CHECKING BACK IN

Many events have shaped the British people – the birth of punk, Brexit, Tony Hibbert’s first goal of his career (in his own testimonial) – where for better or worse, the genie cannot be put back into the bottle. We do not yet know how historians will view the Great International Break of 2026, but one thing is for sure: the world has changed. Here is how this memorable three-week break from the Premier League has affected each of this weekend’s fixtures.

Liverpool v Manchester City: A remarkably quiet time for both sides, with no significant developments. Should be a good, fair game between two historic rivals where we can just enjoy the purity and joy of football and Ayyoub Bouaddi’s flowing locks without the machinations and influence of politics, sportswashing, legal verdicts and counter-claims. Can’t wait.

Chelsea v Bournemouth: The good news for Bournemouth over the break was that Alex Scott’s silky performances for England have added another £40m to his value. The bad news for Bournemouth … Scott is now sidelined for about two months and faces a race to get back to his best form before January, when Chelsea will inevitably table a £100m bid. Emi Martínez’s woes in goal could well continue unless he can get those Lionel Messi-induced tears out of his eyes.

Manchester United v Tottenham: Ranting and raving, toiling for weeks against lesser teams and struggling to get to grips with the ideas of his new continental manager, Andy Robertson has had better international breaks but should at least have some respite when he returns to … ah. Yes lads, it’s Tottenham, but is it too early to call this a relegation six-pointer? Are three more weeks on the sidelines enough time to get £65m Carlos Baleba upright? Will under-pressure Michael Carrick see his former club do him a favour? We should have some answers to these burning questions at Old Trafford.

Sunderland v Brighton: Like a three-week Geopolitics World Cup hydration pitstop, the break came at the worst possible time for red-hot Brighton. After three weeks on the proverbial deck-chair watching his nation flounder under Jürgen Klopp, will Pascal Groß still resemble Prime Kevin De Bruyne now that 95% of fantasy players have put the wily German into their teams?

Arsenal v Leeds: Declan Rice may feel more rested than Winston Bogarde on a Surrey spa break after opting out of England duty but Arsenal are counting the cost of the international break with Christos Tzolis, Kai Havertz, Ezri Konsa and England Under-19s’ Max Dowman all returning to the club with knack. Somebody check on Mikel Arteta! Oh, actually, he’s fine.

Ipswich v Fulham: Football Daily does have personal views on this fixture. Just because it chooses not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have them, and it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t care about this fixture.

Aston Villa v Brentford: A big break for Brentford: Kristoffer Ajer scored an absolute belter against Portugal, Italy looked transformed as Michael Kayode finally made his long-awaited debut, Vitaly Janelt also made his Germany bow (while Kevin Schade also impressed) and Mikel Damsgaard was unplayable for Denmark, notching both assists in the win over Wales and scoring a stunning free-kick against Norway. Not bad for a bus stop in Hounslow.

Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest: With Dean Henderson knacked and out of the England reckoning, Palace manager Pierre Sage made Adam Wharton skipper for the club’s friendly against Bristol City (a 2-0 defeat), which begs the question: has there ever been a club captain more shy than the England midfielder? Answers on a postcard to [email protected].

Hull v Everton: Having previously threatened legal action over the Spygate scandal, we’re not sure how the Tigers took Tonda Eckert’s extremely lenient six-week suspended ban. Everton’s owners, meanwhile, spent their break exploring the sale of the club after two years, which doesn’t exactly scream “Don’t worry David Moyes, we’ll buy you that striker in January”, does it?!

Coventry v Newcastle: Well done for making it this far. We thought we might have lost you at Ipswich v Fulham. Ha, no, but seriously, congrats and have a great weekend, reader.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It was not a decision against Crystal Palace, because I decided last October, one year ago, not to sign a new contract. It was then, in the summer, a decision for Nottingham Forest, due to different reasons. Sometimes unexpected things happen in life … there was no plan for me to be Forest manager” – Oliver Glasner gets his chat on and explains that his move to the City Ground was coincidental and not intended to add further rancour to the club’s’ strained relationship.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

I’m generally not one for predictions (well, as an economic forecaster, I do it for work, but I’m terrible at it). However, I think I can confidently say that around 1,057 of us have bookmarked this so that we can write in to Football Daily on Monday after Liverpool score a couple of times due to basic errors from Manchester City players who, apparently, ‘don’t care about the noise’” – Noble Francis.

As a Manchester City season-ticket holder (from before the money came in, I hasten to add, 1998 to be precise), this is now starting to feel like the biggest wait for VAR ever. Did we really win those league titles, FA Cups, Fizzy Cups and Big Cup, or will some enormous machine now determine they were blank years – like the years there is no Glastonbury. Please let this all be over soon” – John Collins.

Lovely to see my old friend Harold Bratt get a mention in yesterday’s Football Daily letters. Harold played once for Manchester United’s first team alongside such luminaries as Harry Gregg, Shay Brennan, Bill Foulkes and John Giles. He later joined Greater Manchester police, where of course he became the star player in their first team. Imagine, you pitch up to play against the cops and are confronted by a bona fide Busby Babe. Those were the days” – Myles Flynn.

If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day goes to … Myles Flynn, who wins a copy of Games of My Life by Sir Alex Ferguson. It’s out now and available in The Guardian Bookshop alongside loads of other great football titles. Terms and conditions for our competitions are here. 

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