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Liverpool are seeking further information about the review into Saturday’s offside controversy at Tottenham before deciding on next steps. The club had a Luis Diaz goal ruled out in north London due to a miscommunication between VAR Darren England and on-field referee Simon Hooper. The Premier League game was goalless at the time of the incident, with the Reds going on to lose 2-1. Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday night saying they would “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”. Much of the focus since has been on precisely how the club would like the matter escalated and resolved, but PA understands at this stage the key word in the statement from a Liverpool perspective is “explore”. They are seeking greater clarity and transparency over precisely what the review of the incident promised by referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) will entail. The Reds acknowledge there is no playbook and no established procedure to deal with this set of circumstances, as there would be in the case of appealing against a red card for instance. PGMOL issued a statement on Saturday night acknowledging a “significant error” had occurred. Hooper and his assistants had given offside against Diaz on the field, and the PA news agency understands that although England followed the correct procedure in drawing lines, he lost focus and mistakenly thought the initial onfield decision had been onside. This resulted in him issuing a ‘check complete’ notice to Hooper, rather than advising of an intervention and the goal being awarded. Once the officials realised an error had been made, play had restarted and VAR protocols state that once that has happened, there is no way back to revisit a decision. England was replaced as a fourth official for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford match on Sunday while his assistant VAR at Tottenham, Dan Cook, has been replaced for Monday night’s match between Fulham and Chelsea. Referee and VAR appointments for the coming weekend’s matches are due to be announced at 10am on Tuesday morning. The controversy over the Diaz goal has led to calls for the conversation between England and Hooper to be broadcast. PGMOL has not ruled out the possibility of the audio forming part of the next ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ programme, which is due to air next Monday. England and Cook had been part of a team of officials who oversaw a fixture between Sharjah and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, arriving back in the UK on Friday morning. Requests for English officials to take charge of domestic matches overseas are made to the Football Association, with permission for officials to travel granted jointly by the FA and PGMOL. Just as players involved in Europa League matches on a Thursday do not return to domestic action until Sunday, so officials’ duties are balanced to take account of any overseas assignments in the week. For instance, Michael Oliver, who refereed the match in the UAE last week, was a fourth official on Saturday but was back to refereeing at Forest on Sunday. Nor was the UAE trip unusual. It was the fifth time in the last 10 months that officials have overseen domestic matches overseas, with Tom Bramall and Andy Madley leading teams to Japan in January and the early summer respectively, Oliver officiating a Saudi match in April and Craig Pawson going to Greece in May. That is on top of English officials frequently being called upon for club and national team matches in international competitions. Liverpool’s statement said the error that occurred had led to sporting integrity being undermined, but Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said on Monday he still had complete “trust” in referees. “Well, I’m not so often giving comment on refereeing because they do what they have to do,” the Dutchman said. “Of course, the standard has to be high and it’s a part of the game. “Of course, you can expect, we can expect, teams can expect, the fans can all expect, that it has to be a high standard – so it should be because it’s Premier League. “But I think and I’m sure they do what they can. They are very professional, so they will give their best and I trust them.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Scotland’s Finn Russell says second best will not be good enough against Ireland Rory McIlroy says he began thinking about Ryder Cup quest a year ago Great to grow game – Jamie George in favour of historic England tour to Samoa

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By Saturday evening, as has become protocol but also a frustrating norm, Howard Webb felt he had no choice but to apologise to Liverpool for the Luis Diaz decision. Jurgen Klopp might well repeat the question as to who that actually helps, but a failure to communicate such a sentiment would have made it worse. That’s partly because it is actually a failure of communication that is at the core of the controversy, which now poses a genuine credibility crisis for the Premier League. "It's an image problem," as one involved figure put it, with Liverpool themselves describing the situation as “unacceptable” in an unprecedented statement. Because, for all the focus on the nature of VAR, this is an issue that really comes down to basic human error. The details at the root of the story, though, are remarkable. If we are to take the referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL)’s explanation at face value – that this represented a “momentary lapse in concentration” – the VAR didn’t actually know what it was supposed to be looking at. Darren England and Dan Cook thought they were checking whether a goal should stand, rather than an offside call as referee Simon Hooper ruled, which was partly why the decision was made so quickly. It ended up creating the farcical situation that a communication of “check complete” led to a fair strike being wrongly disallowed in a completely preventable fashion. After that, how was it that play was allowed to proceed, given those involved would have had immediate knowledge that this was wrong? The IFAB rules dictate that play cannot be called back once it has resumed, but was no one watching in the meantime? Would hasty shouts not have been made as soon as they saw Spurs shaping to take the free kick? It has since emerged that the VAR and fourth official team of England, Cook and Michael Oliver were officiating a game in the UAE Pro League as late as Thursday evening, which has raised fair questions within the game over fatigue was a potential explanation for that “momentary lapse in concentration”. Whatever the reason, it has created a credibility crisis, to go with much wider-reaching controversies like the unresolved Financial Fair Play cases involving Manchester City and Everton. That is all the worse for the Premier League since this is an issue the competition prides itself on and is seen as a significant factor in its status as the most popular league in the world. Fans could trust what they were seeing. Instead, this latest controversy also comes on the back of a long-term and increasing hostility and suspicion of VAR from a significant part of football's support. It was for this reason that Webb was recently brought in as PGMOL chief in the first place, and many within the game say he has been gradually realising the scale of the challenge. Hostility to VAR goes hand in hand with a widely perceived “crisis” in the level of refereeing, which is commonly cited as the worst in years. It should be stressed that this is all in circumstances where officials are under far more scrutiny than ever before. There are more cameras to reveal every element of a decision – and whether they should have taken a different one – in a manner that was unimaginable in the supposed golden days right up to the mid-2000s. Even Klopp acknowledged the extreme “pressure” on officials, which undoubtedly plays into errors that they obviously don’t make “on purpose”, as the Liverpool manager put it. Discussions such as this should never go without mentioning how the real crisis with refereeing is at lower levels, and the scale of the abuse they receive. It has undeniably affected the talent pool at the top, and there is a bigger debate to be had over whether it should be a better-remunerated profession to match both the talent they are overseeing and their necessity in getting the game played. The introduction of VAR itself was nevertheless supposed to be a remedy for all of this and – at its core – an “aid” for referees. It has instead had the inadvertent effect of making all discussion much more poisonous and pressurised. That comes from a disconnect between the implied expectation and stated intention of VAR, the actual application and the communication. The very nature of the technology has created an expectation of perfection, even though it was only ever supposed to improve accuracy to around 98 per cent. This has happened, but the fundamental problem is that the remaining 2 per cent tend to be hugely high-profile errors. That is by definition given the threshold for VAR to get involved. There has previously been very little communication on how those decisions were made, which has had the effect of only deepening suspicion among supporters. The vacuum of information inevitably leads to speculation and then to conspiracy theories. While this isn’t to say there is any legitimacy whatsoever in the latter, since the most likely explanation is always basic human error, it does have the real-world effect of further toxifying the atmosphere around refereeing. This in turn puts even more pressure on them, because their integrity is unfairly questioned. It is why the very technology of VAR has deepened this problem. Whereas error could previously have been written off as officials going off their own sight and instinct – even if the reason VAR was introduced was because of criticism of referees in the first place – they now have access to so much more technological aid. Many more fans consequently see the only possible explanation as some kind of corruption. You only have to take a glance on social media. This is why better communication is essential. Webb’s great mission has been to improve that, and he has generally done a better job, but it’s fair to say the response to Saturday made this worse. Liverpool were perplexed at how long it took for a statement to be made about the offside, the PGMOL eventually only commenting in the middle of Klopp’s post-game press conference. It was actually The Independent that made him aware of their statement, to the Liverpool manager's increased bemusement. The explanation that the VAR actually checked for the wrong call then came even later, as it felt like every development deepened the crisis. There are at least a number of logical steps that can be taken to address that. One of those is not to just remove VAR, since this is a non-starter that goes way beyond England and up to Fifa. It is here to stay. That’s also why it’s just vital that cases like this lead to improvement. One first step is to limit this extra work abroad – as England and Cook’s appointment in the UAE was within the rules and actually approved by the FA. Another is to improve the communication so there is absolutely no ambiguity. It is simple to go from “check complete” to “the decision should be a goal”, or equivalent. That also raises the most obvious solution of all. All of the communication between the referee and VAR should be made audible and accessible, so as to eliminate any ambiguity. People might still disagree with decisions, but they would at least be able to understand why they are made. That goes a long way to creating acceptance of VAR. When it was raised whether the audio from this decision would be made public, one response was that Match Officials Mic’d Up is now a monthly show so it will likely feature on that. The reality is that the Premier League could do with it coming out now, because of the number of questions that are being asked. Liverpool themselves called for the review to have “full transparency”. "This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again,” the club said. It doesn’t help that this comes amid even greater credibility questions for the Premier League, as everyone awaits the outcome of the charges against Manchester City and Everton over alleged Financial Fair Play breaches. Many of the sport’s “stakeholders” are now livid at this. Even for broadcasters, this affects the credibility of the product they put on television. That trust is what the game is founded on. In the meantime, Liverpool are exploring “the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution”. An apology, evidently, is not enough. Read More Every VAR apology so far: From Liverpool offside to Man City handball Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before Every VAR apology so far: From Liverpool offside to Man City handball More VAR disapproval as Nottingham Forest and Brentford both berate decisions Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag confirmed Antony could return in the Champions League clash against Galatasaray amid police inquiries into allegations of abuse against him. The 23-year-old was given a leave of absence by the club last month to deal with the allegations that the winger has always strongly denied. Antony returned to the UK from Brazil last week and attended a voluntary interview with Greater Manchester Police, with United saying on Friday that he was back available for selection. The winger returned to training on Saturday and could feature against Turkish champions Galatasaray at Old Trafford, a month on from his last appearance at Arsenal. “Antony will be in consideration, but yesterday was his first time back in team training,” United boss Ten Hag said. “We have a final training (session) and then we make a decision, but he will be in consideration, yeah.” Antony is facing several accusations of physical aggression towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin, who spoke to Brazilian outlet UOL earlier this month. The winger has denied those allegations, as well as further assault claims made by Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana. Antony will be in consideration, but yesterday was his first time back in team training Erik ten Hag Cavallin is reportedly set to speak to police later this week and Ten Hag was asked what Antony’s return to the squad says to victims of domestic violence. “So, he cooperated fully,” the United boss said, having not heard the initial question. “It came out he’s not charged, so…” Antony is back involved, but fellow attacker Jadon Sancho remains banished from a first-team squad beset by injuries. Full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Sergio Reguilon are out, while Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo have been unable to feature this season. Now key centre-back Lisandro Martinez is facing up to three months on the sidelines. The Argentina international underwent surgery after sustaining a fractured metatarsal in April’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Sevilla. Martinez returned to action this term, but an aggravation of that foot injury means he again has to go under the knife at a key point of the season. “I can confirm Licha Martinez will have to undergo surgery,” Ten Hag said. “So, the team news is probably Antony dos Santos can return.” United head into Tuesday’s match in desperate need of a win, not only due to losing their Champions League opener 4-3 at Bayern Munich but because of Saturday’s meek 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace. That Old Trafford defeat brought them back down to earth with a bump after much-needed back-to-back wins, putting them under intense pressure and scrutiny once again. “Of course we are disappointed about the result,” Ten Hag said. “Then you have to analyse the game, where were the problems, then you have to move forward, but also give solutions for the problems.” Ten Hag believes “the team is moving forward” despite the results, saying there are positives among the negatives. Marcus Rashford’s performances have been among United’s issues, having scored just once after a campaign in which he plundered 30 goals in all competitions. “The facts are that he is not scoring in this moment, but also he had the opportunities,” Ten Hag said of the misfiring England international. “I think, for instance, in the game against Brighton, there were five or six occasions when he was in a very good spot. “If he works hard and if he invests every day, goes into every game with the right focus and if the team also around him supply him, help him and support him with movement then it will come. “Then Marcus Rashford is a player who is capable of always scoring goals in every game and when he’s coming in the right spots he will score.”

Rangers are searching for a new manager following the sacking of Michael Beale on Sunday. Here the PA news agency takes a look at some of the candidates who may be given consideration by the Ibrox hierarchy: Kevin Muscat The 50-year-old former Australia defender - who played for Rangers in the 2002-03 season - is currently flourishing in charge of Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos after succeeding the Celtic-bound Ange Postecoglou in the role in the summer of 2021. Won the Japanese league title last year and his team are currently second, four points off the top with five games to play. Jesse Marsch As part of the Red Bull group, the 49-year-old American came to prominence when he led Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg - who had Erling Haaland in attack in his first season in charge - to two consecutive league and cup doubles. Renowned for his high-intensity approach, Marsch earned a crack at the Leeds job in February 2022 following the sacking of Marcelo Bielsa and ensured they stayed in the Premier League, but a poor start to his first full season at Elland Road led to him being sacked back in February. Was interviewed about vacancies at Southampton and Leicester earlier this year but remains out of work. Kjetil Knutsen The 54-year-old Norwegian has made a name for himself after establishing Bodo/Glimt as one of the top teams in Norway since taking charge in 2018. Led them to their first-ever title win in 2020 and followed up the feat a year later. Currently a point clear at the top of the Eliteserien after 23 games. Has also overseen some impressive European runs over the past three seasons, most notably in the 2021/22 campaign when Bodo/Glimt reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League after defeating Postecoglou’s Celtic 5-1 on aggregate. Ralph Hasenhuttl The Austrian, 56, is still out of work after losing his job at Southampton a year ago following a poor start to last season. Landing the highly-regarded former RB Leipzig manager would be viewed as something of a coup for Rangers. Derek McInnes The 52-year-old former Rangers midfielder turned down the Ibrox job in 2017 while he was on a long and fruitful stint in charge of Aberdeen. Following his departure from Pittodrie, McInnes has done an impressive job with Kilmarnock, leading them from the Championship and re-establishing them in the top flight. He has already overseen victories over both Glasgow sides this season. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers endorsed him as a potential Ibrox boss in August. “He was very close to getting the Rangers job a few years ago and why couldn’t he manage Rangers?” said Rodgers. “He’s a former player there, a very good player, who was part of a successful era for the club so there’s no doubt that could be one for him in the future because he’s an outstanding manager.” PA Read More Rangers sack Michael Beale following home defeat to Aberdeen Tottenham ‘disgusted’ as Destiny Udogie racially abused after Liverpool game Antony could return to Manchester United squad despite assault investigations Tottenham ‘disgusted’ as Destiny Udogie racially abused after Liverpool game Antony could return to Manchester United squad despite assault investigations Every VAR apology so far: From Liverpool offside to Man City handball

Tottenham have condemned the racist abuse received by defender Destiny Udogie following Saturday’s home Premier League win against Liverpool. Udogie, 20, was the target of several racist slurs on social media following Tottenham’s controversial 2-1 home victory after being involved in Liverpool forward Diogo Jota’s dismissal. Jota was shown two yellow cards for two separate second-half challenges on the Tottenham left-back within the space of a minute. Tottenham said on their official website: “We are disgusted at the racist messages directed towards Destiny Udogie on social media following Saturday’s game against Liverpool. “We will work with the Premier League and, where possible, take action against any individual we are able to identify. We stand with you, Destiny.” Tottenham won the game 2-1 thanks to Joel Matip’s stoppage-time own goal after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Son Heung-min’s first-half opener. Liverpool defender Curtis Jones was shown a straight red in the first half after VAR intervention for a foul on Yves Bissouma and the visitors were incensed when Luis Diaz’s opening goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside. PGMOL later issued a statement admitting that a “significant human error” had taken place by VAR officials in their decision not to award the goal. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Tottenham have condemned the racist abuse received by defender Destiny Udogie following Saturday’s home Premier League win against Liverpool. Udogie, 20, was the target of several racist slurs on social media following Tottenham’s controversial 2-1 home victory after being involved in Liverpool forward Diogo Jota’s dismissal. Jota was shown two yellow cards for two separate second-half challenges on the Tottenham left-back within the space of a minute. Tottenham said on their official website: “We are disgusted at the racist messages directed towards Destiny Udogie on social media following Saturday’s game against Liverpool. “We will work with the Premier League and, where possible, take action against any individual we are able to identify. We stand with you, Destiny.” Tottenham won the game 2-1 thanks to Joel Matip’s stoppage-time own goal after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Son Heung-min’s first-half opener. Liverpool defender Curtis Jones was shown a straight red in the first half after VAR intervention for a foul on Yves Bissouma and the visitors were incensed when Luis Diaz’s opening goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside. PGMOL later issued a statement admitting that a “significant human error” had taken place by VAR officials in their decision not to award the goal. Read More Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error

After two consecutive weeks of doubleheaders, Monday Night Football is back to just one game in Week 4.

Liverpool have vowed to “explore every option available” after VAR failed to overturn Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal in Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham, in what the club described as an “unacceptable” error. The referees’ body PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside, with chief Howard Webb later apologising to Liverpool after the match. England and Cook were then stood down from duty from the rest of the weekend’s fixtures, while questions have also been asked after the pair took charge of a league match in the United Arab Emirates in midweek. A statement from Liverpool later read: “It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.” While the “significant human error” was undoubtedly the biggest mistake VAR has made since its introduction to the Premier League in 2019, it was not the first time a club have received an apology from PGMOL after a game. Here’s a run-through of every major incident that has led to an apology in the past two seasons. Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool at Tottenham was incorrectly ruled out for offside because the VAR checking the decision mistakenly thought that the on-field decision was onside. The referees’ body, PGMOL, admitted after the match that a “significant human error” was made when checking Diaz’s goal. VAR official Darren England drew the lines to check for offside and followed the process correctly to determine Diaz was onside for the goal. But in reaching their decision, the VAR team failed to realise that on-field referee Simon Hooper and his assistant officials had initially ruled the goal out for offside. Therefore, when the VAR relayed a message of “check complete” to the on-field referee, Hooper and his team disallowed Diaz’s goal and awarded a free-kick to Tottenham. Howard Webb spoke to Liverpool after the match and there was an apology from the referees’ chief. Manchester United 1-0 Wolves Wolves manager Gary O’Neil received an apology from the Premier League after his team were denied a stoppage-time penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester United. Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic deep into time added on, but Simon Hooper did not react and VAR Michael Salisbury deemed there was no foul. Tottenham 2-1 Brighton Brighton received an apology from PGMOL due to the failure to award a spot-kick following Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s foul on Kaoru Mitoma. VAR official Michael Salisbury was dropped from the next round of Premier League fixtures. Brighton also had two goals disallowed in the defeat. Everton 0-1 Man City Referees’ chief Mike Riley personally apologised to Everton manager Frank Lampard for mistakes made in a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in February 2023. Lampard blasted VAR official Chris Kavanagh for being a “professional who cannot do his job right” after the loss to the Premier League champions. Kavanagh failed to advise referee Paul Tierney over a handball by Rodri which would have given the Toffees a late chance of a penalty equaliser. Arsenal 1-1 Brentford Arsenal received an apology after Ivan Toney’s equaliser was not fully checked by VAR. Lee Mason did not fully investigate an offside call against Christian Norgaard, who provided the assist for Toney’s leveller, with no lines drawn on the screen to determine whether the Denmark international should have been penalised. Mason left PGMOL by “mutual consent” the following week. Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton VAR John Brooks wrongly ruled out Pervis Estupinan’s opening goal after drawing the offside lines in the wrong place. The referee was then dropped from the next two Premier League fixtures. Brighton 2-1 Liverpool PGMOL accepted Fabinho should have been sent off for a challenge from behind on Brighton’s Evan Ferguson, which was only given as a yellow card despite a VAR review. Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United A review into Lucas Digne’s free kick in Aston Villa’s win against Manchester United concluded that the defending team’s wall was positioned too far back by referee Anthony Taylor. After the defeat, Erik ten Hag said: “I think the free-kick is stoppable because the wall is too far. Okay, a small detail but details make the difference in top football.” Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace The PGMOL accepted Newcastle had an own goal by Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchel wrongly disallowed after Joe Willock was determined to have impeded goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. Chelsea 2-1 West Ham On the same weekend, West Ham were denied a late equaliser at Stamford Bridge when Maxwel Cornet’s goal was ruled out, with Jarrod Bowen said to be impeding Edouard Mendy. PGMOL accepted the VAR had made an error - with Declan Rice saying it was “one of the worst VAR decisions since it came into the game”. Read More The Premier League now faces a credibility ‘crisis’ — and latest VAR farce is just the tip VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error More VAR disapproval as Nottingham Forest and Brentford both berate decisions Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before

Fantasy Premier League managers will have experienced another weekend of frustration or elation after some surprise results, plenty of red cards and controversial moments - so this week is another opportunity to reset in some cases or make the tweak to your team to bring success next gameweek. Here are five players we think could impress in gameweek 8, with managers needing to decide whether using a transfer or two earlier in the week is a gamble worth taking, or if waiting until midweek European action is finished with will aid the search for starters in their FPL teams. Note: Our FPL tips come out every Monday but this week there are still two matches to play in GW7, with Fulham vs Chelsea on Monday night and Luton vs Burnley on Tuesday. Micky van de Ven - Tottenham, defender (4.5m) Spurs remain unbeaten after their crazy and contentious weekend win over Liverpool and have a favourable run coming up against Luton, Fulham, Palace and an out-of-form Chelsea. While they haven’t been super tight defensively so far, we fancy there are a couple of clean sheets on offer here and new centre-back signing Micky van de Ven is quickly proving a big part of the team. He has the lowest tally of points of their regular back four so far, but he’s also cheapest - and is less of a yellow card hazard than partner Cristian Romero. If you have a spare 0.3m extra you could go for left-back teammate Destiny Udogie for potential assist points, but we like the look of Van de Ven as a low-cost pillar at the back for a few weeks. Darwin Nunez - Liverpool, forward (7.4m) Jurgen Klopp has rotated his attack this season but there’s not much scope for that right now: Diogo Jota will be suspended for the next match, Cody Gakpo is likely to be out for a few weeks injured - possibly until after the international break - and even potential midfield options being pushed forward is unlikely given Curtis Jones will also be missing after a red card. As such, Darwin Nunez should return to the lineup as long as a knee issue doesn’t sideline him; the Uruguayan has been in good scoring form and would have already been in the XI against Spurs if not for a bone around his knee causing pain. Brighton and Everton have both looked leaky - two of the six worst defences in the league right now - and the powerful attacker and add to their woes if he’s restored to centre forward. Moussa Diaby - Aston Villa, midfielder (6.7m) If you’ve been considering the speedy, forward-thinking Aston Villa man early on this term, now is perhaps the time to dive in. He’ll likely be rested for a midweek Europa Conference League clash with Zrinjski, but then it’s Wolves, West Ham, Luton, Forest and Fulham in a very nice looking run for the Villains - three of those matches at home. Diaby, whether central or from the flank, is a real threat with his ball-carrying and desire to get shots away, and only Ollie Watkins has a better goals-plus-assists tally than him in the Villa team in the Premier League. Diaby has already picked up bonus points twice this season too and he’s a big candidate to add to that in the coming gameweeks if Villa keep performing. Bernd Leno - Fulham, goalkeeper (4.7m) Slightly expensive as far as players at non-elite clubs go, but there’s a reason many FPL managers have selected Bernd Leno and his price has risen accordingly. He’s the top-scoring goalkepeer in the game so far, 35 points to his name, and that’s on the back of three clean sheets - but also three occasions where he has picked up bonus points on account of his shot-stopping antics. He’s averaging 4.5 saves per game and has kept the actual goals conceded by Fulham below the expected goals tally in every match except against Man City, which is forgiveable. Fulham face Sheffield United at home next time out, who haven’t scored in their last two, so further points for the German could be on the board. Callum Hudson-Odoi - Nottingham Forest, midfielder (4.9m) For our final choice we’ve decided on a potential differential gamble for the next couple of gameweeks up to the international break. Nottingham Forest have a lot of attacking options for Steve Cooper to choose between but Callum Hudson-Odoi has started two of the last three and has had seven shots or key passes across those two starts, scoring once. Away to Palace and home to Luton, the expectation will be on Forest to be on the front foot whether countering or dominating play in spells and Hudson-Odoi’s speed and ability to get into dangerous final-third areas will be paramount to both. It is a bit of a risk to start him and he hasn’t had a full 90-minute run-out yet, but it could have a big short-term pay-off if injuries and rotations in your squad are starting to hit elsewhere. Read More Jarrod Bowen, Carlton Morris and 5 players to target for FPL Gameweek 7 Mohamed Salah, Sven Botman and 5 players to target for FPL Gameweek 6 Michael Beale calls for Rangers unity as he wishes club the best after sacking Michael Beale calls for Rangers unity as he wishes club the best after sacking David Beckham reveals pain of World Cup red card: ‘I was a mess’ Marcus Rashford’s form has become the latest symptom of Manchester United’s struggles

Michael Beale wished Rangers well for the future as he issued a social media post within hours of his sacking backing the Ibrox club to get back on track. The 43-year-old was relieved of his duties as Rangers boss late on Sunday evening following a dismal start to the season. Three defeats in seven cinch Premiership matches left them third in the league – behind St Mirren – and seven points adrift of city rivals Celtic before the axe fell on the Englishman. A 7-3 aggregate defeat by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round in August also helped heighten the pressure on Beale, whose summer rebuild has been widely criticised with a raft of new signings failing to have the desired impact. Beale was swift to pay tribute to the club despite his sacking, as he took to Instagram in the early hours of Monday morning to wish new caretaker Steven Davis all the best. “Thank you @RangersFC to everyone behind the scenes at the training ground and Ibrox, to the board, staff, fans and all the players,” he wrote. “I will always follow and support the club from afar and wish you every success. “Now is the time for everyone to unite fully behind Steven Davis and the team in the coming games. “There is still so much to play for this season and I have a strong belief in this group of players. Thank you and good luck.” Beale’s backroom team of Neil Banfield, Damian Matthew, Harry Watling and Jack Ade have also left the club. Davis, the long-serving former Rangers midfielder, has been placed in interim charge and will assisted be another couple of ex-Gers players in Alex Rae and Steven Smith, as well as coach Brian Gilmour and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart. Their first task is to rouse the team following Saturday’s humiliating 3-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen as they prepare to head to Cyprus to face Aris Limassol in the Europa League on Thursday. Rangers’ next league match is away to second-placed St Mirren on Sunday before the international break brings a fortnight in which they can try to regroup and bed in a new manager. Kevin Muscat, the former Rangers defender who is currently in charge of Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos, is the early bookmakers’ favourite for the role. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Luke Donald ‘would consider’ continuing as Europe captain for 2025 Ryder Cup Football rumours: Juventus seeking new long-term deal for Adrien Rabiot Late field goal lifts Kansas City Chiefs over brave New York Jets

What the papers say Juventus are reportedly working on a new long-term deal for midfielder Adrien Rabiot. The Daily Mail, citing Tuttosport, says the Italian giant is looking to tie the 28-year-old down for a further three years, after he turned down an approach from Manchester United during the summer in favour of extending his time in Turin. Chelsea are believed to be gearing up for an expensive January. According to The Guardian, the Blues are set to target Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and Brentford forward Ivan Toney, after already spending £1billion on new signings in a year. And the Daily Mirror, via Cadena SER, says Luka Modric is on radar of multiple MLS teams, with Inter Miami believed to be especially keen on the Real Madrid midfielder. Social media round-up Players to watch Kalvin Phillips: Arsenal will chase the Manchester City midfielder in January, according to Fichajes. Lamine Yamal: The Daily Mail, citing Fabrizio Romano, says Barcelona are eager to sign the 16-year-old winger to a further three-year deal. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live