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Arsenal clash is part Super Sunday but more importantly Tribunal Day Seven and the stakes could scarcely be higher

Dance while the world burns. You have to hand it to English football. It is above all endlessly adaptable. Everything is content. Never stop selling. Even if the thing you’re selling may just turn out to be the ground beneath your own feet.

The days leading up to any big soaraway Super Sunday showdown tend to bring an avalanche of messages from gambling companies describing their latest match-day lures. With Arsenal due at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon the gambling emails have once again flowed like wine, albeit with a topical twist this time. As of Wednesday (also known as Tribunal Day Three) you can access a range of bets tailored breathlessly to City’s financial charges, as though this is all actually just another football match, including HOT MARKETS on deductions, fines and even relegation (a miserly 6-1: these people really do know their wishful-thinking demographic).

“Vive la Révolution,” read the new banner amid faded neighbours behind the Chelsea goal in the first half, with a picture of Sonia ­Bompastor looking to the sky beneath the words. The Chelsea manager’s reign began with a 1-0 win against an Aston Villa side who likewise had someone new at the helm and top-six ambitions. Johanna Rytting ­Kaneryd’s first-half goal was the difference between the sides, though Villa came close to an equaliser in added time when their goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo came up for a free-kick and her header was tipped on to the bar and over.

Bompastor had said time and again in pre-season that she wants her Chelsea side “to be a dominant team”. They delivered in the summer, but would it translate to competitive play? Would the transition from Emma Hayes, in charge for 12 years, to the French winner of the Champions League (as a player and as a manager) affect their fluidity and dominance?

• Forward scored three goals in two games after drought
• Erik ten Hag: ‘Players at this club need some resilience’

Erik ten Hag says Marcus Rashford is benefiting from an improved attitude and greater professionalism after issues on and off the pitch last season.

Rashford has scored three times in two games for Manchester United against Southampton and Barnsley over the past week, having not found the net since March. He endured a difficult campaign last season, getting nine goals in 50 appearances for club and country, and was not selected in the European Championship squad. Rashford was also disciplined by Ten Hag in February after reporting ill for training having been in a Belfast nightclub until the early hours.

Spurs manager enjoyed a stirring start to reign last season but is now enduring difficult questions from grumbling fans

Ange Postecoglou agrees because he knew just as well as anyone how it would have been painted. “Firstly, you can say that if we lost the other night, we would have been in crisis,” the Tottenham manager says. He is discussing the Carabao Cup tie at Coventry on Wednesday, which came three days after the home loss to Arsenal, a result that left Spurs with four points from the opening four Premier League games.

Postecoglou had fallen at the first hurdle in last season’s Carabao Cup, going out on penalties at Fulham, having made nine changes to his starting XI. He swapped eight players at Coventry and there is no doubt that relief was the most prominent emotion when the substitutes Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson scored late goals for a 2-1 comeback win.

• Uruguayan yet to start under new manager
• Coaches at club working on striker’s positioning

Arne Slot has backed Darwin Núñez to be influential at Liverpool despite not starting him in the first five matches of his tenure. The Uruguayan, who has scored once in 17 club appearances since mid-March, has come off the bench in the past four games.

Núñez will likely be a substitute again for the visit of Bournemouth on Saturday, with Slot preferring different combinations for his front three. Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz started the first four Premier League games but Cody Gakpo took his chance at San Siro after replacing the Colombian in the starting lineup. Victory in Italy helped Liverpool bounce back from defeat by Nottingham Forest last Saturday but Slot could be without Alisson, who has a tight hamstring.

• ‘We know we need a big performance to beat City’
• Riccardo Calafiori could make first start for Gunners

Mikel Arteta has told Arsenal’s players they will be aiming for victory at Manchester City on Sunday after receiving criticism for a defensive approach during the 0-0 draw there in March.

City pipped Arsenal by a point to claim an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title, winning their remaining nine matches after that goalless game. Both teams drew 0-0 with Italian opposition in the first round of Champions League matches this week, City held at home by Inter and Arsenal having David Raya to thank for a brilliant double save against Atalanta.

Hull came from behind to earn their first victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium. Ben Wilmot put the hosts in front in Narcís Pelach’s first game in charge before three goals in 17 minutes gave Tim Walter his first win as Hull manager.

Kasey Palmer nodded in the equaliser on his first start for the visitors, following up after his penalty had been saved by Viktor Johansson, before the substitute Regan Slater and a Wilmot own goal completed the turnaround.

• Women’s team say club are failing to provide pitches
• Statement by players cites ‘unsuitable conditions’

Players with Solihull Moors’ women’s team have gone public with a statement laying bare “neglect, broken promises and lack of respect” from their parent club, as well as conditions “that no team, at any level, should be expected to tolerate”.

The team, who compete in Midlands Division One of the Women’s National League, say the club are failing to secure pitches for them to fulfil midweek fixtures and not providing transportation to away matches.

• Fifa set to announce agreements with eight stadiums
• Seattle, Atlanta, Orlando, Philadelphia among chosen
• 32-team event will take place in NFL and MLS venues

Fifa are set to announce staging agreements with eight stadiums for the Club World Cup in the strongest indication yet that the controversial new tournament will take place as planned next summer.

The Guardian has learned that Pasadena, Seattle, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Philadelphia and two stadiums in New Jersey have been selected as hosts by Fifa, who are in the final stages of completing contract negotiations with the venues.

West Ham host Chelsea in Saturday’s early kick-off while Arsenal travel to play leaders Manchester City on Sunday

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue London Stadium

Chelsea are no longer Cole Palmer FC, Darwin Núñez is out to impress and it’s personal for two of Villa’s young guns

Cole Palmer was quiet during Chelsea’s victory over Bournemouth last weekend. Bournemouth tracked the playmaker’s movements closely and when they were unable to stop him by legal means they were not afraid to foul him. But the fact that Chelsea found a way to win suggests they might not be Cole Palmer FC any more. Enzo Maresca has a range of options in attack and it was encouraging that two of his substitutes combined for the only goal on the south coast; Christopher Nkunku turning and finishing well after latching on to Jadon Sancho’s pass. “If we want to help Cole we don’t need to think all the pressure has to be on his shoulders,” Maresca said last week and the message has been taken on board. Others are stepping up and the worry for West Ham is that stopping Palmer might not be enough to stop Chelsea. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Chelsea, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Aston Villa v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

Fulham v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm

Leicester v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Staying in the WSL is the priority for West Ham, who finished one place above the relegation zone last season

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 11th

From Sparta Prague’s first win in a generation to Milan’s toothless showing, we hand out honours (and dishonours) from the opening round

So this was the Swiss system as the new Champions League rolled out with three nights of action. Who shone, who struggled during Matchday One?

• Newcastle can go top with win at Fulham on Saturday
• Howe insists ‘club is unified’ despite reported tensions

Eddie Howe has suggested Newcastle should not be underestimated and said they are determined to make the top of the Premier League their natural habitat.

Howe’s team will rise to the division’s summit if they win at Fulham on Saturday afternoon and, although their stay would be unlikely to last more than a day he believes such an ascent could lay down a marker.

Teammates call him ‘nuts’ but headstrong character is part of his charm as Unai Emery’s unerring world-class finisher

As Amadou Onana threw three fist pumps in the direction of the Aston Villa supporters housed in a pocket of the Wankdorf Stadium – confirmation, as if they needed it, their Champions League campaign was up and running – down the other end, a Uefa steward wielding a black umbrella made a beeline for Jhon Durán.

About 20 minutes earlier the striker had riled the home fans by jumping on the advertising hoardings and wildly celebrating before them, thinking he had put Villa 3-0 up. Young Boys supporters hurled plastic cups and other disposables towards him, before the goal was disallowed after a VAR review. As Durán sauntered towards the tunnel not long after the final whistle, a hi-vis steward moved to shelter the insanely watchable Colombian from round two.

Toothless performances in recent World Cup qualifiers left the coach running on empty but those weeks in Doha will never be taken away from him

Goodbyes are never easy, especially when the parties involved have been as intertwined as Graham Arnold and the Socceroos over the past 39 years. It is remarkable that for nearly half a century, the one-time Gwawley Bay junior and the men’s national team have been almost inextricably linked. But following Friday’s announcement of Arnold’s immediate resignation as coach, it appears this bond has finally ended.

Arnold’s journey began on 23 October 1985, scoring the first of what would be 19 international goals in a 7-0 win over Taiwan. In the years that followed he would forge a celebrated playing career across Australia, Europe, and Japan and play a further 56 times in green and gold, but an elusive World Cup berth would consistently evade him. Cruelly, his final game in the shirt he loved so dearly was marked by tears: he introduced as a desperate late substitute by Terry Venables on an infamous night in Melbourne in 1997, when Iran came back from two goals down to secure a draw that denied Australia a place at the 1998 World Cup.

• Footballers concerned by increase in number of matches
• Guardiola: ‘Only the players have the power to do it’

Pep Guardiola has thrown support behind Rodri after the Manchester City midfielder said players were close to taking industrial action over the number of games being added to the calendar.

Rodri, Aston Villa’s John McGinn and the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson have expressed concern this week about the schedule. The Spain international played 63 times last season for club and country, and the introduction of extra Champions League matches and an expanded Club World Cup in America next summer mean players could play 85 games in a year.

New-look side still lack an identity in the post-Moyes era and need to be sharper and more fluent at both ends

The style revolution is moving slowly. West Ham look no less dowdy after swapping David Moyes for Julen Lopetegui, who has much to prove after beginning his new job by producing football surprisingly lacking in inspiration, guile, cohesion, energy and defensive organisation.

It has not been easy to work out what Lopetegui has been trying to do so far. There has been talk of laying on more entertainment and there have been flashes here and there. Mohammed Kudus had an exciting spell during the second half of West Ham’s defeat by Aston Villa on the opening weekend and there was also a burst of assertive play against Manchester City, who had to fight hard for a 3-1 win.

Phallon Tullis-Joyce is ready to fills the boots of Mary Earps and is planning a post-career doctorate in marine ecology

We expect goalkeepers to be good at diving. How about at 130ft below the surface of the ocean? That’s the depth Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce is certified to plunge to, after studying marine science and biology at the University of Miami and continuing with her passion for the underwater world around the shores of the UK on her days off since her 2023 summer transfer to the Women’s Super League.

The 27-year-old’s prominence at Manchester United is poised to reach new heights as she embarks on a season where she is set to be the starting goalkeeper after Mary Earps’ summer switch to Paris Saint-Germain, and Tullis-Joyce should make her long-awaited English league debut against West Ham at Old Trafford on Saturday.

After making real progress last season, Tottenham signed Hayley Raso as the manager Robert Vilahamn seeks to build further

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 6th

High-profile players have left and the manager divides opinion, but United hope to build on last season’s FA Cup win

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 5th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 5th

Last season’s runners-up are desperate to make up for missing out on the WSL crown, with the arrival of Vivianne Miedema giving them a huge boost

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 2nd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 2nd

Matt Beard’s team broke into the top four last season and smashed the club transfer record for Canada’s Olivia Smith to keep up momentum

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

With Women’s Professional Leagues Limited taking ownership from the FA, we need to be open-minded about the progress of the WSL

New leadership, new players, new managers and big ambitions. The Women’s Super League kicks off on Friday night with expectations high, but should they be? What will this campaign look like and how do we judge its success?

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw famously said: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” In a season underpinned by huge change, with the ownership of the WSL and Championship transferring out of the hands of the Football Association and to Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), being open-minded is key, but so is being analytical and, where necessary, critical.

Strength in depth and a ferocious press may help European adventures to have competitive relevance once more

The new Champions League format has capacity to bruise egos. Few teams finishing bottom of a section of four are likely to invite ridicule. Coming 36th out of 36th, or anywhere close to the foot of this expanded section, will be optically embarrassing.

Brendan Rodgers had his eyes fixed on making a European impact long before the Champions League was remodelled. Celtic have realised their domination in Scotland is – save wild mistakes, or a revolution across the city – virtually guaranteed. Broader horizons now, if belatedly, appeal. So they should; recent days revealed annual income of £124.6m, from which they spent £105.4m. Celtic reported £77.2m in the bank, even before Matt O’Riley’s £26m sale to Brighton. Umpteen clubs have competed in Europe on fractions of those figures. Celtic have strength, stability and an excellent manager, which all negate excuses.

Italian side’s low block stifled Pep Guardiola’s men and offered reminders of March’s Premier League stalemate

Pep Guardiola had made the decision. The Manchester City manager had known for five or 10 minutes and so when the half-time whistle sounded in Wednesday night’s Champions League tie against Inter at the Etihad Stadium, he sprinted off to the dressing room, eager to put the plan in place.

It is a major part of Guardiola’s greatness. The ability to see when and where things are going awry; to make the needed changes. Here, there was not much going right. City were blocked up, unable to find fluency or incisiveness. There was an unusual kind of vulnerability about them.

Defending champions are mentality monsters but are in transition period and pressure has mounted on rivals

There is no simple formula to winning a league, but there are critical ingredients every team in the new WSL season will be seeking to inject. Chief among those are team spirit and unity. The bonding process, the trust-building between players and staff, and developing those connections quickly, is so important. The aspect that often gets overlooked as part of that, though, is enjoyment.

What keeps players motivated every day to show up, even when they are tired or frustrated, even when things are not going their way or they have got a niggle? It is enjoyment. It means players keep pushing for their personal and the team’s goals. Establishing collective values ensures they show up every day, give their all and support each other.

As the English top-flight grapples with spending regulations, the US league offers a blueprint for improved parity and financial transparency

The pre-Profit and Sustainably Rules age was a simpler time. Premier League clubs were broadly allowed to spend freely. So freely that occasionally a club would spend their way into oblivion (looking at you, Leeds United and Portsmouth), but at no point was it expected that a club would have to sell a hotel to balance the books. Many supporters – and club executives, for that matter – are still getting their heads around the Premier League’s PSR.

Major League Soccer fans know how they feel. Spending limits and complex roster rules have been part of the league’s DNA since its inception nearly 30 years ago. In MLS, it’s not just about what you can spend, it’s about what you’re allowed to spend, often to the frustration of those who believe the league is holding itself back from reaching its full potential.

This goalless, tension-free draw raised questions about the new Champions League format and City’s late-Pep vision

Well, Rodri was right about one thing. We definitely need a few less games like this one. Welcome to the new world of Uefa expansionism, a competition without structure, designed solely to provide another roll of TV wallpaper, and on this evidence a place lacking some vital degree of tension or shape.

The most dramatic moment at a room-temperature Etihad Stadium arrived on 78 minutes. As Inter missed one of several good chances on the night, Simone Inzaghi, their thrillingly energetic manager, could be seen literally on his hands and knees in cat stretch position, beating the turf with his hands, as though performing a steamy 1980s soft rock music video dance, whipping his hair, grinding the knees of his elegant dark suit into the grass.

Manchester City's manager, Pep Guardiola, and his Chelsea counterpart, Enzo Maresca, have backed players considering strike action over workload, with Guardiola saying 'only the players have the power to do it'. Maresca said the industry doesn't 'protect' players and that the amount of games they are made to play in a season is 'too much'. The comments come in the context of players considering taking strike action over their workload. On Tuesday, the City midfielder Rodri said players are close to striking over the increased number of games, with the Spaniard believing that 40-50 matches a season is the optimum amount. Players face at least an extra two matches in this season’s Champions League and the campaign is set to end for 12 European clubs with Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in the United States.

• La Liga chief Tebas hopes a players’ strike would kill Fifa’s Club World Cup

• Manchester City’s Rodri warns players close to striking over volume of games

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta says that Martin Ødegaard's ankle injury will keep the captain out of play 'for a while', as the team gear up for their Champions League opener against Atalanta. Ødegaard missed Sunday’s victory over Tottenham in the north London derby having sustained an injury during Norway's win over Austria last week. 'After everything was scanned, the scan showed he has got some damage, especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle,' said Arteta.

• Martin Ødegaard facing lengthy break after sustaining ligament damage

The former Italy striker Totò Schillaci, who inspired his country to third place at the 1990 World Cup, has died at the age of 59. Schillaci played for several Italian clubs, including Juventus and Inter, but he will be mostly fondly remembered as the top scorer at the 1990 World Cup. Playing in front of his home fans, Schillaci's six goals included winners against Austria in the group stage, the Republic of Ireland in the quarter-finals and England in the third-place playoff. He also put his team ahead against Argentina in a semi-final that went to penalties.

Totò Schillaci, Italy’s goalscoring hero of 1990 World Cup, dies aged 59

Rodri has warned that players are close to striking over the increased number of games, with the Manchester City midfielder believing that 40-50 matches a season is the optimum amount. The Champions League has been expanded by two games per team in its new format and including internationals, City players could play a maximum of 85 games. When asked whether striking was an option to try to curtail the demand Rodri replied: 'Yeah, I think we are close to that – it is easy to understand. If it keeps this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option'. The 28-year-old then added: 'I think we have to take care of ourselves. Someone has to take care of ourselves because we are the main characters of this, let's say sport or business – whatever you want to call it. And yeah, I think not everything is money or marketing. It's also the quality of the show'.

• Manchester City’s Rodri warns players close to striking over volume of games

The Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has criticised the expanded format of the Champions League, claiming that players had not been consulted on adding two extra games to the group phase and adding that 'maybe our opinion doesn’t matter'. The 2024-25 Champions League is the first to be run under the 'Swiss system', in which each team play eight matches in a group phase that will not finish until late January. 'I think for the supporters it’s amazing,' Alisson said. 'More games, bigger games, big teams playing against each other. For us as players, it’s always a good idea to add some games to a calendar that is not busy. I am being ironic a little bit'. The goalkeeper then justified his position by adding: 'What we want is to give our best for the football, if you are tired you cannot compete at a high level. I want to give my best in all the games I play but we need a solution.'

• ‘Nobody asks the players’: Alisson hits out at new Champions League format

Gary Shaw was part of a revered Villa side that enjoyed extraordinary and unparalleled success in the early 80s, winning the First Division in 1981 and in 1982 the European Cup and European Super Cup. His performances earned him the accolade of Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year in 1981 and European Young Player of the Year in 1982. Shaw is regarded one of Villa’s greatest forwards having scored 79 goals in 213 appearances for the club after joining as a 16-year-old apprentice. The former striker fell seriously ill this month and later died after being hospitalised with a head injury.

• Gary Shaw, hero of Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup triumph, dies aged 63

Just a week after much-loved manager’s brief return, Nuri Sahin’s side played like it was 2012 all over again

It was heartwarming – and not just the part with Jakub Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek and Nuri Sahin playing on the Signal Iduna Park pitch against a hundred young children, which has smothered social media in the last week. The farewell match that filled international weekend didn’t just allow Borussia Dortmund to pay homage to their two Polish stalwarts, but to a whole generation whose achievements grow in stature with every passing year.

They were all there for what has become known as Tschüssikowski; Lucas Barrios, Kevin Grosskreutz, Marcel Schmelzer and the most important of them all. Jürgen Klopp was back coaching at Westfalen, the famous “Pöhler” (local slang roughly meaning “street baller”) cap atop his head. A day of celebration for Blaszczykowski and Piszczek reminded everybody what BVB had achieved in 2011 and 2012, only a handful of years on from financial near-ruin, with little money by elite-level standards and little experience of mixing it with the top bracket. The excitement that Klopp and his young players brought here in those years was palpable all over again.

End is near for the 38-year-old but he defied his dodgy hip to score winner at troubled club where every day hurts

Jesús Navas can’t walk but he carries Sevilla. He’s nearly 39, he’s played 963 professional games and he has an arthritic hip. Every day for the last four years, it has hurt. It hurts when he turns up to training each morning at the ground named after him and it hurts when he plays. It hurt when he won the Europa League and it hurt when he won the European Championship, the last man standing somehow. Some days, it hurts so much even he has to stop; soon, too soon but later than he probably should have done, he will stop for good. Every few days, it hurts so much it scares him.

Thursday was one of those days, worse even than before. Never mind playing in primera, he couldn’t play with his kids. He hadn’t slept all night and couldn’t move. The doctor called the coach worried about him and so the next morning … well, the next morning he was back in Montequinto, where he first started going a quarter of a century ago and where the mini stadium by the dressing room is now called the Jesús Navas, looking for the manager García Pimienta. “Míster,” he said, “I can help.” So he did, which hurt too.

If they continue on their alarming trajectory, Montpellier won’t be a Ligue 1 side for much longer

By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News

Montpellier’s Stade de la Mosson is a metaphor for a club that has been allowed to drift into a state of dereliction. The stadium, renovated back in 1997, hosted knockout games at the 1998 World Cup, but now lies in a decrepit state, unable to withstand the elements, and as leaky as the defence that has conceded 13 goals in their first four Ligue 1 games.

In the space of 12 years, the time that has elapsed since they were crowned Ligue 1 champions, Montpellier’s decline has been slow but sure. Ambition has seeped away; pessimism has crept in. “Let’s be happy just to be in Ligue 1 … in a world where we don’t have big financial means, being in Ligue 1 is exceptional in itself. People should be aware of that and be happy to support us,” said the club president Laurent Nicollin earlier this month.

• Michael Olise nets first league goal in 6-1 thrashing
• Vinícius and Mbappé on target in Real Madrid win

Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich won 6-1 at promoted Holstein Kiel to lead the Bundesliga after three matches with a maximum nine points.

It was a fourth straight win in all competitions this season under their new coach Vincent Kompany and with Bayern eager to reclaim top spot after losing the title to Bayer Leverkusen last term.

• Former Spurs striker enjoys stellar display in Eredivisie
• ‘This was a very big bump,’ says Van Persie after defeat

The former Tottenham striker Troy Parrott scored four goals as AZ enjoyed a 9-1 Eredivisie victory over Heerenveen whose fledgling head coach, Robin van Persie, called the defeat a “very big bump”.

Parrott, who went without a goal in his first four games since joining in the summer, netted once in the first half and then added three more goals in eight second-half minutes in a seismic win to propel his club up to second in the Dutch top flight.

After defeat at home to Italy and a win over Belgium, the overarching ethos remains the same: substance over style

By Raphaël Jucobin for Get French Football News

The crowd in Lyon was in an unforgiving mood. Just under 24 hours after the country closed out an unforgettable summer of sport, the unwavering home support that had carried French athletes in Paris since the end of July largely dissipated as the men’s football team lined up in Lyon to face Belgium.

All of Didier Deschamps, Kylian Mbappé, Mattéo Guendouzi and Bradley Barcola were booed by sections of the home support when their names were announced in the lineups. The most hostile reception was reserved for Barcola’s introduction in the second half, with the player’s departure for Paris Saint-Germain more than a year ago still leaving a bitter taste for locals.

• Former internationals among those banned
• Move relates to match-fixing and gambling

The Chinese Football Association has banned 38 players and five club officials for life after a two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling. The investigation, part of a crackdown on corruption in the sport, found that 120 matches had been fixed, with 41 clubs involved, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The report did not say whether all the matches were in China.

The former China internationals Jin Jingdao and Gu Chao and the South Korea midfielder Son Jun-ho were among those banned for life, according to findings made public on Tuesday.

• World Cup winner retires after victories on and off pitch
• Forward scored 123 goals for US women’s national team

Fighting back tears, Alex Morgan waved to the crowd and walked off the field for the last time on Sunday as she capped a remarkable career.

The two-time Women’s World Cup winner announced on Thursday she is pregnant with her second child and retiring from the game at the age of 35.

• European champions win 4-1 despite Le Normand red
• Croatia beat Poland; Northern Ireland lose in Bulgaria

The newly crowned European champions Spain romped to a 4-1 away win against Switzerland in Nations League Group A4, despite being down to 10 men after just 20 minutes.

Luis de la Fuente’s side had been held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia in their pool opener but raced into a 2-0 lead in Geneva with goals from Joselu and Fabián Ruiz after only 13 minutes, before Robin Le Normand was shown a red card for a foul on Breel Embolo. Switzerland’s Zeki Amdouni halved the deficit before the break but as the Swiss pressed for an equaliser late in the second half, Ruiz netted his second and substitute Ferran Torres also got on the scoresheet as Spain hit the hosts with lightning counterattacks.

The Sicilian striker arrived at the 1990 World Cup a virtual unknown and became the hosts’ unlikely hero

By Richard Hall for The Gentleman Ultra

Nervous, white as a sheet and with the eyes of a nation transfixed on him, he could probably have heard the simultaneous heartbeats of those in the Stadio Olimpico in his head. Salvatore Schillaci was about to announce himself not only into Italian consciousness but into history. He didn’t know it then, at the time he looked like a man fuelled by anxiety and impostor syndrome. Within moments he would be wheeling away in celebration with those wide Sicilian eyes. He didn’t believe it but neither did Italy. All of what came before was passed, in moments he had gone from unknown to saint.

The outpouring of emotion all over the world on Thursday says a lot about “Totò”. “The man who made the nation dream” were the words of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. This was true. The hosts had so much hope invested in Italia 90 and the wave of emotion that carried them through this campaign was surfed by Schillaci. Every time his shots hit the back of the net, all six times, it felt like the relief and exaltation of Italy came out through Salvatore’s eyes and expressions. For him to pass away at 59 years of age from colon cancer, as with so many, is too young. What he leaves behind, though, is an embodiment of how football and life should be enjoyed.

Uefa’s new Champions League is less about greater jeopardy, than its growing desire to supplant sporting integrity with the confected thrills of the TV game show

Once more, with seeding. Uefa’s new Champions League group-stage format is known as the “Swiss system”, and frankly you can write your own jokes there. It’s full of holes. It’s totally unaccountable and its inner workings largely impenetrable to outsiders. It’s a handy conduit for sequestering and laundering the money of some of the world’s worst people. It’s a complex and morally contested way of putting people to sleep for long periods of time. Take your pick.

Perhaps fittingly, it is in Switzerland that the first strides into this bold new era take place, with Young Boys v Aston Villa selected as the early Tuesday kick-off, alongside Juventus v PSV. And of course this is an emblematic choice for other reasons, too. The Berne-based club may be competition outsiders, having secured their spot in a playoff against Galatasaray last month. But domestically they have been an insuperable force, claiming their sixth Swiss title in the past seven years despite a season marred by internal wrangling and insipid route-one football.

From Manchester City’s move for Vivianne Miedema to Brighton’s comings and goings, it has been a busy time before the new season

Jonas Eidevall has certainly added quality in the World Cup winner and Ballon d’Or nominee Mariona Caldentey, the Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and the highly regarded midfielder Rosa Kafaji but that would all have been overshadowed if the world record bid for Keira Walsh had been accepted at the end of the window. However, Barcelona turned down what is believed to have been an offer worth more than £900,000. There have been several outgoings but the first team largely remains intact. Only the departure of Vivianne Miedema leaving for Manchester City raised eyebrows on a free. Overall, a good window. SW

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Kyle Walker made a shocking revelation this week. Perhaps not the one you’re thinking of. Instead, in a shock move for a footballer, Kyle has a podcast, though one husbanded by the BBC so anyone hoping for the wildest tales of epic antics will just have to return to their Sunday scandal sheets for details. This one, though, shocked English soccer to its core – possibly. Kyle revealed to his studio posse, including Manchester City legend Michael Brown, that Pep Guardiola had taken him aside. “The two people I’d like to really know,” rasped Pep, “is Neil Warnock and Sam Allardyce.”

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Listening to John McGinn reflect on Aston Villa’s win over Young Boys after the final whistle on Tuesday night, it was clear how much playing in Bigger Cup meant to him. As a young player making his name with St Mirren and Hibs, occasionally playing on the plastic pitches at Hamilton, Falkirk and Kilmarnock, the midfielder hoped that one day he might move on to more prestigious, metaphorically greener astro. And while making his Bigger Cup debut in a stadium with a name ripe for schoolboy sniggering against a struggling side is hardly the stuff of young footballers’ dreams, you can only beat the team in front of you while burning the skin from your knees and elbows on the pitch underneath you and Villa accomplished that in fine style. Their win was due in no small part to another masterstroke from Unai Emery’s hirsute assistant coach Austin McSet-Piece, some schoolboy Young Boys defending and the latest strike from unlikely goal machine Amadou Onana.

His size, his goal-scoring talent and his fighting spirit will certainly help the Navy and White this season. We can’t wait to see him on the pitch!” – Bordeaux, who are now a non-league club in the French fourth tier, trumpet the arrival of Andy Carroll after the 35-year-old ripped up his Amiens contract so that he could head south.

Re yesterday’s email malfunction: ‘They also said most of the mail going to the inbox was junk’ – sometimes the jokes just write themselves, don’t they?” – Chad Thomas (and 1,056 others).

You lost all the emails? It’s like Noble Francis never existed. I’m struggling to wrap my head around that” – Gareth Rogers.

Difficult day for the Man family on Monday then? Big Website Man deletes Football Daily’s inbox, Bigger Cup Man is accused of not consulting players and poor Dennis Man’s Parma lose to Udinese despite being two up at half time” – Richard Prangle.

The winner is always The Man. The only way of resisting is by watching Big Vase instead where actual football teams (with great names) play actual football with lots of mistakes in contrast to the tedium of nation state projects playing friction-free, xG-based videogames. And … breathe” – Joe Mercer (retired Big Cup viewer).

In response to Niall McVeigh’s question in yesterday’s Football Daily: ‘Will Bayern shut up shop at 3-0, or go for five or six goals to boost their goal difference?’ It seems the correct answer was ‘neither’” – Richie Philpott.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Mark Langdon as the Champions League season begins with big wins for Liverpool and Aston Villa.

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On the podcast today; Liverpool get an early fright at the San Siro but ultimately prove too strong for Milan, meanwhile the other English side in action, Aston Villa, score a comprehensive win over Young Boys.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Tom Garry and Ceylon Andi Hickman to discuss the NewCo, the Women’s Professional League (WPLL) and look ahead to the Barclays Women’s Super League season

On today’s pod, the panel discusses a new era for women’s football as the Women’s Professional League (formerly known as NewCo) takes over the WSL and Women’s Championship from the FA. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for women’s football in England?

The panel also looks forward to an exciting Barclays WSL season by analysing each team's major transfers, assessing their progress, and famously predicting the season's final standings.

Gabriel the derby hero, Nketiah embraces new surroundings and Sancho introduces himself to Chelsea

A lot of the focus was on how Nottingham Forest clogged the midfield to frustrate Liverpool before bringing on two wingers to change the game for their first victory at Anfield in 55 years. What might have gone unnoticed were the performances of their full-backs Ola Aina and Àlex Moreno. Neither are household names, the former a free transfer from Torino and the latter on loan after underwhelming at Aston Villa. They were both excellent at Anfield against some of the Premier League’s finest wide players; Aina kept Luis Díaz quiet on the left and Cody Gakpo had no impact after replacing the Colombian, while Mohamed Salah up against Moreno put in one of his most underwhelming performances in a Liverpool shirt. The Forest duo showed the club might be finally losing their reputation for being chaotic when it comes to doing transfer business. Will Unwin

Match report: Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Aston Villa 3-2 Everton

Match report: Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea

Match report: Southampton 0-3 Manchester United

Plus: hat-tricks on the losing side, bottom-placed sides winning big and Shay Given’s special bottle

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Sorry to lower the tone but curiosity got the better of me: last week in Peru, Sebastian Muñoz was sent off for appearing to urinate at the side of the pitch, while in Sweden in 2016, Adam Lindin Ljungkvist was given a second yellow card for ‘unsportsmanlike’ behaviour when he audibly broke wind. Are there any other examples of players being given their marching orders for bodily functionality?” wonders Dave Payn.

Let’s start with a bit of housekeeping. We haven’t included spitting, because Rudi Völler has suffered enough, but we have broadened the question to include unpunished acts of biology, partly so we can start with the most famous egestion of all. Gary Lineker didn’t receive a yellow card during his career, never mind a red, not even in England’s opening match of the 1990 World Cup. “I tried to tackle someone, stretched and relaxed myself and erm …” he said in 2010. “You can see myself rubbing the ground like a dog trying to clean it. It was the most horrendous experience of my life.”

Striker grew the game with skills and warmth, while raucous fans watched her like the Beatles were in town

One hundred and twenty-three goals in 224 appearances for the US women’s national team. Two World Cup wins. A gold medal, a bronze medal, a three-time Olympian. A National Women’s Soccer League champion. A relentless advocate for the growth of the game. Alex Morgan retired from professional football this past weekend in San Diego, California as one of the most successful players ever to lace up her boots. She leaves a multifaceted legacy behind her. One of its greatest aspects is the excitement she uniquely inspired, and her ability to leverage it for broader growth.

In a decade when the popularity of women’s football skyrocketed globally, Morgan was often its key name. Stateside, every stadium Morgan played in drew enormous crowds. Upon her arrival, those elated crowds were decked out in Morgan gear, carrying AM13 signs and shrieking with joy at her every movement. It was like watching the Beatles swing through town. Morgan-mania was for real.

Plus: hat-tricks bridging seasons, a rolling roll call of managers and when Harry Redknapp fielded a spectactor

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Last month, the Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen played for both sides during a match against the Toronto Blue Jays. Has something like this ever happened in football?” tweets Dylan Hoekzema.

Jansen was playing for Toronto when their game against Boston was suspended in June. Boston then acquired him in July, with the match resuming in August, so he was an active participant for both sides in the same game.

The defender featured for Port Vale at the Valley on Boxing Day in 1932 in a game that was abandoned due to fog, and subsequently joined the Addicks, lining up for Charlton in their 2-1 triumph in the rearranged fixture in April 1933.

In February 1925, Clapton Orient travelled to a match against a Manchester United side that had just sold its star striker, Bill Henderson, to Preston North End. United manager John Chapman had telephoned the Orient manager Peter Proudfoot before they left London, and the two clubs agreed a fee of £1,070 for Pape. They met up at Manchester Piccadilly station just after noon, and Pape – who was a friend of the United captain, Frank Barson, and had relatives in nearby Bolton – quickly agreed terms.

The details were wired to the Football Association and the Football League at around 1.30pm, and although Pape had been named in Orient’s starting lineup for the match, he was confirmed as a Manchester United player with about an hour left before kick-off. Pape was not only allowed to start the match in the colours of Manchester United, but he also scored the team’s third goal in a 4–2 win over his previous employers, as well as hitting the post with a header late in the game.

CBS’s Champions League coverage has become the gold standard for the sport in the US. And the former England keeper has carved out his own lane as an insightful co-commentator

Even towards the end of his soccer career, Rob Green hadn’t considered what would come next.

“You’re so ingrained in the game. It’s drilled into your brain that you have to play. To have any thought of quitting is an admission of losing. It’s very difficult to manage that in your brain,” Green tells the Guardian.

The Football League has been the source of some surprising transfers to clubs such as Bayern, with mixed results

Eyebrows were raised when Stockport’s assistant coach Andy Mangan appeared on the verge of a sensational move from the League One club to Real Madrid last week, only for the deal to be scuppered by work permit issues related to Brexit regulations. But where Mangan’s application failed, others have succeeded in taking the unlikely path from the Football League to some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

Unaware of the power they wield, football supporters remain reluctant to stage visible acts of dissent against clubs that routinely exploit them

If the powers that be at Aston Villa were remotely concerned their decision to charge extortionately high prices for tickets to Champions League home games this season might lead to repercussions in the form of any sort of meaningful fan protest, they were sent a very clear message on Saturday night. The pointed refusal by the Villa Park crowd to get behind a very minor, but arguably important, act of dissent planned by one supporters’ group let them know in no uncertain terms that the denizens of Villa Park have reached peak meek subservience.

Their unwillingness even to rock the boat gently in the face of grotesque exploitation at the hands of their club let the hierarchy know they could almost certainly have gone full Oasis, sanctioned dynamic pricing and got away with charging them an awful lot more for tickets. It should be added that the relationship between Villa and their fanbase is far from unique in this regard, but as the club prepare to pull up a chair to Europe’s top table for the first time in 41 years when they take on Young Boys in Berne on Tuesday night, it happens to be the one making headlines.

As an independent commission prepares to assess the charges levelled at the club, here’s what it all means

The Premier League has charged the champions with more than 100 breaches of competition rules between the seasons 2009-10 and 2022-23. The charges cover four areas: a failure to give “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”; a failure to “include full details” of player and manager remuneration; breaches of national and continental financial fair play regulations; and a failure to “cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations”. The counts will be heard by a three-person independent commission, starting on Monday, in what is thought to be a London location.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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• Meet the judges | Best female footballers to launch in January

Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

• Putellas tops 2022 list | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | Meet the judges
• Spain and Barcelona lead the way after year of success
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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.