Buildup, news and discussion before Saturday’s games
This weekend’s fixtures | Mail us with your thoughts
And ahead of the Arsenal v Chelsea showdown on Sunday, here’s Jacob Steinberg on a player who could been lining up for the Gunners rather than the Blues.
Here’s David Hytner with some Arsenal content. A look at how Mikel Arteta has taken a leaf out of Arsene Wenger’s book and urged fans unhappy at the lack of a deadline-day arrival to see the bigger picture.
Mexico v England in the Azteca was a World Cup classic. But here it is from a totally different angle: the referee’s point of view. This is an extract from The Impossible Job: The Truly Unbelievable World of Football Referees by William Ralston.
To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com
Here’s the seven-match Premier League programme for Saturday. All times BST.
12:30 Newcastle United v Bournemouth 15:00 Brentford v Sunderland 15:00 Brighton v Leeds 15:00 Fulham v Crystal Palace 15:00 Manchester City v Coventry 15:00 Nottingham Forest v Tottenham 17:30 Hull v Aston Villa
And adding to the list of things we didn’t expect to see on the bingo card – Troy Parrott getting the winner to sink José Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Again, this did really occur on Friday night.
This was a headline that would have been ridiculous to envisage not long ago. But, yes, it really happened last night.
Here’s Barney Ronay with a Saturday morning blast of words on Gianni Infantino.
“Gianni Infantino is beleaguered. Gianni Infantino is re-beleaguered. Gianni Infantino has been beleaguered for almost six weeks, since news emerged of his grotesque undercover plan to sell off, for related personal gain, the shared global property he’s employed to preserve, protect and safely pass on.”
Let’s start at Portman Road where Alexander Isak scored twice in the first 10 minutes to make it a pretty comfortable night for Liverpool. John Brewin was there to see the Swedish striker’s two expert finishes and also witness the debut of new £123m man Bradley Barcola.
Good morning. After a pair of opening 2-2 draws, Liverpool are up and running in the Premier League after securing their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory at Ipswich last night. A relief for new boss Andoni Iraola and now it’s the turn of his former side, Bournemouth, to see if they get bank a first victory of the campaign in today’s early kick-off at Newcastle. That’s one of seven Premier League fixtures today while there’s a full programme in the Championship, League One and League Two. Add in a bunch of action in Scotland and around Europe and this is exactly as your Saturday should be: packed full of football. Keep across it all right here!
