Key events
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta opened his press conference with some words of condolence and support for the family of Billy Vigar, the 21-year-old former Arsenal academy player who passed away yesterday after suffering a “significant brain injury” while playing for Chichester City in the Isthmian League last weekend.
“Shocking news,” says the Arsenal head coach. “Straight away I am thinking about the family and how difficult it is to go through something like this. Our full support with the family.”
Newcastle United: Having overseen a revolution at Newcastle since the Saudi takeover of the club in 2021, Eddie Howe is now concentrating on evolution as his team prepares to welcome Arsneal to St James’ Park on Sunday.
“They are a different team [to last season] but likewise we are a different team,” he tells reporters. “We are still in the moment of finding out what team we are going to be and there have been really positive signs already this season. Against Bradford there were signs of the creative side to our game and the technical side was in a really good place and we are going to need something similar [on Sunday].”
Bournemouth: Andoni Iraola has been monitoring reports from the physio room ahead of his team’s trip to Leeds tomorrow and has no news to speak of. “I think it’s a very similar picture to the one we had last week,” he tells reporters. “Enes [Unal] and Adam Smith are out, then we have the situation with Lewis Cook.
“He is still in some pain in the shoulder. He is training with us but we have to take a decision. We will have to see today how he trains and see if he can travel with us, or if it’s better we leave it until next week. It’s a decision we have to take today after training. Everyone else is available, no issues. We are in a good spot.” They certainly are in a good spot – fourth in the table, five points behind Liverpool and only behind Arsenal and Tottenham on goal difference.
It’s now time for me to hand the reins to Barry Glendenning. Enjoy!
“I’m pretty sure everybody will be happy to see him,” says Pep Guardiola of Kyle Walker, who will be back at the Etihad tomorrow with Burnley.
“It was an unbelievable few years for us and he was the right-back who defined our time here in the last nine or 10 years. I’m pretty sure he will get the gratitude of our fans. Absolutely he deserves it. One of the greatest full-backs ever”
London City Lionesses to get new training ground
Tom Garry
The newly-promoted WSL side London City Lionesses have been granted planning permission, unanimously, by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, to build a state-of-the-art training base in Ditton, Kent. The club say the site, Cobdown Park Performance Campus, will “rival that of a men’s Premier League team,” and is being designed to specifically tailor to female athlete’s performance needs. London City, who are owned by the American businesswoman Michele Kang, say the campus will create 50 permanent new jobs and generate around £1m per year of investment in the local economy in Kent, where they hope this site will see generations of local girls develop into top players.
Good news for Fantasy Premier League managers everywhere: Guardiola says Erling Haaland is available for Manchester City v Burnley. There had been some injury fears regarding the big Norwegian.
Also from Pep: “Ait-Nouri, no. Cherki, no. Marmoush, no. Kovacic, maybe.”
Succinct.
Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta are also on press conference duty soon. It’s going to be a busy old afternoon.
Ruben Amorim will be talking to the press in an hour or so. It seems to me he does more interviews than any other manager. There’s never a shortage of talking points around Manchester United, to be fair, and tomorrow they’re at Brentford – a ground at which they’ve failed to win in their past three attempts, being completely outplayed in each of those games: a 4-3 loss, a 1-1 draw and that 4-0 walloping early in Erik ten Hag’s reign.
Can Amorim finally string together back-to-back Premier League wins?
Brighton will have Mats Wieffer and Maxim De Cruyer back from knocks for their clash against injury-ravaged Chelsea tomorrow [Saturday]. Yankuba Minteh and Brajan Gruda were previously considered doubts but should be available, according to Fabian Hürzeler.
Jack Hinshelwood is unavailable.
Let’s stay up in the north east with a bit more from Eddie Howe. The Newcastle manager has been discussing Nick Woltemade and the German’s role in the Magpies’ new-look attack.
“It is difficult to see him as a ten considering we do not play with somebody in that position. I see him as a nine who plays it slightly differently to other nines that we might have had in the past. You can’t compare Nick to Callum Wilson for example, they are two totally different profiles of player.”
Sunderland. Oft-mocked either side of the pandemic, down and out for a long time, but now back and thriving. How did it happen?
Louise Taylor explores how the men’s and women’s teams on Wearside are now setting standards admired around Europe.
Thanks John. Alas, it’s been a number of years since I drank in the Kingfisher.
There’s some golf tournament about to start, but let’s focus on the football…
Right, I shall pass the baton to Dom Booth, the pride of Poynton now that the Kingfisher pub is a Spoons.
Professional Footballers’ Association statement on the death of Billy Vigar.
Clearly there needs to be a formal investigation into the incident that has led to Billy Vigar’s tragic death, and it is right that this is allowed to take place so that the full circumstances can be properly established. All of our thoughts right now are with Billy’s family and friends, and providing whatever support we can to them.
“When the time is right, we will offer any assistance we can as part of any investigation process, specifically information that may be helpful regarding the safety of players in grounds. That includes sharing concerns we have raised previously around incidents where PFA members have been seriously injured in collisions with perimeter walls and fences, such as that involving Alex Fletcher at Bath City.
All footballers should expect to be safe when they go out to play or train, and to not be put at unnecessary and avoidable risk by factors beyond their control. When we previously highlighted potential safety issues in grounds and stadiums, the Sports Minister and I wrote to all the football authorities to urge them to be proactive on this and to make sure all their rules and regulations around player safety were fit for purpose.
Again, whilst it is important that a proper investigation is allowed to conclude, we have to ensure that opportunities to make grounds safer for players have not been missed and that players don’t feel that serious incidents involving their safety are necessary to prompt change.
Palmer out until after international break
David Hytner
Big injury news out of Chelsea on Cole Palmer, who was forced out of their defeat at Manchester United last Saturday with a recurrence of a groin problem. The manager, Enzo Maresca, says he is out until after the international break, with the club hoping that rest rather than surgery will be the cure. Palmer, remember, had to pull out of Chelsea’s game at West Ham at the start of the season with the same issue. He will miss three matches for Chelsea before the international break – Brighton, Benfica and Liverpool, all of which are at Stamford Bridge.
Maresca said: “We decided to protect Cole a little bit so that his injury didn’t get worst. We decided to rest him for the next two to three weeks, until the international break. I don’t think he needs surgery. He just needs to manage pain in his groin. This is why we are being conservative with him, to give him rest. Hopefully he can be 100 per cent fit after the international break.”
Arne Slot on Leoni being replaced by Chiesa in the Champions League squad.
“We have looked into this. I cannot tell you exactly where this process is at the moment. It is not something I do myself. If I am informed correctly, if a player has an injury for longer than two months then you are able to replace him – now we have to see if it’s true or not but other people are looking into that.”
Eddie Howe has been talking about social media, after teenager Lewis Miley came under attack. He gave up on using it when still a player.
“It was a very short experience for me, but an important one, I think, that I felt that now I’m in these shoes, I can totally sympathise with the players and try and help them and understand their feelings.”
“Lewie and all the players, unfortunately, have to deal with this world that is there. If you open yourself up to it and absorb it, then it can affect you. Lewie is very mature for his age and he is strong mentally, but it’s our job to protect all the players, protect their own thoughts and their own views on themselves. That’s so important they protect their own confidence when they enter the pitch and they blank out all the noise.”
Jacob Ramsey’s short Newcastle career has been interrupted by injury and he’s out until next month.
Eddie Howe: “His recovery is going well and he is on the grass working hard and building his fitness back up. The plan was that he would [be back] for the first game after the international break ahead of us and if it is any earlier than that then of course he is ahead of schedule.”
Some Russell Martin press conference quotes after Rangers’ latest defeat came to Genk.
I’m frustrated. The red card changed a lot, but I’m proud of the players in the second half. I asked them to be really aggressive after the sending off, not just try and defend for 45 minutes. Genk didn’t cut us open, we weren’t defending relentlessly.
The longer the game goes on, if we actually dominate the ball, we create a lot more. We’ll get there. We had 10 men for a long time, I think Jack [Butland] only had two saves to make in the second half. I thought we had some really good performances.
Trump to move World Cup from ‘dangerous’ cities?
The US president said he was going to make sure San Francisco and Seattle were “safe”, adding that the cities were “run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing”. Seattle’s Lumen Field is set to host six matches at the finals, with Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara – an hour away from San Francisco – due to host a further six.
Premier League clubs to be docked points for financial breaches
Exclusive story from Matt Hughes:
A club guilty of breaching SCR by 30% would be docked six points. Extra points could be deducted on a sliding scale for more serious breaches of the spending cap, which would restrict spending on transfers, player wages and agent fees to 85% of revenue. Smaller breaches would be punished by a financial levy tied to the percentage of the overspend. The Premier League declined to comment.
That Leoni injury can only heighten speculation that Marc Guehi will be joining Liverpool in January. The Crystal Palace manager, Oliver Glasner, has been talking about his captain:
“It is credit to Marc that he never threatened to strike. He is a very honest person. That is why I was never worried about this situation. He will be our captain as long as he’s here, because he’s just such a great player and such a great personality.
“Everybody could see how he played for England, that he’s 100% focused, the same here. It was written [in the media], that he steps back as our captain. Nothing true.”
Terence Doyle pays tribute to a rare talent at Bournemouth, a club that has space for such a maverick.
Alessia Russo might have lost out to her but Aitana Bonmati is a historic great in the women’s game.
That Leoni injury means Federico Chiesa will take the place of his compatriot in the Champions League squad.
Busquets to retire at the end of MLS season.
Per PA Media
Inter Miami’s former Barcelona and Spain midfielder Sergio Busquets has announced he will retire at the end of the Major League Soccer season.
The 37-year-old made 722 appearances for Barca between 2008 and 2023, winning nine LaLiga titles and the Champions League on three occasions.
At international level, he was capped 143 times and played a key role as Spain won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012. He moved to the MLS two years ago and has made 105 appearances for Miami, playing alongside former Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez.
“These will be my last months on the pitch. I’m retiring very happy, proud, fulfilled, and above all grateful,” Busquets said in a video on his Instagram page. “A heartfelt thank you to everyone and to football for everything. You will always be a part of this beautiful story.”
Leoni out for the season with ACL injury
Disaster for Liverpool’s summer signing, Giovanni Leoni, so promising on debut against Southampton. The anterior cruciate ligament injury feared when he was carried off has been confirmed.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot this morning: “He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL which means he will be out around a year. Being so young and coming to a new country and playing so well in your first game, it’s very hard to take the positives. There is never a positive side but you try to look at that and that is that he is still so young and he has so many years still go to after he recovers from a terrible injury.”
Europa League fall-out: relief for Aston Villa, more gloom for Rangers.
Let’s begin in the usual way, with 10 things to look out for this weekend.
Weekend’s Premier League fixtures:
Saturday (3pm unless stated)
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Brentford v. Man Utd (12.30pm)
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Chelsea v. Brighton
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Crystal Palace v. Liverpool
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Leeds v. AFC Bournemouth
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Man City v. Burnley
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Nottm Forest v. Sunderland (5.30pm)
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Tottenham Hotspur v. Wolverhampton (8pm)
Sunday
Monday
Preamble
Good morning from London, where we ready ourselves for another weekend of domestic action, and hear the fallout from last night’s Europa League. Team news and managers’ press conferences to follow, and the latest breaking news.
You know the drill by now. Join us.
