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GM football fans. It’s Monday, Oct. 27 - Manchester United have raised concerns over their fixture schedule, Fifa has sanctioned a new tournament in Southeast Asia, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY RESULTS
Premier League MD9: Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace. 69% of Arsenal’s league goals in 2025-26 have come from set pieces (11/16), the highest ratio by a team in a single Premier League campaign. Aston Villa 1-0 Man City. City have lost each of their last three away games at Villa, while the home side have lost just two of their 24 Premier League home games since the start of last season. Brentford 3-2 Liverpool. Liverpool have now lost as many Premier League games this season as they did in the entirety of last season (4). Meanwhile, Brentford have scored eight league goals from throw-ins since the start of last season, more than twice as many as any other side. See the Premier League table here.
Results…
Premier League: Everton 0-3 Spurs | Man Utd 4-2 Brighton | Wolves 2-3 Burnley | Bournemouth 2-0 Nott’m Forest | Chelsea 1-2 Sunderland | Newcastle 2-1 Fulham
La Liga: Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona (Table)
Bundesliga: M’gladbach 0-3 Bayern Munich | Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Koln | Augsburg 0-6 RB Leipzig (Table)
Serie A: Napoli 3-1 Inter | Cremonese 1-1 Atalanta (Table)
TOP TALKING POINTS
Man Utd Fixture Complaint
Manchester United have raised concerns (paywall) with the Premier League over the number of midweek fixtures scheduled for the remainder of the year. The club’s complaint focuses on the difficulty and cost for travelling fans, as well as how the schedule affects plans to stage a mid-season friendly in Saudi Arabia.
Specifically, United believe they have been handed a disproportionate number of midweek home matches and unfavourable weekend kick-off times in the run-up to Christmas. Between October 5 and December 25, they play just one home game on a weekend — the 4–2 win over Brighton. Away fixtures include a Saturday 12:30 p.m. and Monday 8 p.m. start. All Premier League clubs, including United, agreed to more Monday and Friday fixtures under the league’s new broadcast deal.
The increase in midweek games has also complicated United’s plans to organise a mid-season friendly in Saudi Arabia. The club is exploring the option to recoup lost revenue after missing out on European competition this season.
Hearts Break Status Quo
Hearts went eight points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership following a 3-1 win over second-place Celtic—read the match report here. Derek McInnes, appointed manager in May, has now led his side to a 13-match unbeaten league run.
It has been 40 years since a team other than Rangers or Celtic last won Scottish football's top division. Aberdeen, then managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, won both the 1983-84 and 1984-1985 titles in what was then the Premier Division. The Old Firms are currently tied for titles at 55 each.
Hearts’ form has been fuelled by an analytics-driven overhaul under new investor Tony Bloom, known for his data-first approach at Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise. Statistically, Hearts are the league’s most dominant set-piece side, and are averaging 2.38 goals per game, breaking a long-term statistical barrier for non-Old Firm clubs. Dive deeper into the club’s analytical approach here.
New Fifa Tournament
A new tournament, the Fifa ASEAN Cup, will be launched as part of an agreement between Fifa and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), aimed at boosting the development of football across the region. The competition will bring together national teams from 11 Southeast Asian countries and function similarly to the Arab Cup or Central American Cup.
South-east Asia already has a tournament called the ASEAN Championship, which has run since 1996 and is widely seen as the region’s premier football competition. The tournament has been affected by some clubs refusing to release players to their respective national teams, arguing that the tournament does not fall within a Fifa international window. The new competition will be Fifa-sanctioned, ensuring full player availability.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino said Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most dynamic football regions, home to over 700 million fans, and represents a major growth market for the global game.
POLL
Do you think El Clasico still carries the same excitement it once did?
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ON THE BALL
Europe
> Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham scored in Real Madrid’s 2-1 El Clasico win over Barcelona, extending their La Liga lead to five points (More); dive deeper into the match stats (More)
> Paulo Dybala’s first Serie A goal of the season proved enough to beat Sassuolo and send Roma to the top of the table alongside Napoli (More)
> Championship side Sheffield Wednesday have been placed under administration and deducted 12 points (More); dive deeper into what has gone wrong at the club (More)
> PSG move one point clear of Lens in Ligue 1 following their 3-0 win over Brest, with Achraf Hakimi scoring a brace (More)
Americas
> Lionel Messi’s double helped Inter Miami secure a 3-1 victory over Nashville in their opening MLS Cup play-off match (More) | Philadelphia vs. Chicago, Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Dallas & San Diego vs. Portland to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results)
> The 2025 Canadian Premier League Final will be played in the nation's capital in two weeks, after Atletico Ottawa beat Forge FC 2-1 in the Championship Semifinal (More)
> In the USL Championship, Detroit City FC (Eastern Conference) and Phoenix, San Antonio FC, Colorado Springs and Orange County SC (Western Conference) claimed the final five playoff spots (Bracket); see all final matchday results (More)
> Mexico’s 1998 World Cup coach Manuel Lapuente has passed away at age 81 (More)
Rest of the World
> Cristiano Ronaldo scored in Al Nassr’s 2-0 win over Al Hazm, taking his career goal total to 950 (More) | Al Nassr are top of the Saudi Pro League with six wins from six (Table)
> Three Sudanese clubs will join the league in Rwanda this season in a bid to keep playing while the civil unrest continues (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Friday’s Poll: Do you think the growth of MLS is too reliant on Lionel Messi?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 😬 Yes (53%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (44%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
😬 B.J: “The league is making all the mistakes they said they wouldn’t when they started. Building super clubs and the rest of the league can’t keep up. They’re repeating the mistakes of the NASL.”
😬 S.D: “I have lived in Toronto all my life. While I regularly see people wearing jerseys from clubs around the world, I almost never see anyone wearing TFC or any MLS jersey for that matter. Since Messi moved to Miami, I see Inter Miami Messi jerseys everywhere I go. I don’t believe these are MLS fans or even Inter Miami fans, they’re just fans of Messi.”
🙅♂️ F.S: “I think that bringing over prominent international players definitely helps the growth, but it's not solely based on that, and it's not based on one player. Son Heung-min, Thomas Mueller, Christian Benteke... many other international stars have contributed, as well as the continued expansion of the MLS in recent years, reaching more cities and markets. I certainly won't argue that he hasn’t helped bring more attention and media coverage, but the league doesn't need him to grow.”
🙅♂️ M.M: “The MLS is past the point where it's future hangs on the signing of a single marquee player or two.”
EXTRA TIME
Mapping football’s longest away days.
… and inside England’s new longest away day.
Yamal and Carvajal clash at full-time.
Meet the 50-year-old who's scored in all 10 tiers of English football.
Gary Neville becomes the 25th EPL Hall of Famer.
Watch Messi score a diving header.
How has Flick got the best out of Rashford? (analysis)
Haaland documents his day in the life. (video)
BBC’s Premier League team of the week.
GAME FACE ON
Question: What do the following players have in common?
Eden Hazard. Jude Bellingham. Rio Ferdinand. Inaki Williams. Yaya Toure.
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
I haven't scored in a long time. The players were joking with me in the locker room saying, ‘Oh, so you can score, can you?’
Answer
They all have brothers who are (or were) professional footballers.
