4 min: City have the first real chance as they try and find Shaw in the box but Karchaoui marshals the threat well. The hosts come again with Fujino finding the Jamaica international but she can’t connect with the cross.
2 min: Can you believe this is the first time these two clubs have met? That fun fact blew my mind a bit. Both teams starting slowly, trying to figure the other out.
Challenger’s identity could be approved by next week
Arsène Wenger not thought to have entered reckoning
Uefa and its allies are close to identifying a candidate to run against Gianni Infantino in the Fifa election and could select the challenger as early as next week.
The clock is ticking on efforts to oppose Infantino in March, with candidates required to confirm they are standing by 18 November, but there is growing confidence those attempts are nearing a successful resolution. Discussions with potential nominees have gained momentum despite recent setbacks that included a U-turn by the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, who surprisingly endorsed Infantino’s push for a fourth term.
Football Daily isn’t suggesting standards at Chelsea have slipped in recent years, but the quality of their players who miss penalties in shootouts against Liverpool certainly appears to be on the slide. Before last night, footballing royalty such as Arjen Robben, Geremi, Tammy Abraham, César Azpilicueta, Mason Mount and even goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had all missed from the spot in four consecutive post-match deciders against Liverpool across 19 years and four different competitions. On Wednesday, a flame-haired Argentinian irritant, a striker we’d never previously heard of before yesterday and a defensive liability whose boots increasingly look to have been welded on to the wrong feet each added their names to the roll of shame. Valentín Barco, Emanuel Emegha and Wesley Fofana, take a collective bow.
The reaction when Fleetwood made the final penalty was the best example I’ve ever seen of pandemonium! – Jim Geissman
A few random thoughts from one of the Wednesday fans who saw Harry Kane’s first goal at Orient (Tuesday’s Football Daily). Main after match conversation topics were how we’d shipped four goals in the second half, our new signing Gary Madine, and those people on the balconies of the new flats who watched the game for free. Without cameras I’d have no recall of Harry Kane’s goal but funnily enough I do genuinely remember Dean Cox having a very good game. We’ve talked about it loads since, but I don’t think any of us at the time thought Kane stood out in that game. Which just goes to show. A thoroughly deserved award for a career of consistent & often under-appreciated excellence. And what a superb motto: “Work in silence. Let success be your voice” – Alan.
Carrick says he is not surprised to still be head coach
He describes Fernandes as ‘important’ for the squad
Michael Carrick has said he will not strip Bruno Fernandes of the Manchester United captaincy after dropping him for the defeat by Bournemouth and that he is not surprised to have kept his job as the head coach.
Carrick and Fernandes held talks this week after the Portuguese criticised the tactics in the loss to Como, resulting in the midfielder being an unused substitute on Sunday. Harry Maguire took the armband but will not retain it for Saturday’s game at Chelsea, with Carrick saying “there is no decision to be made” and praising Fernandes.
Home crowds have plummeted amid a dispute with the owner, but 10,000 travelled 300km to see Tuesday’s 6-2 win
Serie A had its second scoreless draw of the season on Wednesday evening. Parma and Udinese were the culprits, though perhaps they can be allowed some grace. The game was not short on incident, Maduka Okoye saving a penalty for the Friulians, who had been on a six-game losing streak, midway through the second half. Mariano Troilo made a goalline clearance for Parma soon after.
An open, end-to-end game was made to look drab in the context of this bonkers campaign. While Parma and Udinese stymied one another at the Tardini, Milan came from behind to lead Bologna at San Siro. And then collapsing to a 4-2 defeat.
Gone are the eight criteria to be a High Impact Player so clubs can spend their money on whomever they want – and the solution makes sense
When Washington plays Chicago this Sunday in DC, “Rowdy Audi” will probably be full. It will also be full when the post-season starts, should they lock up their top-four position with a positive result on Decision Day. Equipped with an accessible stadium in a big city, a proud fanbase and a formidable roster rife with players qualifying for the High Impact Player (HIP) rule’s initial criteria (including Trinity Rodman, who gave the rule its moniker), the Spirit hold sway in the attendance charts.
But starting next season, everyone on the Spirit will qualify for the “Rodman Rule”. So will every player in NWSL. Announced Friday, NWSL settled a grievance with the league’s Players Association, who argued that the initial criteria violated federal labor law.
Ivan Toney has in effect been ruled out of Euro 2028 after his trial for assault occasioning actual bodily harm was scheduled for 12 June 2028.
Toney appeared at Southwark crown court and stood in the dock to confirm a not guilty plea. The striker is accused of head-butting and punching Saber Da Silva at a Soho nightclub on 6 December last year.
From Ms Rachel to Roc Nation, the internet embraced a Florida toddler. Police records reviewed by the Guardian complicate the story – and raise troubling questions
There is real tragedy in this week’s story of the three-year-old Florida boy whose parents claimed he was so good at soccer that police were called to do what opposing defenders couldn’t. But it doesn’t lie where the outrage cycle wants you to think. It’s broader, implicates more people, and to me, is far more depressing.
You may have seen the video by now. Here was a toddler with fabulous soccer talent, running end-to-end and scoring goal after goal against opponents who have seemingly just found their feet. The cameraman, later identified as the child’s father, loudly and proudly cheers his son on. Way to go, kid.
The Friedkin Group want to sell and squad investment has dried up but Carabao Cup is still an opportunity for silverware
A European challenge plus a concerted effort to end a trophy drought that will soon stretch into a 32nd year were Everton’s stated aims for this season, although that was before the club’s owners turned the taps off in the transfer market and announced they were looking to sell up. An abrupt change of direction and ambition from The Friedkin Group (TFG) has not altered the demands on David Moyes, however. It is as you were for the Everton manager, regardless of the tools at his disposal.
Newcastle’s visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Thursday – when they will be backed by 7,732 fans after Everton allocated their opponents 15% of the ground – is timely on several counts. It is, first and foremost, an opportunity for Moyes’s team to advance in a competition that Everton have never won and edge closer to realising one stated aim for the campaign. It is also a chance to restore positivity after consecutive defeats against Chelsea and Arsenal, Everton’s only losses of the season.
In reality, it was only three points. All Tottenham took from their 2-0 win at Chelsea last Saturday evening was a helpful boost in the Premier League standings. But it feels far more significant than that.
This is a fixture Tottenham almost never win. In their 34 previous visits to Chelsea in the Premier League, they had won only once. It was their first win to nil at Stamford Bridge in any competition since December 1986, nearly 40 years ago. Winning at Chelsea is huge. Plenty of Spurs fans have only ever seen this happen once before, in April 2018 under Mauricio Pochettino, when their team was a formidable force.
Is there anything you would like to ask the former Celtic, Arsenal and Scotland forward?
Ever wanted to ask Charlie Nicholas a question? Well, this is your chance. Whether you want to know about the season he scored 50 goals for Celtic, or the day he scored both goals as Arsenal beat Liverpool in the League Cup final, or his time on Soccer Saturday, let us know.
Nicholas was a true character. Not many footballers can say they have played for Scotland at a World Cup, been on the cover of NME, had one of their transfers announced on the stage of His Majesty’s Theatre on Hogmanay, and turned out for Clyde. Nicholas can. Drop your questions in the form below and we will put them to him.
Derek McInnes was making first return to Tynecastle
Martin O’Neill ‘disappointed’ after Dundee United result
Olwethu Makhanya scored a late equaliser as Rangers earned a 2-2 draw with Hearts on the much-hyped Tynecastle return for Derek McInnes.
The Rangers manager was booed loudly by the home support as he emerged from the tunnel for his first match back since leaving for Ibrox in June, just weeks after the Edinburgh side were pipped to the Scottish Premiership title.
Chelsea must have been resigned to their fate as soon as the shootout arrived at Anfield. Four times they had faced Liverpool on penalties previously and four times they had lost. Number five was confirmed when Wesley Fofana’s wild effort sailed high into the Kop and sent Andoni Iraola’s side into a Carabao Cup quarter-final against his old club Bournemouth.
Fofana was not the only culprit as Chelsea’s catalogue of penalty misery against Liverpool gained a new chapter alongside the 2007 Champions League semi-final, the 2019 Uefa Super Cup final and the FA and League Cup finals of 2022.
Alessia Russo wrote herself into the history books once more as she became the highest English goalscorer in the Women’s Champions League. Her hat-trick gave Arsenal a vital 3-0 win against Benfica to send the Gunners up to second in the league phase table.
“I’m so happy. I think we’ve found a nice dynamic as well with the last two games,” Russo’s manager, Renée Slegers, said. “She’s one of the leaders and she does it her way. She cares for everyone around her and connects well with her teammates. She leads the way as a role model, doing the right things consistently.”
Kane gets guard of honour before 6-1 win over Magdeburg
Serie A: Inter sink Venezia, Milan lose at home to Bologna
Bayern Munich sailed to a 6-1 win over second-tier Magdeburg in the DFB-Pokal after their head coach, Vincent Kompany, was discharged from hospital earlier on Wednesday.
Kompany’s assistant, Aaron Danks, was in the dugout for Bayern for the last-32 tie, while Harry Kane was rested. The Ballon d’Or winner received a guard of honour from his teammates before kick-off in front of 75,000 fans at the Allianz Arena.
He replaces Nicky Hayen with club 22nd in Championship
Burnley have announced former Switzerland midfielder Fabio Celestini as their new head coach four days after sacking Nicky Hayen.
Burnley, who have won only one of their 12 league games this season after relegation from the Premier League, have not disclosed the length of Celestini’s contract. They heralded his appointment by saying in a statement that the 50-year-old “arrives with a proven capacity to win and to adapt to different football environments”.
Basque pals Andoni and Xabi embrace warmly … but so much for friendship, because Chelsea turn Liverpool around, so the home side are kicking towards the Kop in this first half. They’re not huge fans of that. They kick off.
The teams are out! Liverpool in red, Chelsea in blue. These lads always look good when they play each other. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
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