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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Fulham’s Antonee Robinson shines against Bukayo Saka, Tottenham squander another lead and woe at Old Trafford

There are numerous issues when taking over a team mid-season. One is that a new head coach might not have the right players for his plan and he has very little time to implement what he wants with those he does. Ruben Amorim has arranged his players – in various combinations – into his preferred 3-4-3 formation and it is clear what the strategy is, although there are flaws. The defence is struggling, where the three centre-backs are not performing their main duty of keeping clean sheets. Against Forest every set-piece looked like it might result in a goal. Only Nikola Milenkovic did score from a corner but the others were more farcical as André Onana got confused by Morgan Gibbs-White and a seemingly harmless Chris Wood header was allowed to drop in off the post. Maybe chopping and changing is Amorim’s issue and he needs to back a first-choice back three to allow them to settle and offer a foundation to build on. Will Unwin

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Luke Littler named on six-strong Sports Personality of the Year shortlist

  • Teenager could become youngest winner since 1958
  • Hodgkinson, Yee, Bellingham, Root and Storey included

Luke Littler will have a shot at becoming the youngest winner of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award for more than 60 years, after being named on a six-strong shortlist headed by the Paris 2024 Olympics stars Keely Hodgkinson and Alex Yee.

The England footballer Jude Bellingham, the cricketer Joe Root and the Paralympian Sarah Storey make up the list. But, surprisingly, there is no place for Mark Cavendish, in a year when he broke Eddy Merckx’s record for Tour de France stage wins.

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