Key events
Eleven arrests at Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv
Last night’s Europa League match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv was, as Barney Ronay put it, “perhaps the most un-football football match ever staged in England, a groaning platter of geopolitics with a tiny little sprig of sport dusted across the top”. Oh, Villa won 2-0.
Few things in football stir the soul like the emergence of young players. We profile six of the best from this Premier League season.
Middlesbrough reject Wolves approach for Edwards
Ben Fisher
Wolves’s approach for Rob Edwards has been rejected by Middlesbrough, with the Championship club determined to keep hold of their head coach. Wolves want Edwards to succeed Vítor Pereira but after Gary O’Neil pulled out of advanced talks on Monday, Boro dismissed Wolves’s attempt to lure Edwards on Thursday afternoon.
Edwards joined Boro in the summer on a three-year contract until 2028 and the club are adamant they want to keep him after leading them to third in the division. Wolves were hoping to tempt Edwards to swap a promotion charge for a relegation battle, with the Molineux club bottom of the Premier League after claiming just two points from their opening 10 matches.
Wolves and particularly their executive chair, Jeff Shi, are longstanding admirers of Edwards, who previously played and coached at the club. Edwards also had a short spell in caretaker charge in 2016, shortly after Fosun, Wolves’ owners, bought the club. Wolves were willing to pay Boro compensation to extract Edwards from his contract.
Manchester City v Liverpool (4.30pm)
Arne Slot, who looks a lot more relaxed after a superb week for Liverpool, is chatting to the media ahead of the trip to Manchester City on Sunday. We’ll post the most interesting quotes shortly.
Tuchel decides to recall Bellingham in key England squad
David Hytner
Thomas Tuchel has decided to give Jude Bellingham an England recall on Friday for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, the Guardian understands. The head coach sparked a major sideshow in October when he did not select Bellingham for the friendly with Wales and the qualifier against Latvia.
Bellingham was not in prime physical condition having returned to the Real Madrid squad after shoulder surgery only a couple of weeks before Tuchel’s announcement. It was nonetheless a bombshell call given Bellingham’s ability and status, with Tuchel doubling down on it when he said he might have excluded him even if he had been 100% fit.
Preamble
Morning one and all. Stop messing around on YouTube, watching old Top of the Pops episodes from 1991 again: we’ve got a busy (sic) day of football news ahead. At 10am, Thomas Tuchel will name his England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, with Jude Bellingham set to be recalled.
We’ll also have all the build-up – okay, as much as we can humanly manage – ahead of this weekend’s domestic fixtures. Including this little lot in the Premier League.
Saturday
Sunday
Crystal Palace v Brighton (2pm)
Aston Villa v Bournemouth (2pm)
Brentford v Newcastle (2pm)
Nottm Forest v Leeds United (2pm)
Manchester City v Liverpool (4.30pm)
