That’s pretty much it for today’s matchday live blog. It’s always a pleasure to be in charge of these so thanks for your comments and emails, which have come in by the bucketload this morning.
Leeds v Spurs is our next port of call in Premier League terms but don’t forget we’ve got live Man City v Arsenal WSL action too. After that our live Clockwatch will follow Arsenal v West Ham and Manchester United v Sunderland and we’ll pop up with a teatime blog to cover Chelsea v Liverpool as well, with dedicated reporters at each of those games of course. What more could you want?
Thanks again. Bye for now.
Updated
While we’re on Bournemouth, here’s a stat to shock you:
Antoine Semenyo has been directly involved in more goals than any other player in the Premier League (12 – eight goals, four assists); two more than Erling Haaland (10 – nine goals, one assist).
Bournemouth’s 26-year-old winger Justin Kluivert completed the unique treble after his stunning long-range strike in Friday’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Fulham. The former Newcastle and Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert’s sons proved that the Dutch great’s goal scoring instincts run in the family when they found the back of the net on three consecutive days for three different clubs. This week’s streak began in the Uefa Youth League on Wednesday when his youngest, 18-year-old winger Shane, curled a shot home from the edge of the box past to spark Barcelona’s 2-1 comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain. A day later, 24-year-old Ruben, who is a defender, headed home the second goal in Lyons’ 2-0 win over RB Salzburg in the Europa League.
“Proud dad,” Patrick, who is now head coach of the Indonesia national team, wrote on Instagram after each of his sons’ teams won their matches.
Another good/intelligent comment on why Ruben Amorim is floundering at United, far more smart and succinct than I put it:
On the ball – guess the footballer
The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?
We don’t share posts from X Twitter too often these days, but the caption “Anton Stach explains his love for fun” made me laugh. He likes FUN?!
"I see players' stories and it's matchday graphics, I like humour" 😄
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 4, 2025
Anton Stach explains his love for fun, surprising and unique social media posts 📱
🎙️ @lynseyhipgrave1 | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/MoXzFiukNQ
Re the Championship early games, William Preston gets in touch:
With players and staff not being paid once again, and having lost a lot of people who can score goals at this level before the season even began, I think it’s fair to say that Sheffield Wednesday are currently massively overachieving, despite their league position.
The younger players have got an absolute stomp on, and there’s been people thrilling heroics at Birmingham, only conceding at the last.
There’s potential here for this to be the best worst season ever, like the one Middlesbrough had in the mid 1990s (my uni housemate had a VHS tape that he put on formula to watch every time we came back from the pub).
Have a great stormy day, I hope every stays safe.
Championship team news
Here’s a rundown of the lineups in the early kickoffs in England’s second tier:
Blackburn v Stoke
Blackburn: Toth; Alebiosu, Miller, McLoughlin, Ribeiro; Tronstad, Gardner-Hickman, Morishita; Cantwell, Hedges, Gudjohnsen.
Stoke: Johansson; Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Cresswell; Rigo, Seko; Thomas, Bae, Manhoef; Mubama.
Hull v Sheffield United
Hull: Pandur; Coyle, Egan, Hughes, Giles; Lundstram, Slater; Gyabi, Gelhardt, Akintola; McBurnie.
Sheffield United: Cooper; Tanganga, McGuinness, Mee; Ogbene, Peck, Matos, McCallum; O’Hare, Hamer, Campbell.
Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry
Sheffield Wednesday: Horvath; Weaver, Iorga, Lowe; Palmer, Valery, Banna, Ingelsson, Amass; Lowe, Cadamarteri.
Coventry: Rushworth; Van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Dasilva; Allen, Grimes, Sakamoto; Mason-Clark, Thomas-Asante, Wright.
Updated
And you can go in-depth on Leeds v Spurs coverage with Scott Murray, who is on top of the buildup. Should be a cracker, that one.
Leeds v Tottenham team news
The teamsheets for the 12.30pm BST kick-off at Elland Road have dropped. Here we go.
Leeds: Darlow; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmunsson; Ampadu, Stach, Longstaff; Aaronson, Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Meslier, Justin, Bijol, Bornauw, Gruev, Tanaka, Harrison, Nmecha, Piroe.
Tottenham: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Bentancur; Kudus, Simons, Odobert; Tel.
Subs: Kinsky, Danso, Spence, Davies, Gray, Bergvall, Sarr, Johnson, Richarlison.
Please forgive me for plugging an underrated indie album song of the noughties … let me instead turn your attention to Billy Munday’s WSL minute-by-minute. He’s got you covered for team news and updates from the 12pm BST kick-off at the Joie Stadium.
Another email, this time from Richard Warwick in storm-hammered west Scotland, as he puts it:
If I can just lighten the mood around Fluxdeluxe’s excellent Amorim comment, can I make a case for the “subtle” renaming of said philosophical thought experiment [from Theseus’s Ship] to “Trigger’s Broom”? Very much more accessible to those of us of a certain age.
Yeah I’m most certainly more Only Fools than Greek mythology. Talk about the dumbing down of modern journalism. Sorry.
Updated
The race for the golden boot. Can anyone stop Erling Haaland? Probably not.
Arsenal v West Ham: what can we expect?
Nuno Espírito Santo earned the Hammers a creditable 1-1 draw at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday, his debut as manager after replacing Graham Potter. But this is a far tougher test for his new charges.
West Ham have actually won their past two games at the Emirates without conceding, but you’d make Mikel Arteta’s in-form side heavy favourites today. The Gunners have lost just once this season, winning seven of their nine in all competitions. Despite all the ‘handbrake’ chat, they’ve played pretty fluent football.
Nuno, meanwhile, has won just three times in 10 outings against Arsenal as a manager, losing four and drawing three, averaging 1.2 points a game, including a 3-1 defeat in his only North London derby (yes, I often forget Nuno was briefly Tottenham manager, too).
Tuck into our previews featuring all the team news you could possibly need. Those team graphics make me oddly nostalgic for reading the Saturday sport supplement at my grandparents’ house. Simpler times.
Oliver Glasner has warned Crystal Palace must not allow their “top level” to slip at Everton on Sunday or face the “high risk” of seeing a club-record 19-match unbeaten run come to a halt.
“In the Premier League, the players know you need to perform close to your top level, otherwise you have a high risk of losing the game,” Glasner said on the Palace website.
“I don’t think Everton have struggled. They drew against West Ham, they lost a very tight game against Liverpool and I think they had a very good performance against them. We always have to accept how the other team is playing and try to use their weaknesses to win the game.”
Glasner said he was not interested in revelling in Palace’s hot streak. “We don’t talk about it (the run) in our meetings, or on the pitch – but yes, we are asked about it more and more.
“The approach is the same. We don’t go to Everton saying: ‘Let’s just extend the run’, we go there and will try to win the game. Every win, every good performance, increases self-confidence and this is what we can see.”
Rant over. I’m aware there are other clubs. Although I note many of the comments dropping in are about Amorim and/or United …
This is an interesting comment below re Ruben Amorim.
My own attempt to explain his personal struggles as Manchester United manager (which is in stark contrast to his success at Sporting) would be to suggest the Portuguese league is far easier and primed for a differential formation like 3-4-3 which, with players better than most of their opponents, was enough for the Lisbon side to overcome Benfica and Porto. That is all you need to do.
Amorim now has better players to work with, but I think the strength of the current United squad is overestimated. The likes of Altay Bayindir, Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu – who all start regularly – are mid-table players.
There’s clearly long been a culture problem at the club. Many players are still overpaid compared to their talent/output from the Glazer/Woodward era and that takes time to cleanse. On the field, past defeats mean the team has such a brittle mentality that the smallest piece of adversity (like a missed penalty, a perceived injustice) knocks them off their path. Only Bruno Fernandes – and he is criticised more than most – seems to have the mental fortitude to withstand the pressure cooker environment and (try to) drive standards higher.
Another email. Steve Horne gets in touch:
Hi Dominic. Anything to take my mind off Storm Amy as I shelter in my campervan in Rothes, Morayshire, so here goes:
Leeds 1-2 Spurs
Man Utd 0- 2 S’land
Arsenal 1-1 West Ham
Chelsea 1-3 L’pool
Yeah it’s not campervan weather, Steve. Interesting Manchester United prediction there …
United will hold a minute’s silence on Saturday and the players will wear black armbands as a mark of respect after the terrorist attack at a synagogue in the city on Thursday. Manchester City will do likewise for their Premier League and Women’s Super League fixtures this weekend.
Amorim 'not naive' as he addresses Man Utd future
Here’s what Amorim has said on his own future and Manchester United’s struggles:
“Nobody here is naive,” said Amorim. “We understand that we need results to continue the project. We will reach a point that is impossible for everyone, because this is a very big club with a lot of sponsors, with two owners.
“It’s normal. You can’t run away from the results. Then you have the baggage from last season, but last season for me doesn’t matter.
“We have had six games this season, and we lost three. So it’s the results. But imagine if we won the first game against Arsenal and then you don’t miss the penalty and you win against Fulham, even without playing really well. Imagine if this happened, then the trust in everything about our club, the system, the way we play, would be completely different.
“So if you win, everything is okay. If you lose, you’re doubting everything about yourself, about your team-mates, about the coach – everything. I just need one more game, because football is like that. We need one more game, we win, we get some hope and then in the next game we will see.”
Fairly refreshing and candid stuff from the United boss. One more game? He’ll certainly get that… it’s whether he gets many more after it.
Let’s do the big Manchester United talk. I’ll break it in gently by pointing you in the direction of this Daniel Harris piece: five simple solutions Ruben Amorim could try to improve United in the short-term (featuring some 3-4-3 formation chat):
Fantasy Football Corner: It’s too late to make transfers (as I learned to my cost, forgetting about the early deadline before last night’s Bournemouth v Fulham game), but who’s worth having in your team this week?
Logic may dictate that Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes should fill their boots at home to a promoted team… but logic and Manchester United don’t tend to go hand in hand. Arsenal are trickier to predict now Mikel Arteta has depth available to him, but I’d be plumping for Gunners defenders – Gabriel is always a go-to.
To Salah or not to Salah? The Egyptian hasn’t been at his sparkling best this season but he may fancy getting on the scoresheet against old foes Chelsea – struggling themselves at the moment – with Hugo Ekitike another good pick given his strong start to the campaign.
Feel free to absolutely deride my team, which is as follows: Henderson; Munoz, Cucurella, Dorgu; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Kudus, Xhaka; Haaland (c), J.Pedro, Beto.
I know.
Thanks for your comments, now filtering in Below The Line. Let’s have some predictions for today’s four Premier League games, like this one.
Mine?
Leeds 1-1 Spurs; Man Utd 2-1 Sunderland; Arsenal 3-1 West Ham; Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool.
Moyes and Everton aiming for top 10
David Moyes admits he would settle for a top 10 finish this season but Everton are hoping for better. Moyes’ men have eight points from their first six matches, currently sitting ninth and just three points off fifth.
At the same stage 12 months ago – then under Sean Dyche – the Toffees were 16th with just four points, but having guided the club to a comfortable 13th place by the end of last season Moyes is looking for continued improvement.
“You need to think back to where we were last year, how we were going to be as a football club,” he said before tomorrow’s visit of in-form Crystal Palace.
“I think we’ve had a positive start; I think we could have taken more points – that’s the message in the dressing room and they know it as well. That’s the challenge, to keep it up. If you gave me this position at the end of the season I’d be absolutely delighted as it would be a huge improvement on where we’ve been but we are striving for more and hoping we can get more.”
Phil Parkinson insisted Wrexham are “growing” into the Championship after a third successive 1-1 draw against Birmingham in Friday night’s “Hollywood derby” – even though the Welsh club have not won any of their five home league games since promotion from League One.
“This is a squad which is growing together and the signings are getting better all the time,” Parkinson said after Wrexham had extended their unbeaten run to five games.
“I’m sure when we wake up tomorrow we’ll be looking at a team which is growing into the division well. We’re very confident of the group and just need to start turning these draws in into wins. We’ve just got to keep growing as a team and we will do.”
Updated
Former Bath City striker Alex Fletcher called for changes after crashing into concrete hoardings three years ago. As far as he is concerned, nothing happened as a result.
Here’s Paul MacInnes reporting on the tragic death of Billy Vigar and an important debate now being had in English football.
Paris FC are doing rather well in Ligue 1. The new kids on the block in the top tier of French football beat Lorient 2-0 last night… they may not yet be ready to challenge their high-profile neighbours, but they’re likely to stay up – as three wins from their first seven games since promotion suggests.
Elsewhere in Europe last night there were 1-0 away wins for Sassuolo at Hellas Verona and Köln at Hoffenheim. Osasuna snatched a late 2-1 win over Getafe in La Liga.
I very much enjoyed this column by Barney Ronay, who poses an interesting question: what do you actually know about Florian Wirtz. The eighth most expensive footballer of all time has got off to an inauspicious start at Liverpool but should we be surprised given his astronomic transfer fee?
It’s worth looking at the big fixtures away from the Premier League today. Manchester City v Arsenal at midday (BST) takes centre stage in the WSL; neither side has been at their best since the season started and that looks a tough game to call. Hearts v Hibernian is always big in Scotland but today’s Edinburgh derby (5.45pm) takes on even greater significance given that Hearts are top of the Scottish Premiership. Celtic don’t play until tomorrow.
In Spain, Real Madrid host Villarreal at 8pm with early season pacesetters Barcelona facing Sevilla tomorrow. Borussia Dortmund v RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt v Bayern Munich are important contests in the Bundesliga. Serie A’s main event comes tomorrow evening with the giant clash between Juventus and AC Milan at one of European football’s many Allianz Stadiums.
Hearts fans, get in touch: you could see your side go five points clear at the top with victory today!
An early email has landed in my inbox via Krishnamoorthy:
“Good morning Dominic. Has his excellency Pope Leo spoken to Amorim? Do we expect a decent fight or another shoddy performance?
“That makes me wonder – who will go first Ange or Ruben?”
I would have thought Postecoglou will get some time to bed in his ideas at Forest, whereas defeat to Sunderland today could spell serious trouble for Amorim.
Last night wasn’t just about Antoine Semenyo scoring twice to boost everyone’s FPL teams (except my own). The ‘Hollywood derby’ in the Championship finished 1-1 between Wrexham and Birmingham while in-form Manchester United disrupted Chelsea’s 100% start to the Women’s Super League season as they drew 1-1 at Leigh. Marc Skinner’s side are now just two points off the WSL summit having begun the campaign strongly.
Fulham will be wondering what on earth happened to them at the Vitality Stadium last night, mind you. When Ryan Sessegnon fired them into the lead 20 minutes from time, Marco Silva’s side were in pole position, only to be undone by a late Cherries siege, which included Semenyo’s double and a Justin Kluivert scorcher from 25 yards.
Mateta on 'dream' France callup at 28
Jean-Philippe Mateta has described his first call-up to the senior France squad as “a dream come true” after the Crystal Palace striker was selected by Didier Deschamps for the World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Iceland.
The 28-year-old was one of France’s overage players at last year’s Olympics and scored five goals as Thierry Henry’s side won a silver medal. Mateta, who played the first half of Palace’s win over Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday night in Poland, has also represented Les Bleus at various youth levels.
He revealed that he had watched the squad announcement with his compatriot Maxence Lacroix’s in his hotel room in Lublin after the Palace defender had a feeling that the former Lyon and Mainz striker’s time had come.
“I feel very, very happy; it’s like a dream come true,” said Mateta. “I hope I will stay a long time with this team and help them to win. I saw it on TV. Maxence said: ‘Today they will call you.’ He came to my room and we watched together the list. Didier Deschamps was talking and he said my name. He always told me to work hard and you will get your call. I kept working hard and I got my call.”
Asked whether experiencing international football could help his form at Palace, he said: “If I play, I hope I will help the team there to win. Of course, I will come back with confidence. I always have confidence. I think it will bring me more confidence.”
Preamble
Good morning all! The Premier League grind never stops and Bournemouth’s stylish win over Fulham last night got another weekend off to a riproaring start. Antoine Semenyo, eh … what a player.
Anyway, we’re building up to Saturday’s action, as usual, on Matchday Live, the countdown/news/interactive football blog where we encourage you to get in touch with your thoughts, comments, predictions and whatever else you have planned for this footballing Saturday.
In terms of live action, Leeds v Tottenham is the early top flight offering, plus four games in the Championship, while Arsenal v West Ham and Manchester United v Sunderland are the 3pm games. Can Nuno Espírito Santo kickstart the Hammers at the Emirates? And will there be more trouble for Ruben Amorim against the high-flying Black Cats? The evening game of Chelsea v Liverpool should be just as intriguing, with Arne Slot hoping to avoid a third successive defeat and Enzo Maresca looking to avoid a third successive Premier League defeat. So there’s form.
With our writers dropping in bits of colour from across the country and continent, there’s plenty to stay tuned for. Let’s get going …
