'I want to be in the England squad'
Yesterday, James Maddison spoke about how much he wants to be back in the England squad.
But he's not been called up for the upcoming international break...
The Tottenham midfielder didn't get picked for Euro 2024 and failed to make Lee Carsley's first squad last month.
Since then, Maddison has hit some form for Spurs and he believes he is now the 'fittest he's ever been'.
However, despite a goal and a couple of assists this season, he has not done enough to break into Carsley's Three Lions again.
His last international appearance came in June as he came off the bench to feature in a 3-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Rogers is ready
talkSPORT's Adrian Durham believes that Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers is ready to play for England.
Rogers has made a breakout this season in the Premier League, becoming a regular starter for Unai Emery's side.
And Durham thinks the U21 international's form proves he's worthy of a first senior Three Lions call-up.
"I love players who want the ball, even when the chips are down and against difficult opponents," the talkSPORT presenter explained.
"This [Rogers] is a proper footballer.
"And when Villa signed him in the January window, I don't think anybody thought that he'd be ready for the first team this season.
"But he looks ready for England, nevermind the Aston Villa first team.
"He's a quality footballer and with the amount of young players who have come through in that team, what a credit to the football club."
'They always speak about weight'
Kalvin Phillips has opened up about his frustration at constant comments about his weight.
Phillips was labelled 'overweight' by Man City boss Pep Guardiola after the 2022 World Cup and the midfielder went on to describe it as the 'toughest moment of his career'.
Guardiola did apologise for the comment, but the now-Ipswich loanee has revealed the knock-on effect that those words had.
And he also went into detail about how it has been a consistent issue since he was at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
"Bielsa is obsessed with body composition and weights," Phillips explained on the 'My Mate's A Footballer' podcast.
"And I was on the higher end of the team, if not the highest.
"We had a pre-season where for three weeks I'd go home and I'd literally just have a protein shake for my dinner.
"I just had to keep losing weight, losing weight. He was like that until the last week I was there. He always pushed me to be on a certain weight target.
"I obviously respected it, but I knew that I couldn't starve myself or dehydrate myself because eventually, I was going to get injured or stop performing.
"Only recently, since I've come to Ipswich, have I got to the target, round about, that Biesla set me.
"The manager here is very big on body composition as well and I thought 'I'm not getting off to a bad start here, I need to make sure my weight's on point'."
"It's just become a narrative with me," Phillips continued.
"You obviously heard about the time when Pep [Guardiola] came out and said that I was overweight after the World Cup. That narrative on social media just grew and grew into something that it wasn't.
"Every club I'd go to, the manager and nutritionist, they'd always speak about weight before they'd say anything else. At a point it peed me off a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it.
"Now I've come to Ipswich and the manager is an unbelievable person as well as a manager. We spoke about all the past stuff that happened in my career. He just said he wanted me to get to where I was when I was at Leeds."
Call them up, Carsley
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has called for interim England boss Lee Carsley to pick two of his biggest stars in the squad.
Postecoglou has piled praise on James Maddison for his recent form and also on Dominic Solanke for his scoring streak.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said: “I think Madders has been outstanding so far this year. His form from the first game has been really strong physically.
“I’ve said a few times that he’s back at the levels where he can play in the manner he wants to and do everything he wants in a game.
“In the last two or three weeks he’s had an effect on goals and assists as well, which always gets highlighted with players in his position, but his general play has been outstanding.
“I’m sure if he continues in that vein he will be in the conversation for England squads moving forward.”
And on Solanke, Postecoglou added: “He’s getting up there now in terms of physical fitness, I think every game he looks like he’s getting stronger.
“It’s a demanding role up front for us, it’s not just about goals, it’s about his link-up play and pressing.
“We’ve put a fair amount of workload on him, even though he’s missed a couple of games.
“I can see he’s getting strong. Obviously the goals help. He’s a striker.
"He wants to score goals and that helps him to feel better about the beginning of his career here.
“I think he’s in great condition, he’s already made a big impact at our football club, but I’m even more excited about what’s ahead and the potential we have as a team and he as an individual and that he can make a significant impact.”
'His potential is huge'
Aston Villa's Jhon Duran continues to prove himself as an up-and-coming star in the world of football.
Duran has only played 303 minutes this season, with almost all of his appearances coming off the bench.
The 20-year-old continues to play as an understudy to Ollie Watkins in the Premier League and other competitions.
But he's still managed to score six goals in that time and his latest was an historic one against Bayern Munich last night.
And following that Champions League goal, Villa manager Unai Emery spoke about the Colombian striker.
Emery said: "He arrived here two years ago and he is young, his potential is huge.
"Sometimes he has been impatient and I need to speak to him as a person and connect to him as a person.
"As well as a player to try to let him play, putting him on the field because his talent is there and the capacity to help us."
Not feeling Blue
Enzo Maresca has stood by his decision to axe Ben Chilwell from Chelsea's Conference League squad - insisting he has no regrets.
The Blues boss has shown his ruthless side since replacing Mauricio Pochettino in the Stamford Bridge dugout in the summer by freezing out a number of players.
It resulted in Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku, Raheem Sterling, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and Kepa Arrizabalaga all being shipped out.
But Chilwell remained on the club's books following the summer transfer window - despite being offered to Chelsea's Premier League rivals.
And he was one of many high-profile stars in the Chelsea dressing room to be left out of the League stage of their Conference League squad.
Despite being included in their Premier League squad, he has failed to even make the bench in any of their opening six top-flight matches.
Ahead of the club's Conference League opener against Belgian outfit Gent on Thursday night, Maresca was asked whether he has any regrets over his decision to omit him from their squad list.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he simply stated: "No. I don't think so."
Need for speed
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.
After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson's opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.
It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.
Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.
Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.
Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.
Need for speed
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.
After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson’s opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.
It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.
Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.
Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.
Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.
Top 10 fastest Premier League players this season (km/h)
Micky van de Ven – Tottenham – 37.12
Anthony Elanga – Nottingham Forest – 35.90
Erling Haaland – Man City – 35.74
Timo Werner – Tottenham – 35.69
Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal – 35.57
Alejandro Garnacho – Man United – 35.48
Cameron Archer – Southampton – 35.47
Pedro Neto – Chelsea – 35.40
Yankuba Minteh – Brighton – 35.38
Marcus Rashford – Man United – 35.53
Best of the rest
Bukayo Saka may be one of Arsenal's world class players - but he's not the club's most important star.
That's the view of ex-Tottenham striker Darren Bent, who believes that honour belongs to striker Kai Havertz.
The German forward brought up his fifth goal of the season in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Speaking on talkSPORT Drive, Arsenal fan Bent waxed lyrical over the ex-Chelsea man, who has reinvented himself at the Emirates.
He said: "There's an argument now that he's Arsenal's most important player - and that includes Saka.
"He can play in a number of positions, as a No.9, a No.8, he's comfortable in possession.
"He scores goals, he's brave, the most league goals he ever got for Chelsea in a season was eight and the most assists he got in a season was three.
"He got 13 [for Arsenal] last season, seven assists, he's become vital, he's just score three games on the bounce.
"He just looks a big physical presence, and that's what I like about him for Arsenal, where Arsenal try and play it out from the back, there's time where the press is on, you can't do it, but you can clip the ball to him, he takes it on his chest, he battles for it, he wins the header, he brings it down, he brings others into play."
He added: "His ability is not limited to just scoring goals, he can do everything."
'They should be challenging'
Arsenal legend Ray Parlour is quietly confident that the Gunners will win a trophy this season.
Mikel Arteta's side are still unbeaten in all competitions and are the current favourites to win the Premier League.
But in recent campaigns, they got close to winning trophies and seemed to lose form at the most crucial of times.
Parlour knows that, and he believes that the key to having some success is to keep consistent and ride some luck at times.
"They're going in the right direction, that is the most important thing for Arsenal," Parlour said on talkSPORT Drive.
"I'm not going to get carried away and say they're going to win this or that, but they're going to be challenging, that's what I'm going to say.
"They should be challenging with the squad they've got and with the team they've got.
"But they've just got to keep going now and they'll need a bit of luck along the way as well."
One-man team?
Cole Palmer is clearly Chelsea's superstar.
No player across Europe's top five leagues has contributed to more goals since he signed for the Blues last summer.
And he's started this season in fine form too, scoring four goals in the first 45 minutes against Brighton last weekend.
Palmer isn't part of Chelsea's Europa Conference League squad though, as the club has chosen to rest him, and that has prompted questions over whether they will struggle without him.
Enzo Maresca was asked whether his side may be too reliant on the England international to have left him out.
Maresca replied: "No. It is not about reliance. We have already played some games without Cole.
"For sure, for us or any team in the world, Cole is an extra, something that you need. But we also need to protect some players. They need that.
"It is not because we try to protect Cole, Romeo Lavia or Wesley Fofana [who are also not in the European squad] for some... it's for a reason. I think Cole needs that."
Richarlis-on his way back
Tottenham striker Richarlison has posted a positive fitness update on his Instagram this afternoon.
The Brazilian hasn't played any football since August after picking up a calf injury that led to him pulling out of international duty.
He has been out of action for Spurs' last four league games but now he could be closing in on a return.
Richarlison posted a new picture of him back on the grass in his training gear with a sand timer in the caption.
It indicates he's on to the next step of his recovery and that he will be back in action soon.
He's not expected to be fit for Tottenham's European clash against Ferencvaros tomorrow or their Premier League game against West Ham on Sunday.
But there could be hope of a comeback after the international break which begins after this weekend.
'We have incompetent VAR officials'
Danny Murphy has defended referee Chris Kavanagh and taken aim at VAR following Bruno Fernandes' red card decision.
Fernandes was sent off against Tottenham last weekend, but the suspension has since been rescinded after an appeal.
But that raised the question as to why a retrospective review needs to take place while VAR is in the game.
"When it happened in full time, most people went 'Ooo naughty'," Murphy said on White and Jordan earlier today.
"I understand how a ref can get something wrong because when he saw that, and it did look naughty, he's given him a red.
"So let's give Chris Kavanagh a little bit of leeway, he needs some help, hence the fact we've got VAR.
"Well, VAR have got time to take a breath and not only did he [Fernandes] slip, he caught him below the knee with the side of his foot and not his studs.
"As soon as they saw that, they should have said: 'Chris, I think you're wrong on this one, go and have a look I think you'll change your mind.'"
Murphy continued to talk about why it took an extra review following the appeal to overturn the decision and it not being overturned by VAR during the game.
"Unfortunately, we have incompetent VAR officials," he added.
"So if the original review panel which is VAR aren't good enough to do their job, then we need another review of it."
Maresca on Mudryk
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has been speaking about Mykhailo Mudryk's lack of football so far this season.
Mudryk joined the Blues for almost £90million during last year's January transfer window.
But he's struggled to get into his new boss' side, with the squad boasting an incredible amount of talent in wide areas.
And now the Chelsea boss has addressed the reason why.
When asked why Mudryk hasn't started many games this campaign, Maresca said: "I think Misha played from the start against Wolves in the Premier League. We gave him some games.
"They all want to play from the start but sometimes it is not possible.
"Against Barrow, Misha did very well. I think when he was inside, he was okay. Hopefully he can do a good game tomorrow.
"We can say exactly the same for Nkunku. The club signed him as a big player and at the moment, he is not playing in the Premier League.
"But things change quickly in football. Right now, the situation is this but it doesn't mean it will be the same for all of the season."
He continued: "I don't think with Misha it is a lack of confidence.
"It's Misha and he needs to improve something, like the rest. But we are happy with the way he is working."
'Friends again'
Bukayo Saka has put an end to the squabble between him and Arsenal legend Robert Pires.
Pires said last month that he believed Jeremy Doku was a better player than Saka, stating the latter lacks 'consistency and experience'.
However, he then backtracked on those comments a couple of weeks ago, saying on Instagram: "Ahead of [the north London derby] I want to clarify that I think @bukayosaka87 is an amazing player and I have huge respect for him.
"A while ago I was asked to compare him to another player. I said the other player had better skills in some areas.
"This does not mean the other player is better than @bukayosaka87. I genuinely think @bukayosaka87 is better and a fantastic number seven."
And his backtracking seems to have pleased Saka who has now posted on his own Instagram with a selfie of the pair.
His post in which both are smiling together is captioned 'Friends again' with a laughing face, signalling the end of their beef.
Isak blow
Newcastle striker Alexander Isak has been left out of Sweden's squad for the upcoming international break.
Isak has missed the Magpies' last two games with a broken toe that he sustained during a win over Wolves last month.
The 25-year-old played through the issue against Fulham but he was not able to recover and is now sidelined.
He will not be travelling to play for his country and therefore he is expected to miss Newcastle's clash with Everton this weekend too.
Their trip to Goodison Park is Toon's last game before the break.
Sweden manager Jon Dahl Thomasson confirmed that it is Isak's injury keeping him out, saying: “It is one of the world’s best strikers who is missing.
“He is really disappointed not to be able to contribute and help the team, but he is not ready to perform due to injury.
"I am sure he will be back in November and help us when we play again.”
Phil-ling better
Phil Foden says he’s ‘feeling more like myself’ after starring in Manchester City’s comfortable victory over Slovan Bratislava last night.
The England star scored and assisted as City won 4-0 in Slovakia to hit back from his struggles so far this season.
Foden said: “It was a good night for myself, obviously, being back out there.
“It’s nice to score again, but more importantly I’m just enjoying my football again. I’m delighted with the result and how I played.
“I’ve had a very slow start to the season with a bit of illness and a bit of fatigue, but I’m getting back into it now and feeling more like myself.”
Foden will now hope to start and shine again as City face Fulham in Premier League on Saturday before the upcoming international break.
He added: “I am obviously confident and believe in the team but this season teams have played the same way, where they defend on the edge of the box and it’s been difficult to break them down.
“Hopefully we can find new ways to break it down and score goals. That’s the aim.”
Mainoo boost
Manchester United star Kobbie Mainoo has been spotted in training in a timely injury boost for Erik ten Hag.
Mainoo appeared to injury his hamstring in Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham and had to be replaced at half-time by Mason Mount.
Ten hag said after the match: "I can't say in this moment. I have to find out but, of course, when a player is coming off before half-time already, then there are some concerns."
But those concerns appear to have been allayed with Mainoo pictured in a training session today.
Mainoo will likely be rested for tomorrow's Europa League clash with Porto but looks set to be fit for Sunday's Premier League trip to Aston Villa.
‘This is the year’
Bukayo Saka is convinced this will be the season that Arsenal beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.
Saka, 23, made the claim following Arsenal's impressive 2-0 Champions League win against Paris St Germain at the Emirates.
The statement win, against a side which reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, came three days after a stoppage-time victory over Leicester which took Arsenal level on points with rivals' City.
Arsenal have finished runners-up to Pep Guardiola's side for the past two seasons, but when asked if the Gunners are ready to deliver their first league title since 2004, Saka replied: "I don't want to put too much pressure on us, but I do think this is the year.
"We have been close for the past two years and we are getting closer, but, yes, hopefully this will be the year.
"There is a lot of hunger in my belly. In previous years we have finished runners-up, but that spirit in me is that I want to win this season and I believe in myself a lot."
Ref watch
Chris Kavanagh has been selected to referee Chelsea v Nottingham Forest this weekend following his controversial decision to send off Bruno Fernandes last Sunday.
Fernandes’ red card in Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham has been overturned.
The midfielder lunged in on James Maddison but appeared to slip just before and United have made a successful claim for wrongful dismissal.
Kavanagh, who oversaw the match at Old Trafford, has now been appointed as the referee for Chelsea’s home clash against Forest at 2pm Sunday.
Meanwhile, United’s trip to Aston Villa at the same time this weekend will be refereed by Robert Jones.
Other notable appointments include Simon Hooper taking charge of Crystal Palace v Liverpool and Tony Harrington overseeing Arsenal v Southampton.
Do the Gunners have enough ammo?
Jamie O'Hara insists Arsenal haven't got the squad depth to go far in both the Premier League and Champions League this season.
The ex-Tottenham midfielder told talkSPORT: “Arsenal as a football club a great place at the moment, they're fighting on all fronts, for all competitions.
“The Premier League and the Champions League are the ones that they want, right? We know that.
“There is going to come a point in the season where they're playing their best team every week because they got Premier League and the Champions League and they got to play their best side.
“They haven't got the squad. I don't think they've got the squad depth to make a difference when it comes to later on in the season.”
Sports Bar co-host Jason Cundy disagreed and believes Arsenal can go far in both competitions this term - if they keep their star men fit.
He said: “They have got a squad, I feel, that's better than last season. Keep everyone fit, this is key, let's call it as it is, if you keep your big dogs fit.
“Odegaard is out but if you can get him back and you keep that spine of Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz.
“You keep the big dogs fit and firing, they will go deep in competitions. They will.”