Port Vale boss Andy Crosby feels his side’s place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup is “reward for a lot of things”.

Vale reached the last 16 for the first time since 2006-07 with a 2-1 victory over Sky Bet League Two strugglers Sutton, with Funso Ojo coming off the bench to fire home a superb winner.

Swansea loanee Josh Thomas had earlier opened the scoring before his effort was cancelled out by Sutton substitute Hisham Kasimu.

Crosby said: “When you start in the first round of the Carabao Cup you want to go as far as you can.

“Every time you get through to the next round, you want to get through to the next one.

“That’s what we’ve done. We’re in the fourth round for the first time in a long time for the football club.

“It’s reward for a lot of things. It’s reward for Carol and Kevin (Shanahan) for investing the amount of money they do into the football club.

“It’s brilliant for our supporters, who haven’t seen the club in the fourth round for a long time. They keep turning up and I thank them a lot for the support.

“I think we have to preach to them what we’re trying to do. It might be different from what they’ve seen before. There may be some frustration at times with what we’re trying to do, but we have to play a way that suits our team.

“That’s going to take time, but when we get to utopia and we’re playing incredible football with and without the ball. We’re making progress.”

Sutton boss Matt Gray was left with mixed emotions after his spirited side were sucker-punched by the late winner.

He said: “There were so many things I was happy with, apart from the result sadly.

“It’s a result I don’t think we deserved.

“They couldn’t break us down when we were in our shape, so to concede a goal from a counter-attack from a corner is a hard one to take.

“It’s something we’ll be looking at, it’s really frustrating.

“It was a great response from their goal. We had some great chances. We had to bide our time and eventually got the goal.

“It felt a little bit similar to the first goal. We were pushing forward and got done on the break which was very disappointing.

“We’ve not had some good league results, we’re working tirelessly to get things right and we saw some positives on the pitch.

“We need to keep working on that, building on that and I’m sure the results will turn soon.

“You can see that from the fans’ reaction at the end. They’re completely with us.”

LaLiga leaders Barcelona twice had to battle from behind as Fermin Lopez’s first goal for the club earned a hard-fought draw at Real Mallorca.

Xavi’s side have been the early pacesetters as they look to defend their league title but the visitors had to settle for a 2-2 draw at the Iberostar Stadium.

Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats goals had twice had the hosts in front but Raphinha cancelled out the opener before substitute Lopez struck to earn Barca a share of the spoils.

Mallorca were all but presented with the opening goal with just eight minutes gone as Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen gifted possession to Antonio Sanchez, who teed up Muriqi to break the deadlock.

Raphinha’s third goal of the season – a fine long-range strike – levelled the scores, only for Abdon to score in first-half stoppage time.

With the visitors chasing the game once more, Joao Felix hit the woodwork as Xavi’s side continued to threaten.

Their second equaliser of the evening would come with 15 minutes left on the clock, Lopez scoring his first senior goal for Barcelona having come off the bench shortly after the hour.

Despite pulling level on two occasions, Barca could not find a breakthrough to seal all three points and could now fall below both Real Madrid and Girona, who are in action on Wednesday against Las Palmas and Villarreal, respectively.

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted his side deserved to be on the end of an upset as they crashed out of the Carabao Cup with a 1-0 defeat at Exeter.

Demetri Mitchell scored the only goal of the game in the 83rd minute, poking in from close range from Yanic Wildschut’s cross, before he was sent off two minutes from time after collecting a second yellow card.

Toothless Luton, who made 10 changes from their Premier League draw with Wolves, rarely troubled League One Exeter, who reached round four for the first time since 1989 and claimed their first top-flight scalp since beating Leicester in the FA Cup back in 1981.

Edwards said: “It was a disappointing night for us clearly. Congratulations to Exeter, I have got to say that. With all of the possession we had tonight, we didn’t look like we were going to score.

“We need to be better, more aggressive, more clinical and have more desire to create chances and, when we do, be more ruthless.

“We can’t keep saying the same things at the moment. We have been sucker-punched out of a mistake on our part and we have not had the quality or desire to get the ball over the line and ultimately we got punished and don’t deserve to go through.

“I do want more. There wasn’t a lack of commitment or effort, I would never label that at our group, but I want to see more quality in that final third.

“As the game started opening up, we started to cause more problems for them, but they defended the box very well with high numbers and that is difficult to break down.

“We wanted to go deep into the competition, but we needed to make the changes we made.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell hailed a magnificent “team effort” from his side.

“I am really proud of the players, they were absolutely incredible tonight,” Caldwell said. “We had to come up with a game plan and we had one day to work on it and they performed it to the letter.

“In the beginning, I thought we understood it, but we weren’t quite aggressive enough and, as the game wore on, we got better, they got more frustrated and it was an amazing win.

“Full credit to the players for the effort, the desire to not concede, to fight for the team, to fight for each other – it was unbelievable.

“I said we were hoping for a special night under the lights at St James Park and I think we got it.

“Everyone was amazing tonight, the finishers that came on as well. It was a real team effort tonight and everyone deserves credit.

“This stadium is special and we want anyone to come here and we believe that, on our day, when we get it right, then we can be a real match for anyone.

“That’s the spirit and belief I want to get into these players and tonight will give them confidence.”

Mauricio Pochettino believes he is under no greater pressure from the owners at Chelsea than in either of his two previous Premier League appointments.

The Argentinian enjoyed successful spells with Southampton and Tottenham, guiding the latter to the Champions League final in 2019, but has seen his new side struggle for goals and wins since he was appointed in the summer despite a huge transfer outlay.

He famously enjoyed a close relationship with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy prior to being sacked five months after taking the club to within a game of being crowned European champions.

At Southampton there was a similarly jovial working arrangement with executive chairman Nicola Cortese, who appointed Pochettino in order to try and stabilise Saints in the top flight, a task he achieved comfortably during his 18 months in charge.

Yet Chelsea has brought a different level of expectation with over £1billion spent on recruitment by co-owner Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium, an investment that is yet to yield results with the club mired in the bottom half of the table.

Pochettino said that far from making the task harder, the work that had gone on prior to his appointment at Stamford Bridge has made his job less complicated.

“It’s less hard than when we were in Southampton and Tottenham, trust me,” he said. “Believe me.

“The only thing we are missing is scoring goals, because the team is playing, if you see our first few months in Southampton and Tottenham, I think we (Chelsea) are playing much better.

“We are doing much better here, but we are missing the most important (thing) in football – to score. But it’s not harder than the previous experience.

“It was different (at Tottenham). The transformation was with us, in the way that we found the squad, with the club, we were working in six months, one year to change and design.

“Here, the plan was already made, and we arrived here and we tried to develop this project. When I arrived here, the plan had started to work. Now I am part of the plan. Of course I am responsible here also like in Tottenham, but I think it was a little bit different.”

Pochettino’s work at Southampton laid the foundation for his reputation in the Premier League, guiding the team to a 14th-place finish after replacing Nigel Adkins midway through their first season back in the top flight.

The decision of Cortese to dispense with Adkins, who had led the club up from League One, and replace him with a coach who was virtually unknown in England was controversial at the time.

However, the pair quickly built a relationship that underscored the manager’s first success in England.

“With Nicola we were really close,” said Pochettino. “He liked to invite me for coffee before a game in his office at St Mary’s.

“One day we were sitting on the sofa in his office and talking and talking, and my phone was like this (face down). We were talking about I don’t know what. Then somebody knocked the door and said, ‘we need to start the game in five minutes’.

“Nicola was like that. Daniel (Levy) sometimes arrived before the game to talk in the manager’s office. At the moment it’s not the case because in these five games at home, (the owners) came after.

“(Co-sporting directors) Paul (Winstanley)  and Lawrence (Stewart) always come to say hello before. It’s a similar relationship (to Southampton and Tottenham). No more pressure now than in other places.”

Pep Guardiola has revealed Manchester City are affected by travel problems during one of their most hectic periods of the season.

City have four away games in less than a fortnight, with Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle followed by a Premier League clash with Wolves, a Champions League outing to Leipzig and then another league game against Arsenal.

Guardiola’s men would normally travel back by train or plane to minimise time on the road but neither is available on Wednesday.

“We cannot come back by plane because we don’t have planes to travel back so we have to take a bus, it’s two, three hours later, we arrive here so, so late,” said the Catalan.

“Then Friday we have to travel to Wolves. We go to Germany to play Champions League, it’s a really, really important game for us because we know what it means to be able to win there for qualification for the next stage. This is what we have to do.”

Guardiola admits he will have to play several players he would rather rest because of injury and suspension issues in midfield, while he does not feel he can call on academy products.

“We cannot take a few of them because we sell a lot of them and still they are not ready to play with us,” he said. “That’s why I have to give time to them to develop. They are still so young to play Newcastle away.”

One player who will start is Kalvin Phillips, who impressed Guardiola after coming on against Nottingham Forest last weekend.

It will be just a fifth start for the midfielder since his move from Leeds last summer, where his performances under Marcelo Bielsa persuaded City to sign him.

“I think Marcelo gave Kalvin the best of Kalvin in his career,” said Guardiola. “I would love to have done with Kalvin what Marcelo has done to him. But it’s where he is.

“We have a specific way to play. Sometimes he struggles with a few things, but the previous game was perfect. He’s open-minded, he always wants to learn, always wants to help and this is what I try to do.”

Guardiola named “exhausted” Kyle Walker as one player he will rest but, whatever team he puts out, he expects a better performance than the one that saw City dumped out of the competition by Southampton in the quarter-finals last season.

“What we don’t want to do is perform not who we are in terms of the principles and who we are as a team, which happened last season against Southampton,” he said.

“That’s the worst game I’ve had as manager of Man City, by far. I didn’t recognise anything about that. You can lose, of course, credit to Southampton in that game, but you have to meet a minimum and this is what I want from my team in every single game, every single competition.

“And tomorrow it’s going to happen, I’m pretty sure of that.”

Mansfield won a penalty shoot-out for the second round in a row after a 2-2 draw with League One Peterborough United to make the Carabao Cup fourth round for the first time since 1975.

Former Posh goalkeeper Christy Pym was the hero with two penalty saves in the 3-1 shoot-out success against his old club as the League Two high-flyers maintained their record as the only EFL side unbeaten in all competitions.

Mansfield soaked up early pressure and Baily Cargill had to clear a Ricky-Jade Jones finish off the line in the third minute before the home side grabbed a fifth minute lead from the penalty spot.

An Archie Collins foul on Will Swan was spotted and the latter coolly tucked away the spot-kick down the centre of Nicholas Bilokapic’s goal.

Pym had to save well in the 18th minute, diving to his left to deny Ephron Mason-Clark.

However, the visitors were level on the half-hour as Jonson Clarke-Harris drilled a 25-yard free-kick through the Mansfield wall and past a helpless Pym.

A minute after Pym tipped over a Hector Kyprianou header to stop Posh turning the game on its head – but the visitors were ahead two minutes after the break.

Peter Kioso crossed hard and low from the right and although George Williams hooked clear from near the goal line, Clarke-Harris followed up clinically.

Kioso hit the bar with a header from a 51st-minute corner.

But Mansfield went up a gear and were rewarded in the third added minute as Lucas Akins levelled from the spot after Clarke-Harris had brought down substitute Calum Macdonald.

Pym made two great stops in the shoot-out before Davis Keillor-Dunn buried the crucial winner.

Casemiro scored one and provided another as Manchester United began their defence of the Carabao Cup with a straightforward victory against lifeless Crystal Palace.

A lot has happened in the seven months since securing the first trophy of the Erik ten Hag era – and the Red Devils’ first silverware in six years – against Newcastle at Wembley.

Casemiro opened the scoring under the arch and found the net again in Tuesday’s 3-0 third-round triumph against Palace as United look to put their poor start to the season behind them.

There were a combined 14 changes for an Old Trafford meeting that will be repeated in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, when Eagles boss Roy Hodgson will demand a vastly improved display.

United kept Palace at arm’s length in a one-sided first half that brought a pair of quickfire goals shortly after injury had ended Dean Henderson’s debut against his former club.

First good team play ended with Alejandro Garnacho turning in Diogo Dalot’s cutback, before Casemiro headed home his fourth goal of the campaign from the returning Mason Mount’s corner.

Anthony Martial rifled home from the Brazil international’s cross in the 55th minute as United rubber-stamped their place in Wednesday’s fourth-round draw by following up their much-needed win at Burnley.

The hosts were in control from the outset at an impressively full Old Trafford, where the best Palace could initially muster was a dangerous early cross cut out by Harry Maguire on his first club start of the season.

United patiently passed and probed in the Palace half, although they had not created a clear-cut chance by the time their former goalkeeper Henderson went off injured on his debut.

Sam Johnstone replaced his fellow United academy graduate in the 19th minute and was beaten just two minutes later.

A cross-field pass to the right ended with the underlapping Dalot bursting forwards and cutting back to Garnacho, who battled to stretch and turn home.

United smelt blood and immediately hunted a potentially tie-settling second.

Dalot met a fantastic diagonal ball with a strike on Johnstone’s goal, before a last-gasp Chris Richards challenge on Facundo Pellistri prevented another effort on goal.

Mount sent over the resulting corner from the right and Casemiro all too easily shrugged off Jeffrey Schlupp to powerfully head home in the 27th minute.

The goals took the sting out of a tie that already had an exhibition vibe about it, with Palace offering precious little in terms of threat as the hosts showed flashes of quality.

Full debutant Sofyan Amrabat had impressed as a makeshift left-back and stepped up into midfield at half-time after Victor Lindelof came on for Mount.

Marc Guehi replaced Jesurun Rak-Sakyi as Palace made a change of their own, but the England defender’s introduction could not prevent Palace conceding again.

Casemiro picked up a loose ball and swung a fine right-footed cross to the far post, where Martial got behind Nathaniel Clyne to slam home in front of the Stretford End.

Both sides made changes with an eye on this weekend’s reunion, including United handing teenager Dan Gore his debut.

“We’ve had a shot,” chanted the Palace fans after Clyne lashed over and soon had a shot on target to sing about after Andre Onana stopped Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Jonny Evans’ header from a corner was denied by a point-blank Johnstone save as the match wound down, while Onana stopped Mateta again before 18-year-old introduction David Ozoh dragged wide.

Lindelof and Garnacho stung the palms as Johnstone ensured things did not get any worse for the south Londoners.

Middlesbrough secured safe passage to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 victory over Bradford at the University of Bradford Stadium.

Boro were keen to keep the momentum up from their first league victory, against Southampton at the weekend, and made all of the running in a first half capped by Emmanuel Latte Lath’s strike midway through.

The away side play two divisions higher than their Sky Bet League Two counterparts and made their quality count in the second half through Morgan Rogers as they secured a comfortable away win.

The Championship side came closest to the opener in the third minute after some neat link-up play unlocked the Bantams’ defence, with Tommy Smith sliding it into Lewis O’Brien who blazed over from close range.

The visitors, followed by a 4,000 strong travelling contingent, were on top for the early parts and were inches away from scoring the first but Samuel Silvera’s curling effort from outside the area skimmed the wrong side of a post.

It seemed only a matter of time before Boro got on the scoresheet, and they did just that when Latte-Lath received a ball from Hayden Hackney and squeezed it under Harry Lewis’ legs from inside the area.

Many would argue City’s keeper could have done better for the first but he did well to keep the deficit to one just a couple of minutes later as he remarkably stopped Latte Lath’s header from inside the six-yard box.

Bradford started the second period with more zest and had half an opening after Rayhaan Tulloch danced his way between the Boro defence but curled harmlessly wide of the target.

Boro doubled their lead in the 54th minute after Riley McGree’s square ball found a free Rogers, who easily tapped home to make it two.

Middlesbrough could have made it three just after the hour mark after Hackney flicked the ball into O’Brien, whose goalbound effort was palmed wide by Lewis.

Bradford’s efforts to get back into the encounter seemed tame, which led to large parts of the 15,000 crowd heading for the exit doors early.

The Bantams finally mustered their first shot on target in the 84th minute as Alex Pattison latched onto Tyler Smith’s through ball.

He made Thomas Glover pull off his first save of the night as Middlesbrough advanced in comfortable fashion.

Inter Milan head coach Simone Inzaghi thanked his stalwarts for embracing the slew of new recruits at San Siro as the Nerazzurri blaze a trail at the top of Serie A.

There was some concern that the formula which saw Inter go all the way to an unexpected Champions League final and claim a creditable third place in the league might be addled by the transfer overhaul that took place over the summer.

Although European stars including Benjamin Pavard and Marcus Thuram were thrown into the mix, many clubs have found it is not always easy to create a winning team in the short term based solely on the quality of talent recruited.

Inzaghi told a press conference: “Our squad has undergone a lot of changes, but the players who were already here have been important. They’ve helped the newcomers – however experienced they are – understand how to adapt to the Inter world.

“I see real willingness: everyone has been working excellently and in a really determined fashion since July.”

Inter host Sassuolo on Wednesday having thumped city rivals AC Milan 5-1, drawn away at Real Sociedad and squeezed past Empoli 1-0 on Sunday, with a trip to Salernitana on the schedule for the upcoming weekend.

“It’ll be our fourth match in 10 days, with many players having also been away on international duty and done plenty of travelling,” Inzaghi added.

“However, I’m lucky enough to coach a competitive squad. We still need to train this afternoon and then I’ll make my choices.”

On the threat posed by Sassuolo, the former Lazio striker said: “They come into this game having beaten Juventus thanks to a really good display and they have a excellent coach who has his team really well organised.

“We need to be determined as we look to produce a big performance.”

His opposite number in the Neroverdi dugout, Alessio Dionisi, led his side to a 4-2 triumph over Juve last time out and told reporters: “The victory has given us awareness, and we obtained a great result against a better team.

“We know what we did on Sunday will not be enough against Inter because right now they are superior. They are superior to everyone.

“We must try to be the best possible version of Sassuolo, we made it on Saturday and we must do the same tomorrow against a team that seems unplayable.

“We’ll need courage and personality.”

Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders believes they will take on a Premier League quality team in Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

The Championship leaders, who look set to vie for an immediate return to the top flight under new coach Enzo Maresca, will make the trip to Anfield for a third-round tie.

Lijnders took over the hotseat from Jurgen Klopp for the pre-match press conference, and he said: “We know we’re going to play against a team that has a lot of individual quality.

“It shows how they are doing in the league. A real clear offensive game idea, very quick installation of this idea with the coach Enzo – he does an unbelievable job. I think each player could play in the Premier League.

“It will be really hard for us to get control of their key players and at the same time put them under pressure. As always in each game we will focus on ourselves.

“Of course we will make changes but we want to put our game into place, we want to be dominant, we want to be in their half of the pitch.”

The game will come too soon for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Lijnders said “looked outstanding” on his return to training on Monday following a hamstring injury.

Midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who is yet to make an appearance this season, is back on the grass but is working individually.

There could be another chance, though, for 17-year-old winger Ben Doak, who started last week’s Europa League match in Linz.

Lijnders cited his Dutch heritage while discussing Doak’s potential, saying: “He is young so a lot of things can happen.

“I had the privilege to grow up in Holland and we have this culture, a long tactical culture of Johan Cruyff. This idea of having the wingers on the outside, they can create, can really disorganise the opposition, use the speed.

“Then, if you get a young winger from Scotland but only 17 years old and he has this capacity to create and to reach the final line with individual movement, it’s nice to see.

“The good thing about Ben in my opinion is he comes into a squad with so much senior authority. He will never make a sidestep, the boys will already tell him.

“He has this great low gravity and that’s how he can control the ball better. So he’s a really interesting player but loads to come, he needs to mature, he needs to listen to Robbo (Andy Robertson), to Mo Salah, to all these guys that are trying to help him.

“And I think it’s really good for the older players to have young players with this hunger. That combination is what we always had and that’s how we want to construct the squad.”

Bukayo Saka has added to Arsenal’s injury woes as Mikel Arteta revealed the England winger could miss the weekend trip to Bournemouth with a foot problem.

The 22-year-old scored from the penalty spot and saw a first-half shot deflected in by Cristian Romero as the Gunners drew 2-2 at home to north London rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

Saka, though, then limped off late in the game to be replaced by Emile Smith Rowe and will definitely miss Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third-round clash at Brentford, while his club-record run of 86 consecutive Premier League appearances is also under threat.

Declan Rice was replaced at half-time against Spurs with a back issue and forwards Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard missed the game through injury, with Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey also sidelined.

Now Arteta is worried Saka – who has four goals as well as four assists from the first eight games of the campaign – could join that lengthy injury list.

“He was limping quite badly after the match,” said Arteta. “We had to get him off the field, which is never a good sign. He hasn’t been able to participate in the session.”

Asked if he could miss the Bournemouth game, Arteta added: “It’s a possibility, yes.”

None of the players currently on the treatment table will be available for the London derby against the Bees, with the same quintet unlikely to return in time for Saturday’s trip to the south coast.

Saka could yet make an appearance at the Vitality Stadium as Arteta once again highlighted the amount of football being played as a potential explanation for so many injuries.

“It’s true that they play with the national teams and they’re coming from a season where they had a World Cup and some players played 60-odd games,” he said.

“We’ve been unlucky. Jurrien, for example, was due to other reasons, while Bukayo was because someone stepped on him.

“There are some traumatic injuries, others are more muscular. We try to find the ways to avoid them but they’re a part of football.

“It’s true that we have a lot of internationals in the last few windows and they have quite a lot of exposure to minutes but at the moment we have a squad that is not 24 players. To change 11 or 12 players tomorrow is just not a possibility we have.”

Arteta suggested he could rotate at the Gtech Community Stadium, with fringe players and young talent in line for a rare chance to impress.

“There are a lot of players who need minutes,” he said. “If you go through the squad there are lots of players who haven’t had minutes and they are going to need exposure, that’s for sure.

“We all trained today. The line up, we could not make it because there are still some players who are doubtful. So I will decide the best team to put out there.”

Napoli boss Rudi Garcia did not carry out his pre-match press conference duties on Tuesday as the pressure continued to grow on his position following another fractious weekend in Serie A.

The Partenopei welcome Udinese to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with criticism mounting over their faltering start to the defence of the title they won last season and frustration within the camp threatening to boil over.

They are without a win in three league games after Sunday’s goalless draw at Bologna, where striker Victor Osimhen made no secret of his displeasure at Garcia’s decision to substitute him late on after seeing him miss a penalty.

After the match, Garcia told reporters: “Even the greatest players in the history of football miss penalties. As for when he went off, we talked about that, what I say to my players remains in the locker room.”

Reports from Italy – where it has been claimed Garcia has four matches in which to save his job – have suggested Osimhen has since apologised to the manager in front of his team-mates, but with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia having been similarly unimpressed with his withdrawal during the 2-2 draw at Genoa eight days earlier, the optics are far from good.

The champions are already seven points adrift of leaders Inter Milan – who have a 100 per cent record – after five games, although Udinese boss Andrea Sottil had dismissed talk of a crisis.

Sottil told a press conference: “The newspapers say that Napoli are in crisis, but I absolutely don’t think so.

“It’s not my priority to understand if their locker room is working, I’m interested in creating a strategy for the match by working on my players.”

Napoli will have high hopes of a return to winning ways against a side who have drawn three, but won none of their league fixtures to date and currently lie inside the bottom three.

However under-pressure Garcia, who replaced Scudetto-winning boss Luciano Spalletti this summer, will be without defender Juan Jesus, who has been ruled out for several weeks with a grade-one hamstring injury.

Mauricio Pochettino has no problem with Chelsea’s owners visiting the dressing room after matches, but points out it is not their job to come in and “give some speech”.

Co-owner Behdad Eghbali went into the changing room following Sunday’s defeat to Aston Villa, with other members of the club’s senior hierarchy, including Todd Boehly and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, having done similarly after home Premier League games this season.

The Argentinian insists it is “good” that the quartet spend time around the players on matchdays, provided his authority is respected.

“I like when the owners come,” he said. “In all my career as a coach, at Espanyol then Southampton, Tottenham and Paris St Germain also, before and after.

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“I think it’s good that the owners came to the dressing room. It’s in the way that they approach the players that is the most important. If they are in a good way, I think they’re very welcome.

“After my press conference on Sunday against Aston Villa they came and shared with us like normal.

“Against Liverpool, first game, then Luton and Nottingham Forest, they came with Paul and Laurence and Behdad, and sometimes with Todd also. They share some comment and we talk about the game, always after my (press) duties.

“I don’t see it in a bad way. For me it’s good always if they share with us, then they can say hello to the players. The difference is if they come for some speech. That is different.

“But in the way they came they are very welcome. They own the club, they can do whatever they want.

“I think they are in a very good way and we are glad that they came and shared with us – even like happened on Sunday when we didn’t win and we are suffering.”

Boehly entered the dressing room and spoke to the team on a number of occasions last season, most notably after the 2-1 defeat to Brighton in April when he told the squad their season had been “embarrassing”.

Chelsea face the same opposition at Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday in arguably a worse position than the last time Roberto De Zerbi’s team visited.

Defeat to the Seagulls came in a run that saw the team win just one of their final 12 league games of the season en route to finishing 12th under caretaker boss Frank Lampard.

This season has begun in similarly poor form with one win and three defeats from Pochettino’s first six Premier League games.

Pochettino said he waited until Monday to address his players following the loss to Villa, which came after the visitors took advantage of defender Malo Gusto’s second-half red card to win it with a breakaway Ollie Watkins goal.

“Not really (I didn’t give a speech after the game),” he said. “We talked on Monday and Tuesday with the players. But it’s my duty, if I need to do it, it’s my decision (to make) some speech. Only me, or the captain.

“It’s not a job of the owner to come to the dressing room and give some speech after the game, whether you win or you lose. But they know very well how they need to behave.”

Defeat on Sunday made this Chelsea’s worst start to a league season for 45 years, with the team still struggling to convert possession and chances into goals – a feature that has carried over from last term.

The team’s performances have arguably been better than results, with Pochettino’s side having looked far the likelier to take three points up until Gusto was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Villa’s Lucas Digne on 58 minutes.

The situation has been made worse by an injury crisis that left the boss without 12 first-team players for the recent goalless draw against Bournemouth.

“If you go back to the Liverpool game (on the opening weekend), I think no-one expected this situation,” Pochettino said.

“The circumstances are (something) that sometimes you cannot manage, a little bit of bad luck. We can’t talk about excuses, but that is the circumstances and the reality.”

Cagliari coach Claudio Ranieri has called for his side to be calm when they take on AC Milan looking to kickstart their Serie A campaign.

Defeat at Atalanta on Sunday was a third in five league games for Ranieri’s side, who sit second bottom of the table.

Cagliari, promoted last season, have scored just one goal in September and have only two points on the board.

Ranieri, though, is confident results will follow if his side can produce the right mindset.

“The boys are working well, we must move forward with confidence, without fear of making mistakes and doing what we prepare,” Ranieri told reporters.

“We expected a tough start, the schedule is clear, we have two points and it could be more but also less, now on to Milan who are very strong and want to become champions of Italy again.

“It will be a good battle, we need some optimism also from the last matches, that goal, the victory that can unblock you and give you more calmness.”

Milan coach Stefano Pioli did not give a press conference ahead of the trip to the Unipol Domus.

Pioli, though, had hinted he would probably make changes on Wednesday night as he aims to keep his squad fresh to build on a 1-0 win over Verona after a goalless draw in their opening Champions League game followed a heavy defeat to derby rivals Inter.

The Rossoneri are without midfielder Rade Krunic for the first time this season.

The Bosnian had been an ever present before a muscle problem forced him off during the second half against Verona.

Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are potential replacements to come into the side as cover.

Duncan Ferguson never stopped to consider the significance of his return to Scottish football when he seized the chance to take over as Inverness manager.

The former Dundee United and Rangers striker is back in his homeland 29 years after leaving Ibrox for Everton.

The 51-year-old had a swift return to Glasgow in 1995, a year after his move to Merseyside, when he spent 44 days in Barlinnie Prison following a failed appeal against his conviction for assault against John McStay during a game against Raith Rovers at Ibrox.

He never played in Scotland again as he ended his international career in 1997 amid lingering resentment over the Scottish Football Association’s attempts to impose a 12-match suspension – both before his initial court case and after his jail term. The protracted dispute was ultimately resolved in the player’s favour after another court case.

When asked how he was feeling about his return to Scottish football, the former Newcastle striker told MFR Radio: “I’m feeling good, I’m feeling great. I suppose I never thought about that really.

“Fitba’s fitba, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter where it is, it can be in England, it can be in Scotland.

“Obviously it’s nice to come back up to Scotland, my home, but that’s not the reason why I took the job. The reason I took the job is because I think this club can move in the right direction.

“But it is great to be back. I obviously come and visit, so I have not been totally down south forever. I have got family up here. But it is lovely to be back.”

The job is Ferguson’s second in management after a brief spell at Forest Green last season. Rovers won only one of the 18 games he took charge of and were relegated from Sky Bet League One.

Stirling-born Ferguson, who has signed a three-year contract, said: “It’s a great opportunity for myself. It’s great to be back being a manager, the thing that I love, coaching, managing, and really excited about the project ahead.

“The club have got a really big ambition to go back to the Premiership. Unfortunately that’s not the case at the moment but they have certainly got a lot of good ideas of how to get there.

“The main reason I came was the ambition of the club and the ambition of myself, and it’s a great opportunity.”

Ferguson spent 14 years as a coach at Everton, most of them working with the first team, and believes he can get Caley Thistle off the foot of the cinch Championship and up the table.

Previous manager Billy Dodds was sacked months after leading the club to the Scottish Cup final, and Caley Thistle sit bottom with one point from six matches.

Ferguson, whose first game will be against Dick Campbell’s Arbroath at Gayfield on Saturday, said: “We need to get some goals, we need to start creating some chances, we need to make sure we are in the opposition box.

“There’s not a lot of points on the board so we need to make sure we change that and change that quickly.”