Rangers gave themselves some much-needed respite with a 3-0 cinch Premiership win over 10-man St Mirren in Paisley.

Former Gers midfielder Steven Davis began his spell as caretaker manager with an embarrassing 2-1 Europa League defeat against Aris Limassol in Cyprus on Thursday night and there was a sense of foreboding about the trip to the SMiSA stadium.

Some Rangers fans unravelled banners early in the game which read ‘heartless passionless leaderless; not fit to wear our colours’ before skipper James Tavernier scored from the spot in the 29th minute after Saints’ Ryan Strain was handed a red card by referee Nick Walsh for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Attacker Abdallah Sima added a second in the 70th minute for his seventh goal of the season before Tavernier smashed in a third in the 90th minute as the Light Blues leapfrogged Stephen Robinson’s side into second place, seven points behind leaders Celtic but the prospects of a genuine title race is another thing altogether.

Rangers will appoint a new boss during the international break and the Ibrox club clearly need fresh ideas, strategy and motivation going forward.

The only radical change Davis made to the team was to give a first senior start to 17-year-old attacker Zak Lovelace – he would go off injured in the first half – with John Souttar, Jose Cifuentes and Kemar Roofe also coming into a fragile Ibrox outfit.

Defender Richard Taylor and striker Toyosi Olusanya were reinstated into the Buddies side who clearly fancied their chances but there was little between the teams in the opening exchanges.

In the 21st minute St Mirren defender Scott Tanser, who signed a new deal until 2026 on Saturday, found himself alone at the back post from a Conor McMenamin free-kick but blasted his shot over the bar.

Rangers, however, would soon take the lead.

Lovelace found space on the right and blasted the ball across goal with Strain appearing to knock it away from in-rushing Sima with his hand.

After a long VAR check, referee Walsh checked his pitch-side monitor, sent off the St Mirren player and awarded a penalty to the visitors which Tavernier converted to the ire of the home supporters.

In the 34th minute Goldson met a Borna Barisic corner with his head but Buddies keeper Zach Hemming acrobatically tipped the effort over the bar and the home side ultimately escaped.

In the 41st minute Lovelace limped off the field and was eventually taken away from the sidelines on a stretcher, after being replaced by Ross McCausland.

In added time, the 20-year-old knocked a Barisic pass down to Nico Raskin inside the St Mirren box but the midfielder’s goal-bound drive was blocked by Hemming for a corner, which came to nothing.

There was no immediate improvement from Rangers in the second half and striker Cyriel Dessers replaced the anonymous Roofe on the hour-mark, while Saints soon brought on Mikael Mandron, Alex Greive and Caolan Boyd-Munce.

Rangers doubled their lead in the 70th minute with an unusually swift break, Tavernier sending Raskin scampering through the middle with a first time pass and he squared for Sima, on loan from Brighton, to beat Hemming from close range.

St Mirren were on their way to the first league defeat of the season.

Dessers ran clean through in the 86th minute only to have his unconvincing drive saved by Hemming but there was time for Tavernier to thrash in a second from the edge of the box, after his first effort was blocked, a fine goal out of keeping with the most of the game.

Diogo Dalot believes the stunning late turnaround against Brentford can be a watershed moment in Manchester United’s season.

Erik ten Hag’s men were staring down the barrel of a third Old Trafford defeat in eight days as Saturday’s Premier League match headed into second-half stoppage time.

Mathias Jensen capitalised on a comedy of errors to put Brentford on course for a famous victory that would have ratcheted up the already intense pressure and scrutiny on out-of-sorts United.

But, unlike their previous defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray, the Red Devils found a way to fight back as super sub Scott McTominay’s brace sealed a remarkable 2-1 triumph.

Trailing at 92 minutes 46 seconds, this was United’s latest ever Premier League comeback and Dalot echoed manager Ten Hag’s view that Saturday must be “a turning point” in their season.

“I think it means a little bit more than three points for us after these last couple of weeks,” the Portugal right-back said.

“I think the way that we won – obviously I didn’t mind scoring a few goals earlier than the 90 minutes – but I think it shows we are here to fight, we are here to suffer together.

“I think the fans were behind us every step of the way and I think this can be a turning point for us. We want to look at this as a turning point and we know it’s going to be difficult.

“That’s how it’s meant to be to be as a Manchester United player and today I think was proof we can fight until the end.”

United dug deep at Old Trafford, where after the game Ten Hag bemoaned a lack of hunger during their meek, error-strewn start to the season.

Those issues were clear in Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat at home to Galatasaray, increasing the external focus on Old Trafford that Dalot has previously called a “killing machine”.

“We did a lot of things together, everyone getting together,” he said of the build-up.

“We focused on what we have to do tactically.

“We always do that, but especially coming into the game, feeling like we had to be a proper team.

“Obviously we controlled the game, we created chances, we could have scored goals, but the most important thing for me was the way we fought until the end, the way the fans showed the support for us and that shows they are with us.

“They have been with us all the way and we have to give (back) like this.”

Dalot said it was clear to see the team “gave everything” on Saturday afternoon as McTominay’s 87th-minute introduction sparked a scarcely-believable comeback.

The 24-year-old says he sees a lot of himself in the selfless, hardworking midfielder, who was linked with a summer move but stayed to fight for his place at his boyhood club.

“When Scott comes in, with all the energy that he has, the mentality, that shows that we are a proper team and I’m very happy with the result,” Dalot said.

“I think if you’re a Manchester United fan you know that Scott will always love the club and will always fight for his place.

“I don’t know what was in his head (over the summer), but I’m sure that once he decided that he has to stay I think he will give 100 per cent.

“Now we just have to help him to get along every day with us and be together as a team.”

While United went into the international break on a high, Brentford were left reeling from a last-gasp gut punch and even later knockout blow.

Brentford midfielder Vitaly Janelt said: “We played a very good game and at 90 minutes we were leading at Old Trafford.

“Then, in five minutes, they turn around the game and win 2-1.

“We have to finish a counter or a set-piece to make it 2-0, that’s the only thing I would say we can do better.

“It’s nice to have a good performance but obviously we want the points.

“Sometimes I don’t care if we play s***, as long as we get three points. We can turn it around together.”

Brendan Rodgers believes Luis Palma is gradually becoming more accustomed to the demands of playing for Celtic.

The Honduran scored his team’s second goal in the 3-1 win over Kilmarnock in what was his first Premiership start since arriving from Aris Thessaloniki in August.

Rodgers felt it was unrealistic to expect new signings to be “perfect right away” and revealed he was looking only for incremental improvement.

The Celtic manager said: “The players at the top end of the pitch have to create and score goals, that’s their contribution.

“But Luis is settling in very well. These guys are coming from different climates and cultures.

“People feel the need for them to be perfect right away. I don’t, it’s all about adaptability.

“If they feed into the club’s winning mentality, they’ll improve here.

“You see with Palma, he’s getting better game by game. He was excellent today and scored a very good goal.

“He was dangerous. He played his part in a very good collective performance.”

Kilmarnock got a goal back through David Watson with the score at 2-0, but Rodgers believed a foul should have been awarded in the build-up.

He added: “We had the ball on the edge of the box, Greg Taylor was manhandled by their guy to the ground and we didn’t get a foul.

“The VAR only started when the play went forward. They scored from the position Greg would have been in.

“I don’t like talking about referees, but we’ve now got a whole team of people looking at it. The ref doesn’t see it, he had his back to the play. By the time he turned around, the foul was committed.

“But a guy on the line can see it, like me. On top of that, there’s a VAR team watching it with a cup of tea and no drama. They still didn’t see it.”

Celtic had a penalty award overturned by the VAR following a coming-together between Reo Hatate and Watson.

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes – who would not address speculation linking him with the Rangers managerial vacancy – felt the Japanese midfielder had embellished any contact.

He said: “My first thought was that Hatate has gone down far too easily. For me, he’s waiting for contact. But I don’t think there was any contact. If I’m wrong then I’ll apologise.

“But for me, it’s trying to buy a penalty and the referee has bought it as I thought he would. I thought, ‘he’s going to give a penalty here’ and he did.

“My heart sank and then VAR overturned it. But that’s far too easy to go down, far too easy from Hatate. That’s poor.”

Tottenham defenders Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie hailed “leader” Cristian Romero after they combined to extend Ange Postecoglou’s unbeaten start at the club with a 1-0 win at Luton.

Spurs created a plethora of chances early on at Kenilworth Road, but Yves Bissouma received two yellow cards in quick succession in the first half to alter the course of Saturday’s game.

While Van de Ven put Tottenham ahead in the 52nd-minute, Luton made the most of their numerical advantage to pile the pressure on, but vice-captain Romero in particular shone with 12 clearances and five aerial duals won during a colossal display over the 90 minutes.

“Amazing player, unbelievable player,” centre-back Van de Ven said of Romero to SpursPlay.

“Defensively so strong, with the ball so strong, keeps talking, for me an amazing player.

“We had to concentrate for the full 90 minutes. We had to keep pushing, keep commanding and holding a strong line. We help each other and have each others back.

“Everyone keeps talking the whole time and most of the time no one is losing concentration, but everyone is keeping each other awake and you saw we defended really well to keep the clean sheet.”

Left-back Udogie echoed those sentiments, saying: “I think Cuti (Romero) is a real leader.

“You can’t feel more safe (than) with Cuti and he shows this every day in training, in the game and he helps us a lot.

“As you saw it was really tough and with a man less it was more tough but this is the spirit of our squad. We keep working hard for each other and the result come.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cristian Romero (@cutiromero2)

On his maiden Italy call-up, Udogie added: “It is a big dream for me you know. As a young kid I was always dreaming for this moment.

“Now it has come and I have to just stay focused, enjoy the time, work hard for the team and give my best.”

Spurs have won six of their eight Premier League matches under Postecoglou, which makes this the club’s best start to a top-flight season since the 1960-61 double-winning campaign.

The goals have flowed, but the Australian has added a steel to a previously frail defensive unit and this shut-out was Tottenham’s third with new first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Postecoglou said: “They’ve been great all year, both the centre-backs, the whole back four and Vic.

“I think a big part of that is Romero because when you look at it, it’s Destiny’s first year in the Premier League, Micky’s first year, Vic’s first year and (Pedro) Porro is just beginning his Premier League career, but they’ve got a World Cup winner beside them.

“I think Cuti makes them feel like they belong. They feel really comfortable having him beside them and you can see them flourish.

“He is someone you definitely want in your team. Yes he does have that physicality about him, but he’s a good player as well.

“His passing range, ability to really position himself well, to stay calm and then just ridiculous bravery to always put his body in there. He’s just an outstanding defender.”

Lionel Messi recently labelled Argentina team-mate Romero as the best defender in the world.

“He’s a good judge,” Postecoglou smiled.

Meanwhile, newly-promoted Luton were left to rue missed chances after suffering a sixth defeat, but could soon call upon the services of free agent Andros Townsend after he played for their under-21s on Friday.

“We will see,” Hatters boss Rob Edwards said. “It has to be right for him. We will have a look and see how it goes.

“He played on Friday night the full game.”

Wayne Rooney is leaving DC United after their hopes of making the Major League Soccer play-offs ended.

The former England captain had been in charge at the Washington club since last summer but a 2-0 victory over New York City FC proved to be his final match.

CEO and co-chairman Jason Levien said on dcunited.com: “We have spoken with Wayne and agreed it is best for us to part ways at this time.

“This decision creates the avenue for our next general manager to have the full opportunity to impart a new philosophy and structure onto our sporting operations, which begins with the critical identification of a head coach who will best align with this.

“We are grateful to Wayne Rooney for all he has done for our club and for soccer in the nation’s capital, first as a DC United player and captain and most recently as our coach. He remains an important part of the DC United family and a valued and cherished friend.”

Rooney first moved to the MLS in 2018, spending 15 months in Washington as a player, and returned last summer after cutting his managerial teeth at Derby.

The 37-year-old improved DC United’s points tally but is heading back to England after their play-off hopes ended.

“It’s just the right time,” said Rooney in quotes reported by the Washington Post.

“I think I’ve done everything I can to try and get the club into (the) play-offs. It’s not one single thing which has happened, it’s about timing in your career. I have really enjoyed my time here. But I just feel it’s the right time to go back to England. What lies ahead, I don’t know.”

As the battle for top spot in the highly competitive Group A continues, Hydel High positioned themselves well for an ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup second round berth, after coming from behind to edge Calabar High 2-1 at Red Hills Road on Saturday.

Not only did the win propel Hydel ahead of Calabar on goal difference, with both sitting on 12 points behind leaders Kingston College (18 points), but the manner in which it came, added impetus to their ambitions that they can challenge for the title.

Omario Henry (29th) and D’Sean Henry (73rd), with his fifth goal of the season, saw the Ferry-based team –which ended with 10 players after Kailand Smith picked up a second yellow in the 56^th minute –to the points. Isaac Clarke (15th) gave Calabar an early lead.

Winning coach Devon Anderson was delighted by the grit and character demonstrated by his team.

“It was a hard-fought game, we went down to 10 players, but we didn’t panic because I know the ability of the kids and I know we could have pulled it off. We started the season with a goal to win the Manning Cup and no matter how difficult it seems that goal hasn’t changed, but we take it one game at a time,” Anderson said in a post-match interview.

Despite falling behind when Clarke’s shot from a distance somehow eluded the goalkeeper, Hydel continued to show purpose and eventually found the equalizer when D’Sean Henry broke down the right channel and played a cross in for Omario Henry to finish.

The score remained unchanged at the break and Calabar, like they did at the start, were more spirited on the resumption and seemed well poised for victory when Smith was given marching orders.

However, the Red Hills Road boys failed to make the numerical advantage count on home soil and later paid the price when D’Sean Henry on the break, lobbed a left-footed effort over the head of the advancing keeper, who left his line and was caught in no man’s land.

Try as they did, Calabar couldn’t find the elusive equalizer which left their Head coach Andrew Price, somewhat disappointed.

“I think we gave up an opportunity to collect all three points, the game was decided on a goalkeeping error, but these are young players so they will learn. We are not going burden them with too much pressure we just have the get it right the next time. I think we gave as much as we got from this Hydel team so, all in all, it was a good game and it will serve us well for the rest of the season,” Price shared.

Saturday’s results

Calabar 1, Hydel 2

Jose Marti 0, Campion College 1

Waterford 0, St George’s College 3

Ascot High 0, St Jago 4

Former Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Tony James says the recent move to cut Lorne Donaldson from the Reggae Girlz programme, could prove the final nail in the coffin of the Michael Ricketts-led administration, as he believes their chances of retaining leadership of the country’s football were already slim.

James –like many football enthusiasts at home and abroad –has always been critical of Ricketts’s leadership and even felt he should have relinquished the post last year when the senior Reggae Boyz players called for the scalp of then general secretary Dalton Wint.  

At that point, James said Ricketts lacked the requisite acumen to continue leading the sport’s local governing body, as he failed to accept responsibility for the chaos that has unfolded in Jamaica’s football over the past few years with players and some coaches consistently expressing discontent at the constant “lack of respect, transparency and communication” from the JFF hierarchy.

Now thrown in the spotlight once again with the non-renewal of Donaldson’s contract, and the elections due by year end, James thinks it might just result in Ricketts and administration’s demise.

Donaldson, who was appointed in 2022, led the Reggae Girlz to a second-consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the tournament jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, they had an historic run to the round of 16, after drawing with France and Brazil and defeating Panama in the group stage.

The Reggae Girlz eventually bowed out following a 0-1 loss to Colombia.

In their most recent fixtures, the Reggae Girlz suffered back-to-back losses to Canada in a failed bid to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but the progress the team has made under Donaldson’s leadership is without question.

“The upcoming election is the exact reason why that decision with Lorne is poor. If you have an election in a couple of weeks, why are you going to make a move like this.

“You have a lame duck presidency and administration why are you going to take on a massive investment for a national women’s coach when JFF is still in restrictive financing, why would you want to do that now. So that decision is a matter of bad timing,” James said in a recent interview with Sportsmax.tv.

By virtue of hiring a new coach, James argues that the Reggae Girlz programme will be unnecessarily reset, when there are other areas of the country’s football that needs more attention.

“The schoolboy football needs to be reset, the academy programme needs to be reset and the parishes, the most important on the agenda heading into the elections, have to be reset,” he asserted.

For the upcoming elections, Ricketts, who has been in power since 2017, will be challenged by current vice-president Raymond Anderson.

Anderson, who has served in previous administrations has the likes of former Cricket West Indies President Dave Cameron, Marketing Strategist Cecile Dennis, Kingston and St Andrew Football Association President Mark Bennett and St Thomas Football Association President Wayne Thompson, on his campaign team.

Last year's changes to the JFF's constitutional reform will result in an increase in delegates from 13 –previously consisted solely of parish confederation presidents –to 56, comprising more stakeholders.

James also took issues with those changes.

“Everything seems to be wrong structurally about what they are doing. The election of the parishes comes three months after the JFF elections, and what exist now is a corrupt construct, you can’t have a corrupt construct electing a president and a new board for a four-year term. You should have the election for the parishes first and then out of that election you elect a new JFF board,” James opined.

“The thing is that when you have a corrupt construct that exist in the JFF, the majority of people that are going to vote are people you have to appeal to, to vote for you. So, if you accept the fact that the parishes, especially the rural parishes, some of them are extremely weak and extremely poor in their structure, you have to correct that first or at least attempt to correct that.

“But they are going for votes rather to correct the structure and if the structure is not corrected no matter who gets there (the presidency) then it won’t make a difference. Because you're trying to get football moving forward and get football resilient which means you have to always be moving forward without moving back. Instead, what has been happening now is that you take two steps forward one step back you need everybody in the same boat moving in the same direction,” he ended.

Jude Bellingham’s goalscoring hot streak continued with a brace as LaLiga leaders Real Madrid thrashed Osasuna 4-0 at the Bernabeu.

The England midfielder opened the scoring with a ninth-minute finish and added another effort nine minutes into the second half to take him to 10 goals in as many games for Real since joining them from Borussia Dortmund over the summer.

Further finishes followed from Vincius Junior and Joselu, who then saw a penalty saved by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.

Girona leapfrogged Barcelona – who play at Granada on Sunday – into second, two points behind Real, with a 1-0 win at 10-man Cadiz.

After the hosts had Darwin Machis sent off in the 10th minute, Aleix Garcia netted a 59th-minute winner.

Valencia drew 1-1 at Mallorca thanks to Diego Lopez’s headed equaliser in first-half stoppage time after Daniel Rodriguez’s opener, while Sevilla fought back from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw at home against Rayo Vallecano, with Youssef En-Nesyri scoring a stoppage-time leveller.

Oscar Valentin and Alvaro Garcia put Rayo in control inside 26 minutes before Djibril Sow halved the deficit and En-Nesyri’s last-gasp equaliser.

AC Milan moved to the top of Serie A with a 1-0 win at Genoa that saw Christian Pulisic score late on before both sides had their goalkeepers sent off in stoppage time.

After Pulisic broke the deadlock by firing home in the 87th minute, the Rossoneri were then reduced to 10 men in the eighth minute of time added on when Mike Maignan was shown a red card.

Pulisic’s fellow substitute Olivier Giroud took over from Maignan in goal, and saw the Milan crossbar get rattled moments later – before the drama continued with Genoa keeper Josep Martinez being shown a second yellow card.

With Giroud then making a save in the final few moments, Milan saw out the victory to take top spot, going two points clear of Inter Milan, who were held 2-2 at home by Bologna earlier in the day.

Inter looked well in control after early goals from Francesco Acerbi and Lautaro Martínez, but Bologna hit back with a Riccardo Orsolini penalty in the 19th minute, and Joshua Zirkzee then equalised seven minutes into the second half.

Juventus moved above champions Napoli into third with a 2-0 win at home against derby rivals Torino, Federico Gatti and Arkadiusz Milik getting on the scoresheet. Napoli play Fiorentina at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday evening.

Monaco lead Ligue 1 by a point after winning 3-1 at Reims – Ismail Jakobs, Folarin Balogun and Wissam Ben Yedder netting for the visitors before Teddy Teuma replied with a penalty.

The result took Monaco back above Nice, who had earlier moved to the top following a 1-0 win at Metz, with Hichem Boudaoui scoring the only goal in the 14th minute.

Stuttgart are the current table-toppers in the Bundesliga following their 3-1 come-from-behind win over Wolfsburg.

Replying to Yannick Gerhardt’s opener, Serhou Guirassy registered a second-half hat-trick, the first goal a penalty, to take him to 13 goals for the season in just seven games.

A point behind them are Borussia Dortmund, who beat Union Berlin 4-2 at Signal Iduna Park.

The hosts were behind at the break after Niclas Fullkrug’s opener was cancelled out by Robin Gosens and Leonardo Bonucci scored a penalty, before a second-half turnaround saw Nico Schlotterbeck, Julian Brandt and Julian Ryerson net for Dortmund.

RB Leipzig had a penalty saved in each half as they were held 0-0 at home by Bochum, Manuel Riemann denying Xavi Simons and then Emil Forsberg.

Hoffenheim moved into the top four with a 3-2 win at Werder Bremen sealed by Marius Bulter in the second minute of stoppage time – a minute after Jens Stage had equalised for the hosts.

Maximilian Beier’s early goal put Hoffenheim ahead in the eighth minute, but Romano Schmid equalised nine minutes later only for Grischa Promel to regain the first-half lead for the visitors.

Darmstadt won 2-1 at Augsburg thanks to goals from Tim Skarke and a Tobias Kempe penalty before Ermedin Demirovic netted a late consolation for the hosts.

England boss Gareth Southgate says it is “not a stupid question” to ask whether Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham is the best player in the world right now.

Having impressed at Birmingham and flourished at Borussia Dortmund, the 20-year-old midfielder has gone up another level since his big-money switch to Spain.

Bellingham has immediately established himself as one of Madrid’s main men and has scored 10 goals in 10 matches since moving to the Bernabeu for an initial £88.5million fee.

The midfielder scored a brace in Saturday’s 4-0 win against Osasuna, which will only increase talk of the midfielder being the world’s top player at the moment.

Asked if Bellingham was the best in the world right now, Southgate – speaking before the Real star’s two-goal showing on Saturday – said: “I wondered if you might say that!

“No, it’s not a stupid question. I haven’t seen everybody and studied everybody playing.

“All I can say is he’s at one of the biggest clubs in the world, arguably the biggest, and he’s playing exceptionally well and he’s currently the match-winner for them so he’s in a brilliant place.”

Bellingham has quickly established himself as a fan favourite at the Bernabeu, where he has added more goals to his game playing in a more advanced position.

The 20-year-old scored a solo stunner in Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League win at Napoli, with Spanish media comparing him to Diego Maradona and Alfredo Di Stefano.

“He’s playing higher,” Southgate said. “We played him higher against Scotland, he had that freedom in the Ukraine game as well, we didn’t use the game well enough in the final third.

“But he’s always looked dangerous and had an impact around the opposing box with Dortmund and with us, without looking quite as calm as he has this season in front of goal.

“It’s brilliant to have people who can win games.

“He’s been the match-winner for Real Madrid and the start for him has been absolutely phenomenal. I’m chuffed to bits for him.”

Asked if Bellingham is a number 10 who could play up top on his own without a number nine, the England boss said: “Well, there are lots of different number 10s, aren’t there?

“The 10s I played against, (Dennis) Bergkamp, (Gianfranco) Zola probably were forwards that dropped deeper rather than the other way round.

“Jude is a more powerful player than those, slightly different. More of a midfield player, who’s going to make midfield runs. That doesn’t mean he’s any less effective, as we’ve seen.

“Their team have found a nice balance with the athletic midfield they have behind and, having lost (Karim) Benzema as they did and lost Vinicius (to injury) as they did, they have been adapting.

“He’s been defending on the left wing in a couple of games and I can just imagine the reaction from all and sundry if I asked him to do that!

“So, look, he’s doing brilliantly well and that’s the beauty of some of the options we’ve got. We can play players in different positions. They’re good players so they can adapt.”

Bellingham will now join up with England for a Wembley double-header, with Friday’s friendly against Australia followed by a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy.

Southgate largely stuck with the tried and tested with his selection for October’s fixtures, meaning vice-captain Jordan Henderson kept his place after his controversial move to Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.

“His physical data is fine,” Southgate said of the former Liverpool skipper. “The games are not at the same intensity as the games here. The heat is part of that.

“There are two or three drinks breaks per game, which is an indication of the climate, and that his having an impact on how teams play.

“It is a situation that we are tracking closely. I will go out and watch games. But we get all his games the same way we get everybody else’s.

“That’s a longer trip and in these first couple of months we’ve felt it more important to see as many games live as we can, as quickly as possible, by getting around our country more.

“But as time moves on, we’ll get to more of the Milans, the Madrids and the Bayern Munichs, as well as out to see Hendo.”

AC Milan moved to the top of Serie A with a 1-0 win at Genoa that saw Christian Pulisic score late on before both sides had their goalkeepers sent off in stoppage time.

After substitute Pulisic broke the deadlock by firing home in the 87th minute, the Rossoneri were then reduced to 10 men in the eighth minute of time added on when Mike Maignan was dismissed.

Pulisic’s fellow substitute Olivier Giroud took over from Maignan in goal, and saw the Milan bar rattled moments later – before the drama continued with Genoa keeper Josep Martinez being shown a second yellow card.

With Giroud then making a save in the final few moments, Milan saw out the victory as they managed to take maximum advantage of Inter Milan being held 2-2 at home by Bologna earlier in the day.

Securing a fourth successive league victory and eighth in nine Serie A games, Stefano Pioli’s went two points clear as they replaced Inter at the summit.

Pioli made five changes to his starting line-up from the 0-0 Champions League draw at Borussia Dortmund, including replacing the front three of Giroud, Pulisic and Rafael Leao with Luka Jovic, Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor.

Two of that trio brought in almost combined for an early goal, with Chukwueze lofting the ball forward and Okafor just unable to finish as Martinez grabbed it.

The hosts then appealed for a penalty when Johan Vasquez went down in a tangle with Alessandro Florenzi but nothing was given.

A spell of Milan pressure around the quarter-hour mark saw Martinez deal with a shot from Florenzi and then block Tijjani Reijnders’ strike.

Florenzi subsequently got himself in the way of a Vasquez shot, before Theo Fernandez and Florenzi hit drives off-target.

After Pioli opted to bring on Pulisic and Leao for Chukwueze and Okafor at the interval, Milan continued to be frustrated in their search for a breakthrough early in the second half, struggling to fashion much in attack.

Leao then saw Martinez make a fine save to tip his bouncing header over the bar in the 65th minute, shortly before Giroud was introduced to the fray.

Genoa then threatened to grab the lead as Radu Dragusin’s shot deflected off Reijnders, with Maignan doing well to turn it around the post, and substitute Caleb Ekuban headed over.

It looked as if Milan would miss their opportunity to replace Inter at the top, but Pulisic then controlled a Yunus Musah delivery, turned and fired in, the effort standing after a VAR check for handball.

That proved only the start of a dramatic finale as stoppage time saw Maignan given a red card, via VAR, for clattering Ekuban, Giroud don the gloves, and the resulting free-kick by Albert Gudmundsson diverting off Fikayo Tomori and onto the Milan bar.

Martinez then fouled Musah and was sent off himself, before Giroud came out to bat the ball away from George Puscas as Milan emerged with all three points.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola distanced himself from Mikel Arteta’s success at Arsenal, insisting he learned just as much from his fellow Spaniard as opposed to the other way around.

The narrative of Sunday’s skirmish between two sides tipped to be vying for the Premier League title at the end of the season centres on Guardiola the master going up against Arteta the protege.

Arteta was one of Guardiola’s assistants for three years before leaving for Arsenal in December 2019, making gradual strides to the point where they were City’s closest top-flight challengers last season.

Any notion Guardiola is indirectly responsible for Arsenal’s resurgence was rubbished by the former Barcelona manager, who believes he had a reciprocal arrangement with Arteta during their time at City.

Asked if he sees a lot of his characteristics in Arteta, Guardiola said with a smile: “Zero. He has a completely different father and mother and he has his own personality.

“All the success he has belongs absolutely to Mikel and his people at Arsenal, not me. People say ‘he was with Pep and learned a lot’. I learned a lot from him.

“People say always I have to teach my assistant coaches; I bring the assistant coaches here to teach me. I am here, the figure in front of the microphone but I learn like the players.

“People believe we teach the players but we learn off them to take the decisions many times. All of the good things about Mikel belong to him, his genetics his mum and dad are giving to him. Not me.”

En route to a historic treble last season, City collected a third successive league title as they finished five points ahead of Arsenal, who claimed a top-four spot for the first time since 2016.

Guardiola thinks Arteta can bring back the glory days at Arsenal, who signed England midfielder Declan Rice for a club record £100million, plus £5m in add-ons, in July after City dropped out of the race.

Guardiola said: “Everybody knows that we wanted him. In the end, Arsenal pushed more and wanted him more. Maybe Mikel was more convincing than me. We could afford it maybe less, that’s why.”

Arsenal, who are unbeaten after seven league games and lie just one point City in the table, also paid more than £60m for Kai Havertz and their spending power suggests they will be challengers for a while.

Guardiola added: “Normally when Manchester City spent this amount of money it’s crazy, when it’s the other ones how smart they are.

“I’m not denying that everyone can do whatever they want and never judge the other one. We have been judged all the time but it’s fine.

“When we were in the middle of the table it never happened (like) that, it was not a problem, we were not under scrutiny from the rest.

“At the moment Arsenal’s recruitment is really good. They have a young squad for many, many years.

“The perspective for many is the fact that they will be there many times and, of course, Declan Rice is an exceptional, exceptional holding midfielder with the national team. He is an exceptional player.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has encouraged home-grown midfielder Sean Longstaff to set his sights on an England call-up after shining on the European stage.

The 25-year-old’s career, which looked to have stalled under Steve Bruce, has been resurrected since Howe took over in November 2021 and he played a key role in Wednesday night’s 4-1 Champions League victory over Paris St Germain with a tireless display capped with the third goal.

Longstaff has been a key figure in the side which has gone six games undefeated and conceded just a single goal ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to West Ham, and while the Magpies’ head coach studiously avoids trying to pick Gareth Southgate’s squad for him, he insists the Academy graduate has what it takes to play international football.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Newcastle United FC (@nufc)

Howe said: “I haven’t spoken with Sean in any great detail about the England squad or his dreams and aims, but I’d encourage it for him because I think he is good enough.

“I think he’s got everything depending on what system you want to play but for us, he perfectly fits the number eight role that we’re using him in.

“I’d love to see him score more goals and get in more goalscoring positions because I think he is a very good finisher – you saw the other night with a really good goal – so hopefully there’s more to come from him.

“But he’s certainly done very well at the start of this season.”

North Shields-born Longstaff’s re-emergence has ensured a Geordie presence in Howe’s increasingly-cosmopolitan starting XI and he is not alone with Blyth native Dan Burn having made the left-back spot his own since his £13million arrival from Brighton in January last year.

At 6ft 6in, the 31-year-old – who also scored against PSG – does not fit the usual profile for a full-back, but having played the role earlier in his career, has adapted admirably to what he has been asked to do.

Howe said: “He’s been magnificent. He’s unusual. There are not many Dan Burn-type players playing football.

“He’s done so well to adapt to the position, but it’s a position he’s played before, so it’s not new to him. It’s just new to him for us, but technically he’s been very good.

“Defensively, he’s got a brilliant mindset to defending. He enjoys defending, he wants to defend.

“You can see in the last two games, the amount of good decisions he’s made against very good opponents, whether that’s a fast tricky winger or someone who is good positionally.

“He finds a way to react really well in-game to make adjustments to deal with his opponent.”

Former Manchester United star David Beckham believes he knows the right people to take over and restore the club’s fortunes.

Speaking to Sky Sports at the Qatar Grand Prix as the ongoing takeover saga at Old Trafford approaches its first anniversary, the 48-year-old Inter Miami president admitted he was hoping for a conclusion to the Glazer family’s strategic review sooner rather than later.

Asked if Saturday’s last-gasp Premier League victory over Brentford could be a turning point for manager Erik ten Hag, Beckham told Sky Sports: “Let’s see.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Sports (@skysports)

“He’s a good coach. It is a difficult time at the moment, but there’s a lot of noise around the club at the moment, so it can’t be easy for him.

“We all want that noise to go away and we all want a decision to be made for the club, for the fans, for the players and for the manager as well because we are one of the, if not the, biggest clubs in the world and we want stability, and I think that’s the most important thing.

“We all have our favourites of who we feel need to run the club and look after the club and take the club back to where it belongs, but in our eyes, in the fans’ eyes, we’re number one and we want to be back at the top.

“I believe I know the right people to do that, so…”

Asked if “the right people” could be Sheikh Jassim, Beckham added with a smile: “We’ll see.”

Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim and INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe both submitted offers to buy the club in February and have made further bids since, although little significant progress has been made.

The club’s valuation on the New York Stock Exchange plummeted by more than £500million last month in the wake of reports the Glazers may not sell after all, and reports since have suggested Ratcliffe, the second-richest person in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List, could decide instead to buy a minority stake in the Premier League giants.

Meanwhile, Beckham sent his condolences to his former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson following the death of his wife Lady Cathy at the age of 84.

He said: “Obviously deepest sympathies go to the boss because to have Cathy by his side for a long, long time, got many, many years to be the strength that he needed through his career and through his life, it’s a really sad time for him and his family and the grandkids, so we obviously send our love to him.

“She was an incredible person and someone… We looked up to the boss, we also looked up to Cathy, so it’s a really sad time for him.”

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper believes his side are heading in the right direction despite their trip to Crystal Palace ending in a “disappointing” goalless draw.

Cooper’s men had their chances at Selhurst Park, where Morgan Gibbs-White saw a shot come back off a post and a sprightly Murillo was denied more than once by Eagles goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

In the end, it was a closer result than some had perhaps expected from a Palace squad that, already mired in an injury crisis, saw both Jeffrey Schlupp and Jairo Riedewald forced off either side of half-time.

Cooper said: “We’re definitely the team that, if anyone deserved to win it was us. That was clear, with the chances in the game, so there’s a little feeling of disappointment in the dressing room for sure, but also knowing that performances and results like this last year were so hard to come by.

“So the fact that we looked like that tonight and the way we have played means that beyond the small disappointment of not winning, we see a team that’s growing and hopefully on an upward trajectory.

“I have to bear that in mind. We want to be winning games, especially when we have chances like we did tonight, how we played in the first half and how we ended the game.

“But I think we’ve also got to respect that we kept a clean sheet, and for us to play like that I think is something that overall will be a real positive.”

Roy Hodgson, who managed his 400th Premier League contest on Saturday, admitted he has rarely, if ever, experienced an injury crisis quite like the one plaguing the Eagles.

Having already been forced to make three changes to his line-up from Palace’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United due to injuries to Eberechi Eze, Joel Ward and Cheick Doucoure, the 76-year-old was forced into two more on Saturday evening.

As Schlupp hobbled off the pitch, Hodgson elected to bring on 21-year-old Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who before the Forest encounter had played just nine Premier League minutes for Palace.

Rak-Sakyi, who had a disappointing Carabao Cup outing at Old Trafford last week, was a silver lining for Palace and received a warm reception from the home support after he delivered dangerous crosses into the area and tried twice to hand his side an opener.

Ultimately neither side could take advantage of what few chances they had created, but the Palace boss was full of praise for his young substitute, who returned from a loan spell at Charlton at the end of last season.

Hodgson, who compared Rak-Sakyi to the injured Michael Olise, said: “I was delighted for him. There were a lot of clubs interested in taking him again.

“I had to fight with him a little bit to persuade him that if he really wants to be a Premier League player he is in the best place and chances will come, and today he got that chance and I think he took it extremely well.

“He didn’t just do well on the ball, he also did his defensive work. Of course when you’ve got wingers, talented wingers, that is one of the things you ask questions about: is he going to be good on the ball for those few moments he’s got it, but also what is he going to be like when we’re working hard to stop them doing something with it?”

Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest settled for a point apiece after playing out a goalless draw at Selhurst Park.

Morgan Gibbs-White came closest for Forest when he clipped the inside of the far post in the first half, while Jean-Philippe Mateta narrowly missed breaking the deadlock in the second period.

Roy Hodgson’s 400th Premier League game in charge was marred by two more injuries to his severely-depleted side, with Jeffrey Schlupp and Jairo Riedewald forced off on either side of the interval.

Substitute Jesurun Rak-Sakyi was impressive in his fourth appearance for the Eagles and provided a bit of much-needed hope for the hosts – for whom the international break can not come soon enough.

The hosts should have been riding a high after walking away with all three points at Old Trafford last Saturday, but the past seven days instead saw Eberechi Eze, Joel Ward and Cheick Doucoure add to a long list of Eagles injuries, which Hodgson acknowledged had reached a “crisis” point.

Forest quickly worked their way into Palace’s final third but the hosts responded in kind. Edouard launched an effort wide before an alert Will Hughes intercepted Gibbs-White’s weak pass, leading to Palace’s first corner.

Forest earned a corner of their own resulting in the first real chance of the encounter when Harry Toffolo called Sam Johnstone into action, the goalkeeper diving to push away the potential opener.

The visitors should have taken the lead after 20 minutes when Gibbs-White’s side-foot volley from Murillo’s long ball into the box beat Johnstone, but clipped the inside of the keeper’s post but did not cross the line.

Palace barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief. Moments later, Schlupp went down in midfield and was replaced by 21-year-old Rak-Sakyi.

Jordan Ayew then found himself in space near the penalty spot, cringing as he volleyed Joachim Andersen’s delivery well over the crossbar before Palace did little to take advantage of a free-kick, followed by a timely intervention from Riedewald to nullify the threat on the counter.

Rak-Sakyi, who had previously played just nine Premier League minutes for Palace this season, looked eager to prove he deserved more with spirited first half that saw him deliver two good crosses into the area and had a chance to break the deadlock with a volley from inside the six-yard box.

Matt Turner made the save, while Johnstone twice denied Murillo in three minutes of added time to ensure it remained goalless at the break.

Neither side was able to take advantage of early set-pieces to start the second period, which saw little in the way of chances as the game ticked past the hour mark when substitute Gonzalo Montiel saw a shot blocked by Marc Guehi.

Palace came agonisingly close when Tyrick Mitchell found Edouard, who picked out Mateta on the right edge of the area, his effort inching so close the home support had prematurely started to celebrate, but the ball rolled just wide.

It nevertheless sparked something in Hodgson’s side, who continued to pile on the pressure, first through another Rak-Sakyi effort following a fine run from Guehi, then a missed chance for Ayew when he nodded over the crossbar.

Just as momentum had begun to build in their favour, Palace were forced into another substitution. This time it was Riedewald after he was attended to by staff and Chris Richards sent in to replace him.

The deadlock remained a reality, just barely, after Joachim Anderson stuck out a leg to deny Montiel from close range, Johnstone extending to save Nicolas Dominguez’s effort and ensure the points were shared.