Prem clubs attack City

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering Premier League clubs filing for compensation, Bentancur’s lengthy ban and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.

Submit your Goal of the Day here.

TONIGHT’S NATIONS LEAGUE STATS

Greece vs England (19:45 GMT). England have lost just one of their ten games against Greece and have won all four of their previous away trips to them by an aggregate score of 9-1. Belgium vs Italy (19:45 GMT). Italy need just one point to secure a place in the quarter-finals after picking up 10 points from a possible 12. Meanwhile, Belgium haven’t won a competitive match against the Azzurri since 1972. France vs Israel (19:45 GMT). France will secure their spot in the quarter-finals if they avoid defeat, while their opponents have suffered four defeats from four games in arguably the toughest group in the competition.

Plus…

• Breaking: The PGMOL has confirmed it is aware of a new video which appears to show suspended Premier League referee David Coote snorting a white powder while reportedly working at Euro 2024 (Video - discretion advised)

• How the Nations League affects World Cup qualifying (More)

• Harry Kane expresses disappointment in England players who withdrew from squad (More) / video

• Didier Deschamps say “leave him alone” after dropping Kylian Mbappe from squad (More)

• VAR misread West Ham penalty against Man Utd (More)

• Premier League player, unnamed, questioned over assault claims (More)

PREM COMPENSATION TRIALS

Four Premier League clubs have filed for compensation from Manchester City

Four Premier League clubs have lodged legal notices (paywall) reserving the right to seek compensation if Manchester City are found guilty of 115 alleged financial rule breaches. Dive deeper into the 115 charges here.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham are among the four clubs that filed the notices. They took the steps to formally register compensation claims before a statute of limitations deadline last week. Lawyers notified the clubs that they had a six-year deadline from 5 November 2018 to file the compensation notices.

These clubs could claim for loss of income from missing out on the league title, qualification for the Champions League, or other European competitions. This could total hundreds of millions of pounds.

POLL

HEAD START

🖐️ Protest at England vs Rep. Ireland over teenager’s transgender comment ban. Hundreds of women are planning a protest at England’s Nations League game against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday. These protests are in response to a ban imposed on a teenage female footballer who asked a transgender opponent: “Are you a man?.” The 17-year-old, who received a six-match suspension, has suspected autism. The group behind the London protest adopted the name Twelve O Five. It means five past midnight, a German saying about being too late to prevent something.

🏆 Fifa to dodge criticism over 2026 World Cup with a virtual draw. Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, has been accused of avoiding scrutiny for the controversial decision to give the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. Fifa will hold the qualifying draw for the 2026 tournament virtually, rather than the usual in-person events. Earlier this week, Amnesty International released a report. It condemned the human rights strategies of nations bidding for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups. On the other hand, Qatar was praised by the United Nations on Tuesday for improving labour laws before the 2022 World Cup.

🤖 Brighton let go of the majority of its recruitment scouts. Brighton and its owner Tony Bloom, who relies on a secretive data model, have let go of scouts (paywall) as part of the club’s restructuring. The Seagulls use a secret algorithm that has helped them find low-cost gems. It resulted in a £137.5mn transfer profit over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. But, insiders at Brighton insist they will be no more reliant on the data than they have been. The move has raised fears within the scouting community over its relative importance to clubs in the top flight.

BENTANCUR LENGTHY BAN

Rodrigo Bentancur to face significant ban following Son Heung-min comments

The FA will hit Tottenham's Rodrigo Bentancur with a lengthy ban for alleged racist remarks he made about team-mate Son Heung-min. In June, Bentancur said that South Korean international Son and his cousins “all look the same” on Uruguayan TV.

In September, the FA charged the 27-year-old with an alleged breach of its rules. FA laws recommend “match-based sanctions of six to 12 games” for almost all acts of discrimination. Son accepted the apology and said that “nothing has changed at all” between the players. Spurs then issued a statement supporting the players drawing “a line under the incident.”

The FA have yet to confirm the length of Bentancur’s suspension, but it is expected to be around seven games. In the Premier League, Spurs face Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton, and Liverpool. They also face Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final in December. Bentancur has featured in 10 of 11 Premier League games for Spurs this season. He also appeared in three of their four Europa League matches.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

Top Five European Leagues

> Real Madrid have stepped up their pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz; Los Blancos have concerns over creativity since Toni Kroos’ retirement (More)

> Claudio Ranieri agrees to come out of retirement and take charge of Roma in a caretaker position; expected until the end of the 2024-25 season (More)

Rest of the World

> South African FA President Danny Jordaan has been arrested over allegations he used the organisation’s funds for personal gain (More)

> A betting investigation has been launched into Argentine side Deportivo Riestra after they fielded a YouTuber for 50 seconds of the match (More)

Women’s Football

> Canada women’s coaching staff ‘objected’ requests to fly drones over opposition to spy on training sessions, an investigation has found. The incident engulfed the team at Paris 2024 after head coach Beverly Priestman, now fired as head coach, ordered drones to be flown over New Zealand’s sessions (More)

> Swedish star Caroline Seger, 39, was given a standing ovation in her last game of professional football after a career that spans two decades (More)

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Who do you think should be the next Match of the Day presenter?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ✌️Mark Chapman (45%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gabby Logan (12%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👑 Alex Scott (9%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 😂 Micah Richards (29%)

⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)

Your punditry takes:

• ✌️ D.J: “[Chapman is a] familiar face, presents well, knowledgeable, experienced… all in all the perfect replacement for Lineker.”

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 S.J: “Gabby is a seasoned professional. She proved her worth as a broadcaster after that epic sign-off of the Women’s Euro 2022 win.”

• 😂 P: “[Micah is] articulate with a light-hearted sense of humour.”

EXTRA TIME

Real Madrid’s leaked retro shirt for 2025.

The biggest points gaps overturned in Premier League title races.

Players with the most goal contributions in the 21st century.

The youngest chairman, 33, in Scottish football.

Ruben Amorim meets Manchester United players for the first time. / video

Refs chief analyses key incidents in Matchweek 8-9.

… and VAR audio of ‘misread’ de Ligt foul in Ten Hag’s last game as Man Utd coach.

Top 50 women’s players in the world, ranked.

Jamie Carragher reacts to his EAFC 25 ratings.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Who are the all-time joint leading scorers in the UEFA Nations League?

Clue: Big number 9s.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

UEFA Nations League

Group 2

• Belgium vs Italy (19:45)

• France vs Israel (19:45)

• Greece vs England (19:45)

• Rep. Ireland vs Finland (19:45)

Group 3

• Kazakhstan vs Austria (15:00)

• Slovenia vs Norway (19:45)

Group 4

• Armenia vs Faroe Islands (17:00)

• N. Macedonia vs Latvia (19:45)

*All time in UK. EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer

Erling Haaland and Aleksandar Mitrovic. They have both scored 15 goals in the competition. Haaland has a chance to surpass the Serbian in today’s game against Slovenia.

Goal of the Day

Today’s Goal of the Day is from Michael S: October 2009, Darren Bent’s goal against Liverpool. “I know it’s a controversial one, but I can’t believe Bent’s goal was given after it hit the beach ball. Totally unfair on Liverpool but at least it gave us something to talk about for weeks!”

Michael’s submission can be seen here. Submit your entry for Goal of the Day here.