Opinion

"The aim has to be winning the Premier League. I know people will be questioning me for saying it after last season, but it has to be that," Luke Shaw said to Sky Sports during Manchester United's pre-season tour of America. "We all have to have the same beliefs and ambitions, and that family feeling together, and we’ll strive for the same thing." That was not just a questionable declaration; it was borderline delusional after the worst campaign in the club's entire history.

'Give Erling Haaland the ball and he will score' had proved to be a pretty effective tactic for Manchester City over the previous two months, but Aston Villa have exposed its flaws. They found a way to blunt the Norwegian's edges on Sunday, ending Haaland's run of scoring in 12 matches in a row for club and country while also becoming the first team to keep a clean sheet against Pep Guardiola's side in nine games.

Youth football is in Pep Guardiola's blood. He emerged from Barcelona's famed La Masia academy and then took his first steps as a coach after being appointed manager of the Catalans' B team all the way back in 2007. When he became first-team coach at Camp Nou one year later, he promoted the likes of Sergio Busquets and Pedro, plus the returning Gerard Pique, as Barca swept to the treble in style.

With the title race having already swung back and forth while the top-four and relegation battles are as open as they have been for a few years, the Premier League is becoming increasingly difficult to predict. Sure, the odd match still follows the formbook, but a number of teams are proving tough to pin down and figure out what to expect from them on a game-to-game basis.

Liverpool's 5-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League came as a major boost for Arne Slot's side after four successive defeats, but one man didn't seem in the mood to celebrate after the final whistle. Mohamed Salah clapped the away fans at Deutsche Bank Park, but then headed straight for the tunnel instead of revelling in the final result with his euphoric team-mates.

With 2025 marking the 21st edition of the FIFPRO Men's World 11, GOAL ranks the five best versions ever assembled

Arne Slot's Liverpool tenure had been plain sailing until late September rolled around, with the Dutchman the picture of cool as he guided the Reds to the Premier League title in his first season at the helm, making the job look easy after stepping into the very large shoes vacated by Jurgen Klopp in 2024. The new campaign had started well enough, albeit while a number of late goals might have papered over the cracks, but things feel different now.

Arsenal will host Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, with Mikel Arteta's side facing an early test of their European credentials. The Gunners have already seen off Athletic Club and Olympiacos this season, but the visit of Diego Simeone and his troops will be their sternest challenge yet, particularly with the Spanish giants clicking into gear after a slow beginning to the season.

Thomas Tuchel has done the bare minimum expected of him when he was appointed as England manager one year ago: Qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Tuchel has done it with minimal fuss, too, as the Three Lions have won all six of their competitive games to top their qualifying group with two games to spare. It has not always been pretty, but that will count for little once the tournament gets going next summer.

Perhaps now more than at any other point in the modern history of football, the subject of stadia is increasingly dominant. Manchester United are trying to completely rebuild Old Trafford to the cost of £2 billion ($2.7bn). Spurs are six years into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium experience and at last have a trophy to put in their new cabinet. Chelsea's dispute over land in west London continues to cast a shadow over the future and suitability of Stamford Bridge. Newcastle's Saudi owners are still deciding whether they should expand St James' Park or make use of the space on the adjacent land to start from scratch.

In 2021, a graphic designer working for Sky Sport Germany was going to change the footballing world forever. After Jadon Sancho went his first seven matches for Manchester United following his £73m move from Borussia Dortmund without a direct goal contribution, his face was edited onto a picture of James Bond, also known as '007'. In this instance, the two zeroes represented his goals and assists, with the seven the amount of matches he had played.

Jack Grealish's omission from Thomas Tuchel's latest England squad was not just a surprise, but also completely ridiculous. Only a handful of Premier League players have made better starts to the season than Grealish, who has quickly rediscovered the form that once saw him touted as one of the brightest talents of his generation, since joining Everton on loan from Manchester City in the summer transfer window.

Are Bayern Munich the strongest side in Europe right now? They're certainly not far off it. The Germans maintained their flawless start to the 2025-26 season with a 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend. Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane was among the goals again, as the free-scoring striker maintained his record-breaking start to the campaign.

Lamine Yamal went out of his way to hype up his return to the Barcelona line-up for Wednesday night's Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. The 18-year-old posted a clip on his Instagram account from the movie 'The Devil's Advocate' in which Al Pacino's character, John Milton, discusses the effects of pressure: "Some people, you squeeze 'em, they focus; others fold. Can you summon your talent at will? Can you deliver on a deadline? Can you sleep at night?"

"He has great potential. He's really smart, a guy who's always thinking," Ruben Amorim said after Benjamin Sesko's £74 million ($101m) switch to Manchester United from RB Leipzig at the start of August. "He can play a different type of football. He is going to feel that the Premier League is aggressive. He is going to learn. But Ben can be a striker for United for a lot of years; that's why we paid so much money to have a striker who will have his history in our club."

Jamie Carragher immediately expressed his concerns over Arne Slot's tactics after Liverpool had won their opening game of the new season against Bournemouth. So he was never going to hold back after watching the disturbingly ragged Reds slump to a second consecutive defeat in Tuesday's Champions League clash with Galatasaray.

The age-defying England captain is in the form of his life, and can achieve all his remaining career dreams in Germany