There cannot have been many moments during Lamine Yamal’s short, golden career when the Barcelona winger has had to let another wonderkid dominate the stage. The accolades have come his way but it was different at Stamford Bridge.

Lamine Yamal was barely given a kick by Marc Cucurella, who delighted in neutralising his international teammate, and was unable to do anything to make his first meeting with Estêvão Willian live up to expectations.

This four-year experiment has produced exhilarating cricket – it is worth seeing the whole thing through before casting judgment

Travis Head’s latest masterpiece is three days old, the postmortems are complete and England supporters have done their pained vox pops in Australia. And somehow we’re still more than a week out from the second Ashes Test. It’s a hefty gap bound to be filled by rage, moving from the defeat in Perth to the preparation for a pink‑ball affair in Brisbane.

England’s first-stringers could pass the time with a day‑night knockabout against a prime minister’s XI in Canberra. Instead, as planned, it will be a Lions side that plays this weekend, joined by Josh Tongue, Matt Potts and Jacob Bethell, unused squad members in Perth. It is understandable why this has annoyed many, why Michael Vaughan’s soundbite – that it would be “amateurish� not to play the fixture – carries some substance.

You had to go back to September 2018 for the last time Manchester City lost a Champions League group match at home, when Pep Guardiola was in the stands because of a ban, and Nabil Fekir’s winner gave Lyon a 2-1 victory.

Guardiola stood down all but one of the XI that lost at Newcastle United and witnessed Bayer Leverkusen end a 23-match run in the type of off‑colour display reminiscent of last season.

Newcastle cannot complain that they were not warned. Eddie Howe had cautioned his players that Pierre‑Emerick Aubameyang was “as good as ever� and would need to be “controlled� but, ultimately, the visitors proved powerless to prevent the 36-year-old transforming both the match and Marseille’s Champions League ambitions.

While Aubameyang fulfilled the soaring expectations of a raucously loud audience at a stupendously designed, incredibly atmospheric arena, Howe’s team started brightly before taking a wrong turn. They ended up mugged in the manner of naive tourists who had wandered into the wrong arrondissement of this beguiling yet sometimes brutal city.

• Verona venue to host Milano-Cortina opening ceremony

• Critics see changes to 2,000-year-old arena as blasphemy

A 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre is to be made fully accessible to people with disabilities before the Winter Paralympic Games in Milano‑Cortina, as organisers prioritise legacy with 100 days to go.

The conversion of the Arena di Verona, which will host the Paralympics opening ceremony, includes the addition of a lift and toilets to a structure older than the Colosseum. Described by the Milano-Cortina 2026 chief executive, Andrea Varnier, as “the symbol of our Paralympic Games�, he admits the conversion has also been considered as an act of “blasphemy� by some traditionalists.

• Spain, Argentina, France, England will be top seeds

• Fifa says measure will ‘ensure competitive balance’

The four highest-placed teams in Fifa’s rankings have had a pathway cleared to meet in the World Cup semi-finals after tennis-style seeding measures were introduced in the name of “ensuring competitive balance�.

Spain, Argentina, France and England – the top four in descending order – are to be split into different brackets in the 48-team finals tournament, with the aim of preventing Spain from facing Argentina, or England from playing France, before a possible final.

• Portugal forward was sent off against Republic of Ireland

• He missed Armenia game so is free to play at tournament

Cristiano Ronaldo has been cleared to play in the opening matches of Portugal’s World Cup campaign after he was handed a suspended sentence for his red card against the Republic of Ireland.

The forward, who was a guest of president Donald Trump in the White House last week, had a customary three-match ban for violent conduct commuted by Fifa’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday to a one-game ban, with two further matches suspended under a year’s probation.

• Head coach’s current deal runs until 2027

• RFU annual report shows net loss of £1.9m

The Rugby Football Union has no plans to begin talks with Steve ­Borthwick over extending his ­contract beyond 2027 “for the ­foreseeable future� despite England’s 11-match winning streak and autumn clean sweep.

Borthwick’s contract runs until the end of 2027 but with England halfway through the current World Cup cycle and currently third in the world ­rankings, the RFU chief ­executive, Bill Sweeney, has no immediate intention of discussing an extension in a sea change from the union’s ­previous approach.

• Coach insists more opportunities needed for team

• Executive knocks back idea England will not be ready

England’s rugby league team will go into next year’s World Cup without playing a fixture for almost an entire year after it was confirmed there was no room in the 2026 Super League schedule to give the national team a mid-season international break.

Following their whitewash defeat by Australia in the Ashes this month, the England coach Shaun Wane – whose own position is under review – insisted there needed to be more opportunities and priority given to the national team if they are to bridge the gap to the all-conquering Kangaroos.

Players are being worn down by a cluttered calendar and lack of unity over their welfare from governing bodies

Elina Svitolina simply could not go on. Her hopeful start to the 2025 season had given way to despair as the mental and emotional strain of constant competition, travelling and stress left its mark. The 31-year-old understood that competing would only make things worse and, in September, Svitolina decided to prematurely end her season, citing burnout.

The world No 14 is not alone in feeling suffocated by her sport. This has been another year filled with incredible performances and gripping matches, but the past 11 months have also been defined by the physical and mental ailments endured by many of the sport’s stars.

Twenty years after the league introduced its controversial policy, many players see it as helping them develop self-expression

Lonzo Ball froze in confusion. The question – “What do you think about the NBA dress code?� – hung in the air for a second before he cracked a sheepish grin.

“There’s a dress code?� he said, smiling.

Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

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• Cricketer killed himself after period of depression

• Widow said remote support offered was ‘woeful’

Graham Thorpe’s widow believes that he would still be alive if there had been more support from the England and Wales Cricket Board after he left his coaching role with the governing body.

Thorpe – one of the most respected batters of his generation and England’s assistant coach as recently as 2021 – killed himself in August last year following a long battle with anxiety and depression.

• Defensive end died this month at age of 24

• Player’s car reached speeds of more than 145 mph

Body and dash cam footage from law enforcement officials have charted the events leading up to the death of Dallas Cowboys player Marshawn Kneeland earlier this month.

The 24-year-old was found dead in the early morning of 6 November, hours after being pursued by officers who had attempted a traffic stop in suburban Dallas. Police say Kneeland took his own life.

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

• Players scuffled after end of Monday night’s game

• Moehrig suspended for one game over actions

• Game report: McCaffrey stars against former team

San Francisco receiver Jauan Jennings said he threw a punch at Tre’Von Moehrig at the end of Monday night’s game after a “cheap shot� from the Carolina safety.

Television cameras caught Moehrig delivering a punch to Jennings’ groin late in the 49ers’ 20-9 victory. Jennings did not immediately retaliate but once the game was over he approached Moehrig and hit him in the helmet before giving him a shove. Jennings then needed to be held back as the teams left the field.

• Arrangement is latest addition to burgeoning relationship

• Infantino joined group with Bin Salman at White House

Fifa has announced the creation of a partnership with a Saudi Arabian government agency, with up to $1bn (£762m) being pledged to fund the development of football infrastructure across the globe.

The game’s global governing body announced on Monday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Fund for Development that would lead to it offering discounted loans “for the construction and rehabilitation� of stadiums and other infrastructure. Under the arrangement, priority for any loans will be given to developing nations.

• Carolina Panthers 9-20 San Francisco 49ers

• Niners overcome three Brock Purdy interceptions

Christian McCaffrey gained 142 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown in his first game against Carolina since he was traded away three years ago, leading the San Francisco 49ers to a 20-9 victory over the Panthers on Monday night.

McCaffrey’s big night helped the 49ers (8-4) overcome three interceptions in the first half by Brock Purdy to remain in playoff position headed into the stretch run of the season.

We turn the dial towards whimsy and revisit some of the moments that made the autumn internationals irresistible

South Africa and Ireland played out a slugfest for the ages and the discourse has been dominated by yellow cards and flying shoulders to the head. England held off a spirited Argentina to claim their 11th consecutive Test win and it seems all anyone can talk about is some alleged after-the-whistle shoving. Wales and New Zealand traded 11 tries in a ding-dong encounter and yet the narrative is weighed down by caveats concerning fading empires.

What, exactly, is the point of Test rugby? Beyond winning World Cups and regional crowns, does this chaotic sport hold any value? A bit of spice elevates almost every dish, sure, but it has felt as if this autumn’s brilliant rugby fare has been smothered in a sauce with a needlessly high Scoville count.

The sport may have jumped from the gaming-fuelled bandwagon just in the nick of time

After many months of campaigning, an unprecedented “strike� when racing relocated to London to make its voice heard and an intervention by a former prime minister, no less, the UK’s second-biggest spectator sport will soon discover whether its concerted and impressively united effort to avert a tax hike on racing bets, has paid off. With all due respect to the competitors at Wetherby, Market Rasen and Southwell on Wednesday, the main event for racing will be the 12.30 at Westminster, as Rachel Reeves rises to deliver her much-anticipated budget speech.

The only result that can be ruled out with confidence is that gambling duties will be left untouched. There is a gaping black hole to be filled in the public finances and the UK’s gambling industry, which had a Gross Gambling Yield (total stakes minus total payouts) of £15.6bn in the 2023-24 financial year, could scarcely be a more tempting target.

Disqualifications of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri bring unnecessary stress for McLaren in the final two F1 races of the season

As misjudgments go, McLaren’s error in calculations that led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday could barely have been more cataclysmic nor more poorly timed. Quite how they got it wrong just when they wanted to close out the drivers’ championship with as little fuss as possible will take no little explanation.

Norris and Piastri, second and fourth respectively to Max Verstappen’s win in Nevada, had been solid enough results until the FIA discovered the skid blocks on their cars had been worn beyond the 9mm limit. In one fell swoop, Verstappen was right back in the fight, alongside Piastri, 24 points back from Norris.

After 11 successive victories, England will go into next year’s Six Nations as the team to beat

A Six Nations grand slam, plus Nations Championship victories against South Africa and Fiji and England would head to Argentina next July having equalled their record run of 18 wins, in pursuit of a ground-breaking No 19. Sounds simple put like that, but there’s more chance of Steve Borthwick busting his best moves in England’s next viral TikTok video than him entertaining any thought of record runs.

That is not to criticise, because even though Borthwick is allergic to looking too far ahead, doing so would be to get drastically carried away. The point here is that the more England keep winning, and they will enter the Six Nations next year as the team to beat after 11 on the trot, the more expectation increases.

Ten years ago Arsenal were thrashed by the Bavarian giants – now Mikel Arteta’s men are rated the best side in Europe

November 2015. The Allianz Arena, Munich. A decade ago, yet a lifetime away for Arsenal in the Champions League.

That night Arsène Wenger’s team were so shredded in a 5-1 defeat by Bayern Munich that my Guardian colleague David Hytner likened them to “the chicken feed from the lower reaches of the Bundesliga that Bayern routinely gobble up�. It was Arsenal’s joint‑worst result in Europe. And to rub it in, Bayern repeated the trick the following season. Twice: 5-1 at home, then 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

• Kitching and Sims strike late for league leaders

• Southampton’s Eckert makes it four out of four

Late goals from Liam Kitching and Ellis Simms helped Coventry to extend their advantage at the top of the Championship table with a 4-2 win against Middlesbrough.

The Sky Blues landed two early blows in the opening 15 minutes, going ahead through Simms’s stunning top-corner strike and Kitching’s header.

• Gueye addressed players following 1-0 win at Old Trafford

• De Ligt accuses United of lacking urgency in Monday loss

Idrissa Gueye received a round of applause from the Everton squad after apologising for his extraordinary red card in Monday’s victory at Manchester United.

The midfielder became the first Premier League player to be dismissed for striking a teammate in 17 years when slapping Michael Keane at Old Trafford. Everton performed heroically with 10 men for 85 minutes, stoppage time included, to hand David Moyes his first win at Old Trafford as a visiting manager in 18 attempts and deliver only the club’s second victory at United in 33 years.

• ‘I apologised after one second,’ he says

• ‘Losing four games, we have to improve a lot’

Pep Guardiola has admitted his shame at a dispute with a camera operator after Manchester City’s 2‑1 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday.

At full time the visibly upset City manager went on to the St James’ Park pitch and had heated discussions with the referee, Sam Barrott, and Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães, while also handling the headphones of the camera operator.

Magpies’ away record is a worry before Champions League meeting with Roberto De Zerbi, Mason Greenwood and co

Newcastle fans are travelling to Marseille with a soundtrack of uncertainty echoing in their ears. Quite apart from the official warnings about rampant pickpocketing, street crime and potential football‑related violence, their phones seem full of concerned messages from families and friends.

Those oft-repeated exhortations to variously “take care�, “watch yourself� and “stay safe� in a city listed regularly among Europe’s most dangerous could, in a different context, easily apply to Eddie Howe’s team.

Sport’s famous rivalry began in 1877 and since then 853 men have featured in Australia v England Tests. But who are the very best of the best?

• Barney Ronay on the No 1 | Video: review the top 10

• Check how all the judges voted | Our methodology

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He coaxed greatness from teammates, bent occasions to his will and mastered the most complex of arts, but best of all he connected like few others in sport

• The 100 greatest men’s Ashes cricketers of all time

Raise the Playboy pants like a pirate flag. Twirl the big brimmer in celebration. It was always going to be Shane, really, wasn’t it.

We did of course have a countdown first, because people love countdowns, because cricket is basically one unceasing countdown, an endless pencil stub ticking off names and numbers. There were 99 members of the supporting cast to be ushered to their spots, the non-Shanes of history, meat in the Ashes room.

Australians dominate at the very top of our list but the overall numbers are split evenly and England lead the way for all-rounders

• The 100 greatest men’s Ashes cricketers of all time

• Barney Ronay on the No 1 | Video: review the top 10

More than 800 men have played in an Ashes Test. England picked most of them in the summer of 1989. But the process of selecting the Guardian’s Ashes Top 100 required something more scientific than that infamous shemozzle.

Let’s start with the small print. We asked 51 judges to select their top 50 men’s Ashes cricketers, from which we calculated a top 100: 50 points for No 1, 49 for No 2 and so on. The voting rules were simple. Players were assessed solely on their performances in Ashes cricket, though judges could interpret that any way they liked. (Yep, someone did vote for Gary Pratt.) The judges had to pick at least 15 players from each country and a minimum of five from each of five different eras: players who made their debut before the first world war; in the interwar years; from the second world war to 1974; from 1975 till 1999; and from 2000 onwards.

Our 51 judges have picked Shane Warne, Don Bradman and Ian Botham as their top three. Who gets your vote?

It had to be one or the other: the man who has scored the most runs in Ashes history or the man who has taken the most wickets. In the end, Shane Warne’s 195 wickets beat Don Bradman’s 5,028 runs. But, Warne is about more than numbers. His style, humour and charisma made him the kind of player you rooted for even when he lined up against your team. He was a joy to watch.

In the spirit of joy, then, who is your favourite cricketer in the history of the men’s Ashes? Who gave you the best memories and biggest smiles? Botham for his sixes and wickets? Ricky Ponting for his centuries? Andrew Flintoff for his sledging and sportsmanship? This week our 51 judges have chosen their top 100. Who is your personal favourite?

Losing the first Test to Australia by eight wickets after being 105 ahead with one man out could derail the entire tour

Stuart Broad was a highly meme-able cricketer and it turns out that talent now extends into commentary. As Joe Root chopped Mitchell Starc on to his stumps during England’s subsidence on Saturday afternoon, Broad summed up the mood of a nation without uttering so much as a word.

In a clip that has since gone viral, Broad is in the Channel 7 box with his eyes shut, arms folded, letting out an exasperated sigh; the kind of internal “FFS� triggered by a toddler doing the very thing they were just warned against. Watching from the far end as two teammates fall to expansive drives on a bouncy, nippy surface, only to attempt a repeat against Starc, is a bit like pulling on the cat’s tail. Root did it anyway.

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find

For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel.

On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.� Thompson: “SHOOT, SHOOT.� McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.� (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.� McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …� The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wondrous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy.

When a prankster meets a puncher it’s not about sport but an elaborate viral hoax that keeps us wanting more

“If it’s all straight up and proper, you would worry that he takes this kid’s head off,� reckons Barry McGuigan. “Could get his jaw broke, his head smashed in, side of his head caved in, God forbid he could get a brain bleed,� says Carl Froch on his YouTube channel. “It could be the end of him. It could be his last day on Earth,� David Haye tells Sky News, with the sort of apocalyptic glare I try to give my children when they want to jump in a muddy puddle.

Yes, this week everyone appears to be deeply concerned for the wellbeing of 28-year-old YouTube celebrity Jake Paul. The announcement of his fight against Anthony Joshua next month has generated a flood of foreboding prognoses, and fair enough. Stepping into the ring with a two-time world heavyweight champion when a) you’re not even a heavyweight, b) your record consists almost entirely of novices and geriatrics and c) you still fight like a marmoset trapped in an empty crisp packet: on some level, we all know how this might go.

Our cartoonist on a simple win over Spurs that boosted the Gunners’ title hopes, smug Australians and more

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Australia’s bold call as replacement for creaking Usman Khawaja in second innings set up a Test-winning 69-ball ton, the second-fastest in Ashes history

In short, England tried to play a certain style of Test cricket. Travis Head succeeded at it. As his numbers grew on the second afternoon here, what they represented grew more astonishing.

A normal 16 runs from 20 balls became brisk at 26 from 23. By the time it was 50 from 37, the frame of the usual had disappeared. Soon it was 68 from 49. Yes, players have scored faster now and then, but imagine batting in a fourth-innings Ashes chase on 84 from 59 balls. Imagine coming from behind in the first Test of a series to score 92 from 61.

Former Wimbledon champion on how taking accountability for his crimes allowed for rehabilitation, watching Novak Djokovic from his cell and the new era of brotherhood in the sport

“I heard the screaming and I didn’t know what it was,� Boris Becker says as he remembers staring into the dark in Wandsworth prison, just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court where he won the first of his three men’s singles titles at the age of 17 in 1985. “Were people trying to kill themselves or harm themselves? Or couldn’t they deal with their loneliness? Or are they just making crazy noises because they have lost their minds already?�

Becker had been sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year jail term. Amid his insolvency, he was found guilty of not declaring all his assets so that additional funds could be distributed to his creditors. The judge confirmed that his money was used, instead, to meet his “commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses�.

Samira Asghari, the International Olympic Committee’s youngest member, says negotiation with Taliban is only way to help Afghan girls access sport

“My message for all Afghan women who play is that if there is any small opportunity, do it,� Samira Asghari says. “My solid message is never, ever give up. Afghanistan was always a war-torn country, unfortunately. We have grown up in a war country. And we believe in a future Afghanistan, and the future of Afghanistan is the people.�

Asghari is 31, the youngest member of the International Olympic Committee and an exile from her home. Resident in Europe, her role requires her to try to bring an end to current restrictions which prevent Afghan women and girls from taking part in sport. In this, the people she must negotiate with are the Taliban.

When I was a college basketball player, some believed we were treated differently from other Black and Brown people. An event last weekend suggests otherwise

It was 1996, my first day stepping foot on Syracuse University’s campus. I saw a big student protest was taking place so, with my freshman’s inquisitive mind, I ventured over to see what was going on.

I listened to a passionate sista named Kathy Ade, the president of Syracuse’s student African-American Society. She stood there with her Bantu knots and a megaphone addressing the crowd, discussing the fact that campus security was now going to be able to carry pepper spray. In the 90s – which my daughter Baby Sierra calls “the 1900s,� just to keep me humble – campus security carrying pepper spray was a big deal. Now, they all carry guns.

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At the beginning of the season, when Nottingham Forest appeared to have taken on the unwanted mantle of the top-flight’s designated “b@nter club�, Football Daily was one of many media outlets to relentlessly riff on the famous old club’s pain. The reasons for the ridicule were plentiful: the increasingly morose press conferences that led to Nuno Espírito Santo’s dismissal; the infamous Morgan Gibbs-White “hostage video�, where he assured viewers he was being treated well while looking scared in the shadow of an angry Greek man; and the brief, inevitably hilarious reign of managerial shoegazer, Ange Postecoglou. Forest seemed determined to corner the market in amusing, memeable content, long before Scotland offered a different, more heartwarming source of material last week.

How come when teams in the Scottish leagues resort to howling dirty big shys into the box at every opportunity it’s called ‘a pub league’, yet when Aston Villa, Arsenal et al use the same tactic it’s ‘set-piece expertise’?� – Alexander McMillan.

Re: footballers knacking themselves at home (Friday’s Football Daily). Imagine the distress of Portland Timbers fans when, on the eve of a conference semi-final back in 2017, our charismatic Argentinian No 10, Sebastián Blanco, dumped a kettle of boiling water over his foot while preparing some hot mate. They tried everything to treat the second-degree burns, but he (unsurprisingly) wasn’t himself for the rest of the playoffs. Oh Seba!� – Patrick Connolly.

So Manchester City mainstay Fernandinho has hung up his boots aged 40 and blubbed ‘nothing in football motivates me any more … now, it’s time to enjoy time with my family’ (Friday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). I wonder if that time will include regularly tripping up any family member who passes by and then looking around with a face of offended innocence that anyone might have thought it could possibly have been deliberate? If so, I hope he is motivated to enjoy his retirement as much as he enjoyed winning everything over here� – Colin Reed.

Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick and Manchester City’s loss to Newcastle means Arsenal are in control of their own destiny

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So it turns out those who had already handed the title to Arsenal were right after all.

It’s absurd, of course, to start handing out the title in November but a feature of modern football is how obsessed it becomes so early with title races. It’s perhaps a legacy of the Pep Guardiola-Jürgen Klopp rivalry’s peak, when being champion meant amassing more than 95 points. It made sense then to scan the track far ahead for any potential hurdles because there were so few. But less than a third of the way through this season, Manchester City, who remain probably the biggest danger to Arsenal, have already dropped as many points as they did in the entirety of 2017-18, their 100-point campaign.

Bazball has been infuriating at times but never forget how bad England were before the Brendon McCullum era

Nobody talks about the last ball of the Ashes. It’s the first that’s famous. That wide that flies to slip, that cover drive for four, that wicket, bowled him! Last balls? I had to look them up. Moeen Ali slicing a drive behind to finish an innings defeat in a dead rubber in 2015; Boyd Rankin being taken at slip off Ryan Harris, Rankin playing in his one and only Test at the fag-end of a 30-over collapse in a 5-0 whitewash that’s been full of them in 2014; a Steve Harmison bouncer ricocheting away off Justin Langer’s shoulder for four leg byes, the only four Australia score in a run chase they’ll never get to make in 2005.

It’s the difference between wondering how things will go, and knowing how they do. One thing’s certain, there’s no guarantee there will be a happy ending. For the last decade, England’s Australian tours have ended in ashes, instead of with them. Andy Flower lost his job as head coach after one humiliating defeat, in 2013-14, Chris Silverwood lost his after another, in 2021-22. You can make a pair of XIs out of England players who played their last Test match at the back end of an Australian tour during the past 25 years, and still have a couple of men over to carry the drinks for either side.

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There is logic to the fresh international format, due to launch next year, but glaring issues and logistical challenges too

OK, let’s just pick the ball up and run with it for a little while. A reimagined global Test landscape pitching the northern hemisphere against the south commencing next July. Twelve men’s national sides playing six games each with a final playoff weekend. Concluding with one champion team hoisting a shiny trophy aloft in front of, hopefully, a worldwide television audience of millions.

On paper – and years of scribbling on the backs of envelopes have gone into this – there is some logic to it. Instead of seemingly random Tests scattered like distant dots on someone else’s map there is at least a discernible framework. Every game will, in theory, resonate. And, by virtue of pooling everybody’s TV rights, there are hopes of a collective commercial and promotional upside that can benefit the whole sport.

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When Jordan Pickford’s time as England and Everton’s eternal No 1 comes to its end, a career in peacekeeping, or failing that, manning the doors back in Sunderland, may await. As Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane, teammates let us recall, went for each other at Old Trafford in full hold-me-back, hold-me-back mode, in stepped Pickford’s strong hands. Too late, it turned out. By then, Tony Harrington, the referee, had reached for his red card. Harrington had seen Gueye slap Keane, and the PGMO (no L these days, all you pedants) doesn’t agree with that in the workplace.

I see Spurs have signed the perfect ‘global partner’ for fans who found themselves pulling their hair out as the fourth Arsenal goal went in on Sunday: Turkish hair-transplant company Elithair. Sometimes, you just have to look in the mirror and acknowledge the bald truth of your shortcomings� – Justin Kavanagh.

Re: Patrick Connolly (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Mate being responsible for a player not being able to perform at their best? I didn’t even know Ange Postecoglou had managed the Portland Timbers� – Derek McGee.

Will Leo Messi and Inter Miami winning a playoff game mean they will now be invited to participate in the World Cup finals next summer?� – Martyn Shapter.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Theo Lloyd-Hughes for an NWSL special, looking at the final between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit, as well as the season as a whole, and all of the latest news from the home nations

On today’s pod: we have a National Women’s Soccer League Special for you – after Gotham FC were handed the keys to New York City following their 1-0 Championship win over Washington Spirit in the final. We’ll reflect on the game itself as well as the season as a whole.

Also, it’s the International break so we’ll also take a look at how the home nations are looking and react to the news that Tanya Oxtoby has left Northern Ireland to become Newcastle United’s head coach.

Spurs punished for negativity, Dyche’s gameplan downs Liverpool and Wharton’s quality shines through again

• Top scorers: check the latest race for the golden boot

Amid Liverpool’s deepening crisis and the growing scrutiny on Arne Slot, it is only right that Nottingham Forest’s role in it is given some attention and acclaim. Back-to-back league wins at Anfield for the first time since 1963 deserves recognition, as does the willingness of Forest’s players to embrace the gameplan of the third different managerial voice they have heard this season. Sean Dyche’s instructions were implemented to perfection as Liverpool disintegrated. “We changed the tactical side today,� said Forest’s recently appointed manager. “I told the players: ‘We’re not passing it, we are going long, because Liverpool were going to press the life out of you’ – which is exactly what they did at the start. We dealt with that quite well and we mixed it tactically, which is credit to the players.� Forest’s tactics may have been straight out of the Dyche playbook but they were also encouraged, inadvertently, by Slot, who has regularly told opponents how to play his Liverpool team this season. He has meanwhile not found any solutions. Andy Hunter

Match report: Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Manchester City

Match report: Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham

Barney Ronay: Eze finds his own plane just above ground level

Match report: Leeds 1-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Fulham 1-0 Sunderland

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan as Arsenal hammer Spurs 4-1 in the north London derby

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On the podcast today: a huge weekend for Arsenal. Not only did they thrash Spurs in the north London derby thanks to an Eberechi Eze hat-trick, but they got to enjoy losses for both Liverpool and Manchester City on Saturday, to Nottingham Forest and Newcastle respectively.