• Villa chair announces plan on social media

• Carragher said club will ‘never be Man United’

Aston Villa have announced plans to take legal action against Jamie Carragher following his “unacceptable insults” about the club and its supporters.

Carragher told Villa fans to “shut the fuck up” after facing criticism for suggesting Unai Emery should consider taking the Manchester United job. Villa responded on Friday evening with a statement on X signed by their chair, Nassef Sawiris.

• Head coach reflects on ‘not always rosy’ conversations

• Players ‘hurting’ after eight games without a win

Michael Carrick said he has had difficult conversations with the Manchester United hierarchy and his players during their turbulent start to the season.

United have not won in their past eight games and start the weekend in 16th place of 20 in the league, one point above the relegation zone.

• Bets predicted exact top-five men’s finishing order

• Organiser France Football has contacted police

A series of suspicious bets that correctly predicted the exact top-five finishing order of this year’s Ballon d’Or and generated almost $200,000 (£149,000) in winnings is being investigated by the event’s organisers, France Football, who have also contacted the police.

It has been alleged that 12 Polymarket accounts – an American cryptocurrency-based prediction market – placed the bets, with more than $264,000 wagered on the outcome before Monday’s ceremony. Their extraordinary accuracy has raised serious questions about a potential leak of confidential results before football’s most prestigious individual award. Harry Kane was crowned the winner at the ceremony at the London Palladium, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Lionel Messi. Remarkably, this was the exact order predicted by the group of accounts identified in French media outlet Upside’s investigation.