Real Madrid hopes Jude Bellingham will be fully fit when he faces his first “clasico” match at Barcelona on Saturday

Mikel Arteta hailed “top-level” Eddie Nketiah after the England striker hit a first Premier League hat-trick in a convincing 5-0 win over bottom club Sheffield United. Nketiah scored the first three goals as the Gunners ran out comfortable victors, with Fabio Vieira’s penalty and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s first goal for the club completing the rout. The victory took Arsenal up to second place, two points behind leaders and north London rivals Tottenham as Arteta’s men remain unbeaten after 10 league games. With Gabriel Jesus facing a few weeks out with a hamstring issue, Nketiah has once again been tasked with filling his boots at centre-forward. His touch and finish for the opening goal proved he can do the job as the England international set the Gunners on their way to a victory over the rock bottom Blades. He doubled the lead after half-time and rifled home a memorable third – before ending the game with the captain’s armband. “For me, he’s top-level,” Arteta said after the win. “He has started eight out of the 10 Premier League games. So that tells you how much we trust him, how much I trust him and and the importance that he has in the team. “I’m really happy for him, an academy player to experience in the Premier League a hat-trick. He needs to enjoy the moment. He fully deserves it and hopefully there are many more to come. “He’s got an eye for goal. You look at the stats from his last 10 years. What he’s done is remarkable and he needs minutes, opportunities and service and if he gets that, Eddie is going to score goals, that’s for sure.” Arsenal are yet to suffer a league defeat this season but Arteta revealed he gave his players an “alert” in training this week after some tough fixtures either side of the October international break. “They took the game in a really serious way because I gave them on Thursday a big alert because of the context and the difference in the game that we have to play today with the previous Man City,Chelsea and Sevilla games and I’m really happy how they approached it. “Obviously they come from the national team, so we beat City, we come from national team, we have to go to Stamford Bridge and we did what we did in Stamford Bridge. “Then you have to go to Seville and that’s a really really stressful week with what they were experiencing in the last few weeks as well.” Sheffield United remain bottom and with just one point from their opening nine games. Paul Heckingbottom’s side are also struggling with injuries – but he was not ready to use that as an excuse for a bad day at the office. “Arsenal had a lot of the ball first half but Wes (Foderingham) had one save to make,” he said. “Second half, the goals were really poor that we conceded and probably a reflection of how I thought the game was – they outfought us as well as outplayed us in the first half and that is what good teams can do. “We are down to the bare bones and missing some big personalities and physicality.” Read More England were ‘desperate to win’ after Tonga provocation – Shaun Wane Exeter run riot against sloppy Sale Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola claims maiden Premier League win over Burnley Matty Ashton at the double as England seal series win over Tonga Everton financial reports just another thing to deal with – Sean Dyche Steve Borthwick’s plans for England’s Six Nations campaign well under way

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There is a former Aston Villa captain who has been at the front and centre of celebrations of late. Not Tyrone Mings, admittedly, even though he helped his club qualify for Europe for the first time in 13 years as a season that began with him stripped of the armband and his place in the team ended with him a pivotal part of Unai Emery’s remarkable revival. Villa clinched seventh place with a last-day win over Tottenham. “After the final game I was in bed by about 11 o’clock with a Ribena,” said Mings wryly. “Other juices obviously are available.” Jack Grealish has tasted a few of them. The £100 million man has looked the party animal, enjoying Manchester City’s treble with the relish he brings to much else. “He’s had a great time, hasn’t he?” said Mings. A night out with his old Villa teammate Grealish, he can testify, is not for the faint-hearted. “It is extremely wild,” he added. “The only thing he needs to do is do it at the right times and he’s just won the treble so I don’t think anybody can begrudge him going out and letting his hair down - those luscious locks of his now he has taken the hairband out. He’s certainly had a good few days.” Part of Grealish’s appeal is that he can seem the likeable Jack the lad: unpolished, at times undiplomatic, but natural. “It’s important to be yourself, whatever that looks like,” Mings said. “It adds to the game and dressing room. It adds to the culture and authenticity is a tough trait to come across. Football is sometimes just a reflection of society, isn’t it? Or like a reflection of everybody’s life.” Grealish’s seems more eventful than most. “Surely he’s all partied out,” said the defender. They have been photographed on breaks abroad before but Mings was quick to draw a distinction. “I’ve bumped into him on holiday,” he said. “I’ve never put myself in the position of where I’ve actually flown out with him! But I’ve seen him abroad - and many, many times in this country. It’s impressive - if that’s what you’re into...” His own plans are more restrained. “The thing I love doing the most is running a normal life schedule,” he said. “Like going out for coffee in the morning, or training when you want to. Popping to the dry cleaners, stuff like that. Real mundane things, like pottering around the village.” Which he can do after a successful season. The summer of 2022 was bookended by disappointments for Mings: first a staple of Gareth Southgate’s squads was dropped by England and then Steven Gerrard replaced him as Villa skipper with John McGinn and preferred new signing Diego Carlos for the opening-day defeat to Bournemouth. “I guess it started being left out of the England squad but that was a whole summer of strange times,” he added. “Then sitting on the bench at Bournemouth and thinking, ‘I don’t know how all of this has happened in such a short space of time’; from the captaincy to not starting first game of the season.” And yet the happy end to the campaign left him reflecting: “I certainly wouldn’t change the last 14 months since the last game of last season to where we are now. Sometimes need a kick up the backside, don’t you?” He had the honesty to accept Southgate was right to omit him. “Did I need it? Probably,” he said. “There always comes a stage in people’s careers where there is a plateau and you are coasting.” A change of fortune came in part with a change of manager. He was back in the Villa side before Gerrard was sacked, but was revitalised by Emery. While another England centre-back, John Stones, has shown a new dimension to his game by playing in midfield, Mings has benefited from being ordered not to desert his post in the middle of the defence by Emery. “He has made my job a lot simpler and a lot clearer,” he said. “I always go back to the first conversation that we had and he said every time he watched me, I ended up in centre midfield, left-wing, right-back or covering the other centre-back and all of that can happen within 60 seconds. He wanted me to play in my position, simplify what I have done and learn his methods.” If Mings has proved a star pupil, Southgate has taken note. But his role for England has not just been confined to defensive duties. Mings has found the net in his last two caps, against San Marino and Ivory Coast. “What is the longest scoring streak for a defender for England?” he wondered. “Two, probably.” Score for a third consecutive game and he may find his friend Grealish celebrating. Again. Read More Jack Grealish says he hasn’t slept for 24 hours as he revels in Man City victory parade Manchester City quintet set to arrive for England duty on Tuesday evening Jack Grealish revels as Manchester City parade treble

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