of your wingers mainly because of their playing style you end up more on the sides. The better they are, the bigger threat they are, the more chances we will generate and then nine out of 10 times it is about scoring.
“If you can score an early goal that normally helps you in a game like that. There are a lot of factors going into a game like this but as always we are hoping that our attackers make the difference and that is what they have to do every single game.”
But while Slot wants them to score the goals he also wants his attackers to improve their work-rate and defensive capabilities.
“If we lose the ball if we are really good in our counter-pressing that can create chances as well,” he added. “That is for me the biggest lesson of our game against Arsenal: in the first half we weren’t front-footed enough in terms of our pressing. In the second half we were and as a result we deserved to score in the second half.”
Talking of Fitba, this piece, from the consistently excellent Nutmeg, is terrific*
* Opinion, not fact
Scottish Premiership
As well as the big game at Easter Road, Rangers host high-flying Hearts at Ibrox with Russell Martin still looking for his first league win.
Rangers have drawn all four Premiership games under Martin, including a forgettable derby a fortnight ago.
Arsenal v Nottm Forest x Big Ange (12.30pm)
Will Unwin looks at Nottingham Forest’s surprise decision to sack Nuno Espírito Santo and replace him with Ange Postecoglou.
Scottish Premiership
“Oh matchday live, how could you?” thunders says Simon McMahon. “You forgot about about Dundee United’s trip to Easter Road to face Hibs at 5.45pm, so please, allow me. United manager Jim Goodwin this week signed a new deal, and Ivan Dolcek, one of this summer’s 14 new faces at Tannadice, was named Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for August. Add in the fact that our last game was a 2-0 schooling of Dundee at Dens and it’s easy to see why there’s a lot of positivity from United fans at the moment.
“Tonight’s game should be a cracker, as Hibs are unrecognisable from the shambles that they were a year ago; credit to David Gray for turning that round, and indeed the Hibs board for sticking with him. The Saturday teatime football market is a crowded one today, but you could do worse than grab a couple of dozen cans of McEwan’s Export and watch the action from the famous old Edinburgh stadium.”
If you want to get published on here, and I suppose we all do, just write comments and emails like Simon McMahon’s.
Thanks for your comments below the line, some of which are interesting. But please may I reiterate: we only want civil comments. Disagreement and criticism are fine, abuse and nonsense are not. And slanderous ones are just plain dumb.
West Ham v Tottenham (5.30pm)
Two London derbies today, both live on TV. Brentford host Chelsea at 8pm; before that, West Ham face a Levy-less Spurs.
Perspective is a funny thing. While Spurs fans are mostly celebrating the demise of the figure widely blamed for holding them back, West Ham’s are wondering if it really would be so bad to have a chair capable of delivering a world-class stadium and the occasional season of Champions League football. Perhaps chants of “We want Levy in” will soon be heard around Stratford.
West Ham fans are fed up. Widespread disdain for David Sullivan, the largest shareholder, and the vice-chair, Karren Brady, means there will be anti-board protests before next Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace. Mutiny is in the air. A boycott of next month’s game against Brentford has been proposed by Hammers United, a vocal fan group, and there is also the drama of West Ham’s official Fan Advisory Board going public with a recent vote of no confidence in the club’s board.
“On the idle-chatter front, good sir,” begins Ian Copestake, “do new manager bounces occur when a club has a new one it didn’t even want? Asking for a friend.”
Have you been sacked on Champo Manager 01-02 again, Ian?
Premier League predicted line-ups
Fantasy Football perverts may find this useful. Just know there’s no legal resource if you triple captain somebody based on a duff assumption in one of our graphics.
The opening Premier League fixture of the weekend is at the Emirates, where Arsenal meet Nottingham Forest, managed by their old friend Ange Postecoglou. They need a win to get back on track after a frustrating defeat at Anfield before the international break.
Depending on your perspective, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta comments at yesterday’s press conference to:
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Manage expectations ahead of a fourth consecutive second-place finish
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Speak an undeniable truth so why are you getting on his back about it
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Carefully position Arsenal as a team who are fighting against the odds, knowing how central that approach was to the success of George Graham and Arsene Wenger’s sides.
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Answering a question on the hoof without calculation or forethought.
*At the time of writing, har har har har har.
Slot defends Isak over Newcastle strike
By Will Unwin
Arne Slot has defended Alexander Isak over his decision to go on strike in order to force a move away from Newcastle and insisted the same situation would never arise at Liverpool because they would sell any player who made it clear they wanted to leave the club.
Isak secured a transfer from St James’ Park to Anfield on deadline day for a British record £125m fee and could make his debut for the Premier League champions at Burnley on Sunday, albeit he is unlikely to start having missed pre-season and the first three games of the season after refusing to train while still at Newcastle, claiming promises made to him there had been “broken”.
Asked if Isak’s decision to go on strike reflects badly on the 26-year-old, Slot said: “No, I just look at the club. It’s not necessary at our club, because we also trade players. If a player wants to leave and we get the right money for him, this club has shown so many years now that we then sell.
“You can just keep on training here – Lucho [Luis Díaz] and Harvey [Elliott] get their transfers, Tyler Morton gets his transfer, all these players, I can come up with eight, nine, 10 I think in the last window, that just conduct themselves in the best possible way.”
Read more…
Championship: Ipswich 5-0 Sheff Utd
Sheffield United’s diabolical start to the season continued when they were routed at Portman Road last night. Jadon Philogene scored a hat-trick for Ipswich, who ended a winless start to the season in style.
WSL: West Ham 1-5 Arsenal
No Women’s Super League games today, with most of this weekend’s program taking place tomorrow. There were two games last night, with two of the title contenders coming from behind to win:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to matchday life, our one-stop boll- destination for all the build-up to this weekend’s football. We’ll have previews, idle chatter and factual realities for you to digest over the next few hours.
If you are so inclined, you can drop us a line with your thoughts on the football – or just to tell us what you’re up to for the day. Leave a comment below the line or email matchday.live@theguardian.com. Keep it civil, please; our nonsense threshold has been breached.
Time for a list. We all need a list on a Saturday morning. You haven’t put the effing food caddy out, have you. Here are some of today’s big fixtures.
Premier League (3pm unless stated)
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Arsenal v Nottm Forest (12.30pm)
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Bournemouth v Brighton
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Crystal Palace v Sunderland
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Everton v Aston Villa
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Fulham v Leeds
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Newcastle v Wolves
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West Ham v Tottenham (5.30pm)
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Brentford v Chelsea (8pm)
Scottish Premiership
La Liga
Serie A
Bundesliga
