⚽ All the latest as we build up to Saturday’s games
⚽ Ten things to look out for | Fixtures | Mail Billy

Here is the article in question and a snippet of Andy’s stat action …

Mac Allister’s sense of responsibility extends to implementing Iraola’s instructions for his new team. Figures from Opta show the midfielder is winning more tackles per Premier League game this season – 2.3 on average compared to 1.8 last season; winning more duels (4.8 from 3.8); winning more aerial duels (0.9 from 0.6) and winning more possession (5.6 on average compared to 3.8).

He is sacrificing the offensive side of his game to bring more aggression and organisation to the defensive aspect, and his touches in the opposition box, chances created, goals and assists are all down on last season as a consequence. Not that Iraola is complaining.

Arsenal closed the gap to Manchester City with victory over Everton and Fulham earned a vital win at Coventry

Arsenal hit back! Alessia Russo picks out Georgia Stanway as she advances into the box and the ex-Bayern midfielder guides her shot on target. Lize Kop should probably do better in the Spurs goal – she palmed it into the top corner to make it look better than it was.

What a leap from Tandberg, who is a lifelong Spurs fan. She beat several Arsenal defenders to Victoria Pelova’s corner and Misa didn’t have much chance of stopping the header.

⚽ All the latest football news heading into the weekend
⚽ Ten things | Maresca coy on future | Mail Rob

Football Weekly: You can watch/listen to the pod squad discuss Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, plus much more, in the latest episode.

A reminder that Enzo Maresca will face the media in 20 minutes’ time at the Etihad Campus in Manchester. You can follow the press conference live here.

• Updates on Manchester City and Nations League news

• Fixtures | Get Football Daily | And you can email John

That’s it from me for now. Luke McLaughlin is here to take over.

Manchester City: Andy Burnham’s intervention in the Manchester City debate has revived tensions between the Premier League and the UK prime minister.

• The latest football news, reaction and discussion

• Today’s fixtures | And you can mail matchday live

Scotland: Sebastien Pocognoli’s reign began with a 0-0 draw with Slovenia yesterday afternoon. It’s a decent first result for Steve Clarke’s successor and gives Scotland a platform to build on before games against Switzerland and North Macedonia in Group B1. Ewan Murray was there to watch …

Blue skies, a dainty stadium in Ljubljana and a second-half display that provided glimpses of optimism in respect of Scotland’s world, post-Steve Clarke. The best-forgotten first 45 minutes can be explained away by a squad operating under a new regime. By full time, Slovenia were grateful for their point. Scotland’s players took deserved applause.

Scotland’s failing here was a familiar one. A lack of goals haunted Clarke. Nonetheless, this version of Scotland did at least create a series of openings. Scott McTominay, a key attacking threat, was missing. Instilling ruthlessness in a team is no easy task; it is one, however, Pocognoli has the coaching credentials to meet. Slovenia, on this evidence, have the more significant challenges.

Bruno Guimarães, Bukayo Saka and David Raya all had a hand in maintaining Arsenal’s 100% record against Sunderland

Sunderland parade new striker Juan Angulo, signed from Independiente del Valle last week, before kick-off at the Stadium of Light. That one had passed me by – and I’ve spent all summer writing down hundreds of transfers for this …

JD emails in …

Here is my early prediction for very competitive EPL season. Teams will struggle to reach 70 points. The team getting 75 will surely be champions. Whether Arsenal get to ninety plus or they just about scrap to 70-75 remains to be seen.

Updates from first men’s semi-final at 8pm BST, 3pm EST
Andrew Lawrence: in praise of five-set tennis | Mail Billy

Karen Khachanov emerges from the tunnel first, followed by Alexander Zverev. Apparently the German was a minute or two late because he needed some extra time in the toilet – we’ve all been there.

On Arthur Ashe Stadium, a retired servicewoman sings the American national anthem before the players come out. Flags are flying at half mast around the grounds today on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Arthur Ashe was also lit up blue from dusk until dawn this morning.

Two assists and the winner for Deportivo A Coruña leave Gabonese striker with one club record and eyeing another

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was already the best player on the pitch when he ran through to score Deportivo A Coruña’s winner on Saturday night. It was certainly not Ilias Akhomach, the Villarreal substitute whose pass on halfway had inadvertently played Aubameyang through, nor Sergi Cardona, the intended target of that pass. After 89 minutes and two assists, the 37-year-old Aubameyang raced the length of the half to slot past Luiz Júnior to make it 3-2.

It had been a similar case the week before, when Aubameyang’s pace left the Valencia defenders behind before he dinked the ball over the goalkeeper. The week before that, he calmly rounded Málaga’s Alfonso Herrero before opening the scoring. The week before that, the former Barcelona striker marked his return to La Liga against Elche with a superb touch and finish from Lorenzo Amatucci’s diagonal pass. Scoring in each of his first four games for Deportivo is a club record, eclipsing Bebeto’s fast start of three in a row from 1992.

Hull continued their unbeaten start to the season with a third successive clean sheet against a blunt Aston Villa

4 min: Hull settle into some possession. The place is bouncing.

2 min: Jackson heads wide! Early chance for Villa as Maatsen crosses from the left, Jackson rises between the Hull centre-backs and heads it back beyond the near post.

The latest third-round updates from Flushing Meadows
You can mail Billy and follow us on TikTok and Bluesky

Leylah Fernandez has broken Pegula early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first. You might recall that Fernandez was Emma Raducanu’s opponent in the 2021 US Open final; since losing that match, the Canadian has only gone past the third round at a slam once (the 2022 French Open, where she made the quarter-finals) but has won five WTA Tour titles and is a consistent presence in the world’s top 30. So which career path would you prefer: hers or Raducanu’s?

Sabalenka takes the first set 6-3, remaining dominant against an opponent who is playing decent stuff. Marta Kostyuk also claims the first set 6-3 over Alexandrova, while Sorana Cirstea has claimed the opener against Paolini by the same score. That feels like an upset, even though Cirstea is seeded higher – No 16 to Paolini’s 19.

At the end of a busy transfer window which spanned the World Cup, here are some of the subplots of the summer

The World Cup is always a good shop window. Yan Diomande was already a rising star at RB Leipzig but shining for Côte d’Ivoire in the US helped push up his price tag before a £115.7m move to Real Madrid. There were other breakout stars: Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi, whose signature Aston Villa pipped Newcastle to; Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Kerim Alajbegovic, who went to Juventus; and Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi, who is now in the Premier League with Coventry. Cape Verde’s cult hero Vozinha now keeps net for the Chilean giants Colo-Colo and Morocco’s attacking dynamo, Ismael Saibari, has rocked up at Bayern. Billy Munday

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfer window interactive guide

Hansi Flick is very happy to welcome Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona – but Julián Álvarez remains the ultimate prize

If Raphinha has any misgivings about playing as a makeshift No 9 for Barcelona, he is doing a good job of hiding it. Julián Álvarez would have been proud of the Brazilian’s two neat finishes that inspired the Spanish champions to a 5-2 victory against Rayo Vallecano on Monday night, 24 hours before the transfer deadline. Lamine Yamal scored two wonderful goals of his own in a performance that reassured everyone he is back to his best. Add Anthony Gordon to the mix – impressive again in his link-up play – and you have a fluid, fearsome front three.

Yet after the departures of Ferran Torres, Robert Lewandowski and Marcus Rashford this summer, there is no doubt Barcelona not only still want a centre-forward but require one – at least one. Hansi Flick was very happy to see Gabriel Jesus, an £8.6m arrival from Arsenal, in the stands. “He’s a top striker,” the coach said. But Atlético Madrid’s Álvarez is the ultimate prize.

• Argentina great’s last game was in World Cup final

• Player’s father Jorge died earlier in August

Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football seven weeks after Argentina were beaten by Spain in the World Cup final in the US. The 39-year-old captained Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022 and two Copa América titles after winning his first cap in 2005.

On Monday, Messi posted a picture on Instagram of notes that he wrote on 21 July, two days after the World Cup final, confirming he was ending his Argentina career and said the death of his father, Jorge, in early August made him feel “more convinced than before”. Messi was often visibly emotional during the tournament and revealed in the knockout stages that Jorge was undergoing medical treatment.

There will be some familiar faces involved in this week’s European qualifiers as a number of smaller clubs have a chance to make their mark

Fenerbahce v Lyon, Tuesday 8pm
Romelu Lukaku is the latest familiar face to rock up at Fenerbahce. The 33-year-old striker is, however, unlikely to be fit for Lyon’s visit to Istanbul on Tuesday – he sat out Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Genclerbirligi, the club his father played for in the 1990s. “This beautiful country is a second home to me,” Lukaku, who spent part of his childhood in Turkey, said last week. Fenerbahce have also added Mason Greenwood and Nathan Aké to a squad that includes Ederson, N’Golo Kanté and Marco Asensio. Failure to get past Lyon, who are aiming to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2019-20, would not be the best start to Ismail Kartal’s fourth spell as head coach.

There were gold medals for Amy Hunt, GB’s 4x100m mixed relay team, Georgia Hunter Bell and Mondo Duplantis on final night of action

Women’s long jump: Sawyers stands at the top of the runway with a pink and purple starry blanket wrapped round her legs to keep warm. She thrusts it aside and launches herself to an opening jump of 6.95m to go ahead of Mihambo!

Women’s long jump: Malaika Mihambo is the favourite to defend her European title, although the German had a nervous time in qualifying – after two poor jumps, she had to rely on a third and final attempt … and jumped 7.10m. Great Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers, who won Commonwealth gold for England a couple of weeks ago, would do very well indeed to challenge for a medal.

Florentino Pérez pressed the Special One button again after two straight trophyless seasons at Real, but Lamine Yamal and co remain title favourites

A lot has changed since José Mourinho was last appointed Real Madrid manager, but a lot has also not changed. Before his first game in charge in 2010, Spain had just become world champions, their extra-time winner in the final scored by a Barcelona player after their opponents, who had been reduced to 10 men, had tried to kick them off the park. Like then, Mourinho’s task is to take down a Barcelona team that have won two La Liga titles in succession. And like then, he has a host of world-class talent at his disposal.

Florentino Pérez is also still around – and he is largely the reason why Mourinho is back. After the chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, was said to have led the charge to appoint Xabi Alonso last summer, the 79-year-old club president has made the decision his own this time. He promised Mourinho, who won La Liga with 100 points in his first spell, would return if he was re-elected in snap elections in June and the announcement came, in true Pérez style, on the opening day of the World Cup.

After a period of underachievement and upheaval for the Blues, the arrival of Xabi Alonso could signal a change in fortunes

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd (NB: this is not necessarily Billy Munday’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 10th

Highlights are men’s 100m and women’s 100m hurdles
Hodgkinson up and running | Ticket backlash | Mail Billy

Women’s 5,000m: Koster starts to make a move towards the front and Britain’s 20-year-old Innes FitzGerald, a student at the University of Exeter, tries to go with her. Here comes García, who is joined at the front by her compatriot Idaira Ferrero. That has prompted Battocletti to move through the field too. 2,000m to go.

Women’s 5,000m: Bakraci is still leading the way but there is no gap to the rest of the field now. Healy is in a decent position on the shoulder of Koster near the front of the group. Battocletti, the best finisher in the field, is hanging around at the back. 3,000m to go.

Women’s 100m and men’s 5,000m top opening billing
Britain ends 92-year wait | Mail Billy | Follow on TikTok

Women’s 100 hurdles: Germany’s Rosina Schneider draws level with Norway’s Lovise Skarbøvik Andresen after 60m of the third heat but pulls away in the final 20m to win. The Norwegian was still on for a fast time but fell flat on her face at the final hurdle. She leaves the scene in tears. Four athletes went faster than GB’s Emma Nwofor there, which means she finishes 13th overall and misses out on the top 12 places for the semi-finals.

Women’s 100m hurdles: Martine Kolbeinshavn Hjørnevik of Norway bursts through the middle in lane 5 to win the second heat ahead of Belgium’s Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck in lane 2. Ester Bendova of Czechia lost her stride after hitting a hurdle early on and does not finish. Nwofor is down to 9th on the overall times with one heat to go.