Arsenal v Brighton, Manchester City v Tottenham: WSL updates and more – live

Let’s go, lads. Watford keeping it simple on the website formerly known as Twitter.

Arty shot from Estadio de Vallecas, where Rayo Vallecano meet Las Palmas in La Liga.

Scenes in Berlin.

Brighton Women have managed to prise the floodgates shut, for now, and it’s still 3-0 Arsenal.

Barnsley v Rotherham has kicked off, while Watford v Oxford will commence in a mere 18 minutes or so.

Goal! Manchester City Women 1-0 Tottenham Women (Shaw 1)

Now Arsenal hit the post! Was it Foord or Mead who hit it from distance with the keeper, Bagley, off her line? Either way it was nearly four.

Arsenal Women 3-0 Brighton Women (Maanum 24)

Goal! Arsenal Women 2-0 Brighton Women (Foord 22)

Watford v Oxford United teams

Goal! Arsenal Women 1-0 Brighton Women (Mead 13)

Watford v Oxford teams, via the magic of Twitter:

Arsenal are getting a bit of joy down their left wing early doors. Alessia Russo just surged into the area moments after another good move.

Arsenal Women have got a double header against Juventus incoming: they face the Bianconeri away from home next Tuesday, then at home on Thursday 21 November, with the North London derby at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium coming on the Saturday in between (16 November).

It’s Remembrance Day this weekend. There is a rendition of the Last Post at the Emirates, with the teams lined up on either side of the centre circle, to commemorate the contribution of those who served in the two World Wars and later conflicts.

The Arsenal and Brighton teams are out for tonight’s 7pm KO in the WSL.

Manchester City Women v Tottenham Women (7.30pm)

Somewhat uninspiring scenes across tonight’s continental European fixtures, at least until you get to Ligue 1:

Union Berlin v Freiburg
Lecce v Empoli
Rayo Vallecano v Las Palmas
Marseille v Auxerre

Morton v Ayr in the Scottish Championship, to see who wins that.

Barnsley v Rotherham teams (7.15pm)

Arsenal Women v Brighton Women teams (7pm)

Chelsea v Arsenal excitement over on the Premier League X feed.

“Can you name all of these players who have featured for both Chelsea and Arsenal?” they ask.

Yes. Yes, I can.

Watford v Oxford in the Championship is 7th v 16th. It’s neither a top of the table collision or a relegation six-pointer. (Six-pinter, maybe, it being a Friday night.)

I witnessed Milwall 1-0 Leeds on Wednesday night, the south London club’s fourth 1-0 win in a row. Leeds played some lovely stuff, in the first half especially, but “Wall” weathered the storm and fully merited their win.

Thanks Dominic. Strap yourselves in, everyone.

Right, it’s about now that I hand back over to Luke McLaughlin, who will steer you through the evening’s WSL action.

There’s a couple of good games for him to get stuck into.

I’m not one for lauding it over managers (potentially) losing their jobs, or a betting expert, but it seems like Gary O’Neil should be shorter odds in this. Wolves simply must beat Southampton tomorrow.

A host of League One games, initially scheduled for next weekend, have been postponed due to international call-ups on one or both sides. They include Birmingham v Stockport, Wycombe v Huddersfield and Peterborough v Burton Albion, as well as Walsall v Gillingham in League Two.

This is becoming quite the regular feature in the modern age when even third tier sides have multiple internationals.

Reasons for Manchester United fans to be cheerful? Luke Shaw on an actual football field playing actual football.

More Liverpool news and it’s not the best news. Diogo Jota will not feature this weekend against Villa and won’t be back for the Reds until later in the month, as he nurses an ‘impact’ injury to his upper body.

Slot said: “We expect him back after the international break… I always say in Holland there is privacy about this and I don’t know how it is over here. Like I just said, he will be back one or two weeks after the international break.”

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk insists he isn’t bitter from the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 semi-final exit to England as he prepares to face that game’s matchwinner, Ollie Watkins.

The Aston Villa striker scored the decisive goal in the last minute to clinch a 2-1 victory for England that night and arrives at Anfield on Saturday looking to stop Arne Slot’s side, who have won 14 of 16 matches this season.

Van Dijk said: “Do the Euros play on my mind? No. I am not that, what do you call it, sentimental? Bitter? I am never bitter, but I know how good he (Watkins) can be and I think he is a very good striker.

“He always makes it difficult for the defenders and it will be a good match-up for all of us. But no, I don’t think about what happened in the summer. Obviously he scored a good goal, unfortunately, we couldn’t stop it but that is football sometimes.”

Cheers Luke. A reminder of those WSL fixtures for you:

Also tonight, it’s Watford v Oxford in the Championship (8pm) and Barnsley v Rotherham in League 1 (7.15pm for some reason. All times GMT (UK time).

I will be back for tonight’s WSL action plus any other footballing business, but Dominic Booth is stepping into the breach for the next bit.

Have you done this week’s quiz? Get cracking:

The Manchester United first-team coach Darren Fletcher has been given a three-match extended touchline ban for confronting the match officials during last month’s 2-1 win at home against Brentford, the Football Association said on Friday.

The former United midfielder was also fined £7,500 pounds for his protests when Brentford scored the opener on the stroke of half-time.

United protested when Ethan Pinnock scored with the home team reduced to 10 men after the referee Sam Barrott instructed Matthijs de Ligt to go to the touchline to stem the bleeding from a gash on his head.

United’s then manager Erik ten Hag and assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy received yellow cards for their protests but Fletcher went one step further and confronted the match officials at half-time near the tunnel.

“The coach acted in an improper and/or confrontational manner and/or he used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official and the referee and/or assistant referees,” the FA said in a statement.

Fletcher admitted to the charge of misconduct but denied that he had been abusive. However, the regulatory commission said they had proof of his actions and imposed the sanctions. (Reuters)

Any thoughts on the weekend soccerball? Email me

You know what time it is …

It’s the predicted lineups for all this weekend’s Premier League action:

Meanwhile, in Turin …

Juventus are well rested after their Champions League trip to Lille and will approach the Turin derby against Torino at full intensity, coach Thiago Motta said as they look to reel in the Serie A leaders.

Although Juve are the only unbeaten team in the Italian top flight, Motta’s side lie sixth, with 21 points after six draws in 11 games. Torino are 10th with 14 points.

A victory on Saturday can bring Juve closer to leaders Napoli and second-placed Inter Milan, with points guaranteed to be dropped on Sunday when the two teams play each other.

Motta, whose side drew 1-1 at Lille on Tuesday, said he is aware of what the rivalry means to the people of Turin ahead of his first ‘Derby della Mole’ as Juve coach.

“There are good feelings, because I see the team doing well with the usual right attitude. There is a special atmosphere with our fans and we want to give our best to play a great match,” Motta said.

“The importance of a derby is that the city lives it in an intense way, we will have to do our best to play a great game. Derbies, in general, are beautiful matches to play. Here I felt exactly that and we will try to give great joy to our fans.

“The team is physically fine. We had three days of recovery and this makes the difference. I see the team and I have faith in everyone’s commitment. Tomorrow we will enter the game at 200%.”

However, Juve will be without Douglas Luiz, Nicolas Gonzalez and Vasilije Adzic who are sidelined with injuries.

“Douglas Luiz came with us to Lille at my request to speed things up. Yesterday in training he still didn’t feel great. So we won’t risk him and we’ll see him again after the (international) break,” Motta added.

“Nico Gonzalez won’t be there. Adzic also had a problem and will need to be evaluated, he won’t be there tomorrow.” (Reuters)

News from Italy. Antonio Conte says Serie A-leading Napoli are not going to San Siro and a meeting with Inter Milan on Sunday ‘to wave the white flag’.

He also got annoyed with a reporter’s question about Romelu Lukaku. Well, he claims he didn’t get annoyed, but it sounds very much like he did.

Read on for more, courtesy of Reuters:

The Napoli manager Antonio Conte has fond memories of his time at Inter Milan but the Italian said his side will give no quarter when they face the reigning champions in a top-of-the-table clash in Serie A.

Conte revived Inter and helped them break Juventus’s nine-year stranglehold on the Scudetto, stopping their run in the 2020-21 season to win the title for the first time since their treble-winning campaign in 2009-10.

Now at Napoli, a club that is looking to repeat their 2022-23 title win, Conte’s side are top of Serie A with 25 points – a point above Inter ahead of Sunday’s clash.

“It’s definitely nice to return to where I worked and won. Yes, two happy years,” Conte told reporters. “It was a wonderful experience that I carry within me, like all the past ones that I lived to the fullest.”

Napoli‘s winning run in Serie A ended against Atalanta last weekend when Conte’s side were beaten 3-0 and the Italian said he is in no mood to drop points again against Simone Inzaghi’s team.

“The three points is always important, it is inevitable that we face a team that today, for everything they have shown, is the strongest team,” Conte said. “We are not going to San Siro to wave the white flag before starting, but convinced to play our cards. Then we will see what happens. We are preparing in a major way, as we always do.

“It will be an important test, we will measure ourselves against the best and it will be important to understand our progress. Do not forget that we arrive at the top of the table… and the objective is to remain at the top.”

The Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku has scored one goal in his last four games but when asked about his form, Conte said he was tired of questions about the Belgian striker.

“At every blessed conference there is always the question about Lukaku. It becomes a bit, not annoying, but we are talking about the team. Lukaku’s growth depends on the growth of the team,” Conte said.

“But I am confident because I see them every day, they want to work and improve. I see a lot of commitment and I would not reduce it to a single player. It is not fair to the others.”

Thanks John. Hello everyone.

And with that, I hand over to Luke McLaughlin, but first Football Daily, written by me, actually.

Andrew Simmons gets in touch: “Northern Ireland and now Exeter City’s Magennis played most of his youth football as a goalkeeper – he signed for Cardiff’s academy as a keeper and was even named as a sub keeper for a League Cup match away at Anfield – before converting to a striker around 17 years old.”

“I believe Magennis was found to be the quickest player on Cardiff’s books at the time! 100+ career club goals and 80+ international caps suggests it’s probably been a successful switch. I’m not sure though if Magennis has played in goal though since the conversion – he’d have been a useful player to have had back in the days of 3 subs, or on a Neil Warnock keeper-less bench…”

Now that is a good one. Excellent stuff. Football: it’s great, isn’t it?

Jon gets in touch: “Defenders thrown up top in the old days? Goodison Park, this season, last few games!”

Sean Dyche is a man of my line of thinking.

Dominic Coughlan is in: “Gareth Bale started as a left back, moved to right wing and later became an out and out forward, and also became one of the greatest players of his generation. Not sure how that hasn’t been mentioned yet.”

It has been now, Dom.

Ange Postecoglou has discussed Hugo Lloris’ revelations about life at Tottenham, some of which feature in the goalkeeper’s Guardian interview with Don McRae.

Postecoglou, speaking ahead of Sunday’s visit of Ipswich, said: “Look I haven’t read what Hugo’s said, it’s been mentioned to me. I think with these things you’ve got to put context around them and understand the broader view and that could have been a very successful period for the club.

“They came very, very close. You’re talking about finishing runners-up in the Premier League and runners-up in the Champions League. It could have been a very different era and maybe in retrospect you be looking at those things. It’s easy to focus on the negatives when the outcome is not what you want, but there’s obviously a lot right at the time. From my perspective I’ve never allowed anyone else to dictate my ambitions, my aims, or what I try and do with everyone around me is you don’t put a limit on what you can achieve because if you do you potentially might miss something that comes along your way.”

Jeremy Boyce has the motherlode: “How about players who could play in ANY position, regardless of the system. As a Leeds fan I am obviously thinking Paul Madeley, who famously started in every shirt from 2 – 11 for Revie’s boys. He didn’t play goalkeeper, but could maybe have made a better job than Gary Sprake on occasion. There are plenty of cases of strikers etc. donning the gloves and excelling when required, in the days before 9 subs available. Olivier Giroud, Phil Jagielka, John Terry, Kyle Walker, Bobby Moore and even Pele have filled in between the sticks with distinction when required.”

Have a feeling Clayton Blackmore – mega-mega sunbed himself – played in just about every position and shirt for Manchester United, bar goalkeeper. Steve Watson for Newcastle, too. The age of subs killed off the utility man, the Alan Harper. Used to be amusing to see the one sub be a defender brought on and then made to go up front. Get in launched? You betcha.

Joe Pearson gets in touch: “Can we give a shout to the Swiss Army Knife of footballers, James Milner? Completely at ease on either side of the pitch, and has variously played as a winger, midfielder, and full back.”

Seems to be operating as some kind of auxiliary fitness coach at Brighton.

Good one from Ruari McEvoy: “I’m an Arsenal fan who was a teenager in the invincible days so a very biased answer but Kolo Toure’s move from a midfield utility man to a top centre back was a good one.”

Geoff Wignall gets in touch: “Quickly pondering positionally changed players of the past, Kenny Burns was one who came to mind – famously converted from Birmingham striker to Forest centre back by Clough.

“But a rather classier example was late model Ruud Gullit, in his Chelsea days as a sweeper. Once described in these pages as being like ‘a man standing in a field of waving corn’. Or somesuch.’

Gullit was good enough to play any position. It is my opinion that Jude Bellingham is similar, and ought to play Ruud’s old Dutch position of secondary forward, free role, if Jude would inject a bit more energy into his game.

On another note: did we do Chris Sutton? These days ubiquitous, he was once as good a centre-half as he was striker.

Form team Nottingham Forest face Newcastle on Sunday.

How good was Van Nistelrooy as a player? This good.