And that concludes today’s buildup. Do join Billy for the WSL action, and there’s F1, cricket and tennis to come.
More international football ahead but Jonathan Wilson has written about Mikel Arteta, and his lack of bravery from the bench,
Phil Grey has an idea: “I’m just going to throw this one out there. The bottom 12 in the Nations League meet each other in exciting playoffs to reach the group stage of European World Cup qualification, and there are 12 groups of 4. That way there would be fewer fixtures for the top players to cram into the packed calendar. The only thing I’d miss would be Barney’s articles about the meaningless mismatches.”
Brighton fans with an early pint of their WSL game at Crawley.
Spain v Turkey does look a cracker, it has to be said, and the key fixture in Group E.
Liverpool v Everton teams
Liverpool (4-3-3): Kirby; Fisk, Bonner, Evans, Woodham; Nagano, Höbinger, Kerr; Holland, Enderby, Kapocs. Subs: Morgan, Parry, Risa, Kiernan, Roman H, Olsson, Clark, MacLean, Silcock
Everton (4-3-3): Brosnan; Robinson, Ishikawa, Fernández, Pacheco; Hayashi, Van Gool, Ladd; Vignola, Snoeijs, Momiki. Subs: Ramsey, Wheeler, Payne, Gago, Weir, Stenevik, Holmgaard, Mace
Those WSL fixtures in full.
Brighton v Aston Villa (at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium)
Liverpool v Everton (at Anfield)
Manchester United v Leicester (at Leigh Sports Village)
Tottenham v West Ham (at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road)
Billy Munday is manning the liveblog for the WSL midday action. Sky TV are running a “red zone”, like the NFL, for today’s fixtures, one they promise will be run on the men’s Premier League later this season.
Tottenham Women’s team play West Ham today, under the management of Martin Ho. Last season was a disappointment, and the departing Daniel Levy’s commitment to the team was under question. Will the new regime of Peter Charrington as nonexecutive chair and Vinai Venkatesham, named as chief exec in April, change things? Vinai was at Arsenal who have made a big play of their women’s team; my trip to the office and back on Saturday saw me travelling with fans of the Champions League holders. An easy win? Not as much as it once was but it would help the club’s image at the least.
What now for Tottenham? Jonathan Wilson asks.
David Pleat knows the lie of the land better than anyone.
Quite the bodycount of managers.
Northern Ireland’s game in Germany sees Conor Bradley take on new Liverpool teammate Florian Wirtz. Some quotes via the BBC:
“Florian’s a top player. There’s a reason we bought him for the money we did. He’s obviously had a brilliant few years at Leverkusen and now he’s come to us, and I think he started the season really well. He’s really good with the ball, he’s really creative and he’s not scared to take a few risks with the ball as well. He’s a top player and I know it’s going to be a difficult night for me but hopefully I can make it a difficult night for him too.”
Both Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong have had injuries this season, in the race to take the place vacated by Trent Alexander-Arnold. More Bradley:
“It was really disappointing to pick up the injury when I did Obviously it wasn’t a big injury, it was only a few weeks, but it was really disappointing. I’m just happy to be back now. I have to show patience and I just have to pace myself through games to make sure I get through them and just look after myself.”
Good luck, everyone running today.
The journalist George Caulkin has composed this poem on the subject.
Anderson eyes World Cup squad place
Elliot Anderson says it is “all eyes on the World Cup” but knows he has to build on his impressive England debut. The Nottingham Forest midfielder stood out on his senior bow against Andorra.
“I think it’s only one game really. I’m focusing on the next game and then the game after that, to try and make an impact. But obviously, all eyes on the World Cup. It couldn’t have gone much better apart from if I’d have scored. I should have scored, it is what it is...next time.”
Noni Madueke was one of the bright attacking options, creating the opening goal with a cross which Christian Garcia headed into his own net.
Madueke said: “Obviously, we had the experience of playing them at the end of last season, and we knew that, give them credit, they’re a very stubborn opposition. I think we could have scored more goals, and I think it was definitely a much improved performance from the last time. I’m happy overall.
“You have to just get the ball and just have that fearless mentality. There’s 11 players in 30 metres of space, so the only way you’re really going to get to goals is if you outplay somebody, or if you get crosses in like Reece James did with the second goal. So I feel like as a collective, that was really what we tried to do.”
Billy Sharp’s circus rolls on at Donny. He’s 40 in February, and has scored 286 career goals.
Germany v Northern Ireland looks the tie of the day. Germany lost to Slovakia on Friday, and Julian Nagelsmann, their coach, has promised to rotate. Per Reuters
The four-times world champions suffered their first away defeat in a World Cup qualifier, losing 2-0 to the Slovaks in Bratislava in their opening qualifier for the 2026 tournament. Nagelsmann, who saw his team suffer a third straight loss after Nations League defeats to Portugal and France in June, said that while the team’s main philosophy would not change there would be changes to the lineup against Northern Ireland.
“We have had some discussions with some players and with the team. The team cleared up some things internally as well. We looked at what to expect and developed an idea for tomorrow.”
“Content-wise it will not be a completely changed team tomorrow. But on a personnel level there will be some things that will be happening. We have to deliver a better game. As a coach you have to give players something that allows them to play emotionally more freely. We need players on Sunday that fit the situation. We cannot think about qualification but we have to think about the game. There could be players playing who may not play in the World Cup.”
“To be frightened is not a good thing. I will try my best to win. I am not afraid. I think we will do a better job than on Thursday. We will try to be the best competitors possible and win our home game which is very important for us and the fans in the stands. It is such an important game for us.”
On the Merseyside derby and a player who won’t be there. Some finish from Olivia Smith yesterday for Arsenal.
Tickets still on sale for the Troxy on Thursday and the streaming package, too.
Updated
Today’s Uefa qualifers for the 2026 World Cup
Georgia vs Bulgaria — 2pm BST
Lithuania vs Netherlands — 5pm BST
North Macedonia vs Liechtenstein —5pm BST
Belgium vs Kazakhstan — 7.45pm BST
Germany vs Northern Ireland — 7.45pm BST
Luxembourg vs Slovakia — 7.45pm BST
Poland vs Finland — 7.45pm BST
Turkey vs Spain — 7.45pm BST
Interesting friendly being played later today: Qatar v Russia.
Time waits for no man, unless you are Cristiano Ronaldo.
A couple of columns from our team of European experts.
Philippe Auclair on possible solutions to Ligue 1’s financial crisis.
Sid Lowe writes about La Liga’s similar lack of wealth.
You thought we were done with transfer news? Think again.
Today’s WSL fixtures, all at midday.
Tottenham v West Ham
Manchester United v Leicester
Liverpool v Everton
Brighton v Aston Villa
Arsenal got their WSL season underway with a London derby win.
Barney Ronay was impressed with Andorra’s aptitude at spoiling.
Jacob Steinberg made Elliott Anderson his man of the match.
England fall-out from that grinding win over Andorra. Thomas Tuchel was happy enough.
Good morning, football
Hello there, it’s Sunday, the morning after the night before, and England are on 12 points in their World Cup group but the game against Andorra was a real grind. The WSL is wel underway now with wins for Chelsea and Arsenal. To Merseyside now, and it’s a high noon derby as Liverpool host Everton.
Join us for the morning call.
