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Key takeaways and analysis from Tottenham 1-4 Chelsea in the Premier League, including points on Mauricio Pochettino, Nicolas Jackson, Guglielmo Vicario and more.

Players from the Afghanistan men’s team are boycotting their World Cup qualifying match against Qatar over their treatment by the football federation. A substantial number, 18 players, have reportedly refused to play in the match, due to take place in Qatar on 16 November. Three footballers who play overseas sent a letter last month to the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa detailing complaints and allegations of serious corruption by the Afghanistan Football Federation, the Guardian has reported. “The last straw came at the last camp when a big group of us decided that we’d had enough – 18 players got together and said: ‘If we’re going to move forward, we have to put a stop to this,’” Noor Husin, who plays in the National League for Southend United, told the Guardian. “We really want change. We want to help domestic players because the money they are getting from Fifa is not being used in the right way. “We have the worst flights possible and we have to stay in substandard hotels. “We’ve come together as a group because we want football in Afghanistan to move forward and we believe that it’s not going to move forward with the people that are in charge at the moment.” Faysal Shayesteh, who is a former captain and also signed the letter, said: “Every year our federation gets financial support from Fifa and from the AFC. “We want to show a positive Afghanistan to the world so we are asking Fifa to stop supporting our federation financially because the money is going into the pockets of a gang who is ruling football in the country.” The federation’s secretary Behram Siddiqui has denied the allegations. While players have argued that the AFF executive committee kept half of the bonus that should have gone to the squad for reaching the next stage of the World Cup qualifying among themselves, and that they have been holding on to money from plane tickets of players travelling to games. A Fifa spokesperson said: “Fifa was informed of these allegations very recently and is currently looking into the matter.” Read More Afghan players watch Morocco's team practice for Women's World Cup, hoping to get their chance Women's World Cup brings attention to abuse in soccer Russia consider leaving Uefa after invite to Asian competition

K-pop group STAYC declared "We love Rangers" during a visit to the Scottish football club after they sported the side's jersey by mistake when they performed in Dallas, Texas. Last month, the band made headlines when a nod to the city’s beloved baseball team, the Texas Rangers didn't quite go to plan as the six-piece band from South Korea instead wore vintage Rangers FC jerseys from the 1990s. Since donning the footballing strip sported by legends Paul Gascoigne and Ally McCoist back in 1996/7, the mix-up caught the attention of Scottish Premiership followers. This story continued on Monday when STAYC announced a surprise meet-up with fans at Ibrox. The band members Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J were invited by Rangers for a tour around the football stadium where they were given a custom-made Rangers strip with the number 23 and STAYC printed on the back and were introduced to mascot Broxi Bear. (And of course, Broxi got involved with a TikTok dance to STAYC's song "Teddy Bear.") @stayc_official Rangers FC Broxy Bear🧸와 함께한 #TeddyBear_Challenge #STAYC #스테이씨 #Sieun #시은 #Seeun #세은 #J #재이 K-pop fans in Glasgow flocked to the stadium, outside Edmiston House, to catch a glimpse of the group. From a balcony, the band members waved and made heart signs to fans, and officially confirmed they are Rangers fans. "This is our first time in Scotland and we are so happy right now. Are you guys fans of Rangers too?" one member shouted. While another added: "We love Rangers!" @hnkxchae all because of a rangers jersey mix up at their dallas concert 😭 oh stayc you are so loved !! #kpop #scotland #glasgow #stayc #fyp #hnxkchae Fans took to the comments section of the STAYC-Rangers-related videos. One person said: "STAYC AT THE IBROX WHAT." "The best thing rangers have done this year," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Who knew a simple mixup with a jersey would lead them to Glasgow." "Great to see STAYC at Rangers. Welcome back anytime," a fourth person commented. No doubt, fans will be hoping STAYC will return to Scotland when they tour next. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The defending champion Denver Nuggets are cruising right along and sit at 7-1 after taking care of the New Orleans Pelicans last night. Mike Malone's team was t

Real Madrid will have Jude Bellingham available for the Champions League match against Braga on Wednesday

While the rest of the footballing world was taken by surprise by Chelsea’s 4-1 battering of league hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur, Paul Merson shared a hilarious meme after his prediction was proved right. Mid-table Chelsea took on an in-form Spurs at their Tottenham stadium on Monday (8 November), in what turned out to be an action-packed game with two red cards, five disallowed goals, a penalty and a last-minute hat-trick. Speaking ahead of the match on Sky Sports, former footballer and pundit Paul Merson said he was “very confident for Chelsea on Monday night” and said he would be “shocked” if they lost. Another person on the punditry team could be heard saying, “clip that up”, suggesting that Merson would be proven wrong. As it turned out, he wasn’t. After the game, Merson hilariously shared the video of his prediction along with the Kevin James meme of the actor smirking and shrugging his shoulders. The post has gathered over 91,000 likes and been viewed 5.4 million times, as people admired the hilarious trolling of Spurs’ defeat. “Merson my hero,” one fan replied. “I love Merse, how has he said this and managed to look like a genuis within our generation,” another said. Chelsea beat Spurs 4-1 in the London thriller after the home side initially went 1-0 up after 6 minutes with a goal from Dejan Kulusevski. Spurs defender Cristian Romero conceded a penalty and was sent off in the 33rd minute. Cole Palmer converted the penalty taking the score to 1-1. After a second Tottenham defender, Destiny Udogie, was given a red card in the 55th minute, the floodgates eventually opened as Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson scored a hat-trick. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

The most outrageous statistics from an equally bonkers Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has doubled down on his severe criticism of Premier League match officials

Video reviews in soccer were meant to take no more than six seconds

A farce that sums up a lot of modern football, or one of the games of the season? It maybe sums up how confusing and contradictory this game was that it could genuinely be both. Chelsea’s eventual 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur could have huge effects for both of their seasons too. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have got the win it feels like they have been waiting for, and that at the stadium that still means more to him than any other in football. Ange Postecoglou’s scarcely believable high line with nine men and no main centre-halves did make it borderline for some time. Such a creditable approach earned the applause of the home crowd when it finally went wrong for Nicolas Jackson’s decisive second goal, but there was that unsettling feeling of momentum being undone. Spurs have not just lost their first league game under Postecoglou but also Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero to suspensions and possibly James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury. That all has the feeling of bringing down a flight that had been improbably soaring for some time. Postecoglou could of course tell his players it was a freak game. That’s one way of putting it. It was almost several different events in one, as we saw a spell akin to the infamous Battle of the Bridge as well as Saturday’s Copa Libertadores final, a grand staging for every debate about VAR over and over and then what amounted to a bizarre but brave training session, where Postecoglou seemingly set up the irrepressible Guglielmo Vicario against the entirety of Chelsea’s young attack. To top it off, and turn everything on its head, the previously misfiring Jackson got a hat-trick late on. It wasn’t quite an exhibition of finishing but there was enough to show the potential that is there. Whatever about this evening exhibiting various types of football events in one, mind, there were alternating periods that looked like it could have come from completely different matches. It was incredible to contemplate this by even the half-hour mark, but the first 18 minutes looked like it would be a comprehensive and confident Spurs win to continue their early-season surge. They were shredding Chelsea, especially on the wings. Both sides were being targeted, something inevitable given all the space, and the first real attack brought a goal. Dejan Kulusevski shot and the ball cannoned off Levi Colwell and past Robert Sanchez. Reece James was even more exposed on the other side, allowing Brennan Johnson to just saunter through and square for Son Heung-Min to slide the ball in. It was all so easy that Spurs were getting ahead of themselves, as the Korean’s wayward foot saw the goal ruled out for offside. That was what made what happened next all the more inexplicable, as Udogie went in with a dismally reckless challenge on Raheem Sterling. He didn’t get sent off – yet – but it was like the entire tone changed. It was also a bit of Chekov’s foul, as Udogie would go for similar later on. That itself was influenced by what the match briefly became, which was somewhere between an old storyline from this fixture like the Battle of the Bridge and the Libertadores final. Cristian Romero was at the centre of it, with two challenges of his own that each could have received red cards. He was eventually sent off as part of the same sequence that saw a second Chelsea goal chalked off, to bring a penalty. It was almost difficult to keep up, the sense of dislocation added to by how the match was played at a frenetic pace and yet also frequently stopped for long VAR checks. Cole Palmer’s ensuing penalty consequently may not have been as pure as he’d have liked but it did make its way in. For Pochettino’s part, Udogie’s challenge wasn’t the only big change. He altered Chelsea’s formation to ensure they had taken tactical control of the game even before Romero’s red card. It probably shouldn’t have got to that for Spurs, though. It was going to get worse. Both Maddison and Van de Ven had to go off injured before Udogie eventually got his red card. What happened next was perhaps the most unexpected development of all, though. Postecoglou refused to back down. He doubled down. Despite nine-man Spurs losing two of their leading players to injury, with both of their main centre-halves off the pitch, Postecoglou seemed to go even higher with his line. Spurs basically offered up the entirety of their half to Chelsea’s attack. It was bold, to say the least. It immediately led to Chelsea setting up a series of one-on-ones, the game almost becoming a training exercise between their forwards and Guglielmo Vicario, with some vague use of the offside trap in between. And yet this might well have been where there was a clear logic. Given how inexperienced this Chelsea squad is, many of them seemed to keep making the bad choices when such good chances were offered. There was rarely a third-man run. Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson kept going outside when they should have gone inside, or vice versa. Vicario, for his part, was brilliant. Every unlikely stop amplified the atmosphere. It was as if every wasted one-on-one – and they were becoming countless – was further eroding their confidence. This could have been a hugely embarrassing game for Chelsea, rather than the humiliation for Spurs it was almost set up for. Except, the risk was just too great. A team with someone as experienced as Sterling was eventually going to get one right. It was duly his pass that set up Jackson. At 2-1, Spurs had no choice but to go for it even more. Jackson claimed even more, twice scoring in stoppage time. That may be a turning point for him as well as Spurs, but only after a night that really did the rounds. You can try to make sense of it – but maybe it’s just best to be experienced. Read More Ange Postecoglou reacts to VAR calls as Spurs earn two red cards in defeat to Chelsea Ange Postecoglou’s high line epitomised Tottenham’s optimism - and their downfall Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: Spurs went down with flag held high but loss hurts a lot

Mikel Arteta has stood by his VAR outburst following Arsenal’s loss at Newcastle on Saturday and insists he will continue to “talk loudly” until he believes the situation improves. The Gunners lost 1-0 at St James’ Park on Saturday – their first Premier League defeat of the campaign – as Anthony Gordon scored a controversial winner for the hosts. The second-half goal was checked for three separate VAR offences – the ball going out of play, a foul by Joelinton on Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and a potential offside – but survived them all to ultimately earn Newcastle the three points. Speaking after the defeat, Arteta said it was “embarrassing” and a “disgrace” that the goal stood – while Arsenal issued a statement on Sunday in support of their manager’s forthright views. Asked on Tuesday if he would have done anything differently, the Spaniard replied: “It is my duty to stand in front of you, to stand in front of the cameras, and give a very clear and honest assessment of what happened in the game. “And this is what I did, reflect very openly on how I felt that the team played and how the game was conditioned by this results with the decisions that were made. It is the duty. “My duty is to be defending my players, supporting my players, supporting my club, defending my people in the best possibly way and this is what I am going to time after time. We have to talk loudly. If you have a problem and you put it in your draw, the problem is in the draw and it’s going to stink at some point Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta “I do it, not the way I feel, (but) with the evidence and being as clear as possible. And I always do it, when we play real I need to say it, when we have lost, to take my responsibility, the first one is me to do it. It is the way that I am and I have to defend my club.” Arteta suggested it is the duty of managers to discuss VAR and the issues it is currently presenting within the game. “If you guys and everyone watching football are there, we have to give our opinion in an honest way and clear,” he added. “Don’t talk about other things. Be very clear and respectful, but clear and honest and value what we have. “Errors are part of evolution. The trajectory is never going to be like this (gestures straight up), there are always going to bumps in the road and these things are necessary to improve the game in the right way. “But we have to talk loudly. If you have a problem and you put it in your draw, the problem is in the draw and it’s going to stink at some point. If you have a problem, let’s talk about it, try to improve it. That’s what we are trying to do. Nothing else.” Arsenal’s statement claimed “yet more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors” occurred during the loss at Newcastle as the club “wholeheartedly supports” Arteta’s comments, stating players, coaches and supporters “deserve better”. The statement has been criticised in some quarters with Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville labelling it “dangerous”. Arteta, though, believes it does not legitimise those who abuse referees for perceived poor decision-making against the club. “No, the support we have given to everybody is not going to change. I will be in meetings trying to reinforce that,” he said. “This is not the topic. Everyone wants the same thing, but we have to understand that we (managers) have to be there. “We have a duty to express how we feel with all the evidence we have and the history of what happened. “We have to stand for our people, our values and who we are. When the club has done it, it’s been in very specific moments for the right reasons. “It shows the unity and understanding that is within the club to position ourselves in a really clear and honest way. That’s our duty as a club.” Arteta was speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash against Sevilla, where victory on Wednesday night could see his side qualify for the knockout stages with two Group B games to go. “The moment you have a chance in football to put it to bed, do it,” he said of wrapping up qualification early. “We have to do a lot of things right tomorrow to earn the right to win it and against a really good team with enormous experience in this competition. “We have to prove it tomorrow in front of our people how excited we are to play that game and what it means for us.” Read More Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: Spurs went down with flag held high but loss hurts a lot From Aguero winner to Keegan dismay, Spurs-Chelsea joins Premier League classics England assistant Carl Hopkinson insists Netherlands clash is no ‘dead rubber’ Always need to improve – Nicolas Jackson keen to push on after hat-trick heroics On this day in 2009: David Haye becomes a heavyweight world champion Los Angeles Chargers demolish New York Jets 27-6

Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper are getting serious, Michigan State lost to James Madison, latest update on Bronny James' health and more in the Roundup.