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Mikel Arteta happy with George Graham comparison as Arsenal prepare for Atlético

  • Premier League leaders yet to concede in Europe

  • Arteta: ‘We acknowledge the importance of defending’

Mikel Arteta says he is happy if his Arsenal team stir memories of George Graham’s famously miserly champion vintage at the club as he prepared to face another defensive master – Diego Simeone, who brings Atlético Madrid to the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Arteta’s players are fresh from their 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday, a result that has left them three points clear at the top of the Premier League with an eye-catching defensive record. After eight games in the competition, they have let in three goals and not conceded in two Champions League ties and one Carabao Cup game this season.

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Lionel Messi Has a Season for the Record Books! Is It Enough to Win MLS Cup? + Julie Foudy’s vision for NWSL

Christian Polanco and Matt Doyle break down MLS Decision Day as the regular season comes to a close. Lionel Messi finishes the season on a historic run, but is it enough for Inter Miami to win MLS Cup? Next, Christian and Matt welcome World Cup winner and USWNT legend Julie Foudy. Later, the boys react to Nottingham Forest sacking Ange Postecoglou and debate whether Sean Dyche is the right man to stabilize the club.

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NCAA president urges conferences and schools to be cautious of equity deals

The president of the NCAA is urging schools and conferences tempted by riches offered through potential deals with new equity sources to think about the long-term repercussions before jumping into the deals. “My message to everybody on this would be really simple: Be really careful,'" Charlie Baker said Monday at a Big East roundtable on the future of college basketball. With schools and conferences under increasing pressure to raise funds to pay their players, reports of them negotiating with new equity sources for college sports are becoming more frequent.

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‘Little Magpie’ José Mourinho relishing taking Benfica to Newcastle | Louise Taylor

Portuguese has a long-held affinity with the north-east club following his time working with Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona

To José Mourinho, Newcastle United represents a road never taken. Whenever Mourinho visits St James’ Park he takes time to stand by the statue of Sir Bobby Robson outside the Milburn Stand and spend a few minutes paying silent tribute to the memory of his mentor.

In 1999 Robson wanted the Portuguese to join him at Newcastle as an assistant manager with a view to eventually taking the top job but Mourinho, who returns to north‑east England for a Champions League engagement with Benfica on Tuesday night, declined.

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Florida, UConn and Duke highlight MSG college basketball schedule featuring 9 national champs

Reigning national champion Florida is one of 12 teams in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll scheduled to play at Madison Square Garden this season. UConn and Duke will make multiple appearances inside “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” which is set to host seven programs ranked in the top 10 and nine that have won an NCAA title. No. 5 St. John's, the defending Big East champion, will play 12 regular-season home games at MSG in its third year under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino — the school's most since 1951-52.

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Red Bull fined £43,000 after team member tries to tamper with Lando Norris grid tape

  • Team caught out by CCTV cameras trackside

  • Norris was lined up behind Max Verstappen

Red Bull have been fined £43,000 after a member of the team broke regulations in an act of gamesmanship at the US Grand Prix, when attempting to remove a piece of tape from the pit wall placed there by McLaren to aid their driver Lando Norris in lining up correctly on the grid.

The incident was an unusual example of low-level skulduggery between teams as Red Bull were caught out by CCTV cameras trackside and the race stewards issued the fine for events which took place just before the off.

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Mind the gap: surge from Verstappen piles pressure on McLaren and echoes 2007 | Giles Richards

Champion could snatch drivers’ title away from the leading constructors just as Kimi Räikkönen did 18 years ago

A few short months ago Max Verstappen’s world championship defence appeared to be over. But when he took the flag in the US Grand Prix on Sunday it heralded the most remarkable resurgence as he waded with a gleeful swagger back into the title fight. Verstappen was down but he is far from out and could yet still pull off what would count as his greatest triumph.

Going into the weekend in Austin, Verstappen was still treating the idea of him being a contender against the two lead protagonists, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with a certain indifferent levity.

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‘Exciting’ Noah Caluori could make England debut this autumn, says Borthwick

  • England coach talks up 6ft 5in wing’s humility and desire

  • Door closed on Tom Willis but left ajar for Owen Farrell

England could fast-track the Saracens teenager Noah Caluori into the Test spotlight as soon as next month following the wing’s dramatic start to his top-level club career. The 19-year-old celebrated his first Prem start with five tries against Sale Sharks on Satur­day and the national head coach, Steve Borthwick, says he is already in contention for a senior England debut.

It was impossible to miss Caluori’s aerial ability and eye for the try line at the weekend with the former Lions captain Sam Warburton ­describing the 6ft 5in player as “almost undefendable” and “an absolute diamond”. England have been aware of his potential for a while and it seems that some game time against Fiji a fortnight on Saturday is not impossible.

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Ange Postecoglou and Nottingham Forest never made sense. So why did it happen?

The former Tottenham manager made a rash Premier League return, and it will probably be his last

The weirdest aspect of Ange Postecoglou’s 40-day reign at Nottingham Forest was how inevitable it all felt. The only shock was that he was sacked on Saturday, within minutes of a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea, rather than a day or two later. But by then, it was obvious this ill-starred adventure had run its course; perhaps it was kinder to everybody to bring it to an end. Forest, certainly, had to act quickly if they are to make the most of their first European campaign in three decades.

But why was such an obviously terrible appointment made in the first place? What was it that made the Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, ever think that Postecoglou was the right man to succeed Nuno Espírito Santo? They met in July at an event staged by the Greek league to celebrate Postecoglou winning the Europa League with Tottenham, but was it really just that? That they got on well over a glass of wine?

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

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Como’s Nico Paz dominates Serie A’s next-gen playmaker showdown | Nicky Bandini

Italy’s top clubs – and Real Madrid – watched as the Argentinian overshadowed Kenan Yildiz in battle of playmaking prodigies

The pre-game buzz had this as a showdown between two of world football’s most intriguing young No 10s, Como’s Nico Paz v Juventus’s Kenan Yildiz. A 21-year-old Argentina international whose dazzling debut campaign in Serie A persuaded Tottenham to make an unsuccessful €70m bid to buy him in the summer, taking on the 20-year-old trequartista with 25 appearances already for Turkey’s national team.

Fabio Capello could not pick between them, ranking Paz and Yildiz alongside Roma’s Matías Soulé as the finest “fantasisti” – artistic playmakers – in Serie A today. The newspaper Il Giornale played on the players’ shirt number and young age as they billed it as a battle “da ‘10’ (e lode)”. In the Italian academic system, a grade of 110 e lode (with honours) is the highest one can achieve.

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