Category: Football (Soccer)

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A four-match international break has presented a stress test. “The intensity of the squad, the athleticism of it, really, I think it’s designed for the elite,” said the Wales head coach, Craig Bellamy, on the completion of four matches in 11 days. Elite club coaches would disagree. The Nations League and the wider set of international games staged across the globe have been accompanied by a daily list of casualties, club officials viewing matches through their fingers as players pull up and gesture to the bench.

Almost certainly to the disquiet of Enzo Maresca, City’s Elliot Anderson and Marc Guéhi were, alongside Harry Kane, the only England players to start all four Nations League matches, with Nico O’Reilly withdrawing halfway through. Liverpool’s problems appear to run deeper, with Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo, early successes for the Andoni Iraola regime, sustaining injuries with Sweden and the Netherlands respectively. Jérémy Jacquet, another bright spark this season, reportedly strained a hamstring with France.

There’s little prospect of the model changing in a country that welcomes wealthy international owners with open arms

Football, the world’s most popular sport, played by laws drawn up in London in 1863. The Premier League is the UK’s greatest soft power export. Premier League clubs are owned by a deputy prime minister of Abu Dhabi, the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, a billionaire based in Monaco for tax reasons and a disappointing assortment of investors and private equity funds. And what, really, could be more British than that? Football truly is the national game.

What the Manchester City case has exposed is just how difficult it is to regulate some of the richest and most powerful bodies in the world. While the wait for the verdict was frustrating, it’s perhaps unavoidable given the possibility of legal objection at every turn when a leaked email from City’s in-house lawyer during Uefa’s action against the club had threatened to “spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years”. You didn’t get that with Albert Alexander Sr or Peter Swales.

Manchester United are on six points – their poorest start since 1986 – and Tottenham have three less and remain stuck in the relegation zone: testing times for Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, who must somehow revive their teams following a contest that was lit up by a moment of quality in the 73rd minute.

Matheus Cunha was fed by Luke Shaw down the left and the Brazilian crossed to Bryan Mbeumo, who spun and finished for United. It drew delirious chants of “You’re going down with the City”: Spurs, at this stage, were rock-bottom, and Manchester City’s long-term future in the division is in the balance.

Dominic Solanke earned a deserved point for Spurs despite Rodrigo Bentancur’s red card

Spurs get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half.

The teams are out. Manchester United in their famous red, white and black, Tottenham in second-choice dark blue with diagonal multi-coloured neon nonsense. Meanwhile here’s the first line of a song ringing out loud from all four corners of Old Trafford: “You know what you are.” No prizes for guessing the rest of the lyrics, or which club they’re serenading. Don’t look back in anger? Good luck with that! We’ll be off in a minute.

Álvaro Arbeloa bristled at suggestions he cannot handle the pressure after Fulham’s at Ipswich extended their winless start in the Premier League to six matches. The former Real Madrid manager was minutes away from a first managerial victory in the competition after Ryan Sessegnon’s brilliant 55th-minute strike, but the visitors collapsed late on in abject fashion.

Abdoul Ouattara produced a thunderbolt from 30 yards to level for Ipswich after 88 minutes and Dara O’Shea headed home Jack Clarke’s free-kick in the second minute of stoppage time to consign the visitors to a painful loss. Tottenham securing a point at Manchester United pushed Fulham to the bottom of the table.

The reigning champions were forced to dig extremely deep to come from behind and beat visitors who can go home with their heads held extremely high

• Read Paul MacInnes’s match report from the Emirates Stadium

An email: “Happy Saturday, Barry,” writes Mark Kerry. “Is it just me or are there other baffled Arsenal fans out there regarding Arteta’s obsession with starting Havertz as a centre forward? I just can’t see the rationale for it at this point, given that Havertz has proven over the last few seasons that he’s not at all prolific, whereas Gyokeres is clearly a capable finisher - as exemplified both by last season in the Premier League but also during recent internationals. Would Arsenal not be better to persist with, or even adapt to,a more natural goal scorer?”

I’m not an Arsenal fan, baffled or otherwise, but I don’t think Gyokeres is a good enough centre-forward to play for them and I’m not sure he’s done anywhere near enough to convince Mikel Arteta otherwise. His forte is running behind into the kind of space Arsenal just aren’t afforded by most teams they play against and for such a big unit, his hold-up play is dismal. It doesn’t surprise me that Kai Havertz is picked ahead of him.

How will Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options

The sense of desperation will be strong as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur arrive at Old Trafford with both teams in bad need of a win to change the narrative around their disappointing seasons so far.

Anything less than three points would further increase the pressure on Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, both of whom are fighting to prove they are the right people for their respective jobs. Saturday’s match could be pivotal.

How will Arsenal and Leeds United fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options

Three points is all that separates Arsenal and Leeds United as the Premier League returns after a three-week international break, with the latter one of the surprise packages of the season so far.

Unlike Arsenal, Leeds have yet to lose a league game this season. Daniel Farke’s team have earned a reputation for being difficult to beat and have the quality to cause an upset in north London this weekend.

As the top flight returns, armed with the knowledge its serial champions have been the authors of a 10-year sham supremacy, the first question is simple: how is it going to feel?

The internet: an apology. It turns out you were right. It was actually a simulation all along. Now, talk to me about chemtrails again. And yes, maybe Vinícius Júnior has been replaced by a handsome, baffled-looking waxwork.

Welcome to the weirdest weekend of them all. We are now post-judgment, post-statement, postlapsarian. As the Premier League prepares to snap back into what must be described, out of habit, as reality, armed with the knowledge its serial champions have been the authors of a 10-year sham supremacy, the first question is fairly simple. How is it going to feel?

Manchester City face Liverpool after a trying international break while struggling Tottenham go to Old Trafford

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Emirates Stadium

As the Premier League returns, we dive into the signing who could boost United’s midfield – or confuse things further

Carlos Baleba cost Manchester United $88.7m (£65m) plus $6.8m (£5m) in add-ons when they signed him from Brighton in August. He may be worth even more now despite the fact that the Cameroonian has yet to debut for his new club. Many United fans are counting on Baleba to be a one-man solution to their early-season problems. No pressure.

An ankle injury kept Baleba on the sidelines as Michael Carrick’s side struggled against Everton, Manchester City and Fulham. The 22-year-old joined United just a few days after the opening-weekend defeat to Hull City, so he’d already had a preview of his new team’s troubles to come. The scale of Baleba’s task has grown since then.