Key events
Tom Gould will be keeping a close eye on the Merseyside Derby MBM later on…
“Today my son (a fellow Liverpool supporter), is marrying his long-term girlfriend. The ceremony starts at 12:30 in the city centre, so I need to travel about five stops on a packed train with reds and blues travelling to the match…
“Didn’t the bride look beautiful?”
“I dunno, I was following the MBM on my phone!”
In response to Jeff’s question earlier, Joshua Keeling says:
“Of course Amorim can improve United. We are already better this season than we were last season. The underlying numbers are good in the league, the City game aside. He is trying to change the culture of the club, get rid of the problem players, and set us up for success on and off the pitch. He has the charisma and personality to deal with the job, and he showed that he can produce incredible football at Sporting. It’s at least a two to three year job to get us back to where we want to be. Give him time.”
David Hytner
“Alejandro Garnacho left Manchester United for Chelsea at the end of August under a cloud. The quintessential Gen Z footballer, who appears to divide his time evenly between having his head up on the pitch and his head down in his phone off it, had made one faux pas too many on social media…”
A bold score prediction to say the least…
5 nil to Chelsea with Garnacho scoring a 20 minute hatrick. The Pope doesn’t want the United manager changing his system either, he enjoys the comedy and thanks Amorim for the public mention.
Speaking of Amorim, Jeff Sax has messaged in to ask:
“Does anyone really believe that Amorim can improve the MU team?”
What do we think? Message in and let me know!
This was probably my favourite line from yesterday’s press conferences: Ruben Amorim claimed “not even the pope” could make him deviate from his 3-4-3 formation, despite Manchester United’s poor start to the season.
League Two fixtures
Cambridge United v Fleetwood Town (12:30pm BST)
Harrogate Town v Shrewsbury Town (12:30pm BST)
Bromley v Chesterfield
Cheltenham Town v Oldham Athletic
Barrow v Crewe Alexandra
Salford City v Swindon Town
Walsall v Tranmere Rovers
Colchester United v Bristol Rovers
Notts County v Crawley Town
Newport County v Gillingham
Barnet v Grimsby Town
MK Dons v Accrington Stanley
League One fixtures
Bolton Wanderers v Wigan Athletic (12:30pm BST)
Blackpool v Barnsley (12:30pm BST)
Lincoln City v Luton Town (12:30pm BST)
Plymouth Argyle v Peterborough United
Doncaster Rovers v AFC Wimbledon
Cardiff City v Bradford City
Reading v Leyton Orient
Port Vale v Mansfield Town
Wycombe Wanderers v Northampton Town
Stevenage v Exeter City
Huddersfield Town v Burton Albion
Rotherham United v Stockport County
Championship fixtures
QPR V Stoke City (12:30pm BST)
Birmingham City v Swansea City (12:30pm BST)
Leicester City v Coventry City (12:30pm BST)
Blackburn Rovers v Ipswich Town
Derby County v Preston North End
Hull City v Southampton
Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United v Charlton Athletic
Norwich City v Wrexham
Bristol City v Oxford United
Millwall v Watford
Feel free to email in today with any thoughts, feelings, predictions, or just general chit-chat. matchday.live@theguardian.com is the address.
Alternatively, you can leave a comment below the line.
Premier League fixtures
Liverpool v Everton (12:30pm BST)
Burnley v Nottingham Forest
Brighton v Tottenham
West Ham v Crystal Palace
Wolves v Leeds
Manchester United v Chelsea (5:30pm BST)
Fulham v Brentford (8pm BST)
Let’s return focus to the Premier League now and take a look at some of the potential lineups we could expect this weekend…
There were two Friday matches in the WSL last night, with Tottenham enduring a dismal start to the weekend.
The London side suffered a 5-1 defeat to Manchester City at Brisbane Road, putting an end to their perfect start to the season. Aoba Fujino, Vivianne Miedema, Kerstin Casparij, Grace Clinton and Laura Coombs all got on the scoresheet for City, with Olivia Holdt netting a late consolation for Spurs.
Meanwhile, London City Lionesses secured their first WSL points in a 2-1 win over Everton. Isobel Goodwin scored either side of half-time to guide her team to the win. Yūka Momiki got one back for the hosts, but they could not find an equaliser.
Also in the women’s game, it was revealed yesterday that Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe is being investigated by the FA for an alleged discriminatory comment overheard by some staff and teammates.
Here’s a look at who the English teams will face in the UWCL league phase:
Arsenal OL Lyonnes (h), Bayern Munich (a), Real Madrid (h), Benfica (a), Twente (h), OH Leuven (a).
Chelsea Barcelona (h), Wolfsburg (a), Roma (h), St Polten (a), Paris FC (h), Twente (a).
Manchester United OL Lyonnes (h), Wolfsburg (a), Paris Saint-Germain (h), Juventus (a), Valerenga (h), Atlético Madrid (a).
The Women’s Champions League draw took place yesterday, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United finding out their league phase opponents.
And yes, Chelsea WILL take on Barcelona – it felt pretty much inevitable.
Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to another Matchday live! We’ve got two huge games to look forward to this afternoon, with Merseyside rivals Liverpool and Everton kicking things off at Anfield.
Manchester United return to action this evening against Chelsea at Old Trafford, with Alejandro Garnacho in line to make his first appearance back at his former home since leaving last month.
We will also bring you coverage of the four 3pm games a bit later on – more on those later – as well as the 8pm meeting between Fulham and Brentford.
But before we jump into today’s action, let’s quickly recap some of the headlines from this week…
