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The pre-match postbag is here. Peter gets in touch:

The population of Sankt Pölten – 60,000 – is less than one-third of Hammersmith and Fulham’s. The London giants are the overwhelming favourites but the Wölfinnen (She-Wolves) aren’t gonna go down without a howling fight.

We know that Chelsea are a very experienced team with speed, pace and individual quality. It will be a difficult task, but we will fight for 90 minutes.

We have to stay focused and concentrate fully on our task throughout the entire match. Our players need to enjoy these moments when they compete against teams of this calibre.

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Sigh. Look, we know Anthony Barry doesn’t like us calling it the international break – and as Watson to Thomas Tuchel’s scrupulous, problem-solving Sherlock, we’re not about to argue with him. But actual football is thin on the ground, beyond Phil Neville’s Portland Timbers getting bounced out of the MLS Cup playoffs by San Diego. “It wasn’t about a system or tactic, it was the mentality,” crowed Neville after his team’s high line was pillaged in a 4-0 defeat. Beyond that, there are some lads in the park adjacent to Football Daily Towers doing keepy-uppies, but that’s about it. So instead, it’s time to speculate. With several managerial seats empty heading into the international break (sorry, Anthony), it’s time to fire up the Football Daily Analytics Machine and try to predict the future.

Regarding the Jaws analogy in yesterday’s Football Daily, notwithstanding that there were a couple of dubious sequels, please remind me again, what happened to said shark at the end of the film?” – David Parsons.

Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola, Ruben Amorim and now Arne Slot have had their heads called for after a few losses in a row in the past year. A month ago Amorim was toast in the eyes of many. Last week he picked up the Premier League manager of the month award. Meanwhile, the local Teflon man, Eddie Howe, manager of the wealthiest club on the planet, winless away in over six months, lying just above the relegation zone, floats miraculously above the flak” – John Weldon.

Kieffer Moore has many talents (yesterday’s Quote of the Day) not least his passing from midfield. His best, certainly, was the peach, to Sunderland’s Tommy Watson to score the last-minute winner in the recent playoff final. His best as viewed from this half of Sheffield, at least” – Al Williams.

I was one of the hardy souls to attend the Canadian Premier League final on Sunday in a very snowy Ottawa (yesterday’s Ice, Ice, Baby section, full email edition). It was probably the most remarkable match I have been to. Although the football on show was of dubious quality (mainly, but not only, due to the weather) there were some incredible Canadian scenes on display, including the home keeper helping clear the mounting snow with his own shovel (while probably apologising to the ground staff that his 18-yard box was so untidy). But I particularly enjoyed watching the home supporters in front of me making and stockpiling snowballs during play, and then unleashing their arsenal on to the away team gathered around the manager during breaks of play. This league has often struggled for its own identity in a crowded football landscape, but I think they’ve now finally found it. Shame the Geopolitics World Cup will be played during the summer months” – Ian Potter.

• Chelsea supporting player as police investigate

• Break-in occurred last Saturday at residence

Raheem Sterling has been the victim of another burglary and is understood to have been in the house with his family when the incident occurred.

It is understood that the invasion took place last Saturday at the Chelsea player’s residence and involved masked men trying to break into the property. Sterling and his family escaped unharmed but it is the second time that the former England international’s home has been targeted.

• Clubs face each other in cup quarter-final on 23 December

• Their weekend league games go from Sunday to Saturday

Arsenal and Crystal Palace have succeeded with requests to the Premier League to move their fixtures the weekend before they meet in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

The teams play in the cup at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday 23 December and had both been due to play at 2pm GMT on Sunday 21 December. Instead Arsenal’s game at Everton and Palace’s at Leeds will take place at 8pm the previous day.

Our cartoonist on how the US president’s actions in office may have put him in line for an award

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Admittedly in the Champions League’s shadow, the Europa Cup does offer fresh opportunities for the game to develop

It may be news to some, but there is a new competition kicking off in Europe this week. With qualifying complete, the business end of the Women’s Europa Cup gets under way on Wednesday. It will mark another milestone in women’s football, a side of the sport that is constantly evolving and developing.

Starting with the round of 16, teams will embark on a journey of two-legged knockout ties that lead to the inaugural final. The winner will also be decided across two legs, due to take place in May and June next year.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Mohamed Salah has drifted from crucial to peripheral in big games, and Arne Slot’s decision to keep picking him is strange

There must be blame. We need heads on the battlements. We need entrails, horses, chains, a public quartering. Basically we just need to feel something. We need, above all, to feel that this is all someone’s fault.

This is how elite football must function now. The Dalai Lama once said that instead of looking to blame others we should look for answers within ourselves, which just goes to show how wrong you can be and is, frankly, very disappointing from the Dalai Lama.

Weston McKennie remains at Juventus due to a manager change, and the US remain vulnerable to outside elements

When Weston McKennie signed for Juventus in 2020, it had only been 30 days since Andrea Pirlo was made the Italian club’s manager. A few weeks ago, Luciano Spalletti was appointed as Juve’s fifth manager since McKennie joined – or his seventh, if you count the interim head coaches. It’s not a new situation for the American. But according to US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino, it’s why McKennie isn’t with the US during their upcoming friendlies with Paraguay on Saturday and Uruguay on Tuesday.

Pochettino could have selected McKennie, trusting that Spalletti is the first Juventus manager in years to be instantly convinced of the multifunctional Texan’s value. Rather than the usual routine of a manager trying to push McKennie out of the club, only to realize that there’s a reason only three players in the squad have been at the club longer, Spalletti has given McKennie starts in all three matches he’s overseen. The 27-year-old has played all but five available minutes in that span.

The veteran Villarreal striker had never scored against the team where it all began – until this weekend

He made his other dad mad and a policeman put his head in his hands, but at least Gerard Moreno said sorry and in the end they couldn’t help but forgive him. In fact, they were happy for him, the defeated Espanyol fans who briefly fell silent when he hurt them standing to hand him an ovation when he headed off, the long walk from the pitch ending with another win, a bit like old times. On Saturday night, the Villarreal striker scored for the third week in a row; it was the first time in two years he had a run like that, his best days finished or so it goes. At 33, it was also the first time he had ever scored against the team where it all began. Which felt right somehow, even when it was wrong.

This was a big night. Espanyol came on to the pitch with rescue dogs, the two teams posing together, every man in blue and white with a mutt of their own: Marko Dimitrovic led a huge alsatian, Ty Dolan held a husky and Roberto Fernández petted a black puppy. Defeated only once at home, these are the best days they have had for years. The club whose former owner, remote-control car impresario Chen Yansheng, had promised Champions League football in three years and instead presided over two relegations, are under new management. They have the most popular manager anyone can remember, a former bus driver and the embodiment of what they want to be. And they kicked off in a European place. Win and they would climb to within two points of their opponents and the final Champions League slot.

Sunday league team with over 1,800 top-flight appearances has contributed to feelgood factor in community

It all started with a picture and caption on social media: “If Carlsberg did benches.” Then came a tweet, naming nine former Premier League players on the books of Wythenshawe FC’s over-35s side: Stephen Ireland, Emile Heskey, Maynor Figueroa, Joleon Lescott, Papiss Cissé, Oumar Niasse, Nedum Onuoha, George Boyd and Danny Drinkwater.

Adding new recruit Jefferson Montero to the list means Wythenshawe’s veterans squad includes 1,867 Premier League appearances, plus 389 international caps and 15 major honours.

The dramatic encounter between Arsenal and Chelsea was marred by poor officiating while Manchester City benefit from ‘mentality shift’

There were many interesting talking points from the dramatic draw between Arsenal and Chelsea – Alyssa Thompson’s stunning goal for the Blues, the impressive defensive performance of Lotte Wubben-Moy, the 56,537-strong crowd, Chelsea’s choice of a back four over a back five, Arsenal’s decision not to play with a natural No 6 – but, disappointingly, it is the quality of the officiating that has and will dominate. Both Renée Slegers and Sonia Bompastor said afterwards that they think the introduction of video assistant referees would be a positive step in helping eliminate the most obvious of errors, such as Blackstenius’s goal being ruled out for a nonexistent handball, and in assisting with the more marginal calls: whether Alessia Russo was offside for her goal or Frida Maanum was offside when her effort was ruled out.

‘We need justice’: Slegers calls for VAR after officials deny Arsenal

Russo earns draw with Chelsea but Arsenal rue decisions

WSL roundup: City go top, Liverpool and West Ham stay winless

• David Rodríguez scored acrobatic equalizer and winner

• Play was stopped every 15 minutes for snow removal

• Gallery: The best shots from an epic final

Atlético Ottawa secured a Canadian Premier League final victory unlike any other, a snow-globe spectacle amid a swirling blizzard featuring what online media outlets dubbed an “icicle kick” from the Mexican midfielder David Rodríguez.

Ottawa, the hosts, beat Cavalry FC 2-1 in extra-time win in Sunday’s title decider in temperatures of minus -8C (17.6F) with snow so heavy that play was halted every 15 minutes to clear the lines, and goalkeepers used shovels to carve out their boxes.

• Striker could be fit for home game against Everton

• Lisandro Martínez to train with Argentina’s squad

Benjamin Sesko will miss Slovenia’s games against Kosovo and Sweden owing to the knee injury sustained at Tottenham on Saturday, but Manchester United are hopeful he may be available after the international break.

The striker was forced off after 87 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Spurs after being introduced on 58 minutes for Noussair Mazraoui. Ruben Amorim admitted concern after the game and Sesko has withdrawn from the Slovenia squad.

• Eyupspor chairman reportedly among those arrested

• 27 Super Lig players suspended over alleged betting

Turkish authorities formally arrested eight people, including a top-tier club chairman, on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged betting on football matches. The Turkish football federation (TFF) has also suspended 1,024 players pending disciplinary investigations.

The TFF suspended 149 referees and assistant referees earlier this month, after an investigation found officials working in the country’s professional leagues were betting on football matches.

• Incidents alleged to have happened in two matches

• ‘Such behaviour is contrary to the club’s values’

The Ligue 1 club Lille will pursue legal action against some of their fans after incidents of hate speech and racist insults in the visitors’ stands during their matches at Red Star Belgrade and Strasbourg last week.

“LOSC strongly condemns the unacceptable behaviour observed, as well as the hateful comments and racist insults made by certain individuals in the visitors’ section during trips to Belgrade and Strasbourg last Thursday and Sunday,” the club said in a statement.

• Club do not believe Robertson impeded Donnarumma

• Slot refused to blame controversy on side’s poor display

Liverpool have complained to Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) over the decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk’s header at Manchester City on Sunday amid concern that the relevant criteria was not met.

Van Dijk’s effort was ruled out in the 38th minute, when City were leading 1-0, and the referee Chris Kavanagh’s on-field decision was backed by the video assistant referee, Michael Oliver. The VAR agreed that the Liverpool defender Andy Robertson was “in an offside position and deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper” when ducking out the way of Van Dijk’s header as it sailed past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The defending Premier League champions spent big over the summer, but it’s hard to see how the new players fit

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

What was it supposed to look like? Amid all the talk around Liverpool and their disappointing form at the start of this season, that is perhaps the hardest question of all to answer. What were they trying to do? If it had worked, how would this team have played?

The champions spent £424m (about $550m) on new signings in the summer, but if all had gone well, they would have spent an additional £40m ($53m) to land the Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guéhi. The England international would, at the very least, have given an extra option at the back (the injury to Giovanni Leoni has diminished their defensive options further), allowing Arne Slot to rest Ibrahima Konaté, whose poor form continued in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. An early City penalty was a direct result of Konaté getting in Conor Bradley’s way as Jérémy Doku cut in from the left.

While it was a highly subjective call, VAR is not there to re-referee decisions like the offside against Andy Robertson

There was one big incident that grabbed the headlines and prompted conversation this weekend in the Premier League: the decision by the referee Chris Kavanagh to deny Liverpool an equalising goal in their high-stakes match against Manchester City. The decision is massively subjective, in my opinion, but not a clear and obvious error.

Starting from the top: the ball is in the back of the net after Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner, and the assistant referee, Stuart Burt, flags for offside. The offside player is Andy Robertson, who is in the goal area. When the ball is headed by Van Dijk, Robertson is standing almost in front of the goalkeeper. He then shifts to his left, shifts forward and, with the ball about to strike him, he ducks out of the way and the ball ends up in the net.

Werder Bremen inflicted a seventh defeat in eight games on a club that has struggled to build an identity since 2009 title

‘All I want in life’s a little bit of love to take the pain away,” sang Jason Pierce in the opening line of Spiritualized’s 1997 opus Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. And just a little bit has always been all Wolfsburg have been likely to get. One of a couple of special cases in the Bundesliga, a factory team derided by fans of other clubs for their lack of ‘realness’, with their matchups with Bayer Leverkusen only spared the previous epithet of ‘El Plastico’ in recent years due to Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig joining the elite on a quasi-permanent basis.

And here they are now floating in space, neither the most hated team by opposing teams’ ultras who consider them inauthentic (that would be either of the two above) nor the best funded by a corporate (that would be Leipzig). Rampantly successful over the last few years, Leverkusen are more comfortable in their own skin and have the wit to lean into how they have commonly been perceived; their club shop sells T-shirts with the legend ‘keine tradition seit 1904’.

Everton duo stake England claim, Jaydee Canvot steps up for Crystal Palace, and Benjamin Sesko struggles to settle

Amid the headlines about Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham being recalled for England, there was a little less said about Nico O’Reilly being named in Thomas Tuchel’s squad. Myles Lewis-Skelly paid the price for his lack of game time and now the City man gets his opportunity to stake a claim for a World Cup spot. The 20-year-old now goes into camp having become the latest defender to shut out Mohamed Salah. That’s less of an achievement than it used to be, but O’Reilly still had to show tenacity and patience against this nuggety, late-era version of the Egyptian superstar. The City full-back nicked the ball off his man regularly – much to the delight of the home fans – and got forward to decent effect, too. If Pep Guardiola trusts O’Reilly in the biggest games and he can avoid injury there is no reason to think that the City academy graduate cannot make England’s most open position his own. Tom Bassam

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

Match report: Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth

Match report: Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton

Match report: Brentford 3-1 Newcastle

Match report: Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds

Match report: Tottenham 2-2 Manchester United

Sassuolo forward is rarest of beasts – a one-club man – and virtuoso display against Atalanta reinforced his hero status

The man with the moustache held his teammate in a headlock and stared down the TV camera lens. “Berardi!” he yelled, jabbing a finger at the back of his colleague’s bonce. “BE-RAR-DI!”

It felt like that moment in a kids’ movie when the big brother drags his meek sibling back into frame after beating up the school bully. Mess with him again and see what happens. Only, Tarik Muharemovic is nine years younger than Domenico Berardi. And it was the older player, again, who had spent this afternoon tormenting his peers.

It starts with singing, banter or enthusiastic goal celebrations – and leads to so much more. Six groups of fan friends share how they met

Like so many football fans, I have my own routines and rituals with which I tie together the home games of a league season. Last year, one such routine involved the older gentleman in the seat to my right. I’d nod hello and, above the strains of pre-match music, ask him what he thought of Norwich’s chances – 23 times I asked, and 23 times he replied along the lines of: “We’ll probably get thumped” or “I don’t see where our goals are coming from.” A shred of contempt would be spared for the referee. Always, the referee was known to him and, always, I’d be forewarned that this or that referee was an “arsehole”, a “wanker”, or – once – “an arsehole and a wanker”.

This neighbour of mine was a retired engineer, a Norfolk boy, and a follower of both first team and academy, home and away. He was just one of thousands with a season ticket at the back of Carrow Road’s lower Barclay stand: a Saturday afternoon companion, a stranger at the start of the last season who became a little less strange as the matches went by. I was able to glean, for example, that after decades of loyal (if pessimistic) fandom, he would soon be moving to Yorkshire with his partner, unable to ignore his dreams of the Dales. He had already decided that he wouldn’t be renewing his season ticket. My first year in this part of the ground was his last.

With the World Cup halo truly faded, the domestic league is now the ‘least preferred’ competition for Australian players, according to a new report

Ten years ago, the A-League Women was on a steep and exciting trajectory. New teams were being added, senior Matildas and other top international players were being signed, crowds were growing and media coverage was increasing. It was, for a moment, one of the destination leagues in the world.

But over the past few years, the ALW has stagnated. Despite the golden opportunity of hosting a Women’s World Cup, the competition has failed to keep pace globally, and a new report by the players’ union has highlighted grave and urgent concerns about whether the ALW can ever return to its former glories.

Two 18-year-old academy players – Sidiki Chérif and Prosper Peter – are scoring the goals Angers need to stay in Ligue 1

By Get French Football News

Deprived of their top scorer from last season and unable to sign a replacement, Angers did not have a choice but to turn to two 18-year-old strikers from their academy. Sidiki Chérif and Prosper Peter have shown that it should have been the only choice.

The season started with a win for Angers, but it was a win that brought more fear than hope. Esteban Lepaul scored the only goal of the game as they beat Paris FC. The Frenchman had been a revelation in the second half of last season, as his nine goals ensured safety for Ligue 1’s second lowest scorers. But Rennes were circling and he was gone by the end of August.

New York’s mayor-elect has taken on powerful institutions. With the World Cup taking place in his city, he should challenge Fifa next

After winning the election for mayor of New York City, an exuberant Zohran Mamdani took to the stage at his victory speech and said, “If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.” He was alluding to Donald Trump, but the sentiment also applies to Fifa, the world’s governing body for soccer.

In September, Mamdani’s team kicked off a “Game Over Greed” campaign targeting Fifa’s use of dynamic pricing for 2026 men’s World Cup tickets, calling it an “affront to the game.” His petition demanded that Fifa cease its rapacious dynamic pricing scheme, place a price cap on tickets that are resold on Fifa’s ticketing platform, and reserve a tranche of tickets for local residents. Mamdani, a longtime Arsenal fan, told the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast, “I have long been quite troubled by how the supposed stewards of the game have opted for profit time and time again at the expense of the people that love this game.”

• Republic of Ireland body alleges two statute violations

• FAI approved a resolution to submit a formal motion

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has approved a resolution to submit a formal motion to Uefa urging it to ban Israel from European club and international competitions.

The governing body’s resolution – proposed by the Dublin club Bohemians – cited alleged violations by the Israel Football Association (IFA) of two provisions of Uefa statutes. They are its alleged failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and the organisation of clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA.

This match was as dismal as last season’s Europa League final and in a routine league game nerves are no excuse

Never underestimate the haplessness of this Manchester United. Never underestimate the haplessness of this Tottenham Hotspur. Never underestimate the capacity of the Premier League to uncover drama in the least plausible situation. The embers of a game of little quality seemed cold and dead but somehow burst into glorious flame in the final six minutes plus stoppage time.

What it means is anybody’s guess, other than that these are two sides who remain deeply flawed. The shadow of Bilbao and last May’s Europa League final was unavoidable; in purely technical terms, that game was just as bad as the first 84 minutes of this one, but it at least had a sense of edge. Nervousness is permissible if there is something to be nervous about. Such scrappiness in a routine league meeting is far less explicable.

Two midweek matches in England had a backdrop of war and geopolitics, but only one drew large protests

How would you feel if the owner of the football club you support was implicated, even as those implications are repeatedly denied, in famine, ethnic cleansing and the deaths of 1,500 men, women and children?

Compare this with the more familiar list of bad things football club owners do, the real sack‑the‑board stuff. Failure to buy a striker. Inadequate Showing Of Ambition. The hiring and/or firing of David Moyes. Mike Ashley was pretty annoying. He had shops full of quilted coats hung really high up close to the ceiling.

The Real Madrid midfielder is part of an attack-minded squad but the manager will be watching him carefully

One snub was enough. Another and it would have started to look vindictive from Thomas Tuchel, who is far too wily not to know that winning the World Cup is probably going to require help from Jude Bellingham, even if it is also on the midfielder to fit into the tactical structures and squad hierarchies required with England now that he is back in Tuchel’s warm embrace.

The manager wants Bellingham’s edge, his fire, but it is about using it in the right way. Individual quality matters but England know from bitter experience that there is a price to pay when celebrity takes over. Still, a point has been made.

Gianni Infantino has a new idea, and like most of his ideas it’s not one many are going to like, except maybe Donald Trump

A perfectly friendly-looking American guy, sharp suit, early 50s is wandering around Miami. He tells me that in the past 10 years the city has turned into a “magnet for dreamers, doers and visionaries, a launchpad where ideas take flight, where connections spark movements, where legacies are born”.

I nod sagely, pretending to know what that means before clicking the X in the top right of the YouTube tab. The man in question is in fact the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, encouraging me and other leaders of industry to pay lots of money to attend the America Business Forum. The website tells me “America Business Forum comes to the United States for the first time” – which begs the question where they’ve held it previously. I’m no chief executive, I don’t keep a diary, but I’d have put America right up there as a location to hold a forum on American business.

Our cartoonist on how even a comic-book hero could become a greedy narcissist if the game continues to eat itself

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• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Assistant coach is using psychological, tactical and physical profiling to help Thomas Tuchel give his England team an edge at the World Cup

Ten years ago, life looked a little different for Anthony Barry. The England assistant coach, whose focus is fixed on helping Thomas Tuchel win the World Cup next summer – nothing less – was playing for Accrington Stanley in League Two. He was in the twilight of a career spent in the bottom two divisions of the Football League and in non-league, and he had taken the first step on the journey that would define him, accepting a voluntary position as the Accrington Under-16s coach.

“It was in the evenings, third of a pitch, asked to do 11 v 11 … flat balls, not enough bibs,” Barry says with a smile. “I was hooked. I’d found what I was destined to do and I thought about what it could become. I’m pretty sure nobody else could see it. But that’s part of dreams.”

Afghan Women United is comprised of players forced to flee their homeland and is another step in beating barriers

“When I step on to the pitch everything else is automatically erased from my mind,” says the captain of Afghan Women United, Fatima Haidari, when asked how football helps her cope with the traumas she has suffered.

“I train, I play, and a fire inside me is lit, not just because of the power that I feel at that moment as a player, but because I feel I have many other girls with me. It’s like I’m taking their hands. Like I’m playing with them. It’s not just for me, and I feel powerful.”

Some of them are not old enough to drive to training but they are driving results for the biggest clubs in the country

By WhoScored

When Max Dowman came off the bench for Arsenal against Leeds earlier this season, he became just the third 15-year-old to play in the Premier League. A few days later, when 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha scored Liverpool’s winner against Newcastle, it felt like a confirmation of a trend: teenagers are not just filling gaps in squads, they are driving results.

At a time when clubs can spend more than £100m on a player – Liverpool did it twice in the summer – the Premier League is witnessing a quiet revolution: the rise of the teenagers. Teenagers made 430 appearances in the league last season – the highest in 19 years – and they have already made 130 appearances this season.

In an exclusive extract from her autobiography, goalkeeper reveals the painful road to her shock England exit

England felt like such a safe space for me. It was usual to have a team review after a big tournament and after the Euros in 2022 we came together in the Club England meeting room at St George’s Park, the team’s headquarters.

The emotional security that I felt within England was bolstered by the culture and values that had underpinned and contributed to our success. Non-collegiate behaviour was not tolerated. We came back together to the news that Hannah Hampton had been dropped from the squad: her behaviour behind the scenes at the Euros had frequently risked derailing training sessions and team resources.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

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In the borderline reverential buildup to his landmark 1,000th match as an excitable man gesticulating wildly on the touchlines of various football pitches like a traffic policeman with a ferret down his trousers, Pep Guardiola mused that “the universe deciding” to mark the occasion by having his Manchester City side play Liverpool “couldn’t be better”. On Sunday we found out why, as City made fairly short work of Arne Slot’s side on a damp afternoon at the Etihad to ensure Pep’s managerial millennium was unsullied by anything so demeaning as the scoreless draw between Barcelona B and Premià in the Spanish fourth tier that marked his first match as a head coach. Having joshed with reporters last week that the undoubted highlights of his career as a “Mister” were the combined 2,000 pre- and post-match press conferences he’d been contractually obliged to conduct with them, the great and the good on the Manchester media beat missed a trick by failing to ask Pep to rank each of his 1,000 matches in ascending order of philosophical enlightenment.

“I just want to say thank you to the players and the backroom staff to give me that present,” he trilled after beating the reigning champions, who have already lost one game more in the current campaign than they did in the entirety of last season. “I’m proud to do it here in Manchester with my City. I think my period at Barcelona B is the foundation for many things. To realise myself that I was able to do it and learn a lot. I will never forget the guys in that first season. For me, it has been so special to make 1,000 games in front of my family and especially against Liverpool. I have a huge respect for that club.” In beating Liverpool, City go into the international break having pulled back two points on Arsenal, who had been held by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. While Mikel Arteta’s side remain firmly in the box seat, they could now find themselves in a chase soundtracked by the foreboding, dark, churning two-note pulse of the Jaws music evoked by City in hot pursuit. If we are to have more of a title race than a procession, it will prove a real test of Arsenal’s collective mental and intestinal fortitude.

Just as the dorsal fin of the shark sliced terrifyingly through the water, Jérémy Doku was the visual embodiment of City’s most direct and lethal attacking threat against Liverpool. Delivering arguably his best performance under Guardiola, the Belgium winger was dazzling as he scored a beauty, won a penalty that went unscored and was a constant, whirring threat. “Listen, I know I’m good, but don’t overestimate me,” parped Guardiola, modestly. “The players do it for themselves. We have to try give them good momentum, and a good connection. Do you think I teach him how to dribble openings? This is natural talent.” The kind Jack Grealish used to have until Guardiola began teaching it out of him in the 2021 Community Shield, AKA match No 826.

I’ve no idea why, but I find football clubs inviting celebrities along for a social media disgrace photo opportunity that benefits both parties, strangely fascinating. The most recent example is Dua Lipa alongside Juan Román Riquelme at the weekend’s Superclásico (Boca Juniors v River Plate). As odd couples go, though, it’s still no match for the peak of Torino inviting Kevin Spacey over to watch a game as recently as 2023” – Noble Francis.

If Football Daily decided to award its own Geopolitics World Cup Draw Old Boys Network Trump Medal for Services to Peace (Thursday’s Football Daily), should the lucky recipient be chosen by the Noble Prize Committee?” – Peter Storch.

The photograph of a young Alan Carr with his parents at Northampton Town (Friday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) reinforces my view that The Celebrity Traitors is indeed a load of Cobblers” – Alan Giles.

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Library science graduate who made the Ballon d’Or shortlist has Wafcon title defence and World Cup in his sights

At 61, most top-level head coaches have nostalgic moments as they reflect on the high points of their topsy-turvy careers. But for Justine Madugu, who made the 2025 Ballon d’Or shortlist for women’s team coach of the year after dramatically leading the Super Falcons to a record 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco in July, his managerial odyssey is only beginning.

Returning to Morocco to win an 11th Wafcon title for Nigeria is the next feather he desperately wants to add to his cap. It could have been so different for the library science graduate of Bayero University, in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, who looked as if he would never get a crack at international management, after being an assistant coach of the Falcons for 12 years.

Right-back discusses Emma Hayes’s tactical messages, new blood in the national team and how Champions League win changed her

Emily Fox made her 68th appearance for the United States in the first of two recent friendlies against Portugal and the Arsenal right-back has been a steady hand for Emma Hayes.

Hayes has her eye on the 2027 World Cup after winning Olympic gold 15 months ago, and has used 2025 to evolve and evaluate the pool of players. Over the course of 10 wins and three defeats in that timeframe, Fox has been a dynamic force difficult to dislodge from the right flank of a new project. Her speed and skill are essential to the team’s defence and intrinsic to their attack.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lucy Ward and Will Unwin as an imperious Manchester City thrash Liverpool and Arsenal drop points for the first time since September

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On the podcast today; Manchester City move to within four points of Arsenal at the top after a brilliant 3-0 win over Liverpool, featuring yet another outstanding Jeremy Doku performance. Not a bad way for Pep Guardiola to mark his 1,000th game in charge.

Plus: domestic duopolies, when kick-ins replaced throw-ins and the last striped team to win the English top flight

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Marc Guiu became Chelsea’s youngest-ever Champions League goalscorer against Ajax, only to have the record snatched away from him by Estêvão 30 minutes later. What other examples of rapidly lost records are there in the world of football? What’s the record for the shortest-held record?” asks Matt Prior.

Given the predilection of those involved in football to flaunt their wad, transfer records are fertile ground for this kind of question. The first example that comes to mind is in the summer of 1995, when the British transfer record was broken twice. First Arsenal paid £7.5m for Inter’s Dennis Bergkamp; 15 days later, Liverpool bought Stan Collymore from Nottingham Forest for £8.5m.

£515,000 David Mills (Middlesbrough to West Brom, January)

£1m Trevor Francis (Birmingham to Nottm Forest, February)

£1.45m Steve Daley (Wolves to Man City, September)

£1.5m Andy Gray (Aston Villa to Wolves, September)

£900,000 Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave to Chelsea, January)

£1m Olivia Smith (Liverpool to Arsenal, July)

£1.1m Lizbeth Ovalle (Tigres to Orlando Pride, August)

£1.43m Grace Geyoro (PSG to London City Lionesses, September … London City dispute this figure)

This week’s action saw Vincent Kompany’s men roll on, surprise results and a brilliant performance from a Liverpool defender

• Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich. They rule supreme in Germany and are on a 16-match winning streak. Beating the defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, on Tuesday was further proof of Bayern’s credentials. Luís Diaz, whose combativeness is sorely missed by Liverpool, scored two, but he took the aggression too far when his challenge on Achraf Hakimi led to a first-half red card. That meant the second half became a test of defensive credentials that Bayern passed. “I also want us to enjoy it when we have to defend,” said Kompany. He was by no means his club’s first-choice as coach in the summer of 2024 – relegation from the Premier League with Burnley had damaged his reputation. But in Bavaria, the noise from the boardroom has been quelled – for now – by the brilliance of his team’s play.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Emma Sanders to discuss all the reaction to former England goalkeeper Mary Earps’s new book, All In. Plus, the panel discuss the talking points as the WSL returned after the international break

On today’s pod: Mary Earps’s new book hasn’t been short of headlines. From personal admissions of past struggles to her strained relationship with the current England No 1, Hannah Hampton. People in the game have shared their opinions on the content, but Faye, Suzy and the panel look as well at some of the decisions that went into publishing such a tell-all book now.

Elsewhere, the WSL returned from the international break with the top five all winning and a six-goal fun-fest between Aston Villa and Everton.

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves