The teams are in for Tottenham v Aston Villa. And that means it’s time to divert attention to that.
It’s still Como 1-0 Juventus, and am taken aback by the sight of Alberto Moreno.
Half-time at Dens Park, and woe for Celtic, and wild celebrations from Dundee fans. Steven “Elvis” Pressley is delivering a shock result. Scottish football is wild at the moment.
It’s Dundee 2-0 Celtic, and really well deserved. It’s a counterattack, and well-executed despite it ending up as an own-goal for a desperately back-pedalling Cameron Carter-Vickers. The Dundee fans are singing a song to the tune of “dancing queen”.
More tactical talk ahead of Anfield later today.
It’s Dundee 1-0 Celtic, from a set piece, Clark Robertson nodding in from a corner.
The Celtic game at Dundee was delayed by fans barracking the Celtic board. “Sack the board” rang out at Dens Park, and balls were thrown on the pitch.
Read one banner: “Your strategy of incompetence is clear. Resign.”
Ruben Dias has been speaking about Manchester City’s star man, Erling Haaland, and comparing him to Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
“That’s a good reflection of his state of mind, (it’s) very similar. At the end of the day, everyone wants to score, but both of them have this ability to just keep on scoring.
“Everyone has their own special ability - and they score goals. We’re just happy that Erling is in this moment and we want him to continue. We want to keep pushing him because we want him to break records that have not been beaten before.
“But, as a team, we want to play at a level we have not reached before, so we want to keep on improving.” Erling has beaten the Premier League goals record before, so better than ever? I don’t really know. He’s always been brilliant and on a very special level.”
Haaland already has 11 goals. The record – his own – is 36 in 38 matches.
I’ll hand this blog back to the excellent John Brewin. You can join me for the Tottenham v Aston Villa MBM later on. John will post the link to that here when it launches with the team news at 1pm BST.
Como have taken an early lead against Juventus! Centre-back Marc-Oliver Kempf scored in the fourth minute, stealing in at the back post after a ridiculous cross from Nico Paz. It’s 1-0 to the home side, with 14 minutes played.
Thomas Frank spoke on Friday about Tottenham’s relatively poor home form, but I think most most Spurs supporters would agree that the former Brentford manager looks like an excellent appointment. Tottenham host Aston Villa later on (2pm BST kick-off) and could finish the day in second place, which is quite the improvement upon last season. With the promise of substantial investment into the team, it is a very exciting time to be a Spurs fan.
Where do you think Spurs need to strengthen the most? Answers on a postcard in the usual places.
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Corinthians clinch sixth Women’s Copa Libertadores title
Some news from South America.
Corinthians clinched its sixth Women’s Copa Libertadores crown after defeating Deportivo Cali on penalties after struggling for much of the final on Saturday.
The teams finished regulation scoreless, prompting the shootout. Cali’s Kelly Ibargüen suffered the only miss and Ingrid Aparecida Jhonson Borges secured the 5-3 shootout win when she tricked goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo into diving the wrong way.
Corinthians celebrated a record third consecutive Copa title. It has not conceded a goal in regulation in its last five finals dating to 2019. The result also underlined Brazil’s supremacy in South American women’s club soccer, producing at least one finalist in 16 of the 17 finals and the champion 14 times.
“We gave it our all. The penalties were a lucky draw, and I’m very proud of my team,” Cali’s Stefanía Perlaza said.
In addition to winning the $2m (USD) in prize money, Corinthians earned the right to compete in the first Women’s Champions Cup in January-February in London. AP
Here is some background to the Women’s Champions Cup, in which the champions of each confederation’s club tournament will take part. It will be played annually other than in Women’s Club World Cup years (which is due to launch in 2028).
Dundee v Celtic team news
Dundee: McCracken, Astley, Clark Robertson, Graham, Wright, Digby, Hamilton, Samuels, Congreve, Murray, Westley.
Subs: O’Hara, Ingram, Donnelly, Acquah, Finlay Robertson, Hay, Yogane, Dhanda, Jones.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney, Nygren, McGregor, Hatate, Yang, Iheanacho, Tounekti.
Subs: Sinisalo, Balikwisha, McCowan, Kenny, Saracchi, Engels, Murray, Forrest, Donovan.
After Hearts stormed to another victory at Kilmarnock on Saturday, the onus is on Celtic to respond today. The Tony Bloom revolution is well underway, and it’s worth flagging that Hearts host Celtic this time next week in a top-of-the-table clash.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hearts | 8 | 13 | 22 |
| 2 | Celtic | 7 | 8 | 17 |
| 3 | Hibernian | 8 | 4 | 11 |
| 4 | Dundee Utd | 8 | 1 | 10 |
| 5 | Kilmarnock | 8 | 0 | 10 |
Rangers, meanwhile …
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However, Ruben Amorim travels to Liverpool on Sunday trying to become the first United manager to earn three points at their bitter rivals’ home since Louis van Gaal in early 2016. Here is a piece on their winless record since that day.
“Thoughts on the Liverpool-Manchester United match?” emails Jeremy Boyce. “I am mostly filled with visions of this kind of thing from my childhood.”
“Who do you see slamming home the net busters today ? United will take their goals any way they can get them (knee, shoulder, arse...), whereas Liverpool have invested a fortune in their slick-looking on paper but actually badly mis-firing attack, and the focus as much on who they’ve sold as who they’ve signed. And despite Liverpool’s triumph last season, the title has been very much dominated by blue for some time now. Prediction? Goals, more as a result of slapstick defending from both sides. Result? Ruben to rub salt into Arne’s recent wounds with a Fernandez free-kick winner deflected off Virgil’s arse.”
I can certainly see United getting some sort of result today. And those videos certainly serve a reminder of how good Bobby Charlton’s right foot was. Remember the England legend scored all three of his 1966 World Cup goals (a screamer against Mexico and two in the semi-final against Portugal) with his so-called ‘weaker’ right peg.
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Two things I did not realise about Loïs Openda:
The Belgian international is of Moroccan descent, through his mother (and Congolese descent through his father).
Openda pent the first year of his life in a Liege hospital due to serious asthmatic problems. Doctors were unsure if he would ever be able to play sports, but he recovered.
“United fan here,” emails Joshua Keeling. “Our best performance under Amorim was at Anfield last season. Still, I’d take a draw”.
Here’s a reminder of that 2-2 draw in January. It appears that the performance was something of a false dawn for Manchester United, although Amorim’s sides generally are more assertive against the ‘bigger’ teams.
Speaking of former Juventus forwards, Thierry Henry has travelled to Italy for today’s game. Here he is catching up with Juventus’ Loïs Openda, although I’m curious to know how the pair know each other. Henry was assistant manager of Belgium from 2016-18 but Openda didn’t make his international debut until 2022.
Juventus have enjoyed a steady start to the season, and could join the league leaders on 15 points with a victory today. But Milan will end the weekend as the outright leaders if they win tonight against Fiorentina (7.45pm BST kick-off).
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inter Milan | 7 | 10 | 15 |
| 2 | Napoli | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| 3 | Roma | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | 6 | 13 |
| 5 | Juventus | 6 | 4 | 12 |
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Como v Juventus team news
A very intriguing early kick-off in Serie A, as Cesc Fàbregas’ Como host Juventus. After a good start to the season, Como have spluttered to 1-1 draws with Cremonese (of Jamie Vardy fame) and Atalanta, but look in contention for a European place this season. The youth of Nico Paz and experience of Álvaro Morata lead the line, the latter against his former club, of course.
Como, 3-5-2: Butez; Smolcic, Ramon, Kempf; Vojvoda, Da Cunha, Perrone, Caqueret, Alberto Moreno; Paz, Morata
Juventus 4-3-3: Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Rugani, Kelly, Cambiaso; Koopmeiners, Locatelli, K Thuram; Conceicao, David, Yildiz.
The last time Liverpool lost four in a row was November 2014, which was under Brendan Rodgers. Would a defeat to Manchester United constitute a crisis? I’m not so sure – Liverpool are just four points off the top of the table – but certainly it would be a worrying development for Arne Slot and co.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 8 | 12 | 19 |
| 2 | Man City | 8 | 11 | 16 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 8 | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 8 | 14 |
Do let me know your thoughts and predictions for the big game at Anfield. You can post in the comment section or send me an email: michael.butler@theguardian.com.
Forest and Marinakis target Marco Silva to replace Postecoglou
Here is a story from Ben Fisher and Will Unwin:
Evangelos Marinakis has made Fulham’s Marco Silva his No 1 target to succeed Ange Postecoglou as Nottingham Forest head coach. Silva’s buyout clause has been reported to be as high as €15m (£13m) but the Forest owner remains a big admirer of the Portuguese coach, who worked under him at Olympiakos. Crucially, Silva is thought to be interested in the Forest job, with European football a factor.
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Estimable? If only my three-year-old thought the same.
We’ll start with some fresh Mikel Arteta quotes regarding Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday. Save for a single season as a player in 2004-05 with Real Sociedad, the Spaniard has lived in Britain for the past 23 years but still isn’t completely up to date with the lingo here. I’m not sure everyone in the UK would react positively to being called “a massive weapon”, but we know what Arteta is getting at. I’m also not sure I would describe Leandro Trossard’s performance as “magical” – the winger was very underwhelming at Craven Cottage in open play and scored a tap-in at the back post with his knee. Anyway, the following is courtesy of PA.
Mikel Arteta has hailed “magical” Leandro Trossard as a “massive weapon” for Arsenal after he fired his side to the top of the Premier League.
Trossard bundled home Bukayo Saka’s 58th minute corner at Fulham in a 1-0 win for the Gunners which ensures they will end the latest round of fixtures at the league summit.
Trossard scored just eight times in the league last term and, following Arsenal’s summer spending spree with eight new players arriving at the Emirates, the Belgium international might have feared for his place in Arteta’s side. However, the 30-year-old has now started all of Arsenal’s last five matches, both in the league, and in Europe.
And Arteta said: “Leo has this quality to create these magic moments when the team needs it the most, and that intuition that he’s in the right place in the right moment is a huge quality for the team and a massive weapon for us.
“He’s been very, very good in recent weeks and now we have a lot of players in a really high emotional state and performance level, which is really good to see.”
Arsenal’s win at Fulham marked the first of seven fixtures in 21 days for Arteta’s men with a Champions League home clash against Atletico Madrid to come on Tuesday. The north London team will be looking to build on a strong opening to their European campaign with successive 2-0 victories against Athletic Bilbao and Olympiakos. The run of matches is set to test the depth of Arsenal’s new-look squad with captain Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz already absent through injury.
But Arteta continued: “We know the schedule and the load is what it is, and the games now and the context demands a bigger squad. All the top teams are in the same boat, and we’re going to have to manage that really well, to look after them, and especially to get the best out of them.”
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The reins are now with the estimable Michael Butler.
Tactical talk. Gakpo the fall guy?
Quiz time, quiz time, it’s On the ball, a very good reason for you to download the Guardian app.
Today’s is gettable. Just go the Puzzles section on the app.
You could cast Anfield today as flop striker Alexander Isak versus flop striker Benjamin Sesko, if you wanted. Jonathan Liew would rather you didn’t.
Frank Lampard’s Coventry, to give them their legal name, are flying. The thought of them back in the top division is rather stirring to those of a certain age.
Fair points made here from the comments section below.
Getafe v Real Madrid is Sunday’s late game in La Liga, a local derby. Sid Lowe spoke to Abu Kamara, once of Hull.
A couple of important pieces on talent development.
Let’s look ahead to Liverpool v Manchester United, where Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah are due a performance. Jonathan Wilson previews the game.
Saturday’s match reports are here.
Let’s hope Jack Wilshere lasts a bit longer at Luton, though he had a tough start on Saturday.
Our reaction to that Postecoglou news.
Preamble
Good morning, football. Saturday was a red letter day in Premier League history, Ange Postecoglou biting the dust in record time. Things move pretty fast at Nottingham Forest so we await news of Evangelos Maranakis’ next move.
We’ll also build up to Tottenham v Aston Villa, the 2pm kick-off, and Liverpool v Manchester United at 4.30pm.
Join us. And do let us know your thoughts and plans. Perhaps fears in the case of Forest fans.
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