It was January 2020, and Diego Demme was finishing up his winter vacation. Just as he was getting ready to return to RB Leipzig, his agent called him: Napoli wanted to sign him.

Having never lived outside of Germany, Demme was intrigued by a potential summer transfer. The only issue? Napoli wanted him to join right now, in the middle of the season.

At the time, Leipzig sat atop the Bundesliga and were in the midst of a historic season that saw them reach the UEFA Champions League semifinal. Napoli, meanwhile, were in chaos, sitting eighth in the Serie A table.

Diego Demme explains how Gennaro Gattuso put Napoli on the path to ending their Scudetto drought

Carlo Ancelotti had lost control of the dressing room, with the club attempting to fine players 25% of their salary – 50% for Lorenzo Insigne and Allan – after they refused to return to a mandatory training retreat ordered by owner Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Ancelotti's replacement, Gennaro Gattuso, inherited a club in free fall. He quickly began rebuilding the squad with Stanislav Lobotka, Amir Rrahmani, Matteo Politano, and Andrea Petagna. For his midfield enforcer, he turned his attention to the Leipzig captain, a man modeled in his image.

Demme's brain told him to stay at Leipzig, but his heart pushed him to leave. After all, his father was a lifelong Napoli fan who had named him after Diego Maradona. Moreover, Demme grew up idolizing Gattuso and relished the opportunity to learn from his role model.

After several sleepless nights and lachrymose conversations, he ended up leaving Leipzig after six years and joining Napoli for €12 million. Demme quickly justified that price tag by becoming an integral figure in midfield, helping Napoli end a six-year trophy drought and defeat Perugia, Lazio, Inter and Juventus en route to the 2019/20 Coppa Italia.

"My idol was Gennaro Gattuso; every time I saw him play, I said, ‘I want to play like him.’ He was my idol when I was a kid, and now he’s speaking to me and letting me play...it's crazy," stated Demme to FourFourTwo.

"Gattuso gave me a very good feeling: if he gave you a hug before the match, you’d be so motivated to play for him. As a coach, he’s exactly like he was as a player, because his mentality gives you a crazy kick."

Having led Leipzig from the 3. Bundesliga to the Champions League, Demme helped Napoli get back on track and reestablish themselves as a behemoth in Italian football. Napoli went from 7th to 5th under Gattuso, to 3rd and 1st under Luciano Spalletti, winning their first championship since Maradona's departure.

After a horrific title defense, Demme then left Napoli for Hertha Berlin, watching from his homeland as Napoli claimed their fourth Scudetto in 2024/25. They had waited 33 years to win the title, and suddenly, they had won two in three years.

Whilst Spalletti and Antonio Conte brought the Scudetto back to Naples, it was Gattuso who steadied the ship, laid the foundations, and set Napoli on course for their long-awaited return to the summit of Italian football. He's now looking to repeat that magic with Lazio, who, after finishing ninth last season, currently sit level with Inter atop the Serie A table.

"When I arrived at Napoli, the atmosphere throughout the whole city and the dressing room was not good," noted Demme. "Everybody was sad, and the fans were criticizing the team; they wanted to see players give everything on the pitch. Gattuso gave stability back to Napoli and put players like me on the pitch who did the basics like running and fighting. Gattuso changed everything for the team’s results."

Can you tell us the answer to this quiz question?

Which nation is missing from this list? Spain, Barbados, Paraguay, Austria, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Honduras and Ivory Coast…

We'll reveal the answer this time next week when we reach the next edition of The Pre-Match Poser – for now, here's the answer to last week's poser…

Q. Give us a club that could come next in the sequence: Charlton Athletic, Bradford City, Bournemouth, Dagenham & Redbridge, Crystal Palace, Leicester City…

A. We’re simply going through the alphabet with nicknames. Addicks, Bantams, Cherries, Daggers, Eagles, Foxes… so you could say Arsenal (Gunners).

More football quizzes we know you'll love

While you're mulling over this week's pre-match poser, we have many more quizzes to keep the quiz muscles warm, courtesy of Kwizly?

If you know your marksmen, you'll get a kick out of these challenges to name the top goalscorers of all 20 Premier League clubs one decade ago in 2016-17 and two decades ago in 2006-07.

Football's about villains as well as heroes, of course, so we also want you to name every player ever to have received three red cards in a single Premier League season. Not to be trifled with, we'd wager.

Can you name every sponsor ever to have had its name on the League Cup and every title sponsor of the EFL Trophy? How about every nation to have beaten England at the World Cup?

We're keen on crosswords too. If you are in the same boat, try your luck with FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 75, where you'll find clues on ultras, underdogs, upsets and much more.

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily briefing of hand-picked trivia and tactical analysis and then join The Club, our free membership hub that serves as your digital dugout, where you can unlock secret hints for our hardest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments section.

Jonjo Shelvey was never the type of footballer to shy away from a challenge throughout his career, but one of his tougher battles came away from the pitch.

The former Liverpool, Newcastle United and England midfielder developed alopecia from an early age, with the condition making him a target for certain sections of fans.

One of the more common chants Shelvey had to endure referenced Harry Potter’s arch-nemesis.

Shelvey on the Voldemort chants

Voldemort’s lack of hair was the catalyst for these cruel chants, with Shelvey admitting that he found the abuse tough in his younger years.

“It was hard, but it’s something you learn to deal with,” he explains to FourFourTwo, admitting that he eventually just learned to live with it.

“I can’t change it, it’s part of me,” he adds. “It’s one of those things that you live with or you crumble.”

This has meant Shelvey has developed a thick skin that has enabled him to brush off the abuse of tens of thousands of fans.

“It’s not a nice thing to have 50,000 fans singing: “Harry Potter, he's coming for you.” You just have to play along with it, and it hasn’t bothered me for a long time.”

Part of this process has meant that Shelvey found a routine that worked for him.

“When I first shaved my head, I used to do it every two days, as soon as a bit of it would come through, as it grows in patches, but now I just do it when there’s a game.

“I don’t care what I look like during the week.”

As Shelvey looks back at those early days of his career, he can at least draw on positives for the future.

“For young lads that suffer with it now, it’s a good thing that I went through it first. I was tormented, but at least I can relay my experiences to them.”

Watch Chelsea vs Tottenham for free as two old rivals go head-to-head in the evening kick-off today in the Premier League. FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Chelsea continued their positive start to the season under Xabi Alonso with a Pedro Neto brace in the 2-0 win over Everton last weekend.

They've had a nice seven-day break, with Spurs also coming into this one off the back of a rare win, beating Coventry 3-1 last Monday.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Chelsea vs Tottenham online and from anywhere, including for free, in this Saturday-evening Premier League clash.

Can I watch Chelsea vs Tottenham for free?

Chelsea vs Tottenham isn't technically available to watch for free, but there is a way that viewers in the US can stream the game at no cost.

NBC has live coverage in the States and is available on YouTube TV, which currently comes with a 5-day free trial for new customers.

Outside the US? Use a VPN to access your free Chelsea vs Tottenham stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Chelsea vs Tottenham from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Chelsea vs Tottenham.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can make your devices appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate ProtonVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Chelsea vs Tottenham in the UK

Viewers in the UK can watch Chelsea vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League will have live coverage of the Premier League clash, which kicks-off at 5:30pm BST.

How to watch Chelsea vs Tottenham in the US

As mentioned above, NBC is showing Chelsea vs Tottenham in the US. The game is also live on Peacock, NBC's streaming platform. Kick-off is at 12:30pm ET.

How to watch Chelsea vs Tottenham in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Chelsea vs Tottenham on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 3:30am AEDT on Sunday.

Chelsea vs Tottenham: Preview

Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur renew their London rivalry on Saturday evening, with both sides facing a significant test as they look to strengthen their position in the Premier League. Stamford Bridge provides the setting for one of the weekend’s most intriguing fixtures.

The Blues will be eager to make home advantage count against their neighbours and were good value for their victory on Merseyside last weekend, with Neto grabbing a brace.

Emiliano Martinez has undergone surgery on a fractured jaw suffered in the win at Everton, and he has now joined Reece James (knee), Jamie Gittens (ankle), Pep Chavarria and Emmanuel Emegha (both unspecified) in the treatment room. Malo Gusto (illness) is also a doubt.

In the absence of Martinez, 21-year-old Mike Penders is set to become Chelsea’s youngest-ever goalkeeper to start a Premier League match, with the 6ft 7in stop-stopper likely to have a three-man defence in front of him in Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix and Levi Colwill.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Tottenham had a lovely moment to begin their 3-1 win over newly-promoted Coventry City last week, as James Maddison, starting his first game in over 500 days, netted a sublime opener to really kickstart their season.

That then followed goals from Omar Marmoush and Ben Davies, as the Lilywhites grabbed a first win of the season to ease some early pressure on gaffer Roberto De Zerbi.

Rodrigo Bentancur will serve the second of a three-match ban and remains out along with injured quintet Mykhaylo Mudryk (ankle), Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall (all knee) and Savio (muscle). Destiny Udogie (knee) missed the win over Coventry and a late call is set to be made on his availability for this one.

Pedro Porro (hamstring), Omar Marmoush, Tosin Adarabioyo (both calf) and Andrew Robertson (unspecified) are also doubts. Former Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher will be pushing for a recall and could play alongside Sandro Tonali and Maddison, while Dejan Kulusevski is back after finally overcoming an almost two years lay-off.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Chelsea 1-2 Tottenham

We love an upset and think Tottenham edge this one to really get their season going.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Alex Scott has established himself as one of English football’s most exciting young players in recent seasons, becoming a key Premier League player at Bournemouth and a full England international under Thomas Tuchel.

His move to the Cherries in 2023 was the latest step in a career which saw him go from playing his teenage football in the Channel Islands before a fortuitously timed move saw him join Bristol City in January 2020.

That came just before the Covid-19 pandemic brought football - and normal life - to a standstill, with Scott admitting that his timely decision to sign for the Robins had a massive impact on his career.

Scott on his Bristol City move

Scott made his senior debut for Guernsey in August 2019, when he became the Isthmian League side’s youngest ever player at 16, with Bristol City quick to take advantage of a link between the two sides.

“There was a connection already,” Scott tells FourFourTwo when explaining how the move to the Robins came about. “When I was 14 or 15, I knew that older players from Guernsey had gone over to Bristol City for trials, and that if I got to the level and broke through at Guernsey, I would probably have a chance at a trial myself.

“Luckily I got that and scored a hat-trick during my trial – I was thinking at that point, ‘That should be enough to get a deal!’ [Laughs] I couldn’t be thankful enough for everyone at Guernsey and the connection with Bristol City.”

That deal came just in time before the pandemic shut down football, with Scott all-too aware of how fortunate he was to get the deal done in time.

“Yes, I was at Bristol City for two months as a scholar playing under-18s football,” he continues. “I was loving it, then we got hit with the break, so I was back in Guernsey until August.”

Despite the uncertainty and disruption this brought to the game and to Scott on a personal level, he was able to make the best of the situation.

“It wasn’t too gutting,” he adds. "I’d been away for two months, the longest I’d been away in my whole life, so it was nice to go back for a bit. It was a terrible thing going on in the world, but I was able to see my friends and family.

“Then when I went back to Bristol City, that was when football got serious.”

Just as Scott was able to knuckle down and take the next step in his career, the pandemic would keep Guernsey out of non-league football until October 2021, so had he not made the move, it could have all been very different for the midfielder.

“I probably would never be where I am now,” he admits. “It’s not nice to think about things like that. Thankfully it’s all worked out for me, but it could have been a whole different story.”

Scott was speaking at PUMA’s new store on Oxford Street in London, the brand’s first European flagship store.

Watch Arsenal vs Everton for free as the Premier League champions bid to keep on the tail of current leaders Manchester City. FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Arsenal secured a solid point in Germany in midweek and now swiftly turn their attention to today's 3pm kick-off against Everton.

The Toffees have been solid so far this term and lost for the first time this season against Chelsea last week.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Arsenal vs Everton online and from anywhere, including for free, in the 2026/27 Premier League.

Is Arsenal vs Everton on TV in the UK?

Arsenal vs Everton is not being televised in the UK. The game kicks off on Saturday at 3pm, a time when football matches cannot legally be broadcast in the UK. This is known as the '3pm blackout'.

Outside the UK, the game is available in virtually every country across the globe. If you're visiting the UK, you can use Proton VPN to access your usual coverage.

Watch Arsenal vs Everton from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Arsenal vs Everton.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate Proton VPN as one of the best for unlocking streams...

How to watch Arsenal vs Everton in the US

As mentioned above, Arsenal vs Everton is live on USA Network in the US.

Kick-off is at 10:00am ET.

How to watch Arsenal vs Everton in Australia

Arsenal vs Everton is live on Stan Sport in Australia.

The game kicks-off at 1:00am AEDT on Sunday.

Tickets

Arsenal vs Everton: Preview

Arsenal earned a spirited point against Bayern Munich during the week, with England duo Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice both on the scoresheet in the 2-2 draw.

Everton are up next, and Mikel Arteta's side will have to be at their resolute best to beat a sturdy-looking Toffees side that has impressed so far this season.

Bukayo Saka was hauled off after 10 minutes after appearing to injure his quad, with Eze coming on to replace him.

He is expected to be sidelined for around two months, but better news comes in the form of Piero Hincapie, who might recover from an ankle problem in time to make the cut. William Saliba (back) and Christos Tzolis (hamstring) remain sidelined.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Everton lost to two Pedro Neto strikes at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in last weekend's early kick-off, with Moyes's men tasting defeat for the first time this season.

A bitter pill to swallow, but there were plenty of positives to take, namely Vitaly Mykolenko and James Tarkowski, who had fairly solid games at the back.

Everton are blessed with a fully fit squad coming into this one - a major bonus for Moyes given his already-limited options - after ex-Arsenal midfielder Christian Norgaard recovered from a groin injury to make his debut against Chelsea.

However, another erstwhile Gunner, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, endured a torrid time against the Blues - finding himself at fault for Neto's opener - so Jake O'Brien may be restored to right-back in this one.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Arsenal 1-0 Everton

One-nil to the Arsenal rings around the Emirates as Gabriel nets a scrappy late winner to make it two defeats in two games for Everton.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Watch Coventry City vs Fulham as two of the Premier League's current strugglers meet in Warwickshire, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Coventry City became Tottenham's first victims of the season; it had to be someone eventually, as Frank Lampard's men look for a response today against Fulham.

On the other hand, Alvaro Arbeloa's side won for the first time too against Hull City last weekend and will be looking to follow up on that win at the CBS Arena.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Coventry City vs Fulham online and from anywhere in the world as the 2026/27 Premier League season continues.

Is Coventry City vs Fulham on TV in the UK?

Coventry City vs Fulham is not being televised in the UK. The game kicks off on Saturday at 3pm, a time when football matches cannot legally be broadcast in the UK. This is known as the '3pm blackout'.

You can access the game in multiple countries, including the US and Australia, where you will find great deals for watching EPL football.

If you're visiting the UK from a country with live coverage, you can use Proton VPN to access your usual broadcast.

Watch Coventry City vs Fulham from anywhere

What if you're away from home when Coventry City vs Fulham is on, and find access to your usual streaming service geo-blocked? The solution is a VPN, a piece of software that makes your devices appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate Proton VPN as one of the best for unlocking streams...

How to watch Coventry City vs Fulham in the US

Coventry City vs Fulham is live on Peacock in the US, with kick-off at 10:00am ET.

How to watch Coventry City vs Fulham in Australia

Viewers in Australia can watch Coventry City vs Fulham live on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 1:00am AEDT on Sunday morning.

Visiting the UK from Australia? Proton VPN can unblock your Stan Sport stream of the game.

Coventry City vs Fulham: Preview

Coventry City couldn't make it three from three as they fell short in North London last week in the Monday Night Football fixture.

Lampard's men had recorded back-to-back wins prior against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United and will now look to get back on the saddle against fellow slow-starters Fulham.

The Sky Blues are still having to cope without injured quartet Aurele Amenda (calf), Josh Eccles (ankle), Luke Woolfenden (knee) and Haji Wright (quad), the latter two are yet to play so far this season.

Jack Rudoni is bidding to score in his third successive Premier League game after netting against Newcastle and Tottenham. The midfielder is set to continue in an advanced central role in front of captain Matt Grimes and one of Caleb Yirenkyi or Frank Onyeka.

SEE ALSO Football fixture calendar for the 2026/27 season

Fulham got off the mark finally against Hull City thanks to Alex Iwobi's solitary strike, with Ryan Sessengon sent off late on at Craven Cottage.

That will please new boss Arteta, who had been desperate to secure his first success at Craven Cottage, with following up on that win now paramount.

Sessegnon will of course now begin a three-match suspension following his red, while Hugo Larsson remains a doubt with a groin issue.

Captain Tom Cairney made his first appearance of the season as a substitute last week against the Tigers, after recovering from a long-term knee injury, but the midfielder is not expected to start ahead of either Sander Berge, Shea Charles or Joshua King.

Arbeloa will weigh up whether to stick with Gonzalo Garcia, who has failed to score in any of his last six Premier League starts, or hand Rodrigo Muniz a rare start up top.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Coventry City 2-2 Fulham

A point apiece in this one, with both sides desperate for another point on the board.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

When Thomas Hitzlsperger came out as gay in 2012, he immediately became a prominent voice in the conversation surrounding homosexuality in football.

More than a decade has now passed, but the former Germany international believes a significant divide between the men’s and the women’s game remains when it comes to acceptance.

Openly gay and lesbian players are commonplace in women’s football, but still few male players have felt comfortable speaking publicly about their sexuality.

Hitzlsperger on creating a more inclusive environment

While the former Aston Villa and Stuttgart man does not expect the issue to stop being a talking point in football anytime soon, he hopes greater understanding and more open discussion will help create a more inclusive environment for the future.

“That’s why we have to look at the bigger picture,” he tells FourFourTwo. “Within the women’s game, there are so many openly lesbian footballers that it doesn’t even seem to be an issue any more. The women’s game is fortunate in that respect, but there are other concerns they’re dealing with. They still want to grow their game and need more investment.

“The men’s game is very different and it’s still not normal to be gay. It’s something that’s always controversial and continues to be debated. I don’t think we’ll ever reach a point in football when homosexuality won’t be discussed, because some people have issues. For some reason or other, they just don’t like the idea of people being gay. There are certain people who will never change their opinion, they’ll always be against it and that’s a fact.”

Hitzlsperger’s hope is that while everyone does not share these same beliefs, there are plenty of people ready to be engaged in the debate.

“I think there are enough people who are open to discussion,” he continues. “Even if they don’t like the idea at first, they at least listen. They’re the ones I’d like to address and say “Look, I haven’t chosen to be like this, and I’ve always been this way.” It’s not always easy, but I don’t want to be criticised for something that I haven’t chosen to be, yet I accept it, I enjoy my life and I want other people to accept it.

“By no means do I believe it will no longer be a discussion point, though. It always will be because people have their own beliefs and won’t change them. It’s not just footballers, it’s society, otherwise more former footballers would say “It was tough during my playing days but now I can share my experiences.”

“Not many have done that, so clearly we have an issue within society around masculinity, and the reality is some men are afraid.”

Hitzlsperger also believes that one way to address these attitudes is to begin teaching children about respect and discrimination from an early age.

“I’d be all for kids learning from a young age how we should respect each other and not discriminate,” he adds. “For me, the earlier the better, but it’s a very complicated discussion, because some would say “Why would you discuss sexuality with kids at school?”

“Overall though, we can’t start early enough in telling people that any form of discrimination is wrong. From there, we could explain the types of discrimination and how we can be more inclusive within society in general.”

Watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City for free as Matchweek 8 begins in the Premier League.

FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Aston Villa are the next side bidding to put an early chink in Manchester City's Premier League title hopes, as the two teams meet at Villa Park today.

The Villans have had an up-and-down start to the domestic campaign, but have picked up real consistency in recent weeks with no defeat in seven.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City online and from anywhere, including for free, in the first Premier League game after the international break.

Watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City for FREE

You can stream Aston Villa vs Manchester City for free in the US thanks to YouTube TV's 5-day free trial, which carries USA Network — the US broadcaster of this game.

Abroad today? Use Proton VPN to unblock your free trial of YouTube TV and stream Aston Villa vs Manchester City from anywhere in the world.

Watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City from anywhere

What if you're away from home when Aston Villa vs Manchester City is on, and find access to your usual streaming service geo-blocked? The solution is a VPN, a piece of software that sets your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate Proton VPN as one of the best for unlocking streams...

How to watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City in the UK

Aston Villa vs Manchester City is live on TNT Sports in the UK.

TNT Sports 1 and its streaming platform HBO Max will have coverage of the Premier League clash, with kick-off at 12:30pm BST.

Outside the UK? Unlock your Aston Villa vs Manchester City stream on TNT Sports via Proton VPN.

How to watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City in the US

As mentioned above, USA Network has live coverage of Aston Villa vs Manchester City in the US. Kick-off is at 7:30am ET.

Remember: Use Proton VPN to unlock your Aston Villa vs Manchester City stream on USA Network.

How to watch Aston Villa vs Manchester City in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Aston Villa vs Manchester City on Stan Sport, with kick-off at 10:30pm AEDT.

Not in Australia? Proton VPN will unblock your Stan Sport stream of Aston Villa vs Manchester City.

Tickets

Aston Villa vs Manchester City: Preview

Aston Villa's valiant form in the UEFA Champions League continued in midweek, as Emery's men made it three from three so far in the league phase.

Goals from Ross Barkley, Emi Buendia and an own goal secured a 3-1 win on home soil against Viking, continuing their unbeaten start to the competition.

Villa will be without Amadou Onana (ACL), Matteo Ruggeri (thigh) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (hamstring) due to injury, whilst summer signing Johan Manzambi (muscle) and defender Modou Keba Cisse (groin) are both doubts.

Despite impressing against Viking, Alysson may be replaced on the right flank by captain John McGinn, with Boubacar Kamara and Joao Gomes set to resume their central midfield partnership for City's visit.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide for Matchweek 8

Manchester City have been flawless in the Premier League and remain as the only unbeaten side in the division as we head into Matchweek 8.

Enzo Maresca's side are continuing as normal despite the ongoing case against the Premier League, with it unlikely their decision against their guilty verdict will arrive anytime soon.

Erling Haaland will come back as he was rested for the midweek win against AEK Athens, as well as influential duo Rayan Cherki and Iliman Ndiaye.

Antoine Semenyo is ruled out for around eight weeks with a knee injury, while Nico O'Reilly, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes were also rested in midweek and should be fit to return to the matchday squad after sustaining minor issues against Ipswich.

Team News

Aston Villa XI: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen, McGinn, Kamara, Gomes, Alysson, Manzambi, Jackson.

Man City XI: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernandez, Ndiaye, Doku, Cherki, Haaland.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester City

City have looked unstoppable so far this term and we expect them to win again against a Villa side that hasn't really got going in the Premier League as yet.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

In recent years, podcasts have become one of the most dominant ways to consume football media.

In fact, it's likely that most people will spend more of their lives listening to musings on the beautiful game than they will actually watching it.

Whether it's tuning into the musings of former pros, hearing dressing room tales from back in the day, or transfer insiders offering up the latest insight, there's a podcast for every type of football fan. Here at FourFourTwo we've run through the pick of the bunch...

The Rest is Football

WHO'S INVOLVED? Heavyweight hosts Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards are joined by an equally heavyweight conveyor belt of footballing icons, journalists and celebrities on a regular deep dive into the beautiful game.

WHY IT WORKS Football's biggest talking points are dissected by three of the most respected pundits around. Legendary guests tell stories from their careers, while big names in other fields – from journalist Fabrizio Romano to New York mayor Zohran Mamdani – have shared their own insights. The regular ribbings of Big Meeks are worth tuning in alone.

Guardian Football Weekly

WHO'S INVOLVED? Former Soccer AM host Max Rushden and newspaper columnist Barry Glendenning chew the fat with their fellow journalists and other famous faces.

WHY IT WORKS The Guardian's selection of expert writers – from Serie A aficionado Nicky Bandini to Bundesliga devotee Andy Brassell – offer sharp analysis, inside scoops and hot takes that few other pods can rival. Rushden keeps the banter ticking along smoothly with his trademark wit and energy. One for those interested in a wide range of leagues and exploring deeper analysis.

Game's Gone

WHO'S INVOLVED? Steve Bracknall (a comedy character played by Chris McClure, brother of Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon) leads a cast of larger-than-life footballing creations.

WHY IT WORKS One of the few mockumentary football pods. The series follows Bracknall, the assistant manager of fictional Sunday League side Royal Oak and self-proclaimed saviour of grassroots football, raging against any form of tactical or technological modernisation. VAR, false nines and inverted wing-backs come in for particular flak. Real guests (Robbie Williams among them) play along, straight-faced.

The Fozcast

WHO'S INVOLVED? Former Manchester United, West Brom and Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster.

WHY IT WORKS The ex-England gloveman and keen cyclist shares first-hand insights into the modern world of top-flight football, while major guests have included Ian Wright, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Troy Deeney. Foster's honesty and storytelling ability set the show apart – it isn't unusual for him to recall fascinating behind-the-scenes details about dressing room bust-ups, lucrative contract negotiations and the luxury conditions he became accustomed to during his Premier League career.

Football Ramble

WHO'S INVOLVED? Content creators Marcus Speller, Luke Moore, Pete Donaldson, Jim Campbell and Vithushan Ehantharajah.

WHY IT WORKS An institution that's still going strong after first being launched in 2007, from a rented kitchen in Harlesden with a MiniDisc recorder. There are no ex-pros holding court or shouting over one another here, just proper mates-down-the-pub football chat that once hit no.1 among sports podcasts on iTunes ahead of more prestigious outlets. Weekly quizzes, hilarious tangents and Mike Dean baiting have kept it essential for two decades running.

Joe Donnohue recommends... Not The Top 20

“George Elek and Ali Maxwell's podcast does what it says on the tin – they took one look at the saturated, Premier League-focused football podcast space and realised there were 72 other fanbases not getting the coverage they should. NTT20 is your one-stop shop for all things EFL. Objective, well-researched opinions, predictions and analysis that delivers for the most engorged fans, as well as those seeking a more casual overview of key storylines across the leagues. Their season previews are a personal highlight, as was their coverage of last term's Southampton Spygate saga.”

Football Daily

WHO'S INVOLVED? Mark Chapman, with rotating pundits such as Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, Paul Robinson and John Murray.

WHY IT WORKS BBC Radio 5 Live's flagship podcast offering, providing daily, dependable, well-sourced football discussions with genuine broadcast journalism heft. A variety of shows fall under the Football Daily umbrella, including Monday Night Club and The Football Interview – past subjects include Thomas Tuchel and Cristiano Ronaldo. Featuring fewer hijinks than its more indie rivals, think of this as the podcast equivalent of Match of the Day.

No Tippy Tappy Football

WHO'S INVOLVED? Former Bolton, Newcastle and England gaffer Sam Allardyce, alongside sports broadcaster Natalie Pike.

WHY IT WORKS Big Sam opens his little black book of contacts for frank, old school dressing room chatter. Guests have ranged from Charlie Adam to Simon Grayson, the latter fresh off the back of managing in Nepal. No Tippy Tappy Football started as a 2022 World Cup one-off and, like a Rory Delap throw-in, just kept on going. Big Sam's bluntness on VAR, tactics and modern football's softness collides brilliantly with co-host Pike's sharper questioning.

Big Kick Energy

WHO'S INVOLVED? Stand-up comedians Maisie Adam and Suzi Ruffell.

WHY IT WORKS Two genuinely hilarious mates dissecting women's football with real warmth – Adam provides the diehard fan element, with Ruffell being a recent convert, learning as she goes. Past guests on the pod have included Lionesses stars Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh, plus DJ Annie Mac. The show is openly anti-homophobia and a champion of the women's game. First launched back in 2023, Big Kick Energy is one of the fastest growing football podcasts on the scene.

Rio Ferdinand Presents

WHO'S INVOLVED? The legendary former Manchester United and England centre-back, plus presenters Joel Beya and Stephen Howson.

WHY IT WORKS Three shows in one: Rio Presents, Rio Meets (big interviews, from Ryan Giggs to Kingsley Coman) and Rio Reacts. The triptych is all the more intense given Rio often presents from what appears to be a neon-lit shisha lounge (disclaimer: it isn't actually). Things often veer off into purely Manchester United-focused conversation, but that's to be expected given Rio's background. He's never afraid of speaking his mind.

The Athletic FC Podcast

WHO'S INVOLVED? Well-connected journos Emma Paton, David Ornstein, Adam Crafton, Matt Slater and James Horncastle.

WHY IT WORKS Several days a week of the deepest reporting money can buy. Ornstein's transfer scoops land here first, sometimes mid-recording. Deadline day episodes are appointment listening for journalists breaking news live on air rather than just discussing it. Less banter, more genuine insider access and whispers from unnamed club sources. A podcast for anyone who obsesses about the biggest breaking stories in football.

Matthew Ketchell recommends... The Totally Football Show

“The long-running pod has an elite host in James Richardson, who pulls the strings and raps tea-spitting intros to each episode. The squad depth of pundits is immense – a who's who of people who've contributed to FFT like Tom Williams, Seb Stafford-Bloor and Julien Laurens. The structure and pacing are polished, with in-jokes to indulge fans (at the World Cup, a skunk kept appearing in the garden of their Airbnb, and the team developed an obsession with repeating Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach's name with thick Aussie accents). A charming gang you'd want to be part of.”

Libero

WHO'S INVOLVED? Respected journalists Jonathan Wilson, Rory Smith, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney, John Brewin, Tariq Panja and James Horncastle launched the pod in 2025.

WHY IT WORKS Some of football's best writers, self-described as covering ‘the least important of the most important things' – in other words, football. The group unpack everything from Pep Guardiola's legacy at Manchester City to why French football keeps producing winners, while Germany and the Netherlands stall. Episodes are released regularly, and the team also recorded in front of a live audience in May.

Open Goal

WHO'S INVOLVED? Ex-Celtic and Swindon midfielder Si Ferry fronts things alongside the former Ayr winger Paul Slane. Their fellow past pros Gordon Dalziel, Andy Halliday and Derek Ferguson (father of Bologna midfielder Lewis) are additional regulars on the panel.

WHY IT WORKS Scottish football dissected by those who have been there and done it. With an endless cast of retired players trading dressing-room stories, it's become the go-to listen for fans north of the border. The show's guest list has spanned Scotland internationals from Ally McCoist to James McFadden.

The Dressing Room

WHO'S INVOLVED? Joe Cole previously had a podcast with Ashley Cole – now he's got one with Carlton Cole (and Wayne Bridge). Expect future pods with Andy Cole, rapper J. Cole and the ghost of Nat King Cole, as Joe regales the jazz legend with tales of his time at Lille.

WHY IT WORKS The trio tell stories of David Beckham's pre-World Cup party, Bridge getting left behind in Japan, and Joe upsetting magician David Blaine. Carlton's weekly quiz (with a Roger Milla figurine as the prize) adds a competitive edge. Inevitably, there are Jose Mourinho stories aplenty.

The Football Boardroom

WHO'S INVOLVED? Henry Winter teams up with Christian Purslow, formerly on the board of Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa.

WHY IT WORKS Genuine boardroom access teams up with seven-time Football Writer of the Year credibility. Purslow has run the business operations of three huge clubs, so when he and Winter discuss FIFA's private investment plans or Amanda Staveley's West Ham bid, it's not speculation – it's informed analysis from two men who know how football works. The football podcast world's equivalent of reading the Financial Times.

Football Cliches

WHO'S INVOLVED? Journalists Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker.

WHY IT WORKS Hurrey's 2014 book of the same name that dissected commentary jargon has since evolved into a podcasting juggernaut. Whether it's ‘a game of two halves', ‘losing the dressing room', ‘sleepwalking to relegation' or a ‘Lampardian transition', no hackneyed football phrase is safe from forensic examination. The show has been shortlisted for the Football Supporters' Association's Podcast of the Year gong on multiple occasions, with past guests ranging from Jamie Carragher to Keir Starmer.

Ed McCambridge recommends... Let's Be Having You!

“I was a massive fan of Quickly Kevin, the podcast about '90s football that ended in 2024 – it was the era of football I was born into and I loved the old Josh Widdicombe-led series. It was with some trepidation, then, that I moved across to sequel Let's Be Having You! about football in the 2000s – it hasn't disappointed. Chris Scull has recruited funnyman Alex Brooker for a comb through an iconic decade. The era's biggest questions are answered: Was Dream Team actually crap? Why didn't Delia Smith's half-time rant work? And how did England blow Euro 2004? Hilarious and nostalgic.”

Jamie Vardy's Having A Party

WHO'S INVOLVED? Leicester goal machine and dedicated s**thouse Jamie Vardy, now with Burnley, tells the story of his rise, joined by a revolving cast of superstar guests from football, comedy and music.

WHY IT WORKS From working in a splint factory and wearing a police tag to firing Leicester to a 5,000-1 Premier League title win, Vardy looks back over a career that even Hollywood would find far-fetched. The no-nonsense Yorkshireman is joined by some massive names from across the celebrity spectrum – not least wife and Coleen-botherer Rebekah Vardy.

Chris Flanagan recommends... Under The Cosh

“Just to confuse everyone, Chris Brown (the ex-Sunderland striker, not the R&B singer) teams up with Chris Brown (the comedy writer, not the R&B singer) and former EFL cult hero Jon Parkin for chats with a host of ex-players, featuring funny anecdotes galore. Interviewees may not always be as high profile as podcasts elsewhere, but anyone who's followed the EFL over the past two decades will know them – the one they did with Graham Westley was brilliant, as the four-time Stevenage boss tried to explain the truth behind basically every weird story ever told about his bizarre management methods.”

The Obi One Podcast

WHO'S INVOLVED? Ex-Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel and journalist Chris McHardy.

WHY IT WORKS Mikel pulls no punches on the airwaves, calling former Nigeria boss Sunday Oliseh the worst manager he ever worked under and retelling the story of how he s**t himself with fear after snubbing Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for Chelsea in 2006. Blunt and occasionally controversial, it turns out Obi One is a force to be reckoned with in the podcast game. Jay-Jay Okocha, Andre Villas-Boas and Mikel's former Chelsea skipper John Terry have been recent guests.

The Good, The Bad and The Football

WHO'S INVOLVED? Legendary Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt team up with comedian, Bolton fan and former Take Me Out presenter Paddy McGuinness.

WHY IT WORKS Two treble-winners (with 17 Premier League titles between them, no less) excoriate the latest goings on at Old Trafford and beyond, with lashings of rose-tinted recollections about life under Fergie. Scholes is as deadpan and biting as ever, with Butt more than happy to two-foot any of the club's current strugglers following big defeats, while McGuinness directs traffic.

Tifo Football

WHO'S INVOLVED? The always mellow host Joe Devine guides the conversation, along with the rest of the affable Tifo team.

WHY IT WORKS The audio arm of the beloved Tifo YouTube channel – famed for its gentle storytelling, cartoon graphics and funky animations – going deep on tactics, football history and geopolitics. Everything from Turkish football's fiery past to how club ownership structures work is covered with painstaking research and simple explanations, plus regular analysis of the latest big matches across the Premier League and Europe.

James Andrew recommends... The Socially Distant Sports Bar

“Ever sat in the pub and the conversation veers off to places you didn't expect? A discussion about Gareth Bale can end up with chat about your neighbour's dog s**tting in your garden. The running joke on this podcast is it's now more ‘sports adjacent' – in the same way Top Gear is about cars, the subject gets you in the door, but the chemistry and comedy keep you listening. The format is based around short clips, books and documentaries – Steff Garrero holds things together while Mike Bubbins and Elis James, previously of Sky's Fantasy Football League reboot, go off on comedic tangents.”

It Was What It Was

WHO'S INVOLVED? Jonathan Wilson, football writer and author of Inverting the Pyramid, plus award-winning reporter Rob Draper.

WHY IT WORKS It's a deep dive into history, unpacking football's greatest sagas, both tactical and political. Think Bert Trautmann's journey from Nazi paratrooper to Manchester City gloveman, Kevin Keegan's coronation in Hamburg and Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen heroics. Wilson's tactical historian schtick paired with Draper's storytelling makes each episode feel like a (fun, we promise) university seminar. One for the absolute nerds.

The Sweeper

WHO'S INVOLVED? Paul Watson (FFT writer and the brother of comedian Mark), plus fellow travel lover Lee Wingate.

WHY IT WORKS A love letter to Europe's forgotten leagues and the bizarre stories they throw up. No, we're not talking about France and Germany here, but the likes of Latvia and Lithuania – FFT once had the pleasure of attending an obscure game in Austria with Sweeper co-host Wingate, and his knowledge and passion for the more random corners of football was astounding. Fans who can't sit still will love this one.

That Peter Crouch Podcast

That Peter Crouch Podcast first launched in 2018 and is still going strong today – even musical megastars want in on the action, as the former England frontman tells FFT.

Did it surprise you how quickly your podcast became a big hit? You've even done huge live events in the past.

It did surprise me. We were very early on in the curve of pods and at the start, you think, ‘No-one's gone to listen to this', but it just took off. It's taken us to places I never thought we'd go – we've sold out Wembley Arena twice, we've been to Kensington Palace, we've been to Rod Stewart's house, we've had Elton John on. We've had all the footballers that have been my heroes over the years, and we've been going for almost 10 years. Our listeners have stayed loyal to us and made it what it is. I love doing it, it's a real passion project of mine, something I'll continue to do as long as people enjoy it.

Why do you think it's done so well?

At the start, it was something very different – footballers coming on and talking about something other than the game, the result or what went wrong. People saw a different side to footballers; you can be who you want to be, and I've only ever been myself. I was talking about certain players and things that happened to me in football, and it showed there was a real thirst for going deeper into the game and what happens – on holidays, on pre-season, in the treatment room when you're injured. It was just talking about that world of football beyond the game.

What was it like going to Rod Stewart's house for one of your recordings?

Incredible, we had a great day. We had a little walk round, we sat in his gym, he's got a football pitch outside where he has a team that come round and play, and he had all his Celtic memorabilia, with stories from each thing. Just sitting in his lounge and waiting for him was probably the most exciting moment. He loves football – that's what's so good about doing podcasts, you meet people from different worlds, who all have one common interest: football. If you talk to Rod Stewart about Celtic, his eyes light up – you talk about playing Madison Square Garden or Wembley Stadium and probably he's less excited. I've met people from different walks of life – Prince William, Elton John, we had Gary Oldman on recently – and they love talking about football.

How did the Elton John episode happen?

I got a call from him, believe it or not! I was in the car on the way up to a game and I got a call from him personally, saying he'd like to come on. I was like “OK!” I have somebody who drives me when I'm going up north, and when I was like, “Hi Elton”, my driver was looking back at me in the rear-view mirror, because there aren't many Eltons around! I was nodding to him, like, “Yeah, it's that Elton!” It was an amazing moment – for him to take time to personally ask to come on the podcast was very special.

Watch Tottenham vs Arsenal in the WSL, with FourFourTwo bringing you all broadcast details you need in this guide.

Arsenal haven't won in the league since the opening day of the season and the pressure on Renee Slegers is building, almost insurmountably.

Meanwhile, Spurs are coming into this fixture on the back of two heavy defeats after an impressive start to their campaign.

This North London derby has so much riding on it, for both sides.

FourFourTwo has all the information on live streams and TV channels so you can watch Tottenham vs Arsenal in the WSL online, on TV, and from anywhere.

Watch Tottenham vs Arsenal for FREE in the UK

Tottenham vs Arsenal is available to watch for free in the UK on BBC One, which is available online via BBC iPlayer.

Watch Tottenham vs Arsenal from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Tottenham vs Arsenal

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FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Tottenham vs Arsenal in the US

US viewers can watch Arsenal vs Birmingham City on Paramount+.

How to watch Tottenham vs Arsenal in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Tottenham vs Arsenal on Stan Sport.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch the game.

Tottenham vs Arsenal: Women's Super League preview

Arsenal have endured a difficult start to their Women’s Super League season, sitting eighth after six games.

Since opening their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Brighton, the Gunners have failed to win another league match, raising questions over their season and Renee Slegers’ future in charge.

A draw against newly promoted Birmingham City last weekend only added to the frustration, with Arsenal under pressure to turn their season around.

Meanwhile, Spurs head into the north London derby on the back of two heavy defeats, losing 6-2 to Chelsea last weekend after a 6-1 thrashing by London City Lionesses.

Martin Ho’s side will need to tighten up defensively if they are to remain competitive in the upper half of the table.

In a rare turn of events, Spurs go into the derby above their north London rivals in fourth place, adding further intrigue to an already significant fixture.

Both managers are under pressure to deliver a response, with Ho looking to steady the ship after back-to-back defeats and Slegers needing a result to ease growing scrutiny over her position.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Arsenal
Arsenal won't end that winless run against their bitter rivals.

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Brighton & Hove Albion’s biggest win of the season was, without question, the 3-0 triumph over defending Premier League champions Arsenal last month. It just so happened they won with the fourth youngest starting XI in the 2026/27 top-flight match.

With an average age of just 25, the youthful Seagulls stifled the Gunners. Pascal Gross put Brighton ahead on the half-hour mark. Fabian Hurzeler’s side went in at the break two goals to the good as Charalampos Kostoulas, provider of the first goal, turned scorer. Chema Andres completed a fine day at the office for Hurzeler and his men. Or should that be boys?

Yes, Hurzeler has forged a functional team, expertly blending both youth and experience. The combination sit third in England’s top tier after the opening seven matches, having claimed five wins. Gross and captain Lewis Dunk are the seasoned heads in key positions. Hurzeler has deployed a number of young stars in support of the mid-30s pair.

And leading the charge is Kostoulas. The Greek teenager joined from Olympiacos last summer, but had to settle for a spot on the bench in his debut campaign at the Amex Stadium. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. A 19-year-old in their first season abroad, they need a chance to adjust to a change in scenery.

Playing second fiddle to Danny Welbeck, it wasn’t a shock that Kostoulas was restricted to just two league starts. Even so, he made a further 19 appearances off the bench. In that time, he struck twice and provided one assist. One of those goals was a stunning 90th-minute overhead kick in a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth back in January. Few would have expected that the hit was a sign of things to come in terms of output.

Admittedly, the teenager is yet to replicate the sensational hit against the Cherries. Yet the confidence to attempt such an effort when the pressure was on perhaps convinced Hurzeler that it was time to shift Welbeck on. Out with the old, in with the new. Welbeck moved to Chelsea, and Kostoulas found one less hurdle to overcome in order to establish himself as first-choice Brighton frontman.

There was a stroke of fortune over his promotion to leading striker, of course. Georginio Rutter played the full 90 in the opening weekend 4-0 win over Aston Villa. The Frenchman suffered an ill-timed foot injury that presented Kostoulas with the chance to nail down a starting spot. It’s one he’s grabbed, and one won’t be relinquishing anytime soon.

Of the 23 league goals Brighton have scored this season, Kostoulas has been directly involved in five, netting three times in the process. Those goals came at crucial moments, too. The opener in an eventual 5-0 win at Coventry. The second in the aforementioned victory over Arsenal on the stroke of half-time to change the complexion of the clash. Four minutes after the restart in the M23 Derby 5-0 triumph over Crystal Palace to extinguish any chances of a fightback.

Elsewhere, he netted shortly before half-time in the 3-2 Carabao Cup comeback win over Manchester United last month and the first in a 4-0 Conference League playoff success over Tromso. Key moments that set, or maintained, Brighton’s path to victory. A player his age shouldn’t be coming in clutch the way Kostoulas does.

There is more beyond the goals and assists that stand out, however. Granted, a striker’s primary objective is to put the ball in the back of the net. Kostoulas, though, offers more than just goals to his energetic Brighton side.

It’s no secret that Hurzeler’s Brighton likes to press high and aggressively. One of their key routes to goal is to force opposition turnovers in dangerous positions. They rank top for possession won in the attacking third (51) in the Premier League this season, and it’s not even close. Bournemouth are their closest competitors. The Cherries have done so 37 times.

And leading the pressing charge is none other than Kostoulas himself, the Greece international having done so 12 times. There’s buying into Hurzeler’s gameplan, and there’s essentially proving the - almost - perfect forward for the system. Standing at 6ft1in, he’s the right size and stature to provide the focal point in a favoured 4-2-3-1 setup.

That’s not to say there are no shortcomings to his game. Kostoulas is guilty of rushing his shot selection. Four big chances missed ranks among the top 10 players in the division. The decision-making has also been pulled up. Of the 23 attempted dribbles, only nine have been successful, resulting in a 39.1 per cent dribble success rate. He’s been dispossessed 10 times and made 15 unsuccessful first touches resulting in a turnover in possession.

At 19 years of age, however, these rough edges are to be expected. They are areas that will be smoothed out over time.

As the Seagulls continue to soar, so too does the youthful Greek frontman, who has taken the rapid progression to first-choice striker for an in-form Premier League team in his stride. There’s an argument to be made that Kostoulas is the division’s best young player. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with that sentiment.

There's no better way to pass the time in between matches than sipping at a lovely cup of tea and ticking off the acrosses and downs of a football puzzle. Here's the new FourFourTwo Weekend Crossword.

There are 25 clues in this week's FourFourTwo Weekend Crossword. Some are devilishly difficult, so our advice is to pick off the easier ones first to get yourself some extra clues.

Don't forget to let us know how you get on in the comments.

Love football crosswords? Here are some handpicked football quizzes we know you'll enjoy

If you enjoyed puzzling your way through that crossword, we've got plenty of football quizzes to take on too. They cover a full range of difficulty degrees and time limits, and they're all powered by Kwizly.

We'll start you off by going back 20 years to ask whether you can name the top goalscorer of every Premier League team in the 2006-07 season. There are 20 names to list and some are more memorable than others, to say the very least. Perhaps 2016-17 will be a bit easier. Or perhaps not.

Coming right back up to the present day, can you name every team in A-League Men this season and every team participating in the league phase of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League in 2026-27?

Here's one to warm you up for the Ballon d'Or. There are two active players with 13 awards between the two of them and we've got some questions with just two possible answers each: Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?

Finally, here's a niche quiz for the real Premier League experts with a specialism in the bad lads. Can you name every player ever to have received three red cards in a single season in the Premier League?

For all the matchday knowledge you need, subscribe to our newsletters for regular briefings and hand-picked trivia. And, to complete your transfer to terrace legend status, lock in your spot in The Club, our free membership hub where you can unlock secret hints for our toughest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments.

Watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest for free as this weekend's Premier League action kicks off with a clash at Portman Road on Friday night. FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Ipswich Town have made a decent start to life back in the Premier League, winning three of their seven games so far this season. They will see the arrival of Nottingham Forest as a chance to make that four.

As for Oliver Glasner's Forest, things look a little bleaker, with the Tricky Trees' latest defeat at home to Arsenal leaving them in the bottom four at present. How long will Evangelos Marinakis rest on his laurels?

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest online and from anywhere, including for free, in this week's Friday-night Premier League clash.

Watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest for FREE

Live coverage in the States is on USA Network and this is available for free thanks to YouTube TV, which currently comes with a 5-day free trial for new customers.

Outside the US? Use Proton VPN to unblock your free USA Network stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest from anywhere

A good VPN is your ticket to the game, even when you’re abroad.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate Proton VPN as one of the best for unlocking streams...

How to watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest in the UK

Viewers in the UK can watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports.

The game will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Coverage starts at 7:30pm BST, with kick-off at 8:00pm.

How to watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest in the US

As mentioned above, Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest is live on USA Network in the US. Kick-off is at 3:00pm ET.

This is a linear channel, so you will need a cord-cutting package. YouTube TV (5-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial), Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial) and Sling Blue all carry the channel.

How to watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest in Australia

Fans in Australia can watch Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest live on Stan Sport. The game kicks off at 5:00am AEST on Saturday.

Stan Sport comes in at just AU$29.99 and provides access to every Premier League and Champions League game.

Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest: Preview

Gary O'Neil's side have begun life back in England's top flight with some respectable displays, no more so than a 3-2 defeat at league leaders Manchester City last weekend.

Before that came a 2-1 win over strugglers Fulham, with two further victories arriving over Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

O'Neil has a virtually full-strength squad available ahead of Friday's clash, with previously sidelined players like Azor Matusiwa, Jaden Philogene, Florentino Luis, and Jack Taylor having all worked their way back to fitness.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

The good news for Forest is that star man Morgan Gibbs-White looks set to return against the Tractor Boys. The captain and England international is arguably Glasner’s biggest asset, and another strong season at the City Ground could see him attract interest from further afield.

Despite his absence, there were encouraging signs from the rest of the team against Arsenal. Chris Wood came off the bench and could provide some much-needed competition for Liam Delap, who has converted just one of his 18 shots so far this season.

The underlying metrics are positive for Forest, too. They have had little trouble creating chances, ranking seventh for expected goals (xG) this season. The problem, however, is their lack of clinical finishing: despite an xG of 11.5, they have scored just five goals — the biggest underperformance in the league.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Ipswich Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Ipswich have looked solid so far but Gibbs-White and Wood's individual qualities will be tough to deal with. We say a draw.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Unai Emery is reportedly a leading target for Manchester United if they dispense with head coach Michael Carrick. Of course he is. Why would he not be? How could he not be? He's one of the finest managers in the game.

Emery has revolutionised Aston Villa once and is in the process of doing it again, leaner and meaner, and jumping ship to fix Man United isn't going to be on his agenda this season.

United, should they show Carrick the door, will need a firefighter. They'll need a rescue job. Even if they're too myopic to understand that in the short-term, Emery is too smart not to.

Unai Emery knows his strengths and the environment he needs to use them

Villa supporters' confidence that any ambitious approach from United would immediately be repelled is rooted not in the chaotic situation at Old Trafford but the relative serenity in which Emery is able to perform at Villa Park.

The Basque boss has found his home in Birmingham. Emery has been gathering power throughout his four years in charge and enjoys a degree of control few clubs in 2026 would countenance. It's worked for Villa because of Emery's ability and suitability, but it's also a big risk on the part of the club.

There's a world in which Man United can persuade a manager to leave Villa; it would be naive to believe otherwise. But Emery is not your common or garden gaffer, and his relationship with Villa is not the norm.

Take the inevitable United interest and betting odds at face value if you must, but Emery has rebuilt Villa in his image and with his people.

Damian Vidagany and Roberto Olabe, the other pillars of Villa's football department, are Emery's men. United could theoretically take them in as a trio along with Emery's coaching staff, but it's the fact that he was empowered to bring them in to begin with that's most significant.

Emery clearly loves a challenge but he has a sharp enough awareness of his qualities that he can appreciate a good challenge and sniff out a bad one at a thousand paces.

Villa's Europa League win was a triumph of structure on and off the pitch. Emery knows that he and Villa are the right coupling at the right time, and has thrived by quietly putting down roots in a way he couldn't at Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain, and wouldn't be able to at Manchester United.

His control and its consequences are uniquely Villa.

Where else would Emery enjoy such widespread trust to keep new signings out of the team until they're giving him exactly what his strategy demands?

Where else would Emery be able to bring in a project player like Alejandro Garnacho and play him so infrequently at the start of his loan without any serious doubts over his methods?

Emery and V Sports are a match made in heaven

Emery is proven and trusted at Villa. More importantly, he is entrenched even more deeply than his command in B6 and at Bodymoor Heath suggest.

Villa's ownership group consists of Nassef Sawiris, Wes Edens and the Michael Angelakis-fronted investment firm Atairos. They co-own V Sports, which in turn owns Villa.

V Sports also owns most of Aston Villa Women – that's a matter for another day – as well as significant holdings in Portuguese side Vitoria SC, the French club FC Annecy and Real Union from the Basque Country.

Olabe's increasing involvement in Vitoria and Annecy is a clue as to Emery's connection with the Villa ownership, Sawiris in particular.

But the bigger hint can be found in Irun, where the 75% of Real Union not owned by Sawiris, Edens and Atairos belongs to one Unai Emery. His brother, Igor, is the club's president.

All of these are ties that can be undone, but taken in combination they make for one hell of a knot. Add in the progress made by Villa on the pitch, and it's safe to say that the job that eventually tempts Emery to pull at the loose strands will be truly impossible to refuse.

Manchester United in their current guise are not that.

The Old Trafford club might have the name but it's Villa who are united. Emery is reaping the rewards and is far too switched-on to believe those circumstances are easy to come by.

Wayne Rooney has waded into the debate about Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and his critical comments about head coach Michael Carrick.

Man United lost 4-1 to Como in the Champions League on Wednesday, leaving them with just two wins from their first 11 matches of the 2026/27 season. Carrick was appointed on a permanent basis after securing United's European spot but the pressure on him is mounting.

Fernandes criticised the Red Devils' tactics during a post-match interview, sparking a row that will rumble along for some time.

Wayne Rooney slams United captain Bruno Fernandes for breaking ranks

"It's a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, but sometimes when you give too much the ball to these teams they get confidence," said Fernandes on TNT Sports.

"That's on the manager and staff to see it, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable."

Carrick responded by shifting some of the blame to the players' application, and pundit Joe Cole quickly condemned Fernandes for airing United's dirty dressing room laundry in public.

Former Red Devils midfielder Roy Keane joined the voices turning the attention towards Fernandes' comments as a deed rather than an analysis, and Rooney has questioned the current captain and his teammates.

"When [Lisandro] Martinez came out [and criticised Jason Wilcox], I said this is an absolute nightmare because it will rip the dressing room apart; that was the start. We've seen it now with Bruno, and you're going to see it with more players because they don't want to take responsibility," Rooney told The United Stand.

"You can say whether Bruno was right or wrong in what he said, but you have to take responsibility on the pitch; you have to take responsibility as a group of players. These players, they're selfish. They don't care about their team-mates, the manager, the staff, or the fans.

"They care about themselves. If they're not getting what's right for them, they're like babies and just throw their toys out of the pram and go and deflect the blame onto anyone else but themselves."

Man United's only wins this season were against promoted Ipswich Town in the Premier League and Azeri champions Sabah in the Champions League.

They're winless in seven matches in all competitions and were beaten in their last two Champions League fixtures against Atletico Madrid and Como. They haven't won away from Old Trafford since Carrick's permanent appointment.

United's next match will be at home against Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon. They visit Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea in next Saturday's lunchtime kick-off in the Premier League.

Harry Redknapp worries about the modern game, particularly the production line of English playing and coaching talent. He wants his old club West Ham United to develop more home-grown players as they once did with Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick.

He also hopes Lampard, his nephew, stays up with Coventry City – “he has a little bit of magic about him” - and for Carrick to be backed at Manchester United. “Like Frank, Michael has that steely determination to do well.”

When I contact Redknapp at his home in Poole, Dorset this week for a wide-ranging interview also covering his hopes for Tottenham Hotspur and concerns for England, I find him recording a message for Lampard. It’s an initiative by the club’s sponsors, Coventry Building Society, to form the 'Sky Blue Line', where fans record messages for Lampard and his players to lift their spirits in difficult times.

"He doesn't have to go to work"

He admires Lampard’s determination. Now 48, Frank could be sitting in a TV studio or playing golf after a distinguished playing career of 11 major trophies and 106 England caps. Yet Lampard’s constantly challenged himself at Derby County, Chelsea, Everton and now Coventry.

“He doesn't have to go to work, that's for sure,” Redknapp reflects. “He loves the game. He's been brought up with the game. His dad was a great player for 20 years at West Ham. That is his life. He could easily go off, play golf every day if he wanted. But he loves it. He does it because he's driven. He wants to be as big a success as a manager as he was as a player. He's going to give that his best shot. Coventry are very lucky to have such a fantastic young manager who really has got so much ambition in him.”

And determination. Redknapp nods at the mention of Lampard buying spikes as a kid and working on his sprinting after training at West Ham. “Absolutely. I've never seen anybody ever anywhere near him the way he trained, the way he wanted to be a footballer every day. On the training ground, 4pm, raining, cold, getting dark, and he'd still be out there on his own with a bag of balls, shooting, doing his sprints, lapping. Just every day wanting to prove everybody wrong and become a great player.”

Growing up at West Ham, Lampard had a lot thrown at him, from being overweight to being in the team only because his dad, Frank Sr., was the manager’s brother. “When I signed him (as an apprentice in 1994), people said, ‘he's not good enough, he can't get around the pitch, he can’t run, how’s he going to be a player?’ He became one of the best box-to-box players in the world. Incredible determination, strength of character; he has all those attributes. That's what he will continue to show as a manager.

“He has this great knowledge of the game. He's been a great player, been around great players, been in great dressing rooms with great managers, Jose Mourinho. He understands man-management.

“Frank will get the best out of the players, and they can stay up, but it's going to be tight. Five or six teams are going to be caught up in a dogfight down there. Tottenham aren’t going down. Brighton, Brentford are too good. Bournemouth are going to be fine, so really you start to look at Ipswich, Hull and Coventry, the three teams that come up and then maybe Crystal Palace, Fulham, even Nottingham Forest. I just hope Coventry are one of those that can stay up.

To see Coventry back at the top level again is fantastic. It was a miracle last year to win the Championship. It's going to take another great achievement to stay up if we're perfectly honest. It certainly won't be through lack of effort on Frank's part for sure.”

And Carrick, under huge pressure at Manchester United? Redknapp brought Carrick into the youth team in 1997, then into the first team at West Ham. “Different character, quiet boy, a great lad, lovely, lovely fellow, Michael. Great footballer, intelligent player, controlled the game from midfield and read the game. To play where he played, you have to understand the game.

“I watched him when they scored the other day (against Leeds). He was very, very calm about it. He didn't jump, run up the touchline. Roberto De Zerbi! Spurs score and he runs, picks up the ball, kisses it. Michael's not demonstrative, really. But he's got that steely determination. Because otherwise, again (like Lampard), he probably wouldn't be bothering.

“I'm sure he's done very well out of the game. Over the years, been a top player, won so many titles with Man United. Another one who could probably play golf if he wanted to every day. He's got that determination to want to become a top manager.

“The problem with Man United is well documented. The players they've got are not good enough to be challenging for a title. I look at them and think how many of that United team would have got in one of Fergie's teams? (Bruno) Fernandes might have got in the squad. And people still expect Man United to be challenging for the title because they're Man United. But if your players are not good enough, I'm afraid you’re not going to be challenging. Man City and Arsenal have got a different class squad to what they have got now.”

He heard Lisandro Martinez’s criticism of recruitment. “I agree 100% with what he said. They haven't signed good enough players. There are a lot of average players playing for Man United, but no, I don't agree with him coming out (and saying it in public). It’s all right pointing the finger at the rest of them, but he's part of that problem. He hasn't exactly been incredible. If he'd been Harry Kane or somebody who's on another level, maybe he's got a right to have an opinion like that and voice it. But coming from him it didn’t ring great with me.”

So he hopes Carrick keeps his job at United and Lampard keeps Coventry up. He wants English managers to do well, offering a home-grown successor to Thomas Tuchel when he eventually leaves. “Absolutely. Frank really would be a perfect candidate. 100-odd caps for England. He knows what it's like to play in World Cups, Euros. He's been there and done it all. I'm sure, after this (post-Tuchel), we will look to go English again. I certainly hope so. Eddie Howe’s another one.

“The problem is they don't get the chance at big clubs to show what they can do. Michael's now got a job at Man United but, as a rule, we don't see an Englishman get a top six team. They come into teams that are struggling, and then it's hard for them to be a success. You only have to look at who wins the league every year, who wins the cups every year. It's not an English manager.”

Redknapp himself was close to the England role in 2012 following the resignation of Fabio Capello. “Well, it looked like it. At that time, in betting terms, I was 10/1 on which is as big a certainty as you can get. I was told by everybody, people at the League Managers Association, other people rang me up, told me I had the job. I’d love to have done it. If I couldn't have won something with that group of players, I'd have been very disappointed because we had some fantastic players. (Wayne) Rooney, (Steven) Gerrard, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, an incredible group of players that really should have won something by now, surely.”

He feels the game is being held back by a lack of leaders. “Where are the John Terrys? The Tony Adamses? Great captains, leaders, organisers, talkers, run the dressing room. They're not there. But the problem is, ‘where are the English players?’ They're nearly all foreign lads now.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all Premier League minutes played so far this season have been played by foreign players. “See, my biggest gripe is still: where are the kids coming through?” Redknapp continues. “I watched Tottenham, they haven't got one kid that’s come through their youth team in the team. Clubs used to be a conveyor belt of home-grown players. They're not there any more. Where's Chelsea?” (Levi Colwill and Reece James are academy products and they have sold home-grown elsewhere).

Redknapp is in full flow. “And Liverpool? The boy Rio (Ngumoha), they bought him from another club.” Ngumoha came from Chelsea and Trey Nyoni from Leicester City. Curtis Jones is now at Inter Milan.

I point out the quality of Arsenal and Manchester City academy products and the quality in the England squad, some of whom are excelling in Europe. “We have some great England players – a small group,” Redknapp replies. “Jude Bellingham, incredible. One or two fantastic.”

“Back in the day, every team would be built around home-grown players. I grew up at a football club with Ron Greenwood, who was at every South East Counties game, every FA Youth Cup game. He actually travelled with the youth team one day when the first team were playing and went to watch a Youth Cup game. He knew the future of the club was with the kids.

“That's what managers did. Bill Nicholson would be on the touchline watching Tottenham youth team play every Saturday morning before he went to the first-team game. It doesn't happen any more. The manager thinks, ‘What am I interested in a 15-year-old kid for? I won’t be here in five years’ time.”

He thinks of his local club. “We have a problem at Bournemouth. We haven't produced a player at Bournemouth since I don't know when.” Sam Surridge? “Hopefully that's going to change. I would certainly rather the kid go somewhere where he's got a chance to play. I go and watch the youth team play at Bournemouth. I go to the training ground. I see kids with talent, Under-11s, Under-10s. Where do they all go? They don't end up playing.”

Speaking generally about clubs, Redknapp adds, “The managers have to take an interest in the kids, believe in them and give them the chance to play. Because they get to 19, they start to get disheartened, ‘oh, I'm never going to play’. They play silly Under-21 football at training grounds. There's no one there. There's no edge to the games. They're like practice.”

And yet, England won the UEFA Under-19s in 2022, and back-to-back Under-21s. “Yes, but where are they in the first teams? We can name maybe 16, 18 players.” So which England players excite him? “Jude Bellingham. I think Bellingham is just an amazing player. He's absolutely world class. Elliot Anderson's a much better player than I thought he was. The more I see of him, the more I like him. I like the boy (Alex) Scott, who I see a lot at Bournemouth. I love him. He's class, gets on the ball, makes things happen. He’s got great ability. He's an exciting prospect. Harry Kane is still the best centre-forward in the world. He's amazing.”

But Redknapp worries about young players. “You need a manager who's going to give him that opportunity. I’d think David Moyes has got his finger on the pulse with the kids at Everton. He'd know the youth team, watching them, taking an interest in them.” Moyes has certainly backed Harrison Armstrong.

“I speak to people now who work at clubs, and they say, ‘Harry, the manager has never, ever watched the kids train. He's never come to a youth game. They've got no interest in the kids whatsoever.’ And that is very common now in the Premier League. They're still at clubs when they're 20, 21, going nowhere. They get long contracts, crazy money. They're kids getting 40, 50 grand a week at some of the clubs now at 17. They've achieved nothing - and they're getting 50 grand a week. ‘Oh, well, I've got a five-year contract’.”

Redknapp would bring in quotas. “I'd love it. The only problem is I suppose you'll stick them on the bench. Token effort. I’d love to see every team have a couple of home-grown players on the pitch.”

He knows it’s not only an English concern. “Back in the day, any team that was any good had a nucleus of Scottish players. I was sat on the train up to London yesterday with Graeme Souness and we talked football all the time, talking about Liverpool and the nucleus of Alan Hansen, Kenny (Dalglish and Souness himself) and going all the way back to Ian St John and Ron Yates.”

Our talk moves to his old clubs. Redknapp once guided West Ham to fifth in the table and now they’re in the Championship. He shudders. “I go all the way back to the great people like Noel Cantwell, Malcolm Allison and (goalkeeper) Ernie Gregory that played at West Ham. They were fantastic. All the way through producing Bobby (Moore), Geoff (Hurst) and Martin Peters playing the World Cup winning team. Billy Bonds, Frank Lampard, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Alvin Martin, Tony Cottee. Player after player.

“What has happened? Apart from (Jarrod) Bowen (signed from Hull), I don't see an awful lot of players there that I’d look at and think, ‘yes, they're West Ham players’. There's not too many of them would have got in many West Ham teams over the years.

“It was a club that produced its own players. That was my big ambition when I went back there (as manager in 1994) - to produce players. And we did that. The kids came through: Rio Ferdinand, Lampard, Carrick, Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole. We produced kids again, which was what I grew up with under Ron Greenwood.

“And the atmosphere at Upton Park was second to none. When that crowd sang ‘I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles’, the atmosphere was intimidating, incredible. That's gone. It's not the club that I knew. The fans deserve better than what they’re getting now. They've sold 50,000 season tickets this year - in the Championship. It's a massive club.”

Spurs almost went down last season, the club Redknapp once steered to fourth in the table. “I think they’ll be OK. They've got a really powerful, strong squad. They have recruited better. (Marco) Senesi didn't even get on the pitch (against Coventry on Monday), and they're playing three centre-halves. And he did great at Bournemouth. They will come with a run. I do think they'll finish top six or maybe even fifth. I'm confident.”

He’s a fan of De Zerbi. “I like him. I speak to people about him. I spoke to Adam Lallana, who lives around the corner from me. I had a coffee with Adam one day – and he loved him.” Lallana knew De Zerbi from Brighton. “He thought he was great. And Adam knows what he's talking about.”

Redknapp believes in the striker Dominic Solanke. “I like to see Dominic do well. I watched him at Bournemouth. He’s got movement, he can score, and is good in the air. If they give him the service, he'll score goals this year.”

But back to that message to Lampard. Redknapp composed a supportive message. “Frank, just keep doing what you're doing. If you can get the players to keep showing the same attitude, the same determination, working hard for each other, as they did last season when you won the league and if they can work as hard as you did as a player every day on the training ground, you can't be anything but successful.”

His message completed, Redknapp reflects, “That’s what Frank’s got to do. He's got to make them outrun the opposition.” Redknapp recalls when he took over at Portsmouth (for the second time in 2005), “We were getting beat in the Premier League. And the first thing I did when I went there, I said, ‘Every week I'm going to put up the stats’.

“Michael Edwards worked for me, a young kid from school (teacher), went on to Liverpool (via Spurs). We put up the stats: distance covered, work rate. I said, ‘we might not have better players, but no one's going to outrun us and outwork us’. And if Frank can continue doing that with Coventry, work when they lose the ball to win it back, with Frank's bit of magic, they'll stay up. It’s a very simple message.”

Coventry Building Society, the official training partner of Coventry City, have created the Sky Blue Line – a direct contact between friends, family and fans to help motivate and support Frank Lampard and the Coventry players. The fans may not be at the training ground – but their support can be. The ambition is to build a real bank of voices to help Coventry staff and players when they need it most - with Harry leaving a positive message for Frank about how well he’s doing.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has given an update on Bukayo Saka, following the winger's injury against Bayern Munich.

The England star lasted less than 10 minutes at the Allianz Arena in midweek, picking up what looked to be a quad injury when passing the ball and missing the rest of Arsenal's 2-2 draw with the Bundesliga champions.

Arteta claimed after the match that the injury “didn't look good” – and has elaborated further in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Gunners hosting Everton tomorrow.

Bukayo Saka set for spell on the sidelines with Arsenal

“He's got another MRI this afternoon because he had quite a lot of fluid in the area so it was difficult to understand the extent of the injury,” Arteta said of the injury, via HandOfArsenal.

“We will know more, probably tomorrow,” he continued. “We need a few more scans and opinions from the specialists.”

In a press conference dominated by questions about Saka, Arteta said that he wasn't worried by the load that the winger has taken on at the age of just 25 and that the best response his player could have would be to turn up to the training ground with the same mentality as before.

With Saka limping off against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, Eberechi Eze was given an opportunity to impress and took his chance with the opening goal.

It remains likely that the No.10 is given another start in the Premier League this weekend, with Noni Madueke moving back to his favoured right wing – after starting against Bayern on the left, and replacing Eze on the left away at Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Christos Tzolis, signed over the summer from Club Brugge, had started the season on the left flank for the Gunners until an injury during the international break curtailed his progress.

Arsenal have been handed boosts in other departments when it comes to injuries.

Defensive duo Piero Hincapie and William Saliba are both closing in on returns from injury, while both right-backs, Jurrien Timber and Ben White, are available for selection this weekend.

Saka is valued at €110 million by Transfermarkt.

Manchester United are set to go head-to-head with Premier League rivals Chelsea in the race to sign Portuguese teenager Flavio Goncalves, according to reports.

Man United are in a state of disarray on and off the pitch but transfer planning doesn't slow down for chaos. Sporting CP winger Flavio Goncalves is a target and the Red Devils aren't going to hold back if they get the chance to snap him up.

Goncalves has emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in the European game. At 19 years old, he has played just a handful of senior league matches since his debut late last year but has attracted the attention of the Premier League clubs in next to no time.

Manchester United 'have scouted Goncalves extensively' and an offer is reportedly imminent

The teenager has a release clause in the region of £51 million and any buying club can expect to pay that in full to sign him. Caught Offside reports in its Daily Briefing that Sporting want to extend his deal and elevate his release clause, but interest from elsewhere is bound to influence his decision.

"Chelsea and Man United have scouted Goncalves extensively and they’re now prepared to make offers directly to Sporting," according to a Caught Offside source. 10 Liga Portugal matches into his career, he'd represent a bold investment even for clubs with their clout in the transfer market.

Goncalves was born in northern France to Portuguese parents, and it was in a six-a-side tournament in Paris that he was identified by Carlos Rente, who worked for the Gestifute agency and is the uncle of Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana.

The youngster moved to Portugal with his parents to join Rio Ave, where he spent three years playing junior football before he was picked up by Lisbon giants Sporting, aged 12, in 2019.

He played 45 times for Sporting's B-team in the second and third tiers of Portuguese football, and was given his first-team debut in a cup match in October 2025. Goncalves made three league appearances last season and was handed his first league start in August.

With three goals in seven league appearances this term and a Champions League debut now under his belt, Goncalves has caught the eye of plenty of observers besides Man United and Chelsea.

The Premier League pair could face further competition from Germany, with RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund all reported to be monitoring Goncalves.

Unnamed clubs in Spain and Italy are also believed to be interested in the Portuguese teenager, whose current contract runs to the summer of 2030.

Goncalves is a modern attacking midfielder, as adept in a creative central role as he is on the left wing. He's played on the right, too, and there have been comparisons drawn to players as diverse as Cristiano Ronaldo and Florian Wirtz.

He will be in action on Sunday evening, when third-placed Sporting host Academico Viseu in the Liga Portugal.

Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White is set to return to action after a brief absence through injury.

Gibbs-White was ever-present in the first six Premier League matches of 2026/27 but suffered a minor injury when Forest faced Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and was forced to sit out of the 1-0 loss to champions Arsenal last weekend.

Former Eagles manager Oliver Glasner has confirmed that Gibbs-White was left out as a precaution and the England midfielder is set to return against Ipswich Town on Friday evening.

Morgan Gibbs-White will be available this weekend

"Of course, when your captain is available, it’s important. It’s someone who can create chances and score goals himself," Glasner said in his press conference before Friday's match.

"That’s positive, but I think you could also see that without Morgan Gibbs-White, we had a very competitive team against the champions. This gives us confidence because we lost without Morgan and with Morgan.

"He’s an important part, but he can’t win the game alone, so we need a top team performance, but it’s good to have him back."

Gibbs-White is Forest's talisman, a captain who leads by performance and has an undeniable influence on his team's structure and quality.

He started 35 times in the Premier League last season, scoring 15 times to become one of the most potent attacking midfielders in Europe, and helped his team reach the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Forest boss Glasner also confirmed that central defender Nikola Milenkovic will be available for selection against Ipswich. The Serbian international missed Forest's matches against Aston Villa, Coventry City and Crystal Palace but was named on the bench against the Gunners.

Igor Jesus and Nicolo Savona have both been ruled out against Ipswich. Jesus could return at the end of October, while Savona's absence is expected to last for another month.

Forest kick off the Premier League weekend in the bottom three, one point above Sunderland. The win at Villa was their only one of the season so far and they've lost their last three.

Losing to Palace is a result that sticks in the craw for Forest now, but running Arsenal close last Sunday suggested better things to come for Glasner's side.

Friday's trip to Portman Road is the first test of that. Ipswich have won three of their matches after promotion, two of them on their own turf, and a win for Forest would pull them to within a point of the Tractor Boys.

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has reassured supporters that the Cherries have not 'given up hope' in their attempts to persuade Alex Scott to sign a new contract.

Scott is one of the hottest properties in the Premier League and has attracted the attention of all of its wealthiest clubs, but Foley hopes to keep him at the Vitality Stadium beyond this season by extending his contract.

The current deal ends at the end of 2027/28, putting him firmly in a position where Bournemouth will need to decide soon whether, and how, to make sure they get the best possible transfer fee.

Bournemouth the 'right place' for Scott despite interest from rivals

Currently injured, the Guernsey-born England international was the target of a reported £64 million bid from Chelsea in the summer transfer window. Bournemouth are believed to want £100 million and rejected the offer outright.

Chelsea's interest remains, and both Liverpool and Manchester City have been credited with an interest in signing the 23-year-old. La Liga titans Real Madrid are also reported to be tracking the midfielder.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Foley reiterated Bournemouth's position but also admitted that 'players' can be tempted away by clubs like Chelsea and Man City.

"At this point, we're convinced we're the right place for Alex to be and to stay, and we'll keep on addressing the contract issues with Alex as we move through this year." said Foley, who also owns A-League side Auckland FC and the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights.

"We'd love to have Alex stay here and sign a new contract and be part of this team for the long haul. We haven't given up, but sometimes players get stars in their eyes and they think that Chelsea or Manchester City is the right place to go.

"We have to respect the fact that a lot of our players are younger, and they've come to Bournemouth with the expectation that they'll get time to play and perhaps move on to a bigger team."

Scott picked up a thigh injury on England duty and missed Bournemouth's last two Premier League matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, as well as their Europa League game against Sturm Graz and Thursday's win against AC Milan.

The Cherries have won all three of their Europa League matches, including successive 3-0 wins in the two European home matches in their history in Scott's absence.

Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan gave them a helping hand in the face on Thursday, earning himself a straight red card with the Rossoneri already behind to a Justin Kluivert penalty.

Marcus Tavernier converted Bournemouth's second spot kick before Amine Adli rounded off a historic victory with a free kick.

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has urged patience over the injury recurrence suffered by midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai against Brentford last weekend.

The Reds won 2-1 in that Premier League match but Szoboszlai was withdrawn in the first half with a hamstring problem. He missed Liverpool's comeback win over Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Hungary captain Szoboszlai was unavailable for the two matches before Brentford and Iraola has confirmed that it was the same injury that cut short his return to action.

'It's not a new injury' for Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool

"It’s not a new injury, I think it’s in the same place it was probably last week," Iraola said in his press conference before the Villarreal fixture.

"He hasn’t worsened the injury but probably we have to be a little bit more patient until he recovers fully. But it’s not like something now where he has to wait a lot of time to come back, he is more or less in the same situation he was last week.

"But we need more patience with him, but I appreciate the effort he did the other day, to be available, to want to contribute in a very difficult game that you know is going to be very physical – [against] one of the most physical teams, Brentford."

Szoboszlai did not train on Thursday and is considered highly unlikely to be available for Liverpool's Premier League fixture against high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon.

Sky Sports reporter Vinny O'Connor has suggested that the Hungary skipper could also miss Liverpool's Carabao Cup tie against Chelsea and the next Premier League match against Arsenal.

Szoboszlai has started six Premier League matches this season and came off the bench to score in the third round of the Carabao Cup against Tottenham Hotspur. He also played and scored against Atletico Madrid in the league phase of the Champions League in September.

The Reds will also be without Jeremie Frimpong for around a month, while there are three long-term absentees who are yet to be involved under Iraola because of their injuries.

Right-back Conor Bradley is reportedly getting close to joining partial training with the rest of the squad with a view to a potential return to action before the end of the year.

The timeline is a little longer for centre-back Geovanni Leoni and striker Hugo Ekitike, who are both working their way back from significant injuries.

Teenager Leoni is yet to play in the Premier League after suffering an ACL injury in the Carabao Cup on his debut in September 2025.

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has outlined the return schedule for Ghana international winger Antoine Semenyo.

Semenyo came on as a late substitute in the Premier League fixture against Ipswich Town last Saturday but went down with a knee injury and will be unavailable for the next two months.

Asked about his injured players while on press duty ahead of this week's Champions League win over AEK Athens, Man City boss Maresca made it clear that Semenyo's injury is significant but could have been more serious.

'We expected an even worse injury' Manchester City boss says on Antoine Semenyo

"The rest are more or less okay. The only one that will be out for probably eight weeks is Antoine," Maresca told reporters at his press conference.

"In the first moment we expected an even worse injury so we were more worried. After yesterday’s scan we feel much better because it’s not so big like we expected.

"It could be eight weeks. Now in this moment the most important thing for him is his recovery. When he is back around December it will be like a new player in terms of energy."

Semenyo will miss the Saturday lunchtime fixture against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday, and City's back-to-back Carabao Cup and Premier League games against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Man City are due to play RB Leipzig, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Napoli and Arsenal either side of the November international break, which Semenyo would also have been called up for had he been available.

December begins with matches against Leeds United, Brentford, Barcelona and Chelsea, after which City will hope to have Semenyo back in contention.

He's a big loss for Maresca, who has selected him in City's starting line-up for six of City's seven Premier League matches this season. The 26-year-old already has two goals and three assists to his name.

Semenyo also started both of City's previous league phase matches in the Champions League, featuring against Porto and PSG.

Maresca had better news to share about striker Erling Haaland, who also picked up a knock in the Ipswich game but was fit enough to be named on the bench against AEK this week.

17-year-old Floyd Samba made his second senior appearance against the Greek side but it was Phil Foden who stole the show, scoring a hat-trick in a dominant 5-1 win for Maresca's men.

Back in 1998, Ian Wright was one of several celebrities who featured in an advert campaign for the mobile phone company One2One, which later became T-Mobile UK. The premise was simply to ask them: "Who would you most like to have a one-to-one with?"

The then-Arsenal striker picked Martin Luther King, wondering things like how he maintained his principle of peaceful protest in the face of violent provocation.

Anyway, Joe Cole has gone a different route.

Cole told FourFourTwo: "I’d want to sit down with him and get to the bottom of these moon landings.

"I’d want to know what happened when they went to the moon and how it all played out - I’m not convinced it really happened.

"I’m not sold either way and I need some convincing. I want to believe it, honestly.

"But I’ve heard too much about it being fake - things like the flag waving and the footprints and all the rest of it.

"I would love to sit down with a man who actually went there and be convinced.

"I want him to tell me exactly how it all went down and some of the science behind my questions.

"I just want to put it to bed. If anyone could convince me, it’s the first man to have apparently visited the moon.

"I don’t mind being talked round to new ideas which is why I’d be more than happy for him to tell me how silly I’m being.

"That’s what makes you evolve as a human being. You have to be open to different ideas in life."

Good job he picked Neil Armstrong rather than Buzz Aldrin, really, even if it is all hypothetical.

It's the last FourFourTwo Friday Football Quiz of British Summer Time. You'll never sing that.

As we reach the conclusion of another week in the unending life of the beautiful game, we're kicking off the weekend with our latest Friday Football Quiz. Can you pull a 100 percenter?

It couldn't be simpler. There are 20 questions in all and the Friday Football Quiz doesn't have a time limit. Take your time and do it right.

Handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

FourFourTwo has a veritable ton of football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. To follow up this week's Friday Football Quiz, we've picked out some of our recent favourites to really put you through your football trivia paces. Be warned: Some of these are on the tricky side.

We've been growing a particularly nasty strain of European football quizzes and we want to know whether you can get the better of them. First, can you name every team ever to have played in the Champions League since 1992-93 excluding play-offs and qualifiers? How about naming every team playing in the league phase of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League this season?

We also like getting deep into the details of football culture. After all, it's people that make the game what it is. If you've lived that football life, you might have a chance with these two. Can you match these football fanzines with the English football clubs they serve or served? Supporters who've been getting out and about at away games might get a kick out of our Big Quiz of English Football Grounds.

Those are big quizzes but we have some quicker ones too, including some challenges to remember the nationalities of 20 Premier League players, to name every sponsor of the EFL Trophy, to tell us where these brilliantly named football clubs come from and to answer some questions about the streets football won't forget.

We've got plenty of crosswords too. The latest is FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 75, which has clues on ultras, underdogs and upsets. Subscribe to our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of hand-picked trivia. To complete your transfer to terrace legend status, lock in your spot in The Club – our free membership hub where you can unlock secret hints for our hardest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments section.

Every so often a Gameweek comes along where the armband refuses to pick itself, and this is one of them.

Manchester City travel to Aston Villa, Chelsea welcome Spurs, Arsenal host Everton and Manchester United face Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

Each of those fixtures has a fair argument behind it, and I have changed my mind more than once already. Here is how I see the six main options.

The catch

Erling Haaland (£15.7m) is where it starts, as it always does. He leads the league for expected goal involvement and has blanked only once this season, back in Gameweek 1. He will be captained by a huge chunk of the game again, and the slight injury doubt has gone, with Enzo Maresca confirming he should be fit for the weekend.

The catch is Villa away, which is a tougher test than most of his fixtures. Cautious managers will stick with him, while those who like to take a swing have plenty of other places to look. Ownership matters here too. If you are chasing rank, matching the crowd only keeps you level, and Haaland is the one player who is almost impossible to leave out of a squad.

Riccardo Calafiori (£6.0m) is a left-field captaincy option worth a mention. He sits in the top three defenders for expected goal involvement this season and plays for an elite backline that has conceded far fewer expected goals than anyone else. Arsenal also carry roughly 50% clean sheet odds this week, comfortably the best on the slate, so he has a route to points at both ends of the pitch. Captaining a defender is always a gamble, but for managers who like a bold call, the upside is real.

Cole Palmer (£9.7m) has six attacking returns in seven league games, and Chelsea have scored 11 goals across their last three home matches. Spurs have been poor defensively, so it is about as friendly a fixture as he could ask for. Being classified as a midfielder also gives him extra points for goals and clean sheets, with the occasional defensive contribution as a bonus.

Joao Pedro (£7.9m) has created more xG per start than Palmer and sits second to Haaland among forwards for FPL points. The matchup looks good on paper. Even so, I would still lean towards Palmer for the armband, purely because of those extra points his position offers.

Bruno Fernandes (£11.8m) is always part of the conversation. The underlying numbers remain strong, and he has penalties and set pieces to fall back on. The problem is United themselves, who have looked unreliable and out of form, and that makes him hard to trust this week.

Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m) leads the line with Sesko out for a while. He has scored in each of his last two league games and has played every minute of all seven Premier League matches, so his place is secure. The risk is the same one that hangs over Fernandes, which is relying on a United side that has blown hot and cold all season.

Final Thoughts

When in doubt, go with Haaland. He leads the league for expected goal involvement, has blanked only once all season and remains the safest armband in the game, even with Villa away being a tougher fixture than usual. If you would rather go differential, Palmer is the next best option. Calafiori is a bold alternative for those who like a swing, but the reliable route is still the one with the highest floor. If you cannot separate the options, trust the player who has delivered week after week.

Lastly, don't forget that the deadline is TONIGHT at 18:30! Good luck.

Why always the FourFourTwo Quickfire Quiz? We have 10 tricky football trivia questions for you, and just 90 seconds to get them all.

Handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

FourFourTwo has more football quizzes courtesy of Kwizly. Let's start you off with our biggest ever quiz and a huge 30-minute time limit. Can you name every team ever to have competed in the Champions League?

Here's another big beast and it's all about the players who've had the very best days in front of goal in England's top flight. Can you name every player ever to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League?

Our Big Quiz of English Football Grounds will test your knowledge of the streets, stands and stadiums that help to make the beautiful game what it is. We'll be clear about this from the start: You're going to need to really know your stuff to get all of these.

All the way down at the bottom of the world, the new Australian season is now underway and it promises to be as exciting as ever. But can you name every team competing in the A-League Men in 2026-27?

Finally, get stuck into our Big Quiz of English Football Grounds. Can you answer all of our questions about the cathedrals of the game?

We have puzzles too. Our Weekend Crossword is a regular football teaser for your Sunday, and remember to sign up to the newsletter for more quizzes in your inbox. Don't forget to join The Club for free additional membership benefits!

Manchester City are heading for a key juncture of their modern history and its impact could extend much further than expected.

Man City were found guilty on 114 charges of breaching Premier League rules relating to financial reporting and obstructing the subsequent investigation. The ruling was made by an independent commission, and both the club's appeal and the punishment they're due are pending.

City were found to have artificially inflated revenue to the tune of more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018, enabling them to spend vast amounts of money beyond the sums allowed by Premier League regulations.

Man City owners could be heading for even more trouble

The possible sanctions are wide-ranging and could be incredibly serious. The Premier League has the power to expel Man City entirely, to impose points deductions, and to apply restrictions on registering players. They could also be stripped of their titles and heavily fined.

While the original investigation is now beyond a guilty verdict and into the appeal stage, where City's owners are promising to share the 'irrefutable evidence' that was not unearthed during the previous proceedings, there are other bodies now taking an interest in the scandal.

According to the Mirror, City are facing a probe on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority over loans of taxpayers' money to firms owned by City owner Sheikh Mansour, and scrutiny from England's new Independent Football Regulator.

It has also been confirmed in the House of Commons that the Financial Reporting Council has assumed control of 'regularly consideration' regarding the scandal and that a preliminary investigation is already underway.

Those are potentially very significant problems for Man City but the owners will also be aware of the one mechanism by which they could be removed from English football entirely and forced to sell the club.

The Independent Football Regulator was established by the Football Governance Act 2025 and has been imbued with a range of powers that club owners must be wary about.

They include the right to boot owners out of football lock, stock and barrel. City have been warned that this is one of the punishments they could face beyond the Premier League's own sanctions.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football as reported by the Mirror, the chair of the Independent Football Regulator said that it would be keeping its powder dry for now, but has the ultimate say-so when it comes to whether City's owners are permitted to continue.

"We will look at the individuals who've given evidence, we will look at the individuals involved with the club and we will take a judgement call," said David Kogan.

"I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we've seen all of those questions being answered and then we will have to decide whether we're going to mount our own investigation and come to a conclusion on that and what we're going to do. And pre-empting that would be a colossal mistake.

"We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety.

"We've got absolute power to do so."

There is growing doubt over the future of Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick after his team's miserable 4-1 loss to Como in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Man United have now played 11 matches in all competitions since Carrick was appointed on a permanent basis, having steered them back into the Champions League with a fine run of form in the Premier League in the second half of last season.

They have won just one each in the league and in Europe, beating Ipswich Town and Sabah to offer only the briefest of respite from a dreadful start to the 2026/27 season and Carrick's tenure.

Antonio Conte talks with Manchester United are underway, according to reports in Italy

With captain Bruno Fernandes openly challenging his tactics and Carrick moving to divert some of the blame to his players, the head coach's days would appear to be numbered.

Indeed, reports in Italy indicate that talks between the United hierarchy and one possible successor for the 45-year-old former England midfielder have already progressed in a positive manner.

Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte is among the favourites to replace Carrick as the next permanent Manchester United manager, and La Repubblica claims that the wheels are already in motion.

"Talks with Conte continued late Wednesday evening: the manager opened up about the possibility of returning to the Premier League, but has set specific conditions," reports the Italian daily newspaper.

"He is asking for carte blanche on the transfer market and the ability to choose the players who will support him in his new adventure. He wants to influence the team’s construction, identify players who are key to his game, and have trusted collaborators at his side.

"In the next few hours, the owners will evaluate the demands, a crucial step in determining whether the dialogue can develop into a concrete negotiation. There has been an opening, but an agreement hasn’t yet been reached."

Conte is reported to be demanding control over United's transfers. Jason Wilcox might have a thing or two to say about that but his standing inside the club was revealed to be less than stellar by last week's critical comments from United defender Lisandro Martinez.

Conte has Premier League experience and a league title to his name. He has won Serie A with Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli, and has a well established track record of turning teams that are less than the sum of their parts into winners in short order.

But the 57-year-old would also have to be regarded as a relatively short-term option. He has managed four clubs for two years each in the last decade, which seems to make him a risky appointment for any outfit willing to hand over the level of influence he is understood to be pushing.

Conte is reported to be in contact with United but the favourite to succeed Carrick is former Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe, who has tended to stick around longer at clubs with lower expectations than those he'd face at Old Trafford.

Julian Nagelsmann, who had managed both Germany and Bayern Munich but is also currently out of work, is also currently listed at shorter odds than Conte.

Watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo for free as The Bhoys host Spanish opposition in a Europa League fixture they can ill afford to lose. FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Martin O'Neill's side need a result after starting the league phase with back-to-back defeats, going down 3-1 against Ferencvaros at home and losing 4-1 to Benfica in Lisbon.

Celta are also yet to pick up a point, having fallen to late goals against Omonoia and Juventus in their opening two matches.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo online and from anywhere, including for FREE, in the Europa League 2026/27.

Can I watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo for free?

Yes, Celtic vs Celta Vigo will be broadcast live and for free in Brazil on CazeTV's YouTube Channel.

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Watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo from anywhere

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How to watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo in the UK

Fans in the UK can watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo on TNT Sports and its streaming partner HBO Max.

The game is live on TNT Sports 3, with kick-off at 8:00pm BST.

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Celtic vs Celta Vigo is live on Paramount+ in the US. Kick-off is at 3:00pm ET.

How to watch Celtic vs Celta Vigo in Australia

Viewers in Australia can stream Celtic vs Celta Vigo on Stan Sport. The game kicks-off at 6:00am AEDT on Friday.

Celtic vs Celta Vigo: Preview

Celtic warmed up for a big European night with a 7-1 thumping of Hearts on Sunday, but The Bhoys' domestic form and their results on the continent are two very different things.

While they are four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership and hunting a 15th title in the last 16 seasons, they currently are 34th in the 36-team league phase table and desperately need to beat Celta Vigo to put their bid to reach the knockout stage back on track.

Celtic were 3-0 down after 36 minutes against Benfica last week as they suffered their second defeat in two matches and they will have a depleted defence against Celta, with Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty all unavailable.

In-form forward Camilo Duran is expected to start again, but there are question marks over club-record signing Kasper Hogh after he was hooked at half-time in Lisbon and dropped for the win over Hearts.

SEE ALSO How to watch Europa League live streams from anywhere

Celta can count themselves unlucky not to have picked up a point in the Europa League, having conceded in the 88th minute to lose 1-0 at Cypriot side Omonoia before falling 2-1 at home to Juventus last Thursday, courtesy of Randal Kolo Muani's last-gasp winner.

The Spaniards got back on track with a 2-1 victory over Alaves on Sunday to continue a solid run of domestic form, with two wins and four draws in their past six La Liga matches.

Claudio Giraldez's side are looking to improve on last season's run to the quarter-finals of this competition, where they lost to eventual finalists Freiburg.

They could be without Pablo Duran, Borja Iglesias, Carl Starfelt, Miguel Roman and Jones El Abdellaoui again after the quintet were all unavailable against Alaves.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Celtic 2-1 Celta Vigo

We are backing The Bhoys to claim a vital three points, but Celta will pose a stern test.

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Joshua Zirkzee's stoppage-time consolation goal did nothing for Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick's hopes of holding on to his job, but it was suitably irritating for his opposite number in Italy on Wednesday.

Cesc Fabregas saw his Como team race into a 4-0 lead over Man United in the third game of the league phase of the Champions League, and admitted that he was responsible for his team stepping back with a comfortable lead and allowing the visitors to get a futile goal back.

The 4-1 defeat in Lombardy means that United have won just two of their 11 matches in all competitions since Carrick was appointed on a permanent basis, against Sabah in the Champions League and against promoted Ipswich Town in the Premier League.

'It was my fault' Como eased up on Man United

United conceded three times in the Ipswich match and were earned three points by a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick. The captain made his view on Carrick's tactics clear after the match. While Carrick moved to shift some of the blame back on his players, Fabregas assumed the blame for Como's change of attitude with the game already won.

Speaking after the match, Fabregas said: "I regret the last ten minutes because I was the one who told the team to slow down the tempo because there's another match and at 4-0 we could manage things a little.

"I told the players to stop running and stay in the middle and that is something I regret because I'm the first to always push them to fight until the end.

"Their goal hurt me because we dropped our intensity and dropped our defensive block, but it was my fault."

Como were in total control thanks to a Nico Paz double and goals from Anastasios Douvikas and Jacobo Ramon, but Zirkzee's goal in the first minute of time added on was exactly the kind of thing managers hate.

Another of those things is being informed that players are openly questioning their tactics in post-match interviews, which delivered Carrick's final insult of a difficult night in the Champions League.

United captain Bruno Fernandes told TNT Sports that Man United weren't brave enough on the ball, and that it was a decision made by Carrick and his staff to play in that way.

Fernandes has been criticised for making his grumbles public and his candid answers helped add to the mounting pressure on his head coach.

Carrick's sacking is regarded by some pundits as a matter of time, with Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte among the favourites to be the next Manchester United manager.

Fabregas himself is also listed at surprisingly short odds.

Watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan as the Cherries hunt a third Europa League victory in three games, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

AFC Bournemouth's historic Europa League adventure continues tonight with a visit from genuine European football royalty.

Marco Rose's Cherries have won their first two league phase matches and take on Serie A giants AC Milan in their third.

Milan have started in indifferent fashion in the Europa League, but their unbeaten start to their domestic season suggests they will run the South Coast side close.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan online and from anywhere, in the Europa League 2026/27.

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Watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan from anywhere

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How to watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan in the UK

Fans in the UK can watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan on TNT Sports and its streaming partner HBO Max.

The game is live on TNT Sports 1, with kick-off at 8:00pm BST.

How to watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan in the US

US viewers can watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan on Paramount+. Kick-off is at 3:00pm ET.

How to watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan in Australia

Stan Sport is the home of the Europa League in Australia and is the place to go to watch Bournemouth vs AC Milan. Kick-off is at 6:00am AEDT on Friday.

Bournemouth vs AC Milan: Preview

Rose couldn't have asked for better preparation for a milestone match at the Vitality Stadium, where Marcus Tavernier's early goal and a red card for Sunderland's Kevin Danso gave them a serene start and a 2-0 win.

It was Bournemouth's first league win of the season and followed successive defeats to former manager Andoni Iraola's Liverpool and Chelsea, who exposed every weakness in a 5-1 win at Stamford Bridge.

Milan might not be the imperious presence they were but they are in fine fettle at the start of the new season. Ruben Amorim's Rossoneri are unbeaten in Serie A and won on Sunday despite Atalanta's second-half rally at San Siro.

SEE ALSO How to watch Europa League live streams from anywhere

The Milan team is now always full of familiar faces, and there are three English players in Amorim's squad. Former Chelsea trio Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Omari Hutchinson are all playing in Italy's fashion capital.

The 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modrić knows the Premier League inside out but has never played against Bournemouth.

Amorim took charge of three games for Manchester United against Bournemouth and didn't manage a win. The last of those was a 4-4 draw at Old Trafford last December.

Tickets

FourFourTwo's prediction

Bournemouth 2-2 AC Milan

The Rossoneri are proving difficult to beat under Amorim.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Former Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker says he is considering a brutal response if he is stripped of the Premier League titles he won at the Etihad Stadium.

Walker joined Man City from Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 and spent the next eight years there before moving to Burnley in the summer of 2025.

He won the Premier League six times under Pep Guardiola, including a first two back-to-back between 2017/18 and 2018/19, and four in a row starting in 2020/21. Only the first of those title wins falls directly in the period for which City were investigated and found guilty of 114 serious breaches of Premier League rules.

Kyle Walker is considering having a tattoo removed if Man City titles are stripped

Walker left Man City with a celebration of his achievements inked into his skin in the form of a 'Four in a Row' tattoo on his leg. Asked on talkSPORT whether he would be getting it removed.

"I'm probably going to have to do that bit!" he said, as reported by the Express. "I'll try and keep it on, but hopefully we don't get things taken away."

Having titles stripped is one of the vast suite of potential punishments available to the Premier League after an independent commission found City guilty of 114 breaches of the league's rules.

Transfer bans, points deductions, registration restrictions and even expulsion from the league are all on the table, but the chances of Walker's four in a row being wiped are vanishingly small. The investigation was limited to the period between 2009 and 2018, and the subsequent sanctions are highly unlikely to reach further.

City were found guilty on a range of Premier League charges including the artificial inflation of reported sponsorship income and various counts of obstructing the investigation that followed.

An appeal is in progress and the sanctions that will be applied are yet to be decided upon, leaving both Man City and the Premier League in limbo as the season progresses with Enzo Maresca's team at the top of the table.

"It's the big elephant in the room we're probably all going to be asked when doing interviews or whatever," added Walker.

"It doesn't look great. Let's not hide from the fact they've been found guilty but they're going through an appeal. As a player all I can say is all we did is go out and play our best as a team."

As well as becoming a six-time Premier League champion, Walker won the Champions League as part of City's treble-winning team in 2022/23, and won the FA Cup twice.

Those trophies and three of his four League Cup triumphs under Guardiola were achieved outside the period investigated by the Premier League.

Trent Alexander-Arnold left Liverpool as a Premier League champion but under a cloud at the end of the 2024/25 season.

The right-back had agreed to join Spanish giants Real Madrid on a free transfer, a switch whose circumstances left some Liverpool supporters disgruntled with a player who had grown up at Anfield.

Jumping to Real Madrid was the sort of opportunity few professional footballers feel they can turn down but it doesn't always work out as planned. Alexander-Arnold has dropped down the pecking order at the Bernabeu and a move away is believed to be a genuine possibility after just a year and a half.

Trent Alexander-Arnold could move back to England - but maybe not to Liverpool

The England international linked up with former Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso in the summer of 2025 but has since experienced two managerial changes, with Real Madrid alighting on a return for Jose Mourinho after briefly promoting another ex-Liverpool man in the form of Alvaro Arbeloa.

Whether moving to Real Madrid was a dream come true or just a chance Alexander-Arnold didn't think he could refuse, reports indicate that the journey could soon be at an end for the 28-year-old.

It has been reported that Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City could have an interest in competing with Liverpool for Alexander-Arnold's signature, and that the player is 'weighing up' the possibility of heading back to the Premier League.

And Chelsea reporter Simon Phillips has claimed that the Blues are at the front of the queue, thanks in part to Alonso's wish to reunite with Alexander-Arnold in London after a brief spell together in the Spanish capital.

"Should a move for Alexander-Arnold materialise, [Malo] Gusto would be given the green light to leave," reports TEAMtalk. "Liverpool launched a deadline day loan bid for the France international over the summer. Chelsea were willing to offload Gusto, though only in a deal with permanence attached."

England teammate Reece James is the natural first-choice for Chelsea but his injury record has become a problem for successive Blues managers and a more reliable alternative would be a sensible acquisition.

Alexander-Arnold would fit the bill and provide the attacking impetus from right-back that's expected in a team expected to play with the ball as much as Chelsea. Wanted at the Bernabeu or not, he's not a player who'll be going on the cheap.

His Real Madrid contract will still have four years left to run at the end of the 2026/27 season, but Chelsea have shown little reluctance to buy high if they want a player.

Their hand might be strengthened by Alexander-Arnold arguably being third choice at Real Madrid behind not only new signing Denzel Dumfries, but Federico Valverde too. He's played just 343 minutes in La Liga and the Champions League this season.

He started 14 times in La Liga last season. While he has three starts this season, it's not hard to imagine him failing to get another 11 in the league between now and May.

Manchester City are waiting to find out how they will be punished for 114 major Premier League rule breaches and have lodged their appeal in the aftermath of the long-awaited verdict.

The extent of the potential punishment is unknown but Man City must prepare for every eventuality regardless of the stack of 'irrefutable' evidence they have at their disposal but elected not to introduce during the lengthy investigation.

That includes the best case scenario as well as the worst. With a January transfer window fast approaching, it's business as usual for City's scouts. According to reports in Portugal, repeat visits to Porto could point to some potential targets.

Manchester City scouts returned to Porto on Tuesday

The possible sanctions facing Man City are significant. Expulsion from the Premier League is on the table along with stripped titles won under Pep Guardiola, points deductions, limits on registering players and even an enforced change of ownership under the powers of the independent football regulator.

A transfer ban of some description is perhaps among the more likely punishments – it has been suggested in some quarters that the club's recent transfer strategy could serve as futureproofing for that – but recruitment will remain a focus until such time as a ban is in place.

According to A Bola via Sport Witness, members of City's scouting team were in attendance for Porto's Champions League loss to PSV at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday evening.

Sport Witness reports that City have had scouts at Porto matches twice in a month, both times since the club's own visit to Portugal in the Champions League in September.

The player suggested is Victor Froholdt, who 'impressed' when he was watched against Benfica last time City officials were in town. "Unfortunately, the 20-year-old Danish midfielder wasn’t so good on Tuesday as Porto lost 1-0 to PSV," says Sport Witness.

It was a bad night for Porto and none of their players caught the eye, though 18-year-old Oskar Pietuszewski was given a start on the left and Spanish striker Samu Aghehowa, 22, has long been a player of note for Premier League scouts.

Esmir Bajraktarevic, 21, of PSV produced a more notable performance and is offered up as another possible target of City's interest. Yarek Gasiorowski, also 21, put in a commanding performance at centre-back.

Rumours are rife but it has been reported that a 'multi-year transfer ban' is one of the sanctions under discussion.

That would have a big future impact on City but Guardiola's former player, Philipp Lahm, has highlighted the shadow cast on the club's past achievements by the independent commission ruling.

"From the outside, City fundamentally did not do much differently from the other 10 or so top European clubs," Lahm wrote in his column for The Guardian. "But what are achievements on the pitch worth if they are accompanied by rule-breaking?"

Manchester United appointed Michael Carrick as their permanent head coach after he steered them back into the Champions League last season in his second spell in temporary charge.

Man United have lost two of their three matches in the league phase of the Champions League, beating only Sabah in Europe and Ipswich Town in the Premier League so far this season.

After just 153 days, Carrick appears to be heading towards the Old Trafford exit. He was openly criticised by captain Bruno Fernandes after United lost 4-1 to Como on Wednesday, and the escalating problems suggest that Carrick is closer to the end than the beginning of the end.

Next Manchester United manager odds

United being United, there's every chance the club's decision-makers opt for a long-term project option before pulling the trigger again to bring in another former player. What's inevitable is that there will still be serious candidates for one of the biggest jobs in the game.

There are significant names littering the next Manchester United manager odds, with Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney both available at 100/1 along with former Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag.

Eddie Howe is the favourite after leaving Newcastle United in the summer after nearly five full seasons in charge at St James' Park. Howe led the Magpies to their first major trophy for 70 years and took them into the Champions League twice, but would be regarded mostly as a steady hand should he take up the Man United challenge.

Former Germany and Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann is available at odds of around 4/1, while Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler and Premier League alumnus Antonio Conte are both rated around 6/1.

The Red Devils' latest conqueror is next on the list at 11/1. Cesc Fabregas has been Como's head coach since 2024 but didn't exactly have to hit the heights to get the better of United on Wednesday.

Kieran McKenna, a familiar face at Old Trafford and once a favourite to be appointed as United manager, is listed at 14/1 along with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery and England boss Thomas Tuchel, both of whom are a little stingily priced by comparison.

Gareth Southgate at 16/1 is next, followed by Mauricio Pochettino, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Carlo Ancelotti at 25/1.

Carrick's immediate predecessor as caretaker, former United midfielder Darren Fletcher, is the second-favourite among ex-players at 33/1.

It doesn't take much imagination to understand that United's problems run deeper than the manager's office, whatever happens to Carrick this week and beyond. The process of appointing a successor is as likely to be a product of disarray as an answer to it.

For now, Carrick is still in place. United face Bournemouth and Chelsea in their next two Premier League matches. Given the intensity of the situation, one suspects he'll do well to still be in the dugout when they welcome Roma in the Champions League at the start of November.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has given an update on the status of Bukayo Saka after the winger was withdrawn after just 10 minutes of the Gunners' Champions League draw at Bayern Munich.

Saka was replaced by England teammate Eberechi Eze, who scored the first Arsenal goal 15 minutes later. Three Lions regulars Harry Kane and Declan Rice also scored in the 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.

Arteta revealed after the match that the immediate prognosis for the 25-year-old is not a positive one.

'It doesn't look good' for Arsenal's Bukayo Saka

"[The medical staff] are a bit concerned," said the Arsenal boss when he spoke to Champions League broadcaster TNT Sports after the draw in Munich.

"A player that has to come off with a really sharp pain is never good news. But we have to wait and see. It does not look good at all. It's his quad."

Saka started all seven of Arsenal's Premier League fixtures this season but has suffered a number of injury absences in his career to date.

He missed 15 matches for Arsenal and England last season with various injury issues, arriving at the World Cup short of fitness and match readiness. In 2024/25, Saka missed 25 games across a total period of more than three months.

Arsenal have impressive strength in depth, evidenced by the quality of their bench throughout the first couple of months of this season and Eze's direct impact at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.

But the Gunners are a poorer team in Saka's absence, and Arteta will have his fingers crossed that the initial concerns about his latest knock prove to have been overly pessimistic.

Consistently one of the division's more productive players when fit, Saka has already scored three Premier League goals this season after racking up 28 goal contributions in the league across the previous two interrupted campaigns.

Saka's quad injury adds to the absences of Christos Tzolis and William Saliba, while Piero Hincapie is expected to be available for Arsenal's Premier League fixture against Everton on Saturday afternoon.

The Premier League champions are well stocked and their ability to navigate Saka's injury worries was established beyond doubt last season.

Eze, Noni Madueke and Max Dowman can all offer more than adequate cover on the right wing for as long as Arsenal need them. England manager Thomas Tuchel could draw on the same deputies in the November international window if necessary.

This week, Rio Ngumoha took to the pitch for Liverpool in the Champions League and delivered a performance from the right flank that will long be spoken about at Anfield.

Two assists, 9/10 attempted dribbles, 14 progressive carries, and 30 overall, and 10/13 ground duels won. That was the Englishman’s absurd stat-sheet against Villarreal.

Ngumoha was able to have an impact in Europe rivalled only in recent years at Liverpool on the right-hand side by Mohamed Salah, and his performance truly does beg the question: should Bukayo Saka be worried?

Bukayo Saka has competition for England, and maybe even at Arsenal, in Rio Ngumoha

Some readers might consider it a stretch, but it’s well-known, as revealed by transfer expert David Ornstein, that Mikel Arteta is an admirer of the 18-year-old.

For England, Ngumoha is already receiving call-ups, despite the last Liverpool starboy, Trent Alexander-Arnold, being oddly absent from international line-ups in his Anfield prime.

At just 18 years of age, the sole thing that is missing from Ngumoha’s locker is goalscoring threat. Additionally, his consistency remains unproven.

But if that’s Ngumoha’s biggest problem(s) at 18, Saka should be worried. Because in his declining form, as the mileage from season upon season of Premier League minutes imprints its mark on his play, Liverpool's starboy could be the future.

In comparison to his predecessor on the right, Salah was once a similar talent at Ngumoha’s age, albeit held back by the Egyptian FA’s reluctance to let him leave for Europe.

As a youngster, the Egyptian King was lightning quick, agile, a superb take-on artist, and his goalscoring bag was comparable to the creativity displayed by Ngumoha.

Flash forward to Salah’s mid-20s, and his game was almost perfected. In his early 30s, he became the complete Premier League forward, unlike any other in English history.

The 18-year-old was able to spend a solitary season in the first team under the Egyptian’s wing, who no doubt revealed the blueprint for Premier League success to him, and that should deeply trouble the Arsenal man.

What Saka is facing is a younger, hungrier, and arguably better, in their current forms, player than he is. And that’s a tough winger to beat out, when competing for future places in both the England, and maybe Arsenal, line-up - when Saka was in his prime years, the only ageing winger able to best him was… Salah.

What is working in Saka’s favour, ahead of what promises to be England’s most exciting winger rivalry in the coming years, is that he hasn’t yet achieved it all.

Sure, he’s a Premier League winner with Arsenal, and he has enjoyed standout seasons as the very best fielded by the Gunners. Individually, what does he have to show for it?

He doesn’t have a PFA Players’ Player of the Year title - Salah holds three, the most ever, and even Phil Foden bagged one - nor does he possess a Golden Boot, or a Playmaker Award.

Those individual accolades are still up for grabs as Saka enters the second phase of his career, and this isn’t too dissimilar to what Salah experienced entering his 30s.

Despite that age difference, Saka simply has far more mileage at the top level than his Egyptian rival had in his mid 20s; like Salah, the Englishman must continue to improve.

If he doesn’t, surely the Arsenal icon will come to understand that Ngumoha is breathing down his neck - even if Liverpool never sanction a move, the 18-year-old appears set to become an England mainstay beyond 2030.

If Saka wants to keep Ngumoha at bay, he has a tall task ahead of him. He must unlock the one area of his game that he has, so far, been unable to: become a top goalscorer, and provide both Arsenal and England with a quality that his 18-year-old rival hasn’t yet managed to discover.

Many people have written off the Arsenal winger, but the best players use that as fuel. Ngumoha is going nowhere, but Saka has a lot left to prove before he can roll over.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned his ire towards head coach Michael Carrick after the Red Devils were beaten 4-1 at Como in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Man United fell behind to goals from Nico Paz, Anastasios Douvikas and Jacobo Ramon before Joshua Zirkzee's stoppage-time consolation goal in Lombardy.

The Red Devils have now lost their last two league phase matches and have beaten only Sabah and promoted Premier League side Ipswich Town in all competitions. Inevitably, the internal disgruntlement is beginning to show on the outside.

Manchester United 'have to be more brave'

Carrick was given the job on a permanent basis after stepping up to take United back into the Champions League after the exit of Ruben Amorim at the beginning of this year, but calls for patience are weakening with each disappointing result.

Fernandes didn't hold back after they lost to Como, telling Champions League broadcaster TNT Sports that the responsibility for getting it right does not belong in the dressing room.

"It's a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, but sometimes when you give too much the ball to these teams they get confidence," said the United captain, who was asked directly whether his head coach had opted for the wrong tactical approach.

"That's on the manager and staff to see it, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable."

Carrick was quick to shift the blame to his players' execution of the game plan. The former England midfielder said: "Whatever tactics you play, if you don't run, and you don't run forward, and you don't run back, you aren't going to win."

Dissenting players at Old Trafford are starting to expose the cracks and the public nature of their complaints hasn't gone down well with former professionals. On TNT Sports, former Chelsea and England midfielder Joe Cole condemned Fernandes.

"I've played for managers I've played for where you don't agree with the tactics and you might say that to your mate or your wife," said Cole. You don't come out, as captain of the club, and question the manager.

"He doesn't even do it properly. If you're going to do it, come out and and say it with your chest. He's saying it and he probably thinks he's being clever - 'well I didn't really say it, gaffer'.

"You can think the manager has got the tactics wrong, that's fine. Go into his office tomorrow morning and have a conversation but to come out in front of the nation as club captain and question your manager is simply unacceptable."

Fernandes' thinly veiled criticism of Carrick's tactics followed the furore over comments made by defender Lisandro Martinez.

The Argentina defender apologised after targeting United technical director Jason Wilcox in the aftermath of their previous Champions League loss.

"We don't have the best squad at the moment compared to other top teams," he said after United's game at Atletico Madrid. "I'm not going to close my mouth. We need more ambition. If we don't say the truth, nothing will change."

Océane Hurtré has taken the Women's Super League by storm since Birmingham City's return to the top flight after they were crowned WSL 2 champions.

The 22-year-old French forward has scored six goals in her first six games, putting her hot on the heels of Manchester City's Bunny Shaw in the Golden Boot race.

But who is Birmingham's rising star?

From PSG prospect to Birmingham's rising star

Océane Hurtré is quickly establishing herself as one of the WSL's most exciting young talents, making an immediate impact following Birmingham City’s return to the top flight this season.

Born in Rennes, France, the 22-year-old came through the academies of Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon before returning to PSG, where she made her professional debut at just 16.

After loan spells at Dijon and Bordeaux, the attacker joined Birmingham in August 2025 on a three year deal, swapping the French top flight for a new challenge in England.

Her first season saw her make 21 appearances in WSL 2, registering three goals and three assists as Birmingham secured promotion. She also scored a hat-trick in an 8-0 FA Cup victory over Chatham Town in February 2026.

Hurtré is now proving she can make the step up at the highest level.

As well as being a clinical goalscorer, she is comfortable taking on defenders out wide and is able to combine her pace with creativity to create chances fot her teammates, making her vital to Birmingham’s hopes of staying up this season.

Her performances have also earned international recognition, with Hurtre receiving her first senior France call-up earlier this month, marking her debut with a goal in a 9-0 victory over Latvia.

Having been a part of the France squad at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2022 and 2024, , she will now have her sights set on keeping her place in the senior squad ahead of Brazil 2027.

The stats: Hurtré's flying start

Six games into the 2026/27 Women's Super League season, Hurtré has emerged as a serious contender in the Golden Boot race after six games, scoring six goals and providing one assist.

Only Manchester City's Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw has found the net more often, with seven goals.

Hurtré's tally is particularly impressive given Birmingham's difficult start to life back in the top flight, sitting second-bottom, only to Charlton, another newly-promoted side.

Despite the team's struggles for results, she has consistently delivered up front.

She opened her account this season with a goal against champions Manchester City before scoring and assisting in a 2-2 draw with Brighton. She also scored at Emirates Stadium as Brimingham drew 1-1 with Arsenal.

Can Hurtre really challenge Shaw for the Golden Boot? It's early days but she has given herself every chance of making the race an interesting one.

Footballers will sometimes look to towering figures from other sports for inspiration when times are tough.

Well, there aren't many bigger icons than basketball legend Michael Jordan - and there haven't been many times tougher to be a footballer than during the covid pandemic.

But along with the rest of their Championship counterparts, Fulham had to find a way to keep going in their bid for promotion when the 2019/20 season resumed after a three-month hiatus, culminating in 2-1 extra-time victory over local rivals Brentford at an empty Wembley.

Tom Cairney was Fulham's captain on that strange day - and he admits that he needed a bit of geeing up to get back in the swing of things after the interruption.

Cairney told FourFourTwo: “Beating Leeds at home in the week before Christmas felt like a big moment, but then the world stopped because of Covid.

"Ours was the first game to be called off, as we were due to play Brentford on the Friday night. That period was horrendous.

“But the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance came out around that time – we all watched it and everyone took inspiration from seeing the way that he trained.

"It motivated me to get my bum off the sofa, stop eating crisps and go for a jog – then when we came back, Scott Parker showed clips from it, even before the play-off final.

“We played that final in front of an empty Wembley. I felt so sorry for all the Fulham supporters because they should have had their second day out there in two years, and it was against Brentford.

"I feel sorry for Joe Bryan too – he scored both our goals that day and he’s a hero to me, but he deserved to have the fans there and the opportunity to celebrate with them.

“We weren’t actually the favourites for it.

"Brentford had Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Bryan Mbeumo up front, as well as Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen and David Raya in their starting line-up.

"They were a really strong team and had beaten us just a few weeks before, in the first game after the Covid break."

Coventry City won the Championship in 2025/26, securing a return to the Premier League after 25 years away. Frank Lampard's team became the second Sky Blues side to win promotion to the top flight and are aiming to avoid becoming the second to drop out of it. This FourFourTwo quiz is all about Coventry in the Premier League.

Coventry were Premier League founders as a long established First Division team, and stayed in the division for almost another decade. Their relegation in 2001 felt inevitable but what followed over the next quarter of a century was a mess. This quiz isn't interested in any of that.

There are 10 questions to answer and they're all multiple choice. You just need to pick the right option and there's no time limit on this one, so you can take your time getting there.

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FourFourTwo has many more football quizzes and they're all courtesy of Kwizly. If football history's your thing, we've got lots for you to get stuck into. Can you name every player to have ever scored a Premier League hat-trick and answer these questions about the Premier League in 2016-17?

Women's football expert? This quiz covers this season in the WSL and WSL2, so let's see how you get on. Can you name every team in the top two tiers of women's football in England?

Back in the Premier League, this last quiz will require knowledge of every season regardless of whether Coventry were involved. We want you to name the first goalscorer of every Premier League season from the inaugural 1992-93 season right up to 2026-27.

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In his 1953 essay, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin distinguished between two types of thinker: foxes and hedgehogs. Berlin was drawing on a line attributed to the Ancient Greek poet Archilochus, who observed in the seventh century BC that “a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing.”

“For there exists a great chasm,” Berlin wrote, “between those [hedgehogs], on one side, who relate everything to a single central vision, one system less or more coherent or articulate, in terms of which they understand, think and feel - a single, universal, organising principle in terms of which alone all that they are and say has significance.

“And, on the other side, those [foxes] who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory… their thought [seizes] upon the essence of a vast variety of experiences and objects… without, consciously or unconsciously, seeking to fit them into… any one unchanging, all-embracing, sometimes self-contradictory and incomplete, at times fanatical, unitary inner vision.”

"After seven games, Hull, Ipswich and Coventry have amassed a combined 24 points"

And so to the Premier League relegation battle. In recent seasons, several promoted clubs were led by hedgehogs: managers wedded to a particular style, for whom the prickly business of amassing enough points to stay in the top flight was no reason to deviate from their principles.

Now, foxes predominate. Sergej Jakirovic (Hull City), Gary O’Neil (Ipswich Town) and Frank Lampard (Coventry City) have all shown a pragmatic streak this term. It has served their teams well, even after a set of disappointing results at the weekend. After seven games, Hull, Ipswich and Coventry have amassed a combined 24 points, the most for a promoted trio at this stage since 2016/17.

The foxward turn began last season, when Daniel Farke kept Leeds United up and Regis Le Bris took Sunderland into Europe. Both managers adjusted their approach from the Championship, shifting to a more muscular, counter-attacking style. It worked, allowing two promoted teams to avoid the drop after back-to-back campaigns in which all three went down.

The sample size is still small, but the early signs suggest Hull, Ipswich and Coventry intend to follow suit. The three promoted sides have the lowest average possession in the league. Hull and Coventry have the lowest pass-completion rates, while Hull, Ipswich and Coventry's goalkeepers are in the positional top four for long passes.

Not long ago, it was common to hear promoted managers insist they would not forsake their philosophy upon reaching the Premier League. Adaptation was seen as a dirty word, compromise construed as a character flaw, tactical flexibility tantamount to a betrayal of beliefs. Even when trailing 3-0 against an elite pressing side, their teams continued to take goal-kicks short and play square passes along the backline, like a hedgehog who responds to every challenge by curling into a ball.

The clearest recent examples are Vincent Kompany at Burnley and Russell Martin at Southampton, two coaching careers which have since diverged sharply. Even as their teams hurtled towards the Championship, Kompany and Martin insisted there was no other way.

Kompany’s subsequent employment at Bayern Munich, where he has been successful, would appear to vindicate his unwavering faith in his preferred approach, but his ability to speak German and the unavailability of other candidates were more significant factors in him securing that job than his ideological intransigence at Turf Moor.

Foxes are more willing than hedgehogs to accept that the Premier League is a different animal to the Championship. Lampard’s Coventry played some wonderful attacking football on their way to the second-tier title last term, but they have since been willing to sacrifice some style for substance.

“We'd be fools to think that we'd just go and play like we did in the 'Champ' every week when we dominated a lot of games,” Lampard said in August. A few weeks later, he professed that “you have a look at the opposition and you see what you feel is the best opportunity to try to get the best out of our team.”

O’Neil, who replaced Kieran McKenna as Ipswich boss in the summer, is on record as saying he prefers his teams to have the ball, but he acknowledged in July that “come the end of the season, the only thing that most people are going to care about is how many points we put on the board.” Against Manchester City on Saturday, he changed to a 3-4-3 formation for the first time in his current role. Ipswich lost narrowly to the league leaders.

Jakirovic is a slightly different case given Hull were already playing direct football in the Championship. That established model has proved readily transferable to the Premier League, negating the need for wholesale reinvention. Other managers will have taken note. That said, strategic continuity does not preclude tactical flexibility: Jakirovic has switched between a back four and a back five during his Hull tenure, favouring the latter this season.

Why have the hedgehogs lost ground to the foxes? Most obviously, that run of six successive promoted sides going straight back down prompted a rethink. An embrace of more functional methods higher up the division legitimised such an approach for less fancied teams. If defensive solidity and set-pieces are good enough for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, why not for a club scrapping for survival?

It is not impossible for a promoted manager to keep a team up while playing proactive, attractive football. Brendan Rodgers did it at Swansea City and was rewarded with the Liverpool job. And while Hull, Ipswich and Coventry have begun brightly with a more utilitarian outlook, there is no guarantee their good form will last. All three remain the favourites - Manchester City aside - for relegation.

Still, there is something admirable about managers doing what is best for the club that employs them, even if putting pragmatism before principle risks diluting their personal brand. A “fanatical, unitary inner vision”, as Berlin put it, is no longer in vogue for coaches attempting to keep promoted teams above the dotted line. The foxes are in the ascendancy. Hull, Ipswich and Coventry have their tails up.

Would you like a new FourFourTwo Quickfire Quiz? We hope so, because that's what you're getting. 10 football trivia questions. 90 seconds to answer them.

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Chelsea are interested in signing Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari, but will face competition from Super Lig leaders Galatasary, according to reports.

Contract negotiations are said to have broken down between Ayari and his current Premier League club, with the Blues lurking.

The Swede has already bagged two assists in six Premier League games for Brighton this season, with his current contract set to expire come the 2026-27 season’s conclusion.

Chelsea lurk as Yasin Ayari’s contract negotiations with Brighton break down

Despite Ayari’s contract soon expiring, the Seagulls do hold an option to extend his deal by an additional 12 months.

However, according to a report from TEAMtalk, the club are yet to activate that clause, and Chelsea are prowling for the Swede’s signature, with Galatasaray emerging as clear rivals.

Ayari is well known to the Blues’ sporting director Paul Winstanley, who has been alerted to the contract conflict between the Swede and Brighton.

Winstanley worked as the Seagulls’ Head of Scouting before his exit from the club in late 2022; now, the Chelsea chief, who initially alerted Brighton to Ayari’s potential, wants to experience a reunion with the player at Stamford Bridge.

As things stand, the Blues are only keeping tabs on the Sweden international, and keeping their options alive ahead of future transfer windows in January and beyond.

If the plug is pulled, and Chelsea are successful, Ayari would join as one of many players to leave Brighton for the Blues, which includes the likes of Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro.

In recent years, the London club has successfully pilfered more than a dozen members of staff and players from the Seagulls.

According to the report, Chelsea are likely to face competition for Ayari’s signature from multiple other Premier League sides, but they are currently unnamed.

In the Super Lig, Galatasaray, who are shooting high for an unprecedented fifth successive Turkish top-flight title, are among those outside of England hoping to bag Ayari.

Like Chelsea, they are also displaying interest and continuing to monitor developments in the Swede’s situation at Brighton. Saudi Pro League sides are also lurking, too.

As things stand, Ayari’s future with the Seagulls is up in the air; should he wish to move, Chelsea will certainly be among those interested.

Watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig for free as the 15-time winners aim to continue their perfect start to the Champions League 2026/27 league phase. FourFourTwo has all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Madrid staged an incredible comeback to beat Roma 4-3 seven days ago, with the visitors scoring three times in the last 10 minutes to snatch victory in the Italian capital.

Leipzig edged past PSV Eindhoven 1-0 last week to claim their first points of the league phase, but they head to Spain still reeling from a 6-1 thrashing by Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig in this mouth-watering Champions League clash online, on TV, and from anywhere, including for free.

Can I watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig for free?

Yes! Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig is live on free-to-air Virgin Media Two in Ireland, complete with English commentary. You can also stream the game via Virgin Media Play.

Abroad? You need a VPN to access your free Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig. The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig in the UK

Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig is available to watch on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

The game will be shown on TNT Sports 4, with kick-off at 8:00pm BST.

How to watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig in the US

Paramount+ has live coverage of Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig in the US, with kick-off at 3:00pm ET.

Travelling outside of the US? Use NordVPN to access your usual Paramount+ stream.

How to watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig in Australia

Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig is live on Stan Sport in Australia. Kick-off is at 6:00am AEDT on Thursday.

Not in Australia? You need NordVPN to watch Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig on Stan Sport.

Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig: Preview

Real Madrid staged a recovery to rival any of their great European comebacks against Roma last Wednesday as late goals by Carlos Espi, Endrick and Antonio Rudiger gave them a remarkable 4-3 win.

That victory maintained Los Blancos' perfect start to the league phase and they carried the momentum into Saturday's 4-1 triumph over Sevilla in La Liga, with Arda Guler and Yan Diomande scoring either side of Kylian Mbappe's double.

France superstar Mbappe has already found the net 11 times this season and will be confident of improving that tally against RB Leipzig, who fell to a 6-1 defeat at Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Vinicius Junior is expected to start after missing the win over Sevilla due to his ongoing four-match domestic suspension, but long-term absentees Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy and Raul Asencio remain absent.

SEE ALSO How to watch Champions League 2026/27

Leipzig fans could be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of their trip to the Bernabeu, as their side prepares to face a forward line of Mbappe, Vinicius, Yan Diomande and Jude Bellingham four days after conceding six against Bayern.

That was the latest twist in a mixed start to the season for the German club, whose five wins and four defeats in all competitions have featured victories of 6-0 (twice) and 5-0, as well as 4-1 and 6-0 losses.

It shows that Leipzig possess plenty of attacking threat as well as defensive vulnerability, with Norway winger Antonio Nusa and French forward Christopher Nkunku showing their quality with eight goals and five assists combined so far in 2026/27.

They also have a manager with recent experience of beating Madrid - former Argentina centre back Martin Demichelis arrived in the summer from Mallorca, who he guided to a shock 2-1 win over Los Blancos in April.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Real Madrid 3-1 RB Leipzig

We expect Madrid to triumph in what should be an entertaining contest between two sides who like to play on the front foot.

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Premier League and Bundesliga champions Arsenal and Bayern Munich will face off in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, but the latter side will be without Joshua Kimmich.

The Bayern Munich veteran will be unavailable after experiencing a death in his family, missing the Champions League clash for personal reasons.

The Bundesliga champions penned a statement in support of the midfielder, writing: “Due to a death in his immediate family, Joshua Kimmich is not in the squad today for the match against Arsenal in London.”

Joshua Kimmich to miss Bayern Munich vs Arsenal after death of ‘immediate family member’

The statement continued: “On behalf of the family, we ask that his privacy and grief be respected, and that further inquiries and reporting be refrained from.

“In deep sympathy, the entire FC Bayern stands by Joshua Kimmich’s side,” concluded the club’s writing.

It was already established on Tuesday evening by assistant manager Aaron Danks that Kimmich would likely be unavailable to face the Gunners.

In a pre-match Champions League presser, Danks revealed: “For Joshua, it is personal reasons. I am not sure what it means for [the Arsenal game].”

Danks was reporting for media duties in light of Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany being unavailable through illness.

“Vince has a virus, and it is important for him to rest,” revealed Danks. Whether Kompany will be present in Wednesday’s match is unclear, but the Belgian’s assistant manager clarified that he “will play his role in the game, whether in the Allianz Arena or not.”

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich will be without Michael Olise, who saw red in last week’s 3-3 draw versus Viking FC in the Champions League.

In a pre-match press conference, during which Mikel Arteta responded to “cheating” allegations directed at Bukayo Saka, the Arsenal boss then turned his attention instead to Bayern Munich’s right-hand side. Jamal Musiala is also absent with a thigh injury.

“I don’t want to say who is the best player in these kind of games… [Olise] is out, but when you look at the starting possible XI… how incredibly well coached they are.

“The mindset that they have, the competition that they have in every action, and the individual quality moments… that’s the opposition we will be facing,” concluded Arteta.

For Arsenal, their injury woes extend to a trio in William Saliba, Christos Tzolis and Piero Hincapie, none of whom are expected to participate versus Bayern Munich.

Watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal for free as two of the favourites to win the Champions League 2026/27 meet in the league phase, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Die Roten drew 3-3 with Norwegian champions Viking in a gameweek two thriller eight days ago, before taking their frustration out on RB Leipzig with a 6-1 Bundesliga thrashing on Saturday.

Arsenal are in similarly good form after winning all three matches since the international break, including cruising past Lille 3-0 last week to maintain their perfect start to the league phase.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal in this huge Champions League clash online, on TV, and from anywhere, including for free.

Can I watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal for free?

Yes! Bayern Munich vs Arsenal will be shown live on free-to-air RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player in Ireland, complete with English commentary.

Outside Ireland? You need a VPN to access your free Bayern Munich vs Arsenal stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal from anywhere

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FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal in the UK

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal will be broadcast live on TNT Sports and HBO Max in the UK.

The game is live on TNT Sports 1, with kick-off at 8:00pm BST.

Travelling outside the UK? You need a VPN to access your TNT Sports stream from anywhere in the world.

How to watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal in the US

Viewers in the US can watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal on Paramount+, with kick-off at 3:00pm ET.

Not in the US? Access your usual Paramount+ stream with a VPN.

How to watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal in Australia

Fans in Australia can watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 6am AEDT on Thursday.

Away from Australia? Watch Bayern Munich vs Arsenal on Stan Sport with a VPN.

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal: Preview

After thrashing Bodo/Glimt 5-0 in their opening league phase fixture, Bayern Munich would have been confident of a comfortable victory when they faced another Norwegian side, Viking, in gameweek two.

It did not turn out that way, with Vincent Kompany's men forced to battle back from 2-0 down to eventually draw 3-3 in a contest that also featured a red card for winger Michael Olise. The France international will miss the clash with Arsenal as a result.

Olise went some way to making up for his dismissal by scoring in Saturday's 6-1 dismantling of RB Leipzig, in which Luis Diaz bagged a hat-trick. Harry Kane was also on target and the former Tottenham Hotspur striker will have the chance to score in a 10th successive Champions League match when he faces Arsenal, which would put him one shy of the competition record.

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer could miss the game due to a foot issue, with Jonas Urbig primed to step in, while Jamal Musiala will also be absent as the Germany midfielder continues his recovery from injury.

SEE ALSO How to watch Champions League 2026/27

While Bayern had a roller-coaster week, Arsenal's was much more straightforward. The Gunners beat Lille 3-0 last Tuesday to make it two wins from two in the league phase before edging out Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday, courtesy of Noni Madueke's late strike.

The England winger came off the bench to seal the three points in what has become a common theme for Arsenal, which could give them the edge against Bayern if the game is in the balance.

Arteta's men claimed a statement 3-1 win over Bayern in last season's league phase, en route to reaching the final, and if they repeat that result they will be just the second visiting team to triumph at the Allianz Arena since April 2025.

The Arsenal manager is unlikely to have any of his injured players back for the trip to Bavaria, although winger Christos Tzolis is closing in on a return to action.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Bayern Munich 1-1 Arsenal

Bayern's attacking quality and Arsenal's defensive solidity makes this an intriguing game. We reckon it will end level.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko won't be back until next year, following his recent injury.

That's according to one report that has ruled the Slovenian out for months, with a more precise timescale for his return to be revealed in the coming days by under-pressure manager, Michael Carrick.

With Manchester United having only picked up a single win in the Premier League this term, the news will come as a huge blow to the Red Devils, as they look to turn their fortunes around tonight away to Como.

Benjamin Sesko blow is more bad news for Manchester United

Carrick initially sounded hopeful that Sesko's absence in the 1-1 draw with Fulham last month was nothing too serious, noting that, “He just felt a little bit of pain after the game [against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup]: hopefully, it's not too bad, but we will have to see.”

Slovenian outlet Ekipa via Sport Witness reported, however, that the diagnosis “doesn't look good”.

Now, The Sun have claimed that Sesko is looking at a return in February.

Another Slovenian outlet, Planet Nogomet, reported last month that the striker would undergo an MRI scan in London to diagnose a “repetition of problems that have plagued” him previously.

Sesko returned for pre-season with a shin injury that he picked up in May, with Carrick starting the season without the 23-year-old leading the line – after missing six games for club and country last winter with a knee issue.

The worry is that given there is no fracture or break, the star may have a chronic problem that needs an extended period of time to heal, with United having to rely on Matheus Cunha, Marcus Rashford and unfancied Joshua Zirkzee to lead the line in Sesko's absence.

Zirkzee is yet to start a game for Carrick this season, with less than an hour under his belt in the Premier League and three cameos in the League Cup and Champions League in which he struggled to impact proceedings.

With United looking to move the Dutchman on over the summer, it remains to be seen whether Zirkzee will get a second chance at Old Trafford or be offloaded in January, with the club considering replacements for the injured Sesko.

Manchester United host fellow strugglers Bournemouth this weekend, as Premier League action continues.

The United Strand might need to start paying attention to Manchester United Women if he wants a haircut.

Frank Ilett, the Manchester United fan who vowed not to cut his hair until the men's team won five consecutive matches, has now spent 745 days waiting for his moment in the barber's chair.

But while the men's side continue to fall short of the target, the women's team have been busy doing exactly what he needs.

An overdue haircut for The United Strand?

Eva Olid's side have now put together a five-match winning streak for the fourth time since Ilett began his challenge in October 2024.

That's four separate occasions on which United Women have achieved the feat that has kept the viral fan's hair growing - three times under Marc Skinner who departed in the summer, and now again under new manager Olid.

Ilett, who posts daily updates on social media, has become an internet sensation as his increasingly lengthy locks have turned the challenge into a running joke among football fans.

The men's team drew with Leeds at the weekend, taking Ilett to the 100-game mark without the haircut he has been waiting for.

Meanwhile, Manchester United Women have turned their own fortunes around after a difficult start to the season which included a 2-1 defeat to London City Lionesses and a 5-0 thrahsing by Chelsea, followed by a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

Since then, they have hit their stride, stringing together five consecutive victories to achieve the feat once more.

They had achieved the feat three times before since his challenge began, most recently in February, when they celebrated a goal with a scissors-themed hair-cutting gesture on the pitch in their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.

However Ilett's challenge remains tied to the men's team, meaning the women's impressive runs won't officially send him to the barbers.

But after four separate five-match winning streaks, surely the United Women have earned the right to give him a trim themselves?