The Telegraph

Arsenal will wear their black away kit for Sunday’s north London derby after their home shirt was judged to clash with Tottenham Hotspur’s strip.

The Premier League, which has consulted with refereeing body PGMOL, has ruled that Arsenal’s new home shirt features too much white.

According to the Arsenal Shirt Collection group, it will be the first time since the 1985-86 season that Arsenal have worn their away kit in a north London derby.

Telegraph Sport understands Arsenal were made aware before the start of the season that this season’s home kit could deemed to feature too much white for the game against Spurs.

Subsequently there were discussions about whether Arsenal could wear the home shirt with red socks and shorts, but that was not deemed to be a suitable either.

Clubs usually settle on designs for new kits and order them with manufacturers months in advance of a new campaign.

Rice ‘correctly sent off’ against Brighton

The ruling means that Spurs must wear their away kit when they play Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium later this season.

“Both teams will be wearing their away strips in the fixtures this campaign, after the PGMOL and Premier League ruled that our 2024/25 home kit features too much white, thus clashing with Tottenham’s traditional colours, even with the option of red shorts and socks for us, which was also discussed,” Arsenal said.

“As a result, for the first time in recent ‘NLD’ history, we’ll be wearing our changed colours, with our black Adidas away kit being donned at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where we’ll aim to clinch a third-straight victory at the venue.”

Meanwhile, an independent panel has ruled that Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was correctly sent off against Brighton last weekend. In a decision that prompted huge debate, Rice was shown a second yellow card for nudging the ball away from Brighton defender Joel Veltman before a free-kick could be taken.

The Premier League’s independent Key Match Incidents panel – made up of former players or coaches, a league representative and a representative from the refereeing body – wrote: “Rice knows what he’s doing – it’s a gentle touch, but once the referee sees it he has no choice.”

David Pleat is talking, for the first time in public, about his recent departure from Tottenham. Since 2010 he had been a consultant scout at the club he had once managed, spotting and bringing in players like Jan Vertonghen, Dele Alli and Ben Davies.

But he was told by the club chairman at the end of last season that his services were no longer required.

“Daniel Levy called me in and said, ‘you know it’s all data driven now, we don’t need eyes and ears’. What a nonsense. I didn’t argue. He’s in charge. Actually, I have huge respect for him. The legacy of the new stadium and training ground will always be there. That is all down to him and his drive.”

He pauses for a moment and smiles.

“Although they’ve won nothing for years.”

Now approaching his 80th birthday, after spending a lifetime negotiating football’s ever-changing landscape, Pleat says this is by no means the end for him. He is not the retiring sort and since the start of the new season he has continued as he always has: watching at least three live matches a week, his eyes and ears ever alert.

“Two or three people have spoken to me about things. We’ll see. But I’m not finished. How can I step away? When it comes to football, I’m afraid I’m a total obsessive.”

Pleat is talking to the Telegraph in a hotel in Watford. As he arrives, he reveals he once met up there with Howard Kendall to complete a deal. Though you suspect, given his longevity in the game, there is barely a hotel in the south of England that has not played host to him negotiating a deal. He is here this time, however, to talk about his newly published autobiography, Just One More Goal, its title chosen as a four word summation of his approach.

“I’d never park the bus,” he says of his managerial philosophy (though he is sufficiently old-school never to describe it as such). “If I’m 1-0 up, I want to be 2-0. Always want one more goal. I don’t want to sit back and counterattack. I never played that way. I could never understand ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’. The same with [Jose] Mourinho or [Antonio] Conte’s approach. My edict was entertainment. The game is about glory. That Tottenham thing stuck in my mind, since I saw them in the double 60-61 season.”

And he reels off, without the slightest hesitation, the entire Tottenham side – from Brown through Blanchflower to Allen – he saw that day.

“You can’t compare eras, who knows how they’d survive now. But I do know one thing: that was the best side I ever saw play.”

‘The most important thing to flatter the chairman’s wife’

Almost from the first time he kicked a ball Pleat was fascinated with tactics and management. At 18, as a promising junior at Nottingham Forest, he took his first coaching certificate. Plagued with injury, his was not the most stellar of playing CVs as he moved across the country, from Forest to Luton to Exeter and back to Peterborough (“I always say I had less a career, more geography A level”).

But when, at the age of 26, he was obliged to retire after a rival player stamped on his back, he found his true métier: in the dugout when he was appointed manager of non-league Nuneaton Town.

“I got the job because of Peter Taylor, Brian Clough’s assistant,” he recalls. “When he was at Burton he took the job with Cloughie at Hartlepool and got a local removal firm run by a chap called Sam Downes to move his stuff. Turns out, he didn’t pay him. The poor chap complained. Taylor said: ‘Don’t worry son, I’ll do you a favour down the line.’ Anyhow, Downes was on the board at Nuneaton. And do you know what the favour was? Recommending me to be the manager. I remember saying to Taylor: ‘How do you know I can do it?’ He said: ‘Of course you can. Most managers out there are crap, you’ll be all right.’”

Pleat was more than all right. From there he went to Luton Town, as a coach under the manager Harry Haslam.

“He was some character,” he remembers. “He told me the most important thing a manager had to do is always to flatter the chairman’s wife, tell her she looks lovely.”

‘Man City chairman told me they’d never recover’

If not following Haslam’s advice to the letter, Pleat nevertheless quickly understood that managing upwards was a vital part of the job. Not least at Luton, where he was appointed manager after Haslam left, by David Evans, the politically motivated controversialist chairman who, in the 80s, banned away fans at Kenilworth Road.

“Horrible man,” Pleat says of Evans. “Nasty. You should have seen the obituaries when he died. Really scathing stuff.”

Nonetheless he was able to manage upwards sufficiently to stay in charge for eight years, taking the club into the First Division and signing a long line of fine players, from Brian Stein to Peter Nicholas. Though the thing most people remember about his time at Luton is that image of him conducting a one-man invasion of the pitch at Maine Road on the final day of the season in 1983, after his team had just won with a last-second goal to stay in the top flight. He was less eyes and ears that day, more grey slip on shoes and suit jacket flapping, as he raced, arms outstretched, to embrace his team captain Brian Horton.

“Oh, do we have to?” he says, when pressed to recall the details of what still counts as the most glorious managerial victory celebration in football history. But, being David Pleat, a man with a magnificent portfolio of anecdotes, when pressed he is happy to remember.

“When I ran on the field like a whirling dervish, it was all the emotion of what that win meant,” he says. “Not just the fact we had avoided relegation at the very last. But the fact if we had gone down it would probably have been curtains for the club, financially.

“As it was we sent Manchester City down. I remember Peter Swales [the then City chairman] came up to me afterwards, in his platform shoes, his hair with that comb-over, and he said: ‘We’ll never recover from this.’ This was Manchester City. Never recover? Yeah, right.”

‘It was nice when aesthetic football won’

Luton consolidated after that win, getting better all the time, playing quick, progressive, possession-based football under his direction. Pleat particularly enjoyed getting one over the local rivals Watford, then managed by Graham Taylor.

“Graham was a lovely man, a great friend. We played him 10 times when I was at Luton and beat him seven and that was important to me. He played direct football, and was very good at it. But let’s just say it was nice when aesthetic football won out over direct.”

Pleat’s mastery of aesthetic football took him from Luton to Spurs, where, for one season in 1986-87, it reached its apex. Playing a five-man midfield including Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles, he took Spurs to third in the league and to the FA Cup final.

“I think I was a good creative coach going forward,” he says. “People said I didn’t do enough on defending. Maybe that was true.”

He left Spurs under a cloud after a tabloid sting on his private life (though the rumour at the time was that it was a convenience to allow the chairman to appoint Terry Venables). But he continued to practise his creative methods at Leicester City. That was a four-year sojourn he really enjoyed. Even the manner of his departure makes him smile years later.

“Terry Shipman was the chairman, lovely man, very nice to me. He rang me up and said: ‘I’ve got bad news. Unfortunately we had a board meeting and we’ve decided to make a change. I must tell you, I was right behind you, I didn’t want you to go. But you’ve got to go’. He then said: ‘but what’s far worse is, they want me out too.’”

He then had another four years at Luton, before returning to Tottenham in 1998 for a brief spell as caretaker. He took on the role twice more in his long association with the club, finally settling into his position seeking out new playing talent.

Leaving BBC radio was ‘pure ageism’

In his time in football Pleat has seen enormous change in the way things are organised behind the scenes. Not all of it for the good.

“There are so many processes. You recommend a player and it has to go through a recruitment person, then the head of recruitment, then the director of football, then the manager, then the chairman. But do you know who has the last say? The bank manager. I think there’s too many voices now. Peter Taylor once told me that when it comes to making a decision, two’s company three’s a crowd.”

While scouting he would often combine the job with working for BBC Radio 5 Live. He was a superb pundit, his ability to put things in historical context second to none. Not for the first time in his life, he believes he was let go from that role prematurely.

“Pure ageism,” he says.

Though in the latter years of his broadcasting career he was unable to devote as much time as he would have wished to caring for his wife Maureen, who was stricken with a degenerative form of motor neurone disease. She died in 2020. And part of the profits from his memoir will be donated to charities seeking a cure.

“I’m not expecting it to be a fortune,” he smiles. “But every little helps fighting that horrible disease.”

Not that there will be any copies available in the Tottenham club shop.

“They’re not selling it there, something to do with it not being through the club’s official publisher,” he says. “I asked Daniel if I could have a room there to launch it and do a presentation. He said he’d get back to me. I’ve not heard anything. It’s funny. Arsenal gave Bob Wilson a seat for life. They’re a classy club, Arsenal. Me, I was told I can get a ticket at Spurs subject to availability. Subject to availability. Ha! Mind you, Bob did much more for Arsenal than I ever did for Tottenham.”

There are plenty of Spurs supporters who might well argue with that suggestion.

Just One More Goal by David Pleat is published on September 12 by Biteback Publishing

But he is also an inveterate hoarder of individual accolades. Only last week, he posed with his three latest statuettes: one for being the top scorer in Germany, a second for being the most prolific striker in the Champions League, and a third for achieving the same at Euro 2024. The last of these is the most deceptive in its grandeur. Kane offered a diminished version of himself at the European Championship, anonymous in the final and so error-prone against Switzerland that Gareth Southgate did not even keep him on for penalties. His three goals represented a high-water mark shared with five others, too.

Naturally, the image of Kane stockpiling awards emboldens the detractors who cannot wait to remind him of his failure, in a 15-year professional career, to claim a single major trophy for club or country.

You sense these criticisms cut him to the quick. When he returned to Tottenham with Bayern last month to win a meaningless pre-season bauble called the Visit Malta Cup, he handed the captain’s armband to Manuel Neuer, saving himself the indignity of hoisting it aloft. On the one hand, you could view it as a gesture of respect to his former club; on the other, you could see a man desperate to avoid a picture that would launch a thousand memes.

A persuasive narrative around Kane is that he is underappreciated. The logic is undeniable: where else but England would a player with 66 goals in national colours, 17 more than Sir Bobby Charlton and more than twice as many as Sir Tom Finney, be so routinely satirised?

At times, he could be forgiven for thinking he is more popular in Germany than in his homeland. After his first match for Bayern, Max Eberl, sporting director of RB Leipzig, likened his projection in Bavaria to that of a “messiah walking on water”.

Rarely is he afforded the same veneration in England. Even the Football Association, poised to honour him with a golden cap before he faces Finland, has not been averse to a little casual mockery. “What’s that in your pocket, Chris?” the governing body tweeted, when Tottenham lost an FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United in 2018, linking to an unrelated video of centre-back Chris Smalling saying: “Harry Kane.” To say that Kane and Mauricio Pochettino, his then-manager, were furious would be an understatement. “I talked to the gaffer about it,” he reflected. “And all we said was: ‘Would other countries do that to their players?’ Probably not.”

While Kane has captained England on 72 occasions, he has arguably left less lasting an imprint on the popular imagination than Beckham, who did so 59 times. The difference, ultimately, is about moments. Close your eyes and you can picture Beckham’s signature flourishes in a heartbeat: either the last-gasp free-kick to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, or the redemptive arc that took him from his red card for lashing out at Diego Simeone in 1998 to his winning penalty against Argentina four years later. Kane’s story, by contrast, has been characterised more by remorseless excellence than indelible highlights.

Commercial cut-through is a factor, too. Where Beckham was the most high-profile footballer of his generation — “more famous than me, definitely”, quipped Nelson Mandela once — Kane’s public persona has tended towards the vanilla. He seems, sometimes, to be a player of limited hinterland, more preoccupied with attaining Ronaldo-esque records than pursuing celebrity for its own sake.

This is, by itself, a quality deserving of the highest admiration. And yet a sense persists that Kane struggles to elicit intense emotions one way or the other. The public mood around him is still characterised by restless frustration as to why he went missing for crucial periods this summer, and a debate as to whether he still deserves to be the first name on the England teamsheet. On his feats alone, Kane should unite the country in adoration. But without the trophy to define him, he will continue, however perversely, to attract ambivalence.

Tottenham Hotspur have negotiated an option to buy United States midfielder Johnny Cardoso in next summer’s window, according to Real Betis president Ángel Haro.

Spurs sold Giovani Lo Celso to Betis last week and Haro revealed that, during the talks, the Spanish club accepted an offer on Cardoso that can be triggered with a set fee of €25 million (£21 million).

Cardoso, 22, was born in America to Brazilian parents and moved to South America as a baby before starting his football career there. He moved to Betis from Brazilian club Internacional last season and his performances have put him on the radar of other European teams.

The window for Spurs’ option is two weeks during 2025, with other clubs able to compete for him when it expires.

“Johnny is a player who is of interest not only to Tottenham, but to many other teams, who has great potential and in this case, within the Gio operation, they asked us for an option to buy for a value that was important and interesting for us and we did give them that option,” Haro said.

Cardoso has played for the US national team, earning 15 caps, having broken into the senior game at Internacional.

Premier League agent accepts 1% cut

In a relatively frugal summer, agents’ desperation to get deals completed was shown in one Premier League transfer where the intermediary for the player was willing to accept a one per cent commission.

Agents usually ask for around 10 per cent of their client’s annual salary for their work in making deals happen. Some can command more for in-demand players, while others can settle for much less rather than lose the deal altogether.

Telegraph Sport has been told by one club source involved in the deal that the supposed top agent involved took a 10th of the usual fees, with the rest swallowed up by family members of the player who also worked on the deal.

Lewis excited by Sao Paulo loan

Newcastle United full-back Jamal Lewis has joined Brazilian club São Paulo on loan for the season.

“When I heard about this opportunity, I immediately told my agent that I wanted to come to Brazil,” Lewis, a Luton-born Northern Ireland international, said. “It’s an honour to play for a giant like São Paulo and to be the first British player in the club’s history.

“I’m really excited to play for a club that has won three world cups,” he added, referring to São Paulo’s one Club World Cup and two Intercontinental Cup victories. “It’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m looking forward to meeting the fans and contributing to the team.”

Steven Bergwijn has been dropped from the Netherlands national team and will no longer be considered for selection because of his transfer to Saudi Arabia.

Ronald Koeman, the Dutch head coach, said “the book is basically closed” for Bergwijn after he moved from Ajax to Al-Ittihad for around £18 million on Monday.

The 26-year-old, a former Tottenham Hotspur player, has been a regular for his country in recent years and has earned 35 caps, but now seemingly has no future on the international stage.

“The book is basically closed to him,” said Koeman, the former Ajax, PSV and Barcelona player. “He knows what I think about this.

“When you are 26, your main ambition should be sporting, not financial. These are choices that players make.

“I have never been in that situation, because I could go to Barcelona. He could have stayed at Ajax. That’s not bad, is it? You have to respect that choice, but personally I wouldn’t [have moved to Saudi Arabia].”

Koeman added that it was unlikely that former Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, who now plays for Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League, would be selected again.

Wijnaldum was part of the Euro 2024 squad, however, despite moving to Saudi Arabia in September last year.

Meanwhile, Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has committed his international future until at least the 2026 World Cup, after having face-to-face talks with Koeman.

“I thought it was so important to go to him to see and feel with him: are you going to give it your all for another two years at the highest level and do you still see a future for yourself? And he does. And I do the same with him. All doubt is gone, he just goes on,” said Koeman.

“He admitted he did not reach the level you would expect from him as a player at the European Championship. As captain, I think he did a great job. But perhaps as a result, he put too much energy into others rather than into himself.”

Tottenham are believed to be among at least three clubs that were opposed to the reductions on the maximum ticket prices that home clubs can charge visiting fans in Europe.

That will dismay the Tottenham supporters who are already angry at the club’s decision to scrap senior season tickets from next year and who currently pay among the highest prices in the Premier League.

Uefa this week announced that the maximum ticket prices for away fans in this season’s Champions League will be €60 (£50), while clubs can charge visiting supporters a maximum of €40 in the Europa League, which Spurs are competing in. Europa Conference League away tickets have been capped at €20.

There will be a further reduction next season, when Champions League clubs will be able to charge away fans a maximum price of €50, with Europa League top prices falling to €35.

Telegraph Sport has been told that Tottenham were among at least three clubs to have raised objections to the reductions, although it is unclear whether they formally voted against or in favour of the change.

When contacted by Telegraph Sport on Tuesday, Tottenham chose not to comment on the issue and did not disclose how they voted. Uefa were also given the opportunity to comment.

Tottenham’s director of football administration and governance, Rebecca Caplehorn, is a member of the European Club Competitions Committee, which endorsed the reductions to the maximum ticket prices home clubs can charge.

Following last week’s draw, Tottenham will entertain Qarabag, Alkmaar, Roma and Elfsborg in this season’s Europa League with their fans facing expensive trips to Ferencvaros, Galatasaray, Rangers and Hoffenheim.

Club criticised for ‘penalising’ supporter loyalty

The Tottenham Supporters’ Trust launched a petition last month against the decision to scrap senior concession tickets from next year, which they have branded “disgraceful”. So far the petition has more than 2,000 signatures.

In a statement, the Trust said: “This misguided policy impacts the most loyal, long-term supporters, many of whom are on low, fixed incomes. It also sets a dangerous precedent in terms of other groups currently receiving concession season tickets, namely young adults and children.

“The club receives the bulk of its income from television broadcasting rights and has recently been granted permission to use the stadium for 30 non-football events so there should be no need to penalise fans financially in this way.”

Tottenham have also faced criticism from the Football Supporters’ Association, who posted a message on social media that said: “This is Spurs’ new policy for OAP ST holders: The older you get the more you pay! Unless eligible by 2024-25, you’ll never get an OAP ST discount. Ever. Doesn’t matter if you live until 100. Spurs are the 8th richest club in the world.”

Tottenham pointed to increased match-day costs and the price of utilities to justify ticket price increases and the scrapping of OAP concessions. The club said there had been only one price increase, of 1.5 per cent, for season tickets since the stadium opened five years ago. “Football is not immune to the rising costs of goods and services across the board and we continue to look at all options to minimise ticket price increases, while absorbing the vast majority of costs,” Spurs added in their statement at the time.

Much, much better from Tottenham in the last 10 mins or so and they are starting to dictate the pace of the game after weathering that early storm.

Nick Pope had made decent saves to keep out strikes from Sarr from just outside the box and there is growing pressure on the Newcastle backline.

They have stood up to it well enough so far with all the danger coming from distance but Newcastle’s front three of Barnes, Isak and Gordon has gone very quiet.

Not for the first time this season, the latter has not looked like his normal self at all. The home crowd have started to go a little quiet too.

Spurs will be pleased with the control they have got of the midfield battle in particular.

It has been a really strong start from Newcastle who have thrown themselves at Tottenham with some gusto.

You could even describe it as the unleashing of energy as the frustration of the transfer window is put behind them.

Alexander Isak’s effort may well have been a cross, after he robbed Son Heung-Min of the ball on the right touchline, but it beat Vicario who was relieved to see it come back off the crossbar.

Harvey Barnes was also very close to finding the top corner after a long ball to Anthony Gordon had exposed Spurs’ high defensive line.

Romero has put the ball in the net for the visitors, but he did so from a pretty obvious offside position.

Lloyd Kelly has also headed just over the bar from a corner, which came when Vicario struggled to deal with a cross and Emil Krath’s effort was fortunately deflected wide.

Spurs’ high line was badly exposed in the corresponding fixture last season and Newcastle are constantly looking to expose it again.

On the plus side for Spurs, they have an equally high Newcastle line to try and run in behind and James Maddison looks sharp as he tries to find the right pass from Son to run on to.

Failure is an emotive word to use to describe Newcastle United. As one of European football’s great underachievers, it is a word synonymous with far more painful periods in the club’s history.

Nevertheless, that is a word that can be used to describe this transfer window - and is - by frustrated supporters.

The Newcastle board failed manager Eddie Howe by depriving him of the players he wanted to improve his starting XI, leaving him to face a hostile press conference on transfer deadline day, trying to defend the club’s failure to sign England international Marc Guehi – or anyone else – from Crystal Palace after a month-long pursuit.

They failed the club’s supporters, who were led to believe that Newcastle, backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, were unrelentingly ambitious; with a desire to be, in the words of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the “number one” club in the country.

Against that framework, this window has been a huge disappointment. Emotions are raw. There have been lots of pledges made, lots of nice words, very little action.

Click here to read the rest of Luke’s piece.

After a disappointing and divisive summer, the timing of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s visit to St James’ Park for today’s game against Tottenham Hotspur is interesting, to say the least.

Newcastle failed to sign a single player to improve their first team and manager Eddie Howe has appeared unsettled and distracted during a period of upheaval in the boardroom.

It is the first time that the club’s Saudi chairman has visited since January and it is the first time he has attended a home game since October last year - the 4-1 thrashing of PSG in the Champions League.

Telegraph Sport has been told that the visit was a pre-planned one and is supposed to be a show of support rather than a response to what has happened this summer.

But there are bound to be some interesting conversations going on behind the scenes given the club has attracted criticism for the way it is being run for the first time since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in October 2021.

On the pitch, Newcastle’s only free transfer arrival from Bournemouth makes the starting XI with William Osula on the bench.

Tino Livramento is preferred to Kieran Trippier at right back. Interestingly, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes both start on the flanks.

Hello and welcome to live coverage from the Premier League as Newcastle host Tottenham at St James’ Park.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has admitted some of his players are yet to return to the “optimum” fitness levels they need to play his high-intensity brand of football.

Howe’s team scrapped their way to a 1-0 home win over Southampton with 10 men before escaping from Bournemouth with a 1-1 draw and then progressing in the Carabao Cup by virtue of a penalty shoot-out at Nottingham Forest in midweek.

Asked about the intensity needed to play the high-pressing game which has proved so successful during the 46-year-old’s time at St James’ Park to date, he said: “It’s something you have to protect and work towards every single day because the players can’t just turn up and perform that way in isolation, it’s something we hone and work on continuously.

“It is related, of course, to our fitness. We have to be really, really super-fit to deliver that style of play for 90 minutes.

“That’s something, I think, we’re working towards. It’s no secret that we’ve got a group of players that probably aren’t at their absolute optimum fitness-wise. But very quickly, we’ve got to find our best physical levels to produce that style of play.”

Recent games between Newcastle and Tottenham have produced goals - 16 in the last three - and have been decidedly one-sided with the former winning 6-1 and 4-0 on Tyneside either side of a 4-1 defeat in North London.

Meanwhile, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has backed James Maddison to force his way back into England contention after being left out of the first squad picked by interim boss Lee Carsley.

“I think he’s started the season really well and had an impact in both games,” Postecoglou said.

“He was very close to getting on the scoresheet in both. His general play in both games has been really, really good.

“As long as he’s training well and playing well, then I’m sure he will be back in England reckoning and I guess it is a question for Lee for future camps.

“I know he desperately wants to get back into the England set-up, but if he continues to play like he does and makes more and more of an impact, like we know he can, then I see no reason why he can’t get back into the England side.”

Our second draw of the night is underway in Monaco. The fourth edition of the UEFA Conference League draw.

A reminder that Chelsea are in Pot One, so we should know right off the bat who they’ll be up against this year.

But before that, we’re taken back to the drama of last years’ campaign, where Olympiacos triumphed, having bested Aston Villa in the semi-final.

There we have it. A much speedier affair than usual thanks to the button that instantly generates the fixtures.

Manchester United have been handed a reunion with Jose Mourinho as they go away to his Turkish Super Lig club, Fenerbahce.

Spurs will face their toughest tests against Rangers and Roma.

And Rangers will have to play both of the above.

More of a revolution than a revamp. From this season, the competition will adopt the ‘Swiss Model’. There will be one league of 36 teams. Each team will be drawn to play eight matches against different opponents, half at home and half away.

Uefa will trot out the usual line about evolving the competition. But the bottom line is that there are four more teams in the group stages and each club gets two more games. More TV broadcasting money, more gate receipts and more supporters travelling across the continent.

The format does allow for more big-hitters playing each other in the new league-style group stage. But the top eight will automatically qualify for the round of 16, so they could secure a place early and then rest big players for important matches at the weekend. Those finishing between ninth and 24th go into two-legged play-offs. So every place counts. But if a team cannot finish in the top eight, does it matter too much who they face in the play-offs? The battle for 24th will be exciting.

Chelsea are featuring in today’s Conference League draw despite making hard work of a messy loss away to Servette in Geneva.

Christopher Nkunku put Chelsea ahead from a penalty after 14 minutes, as he had in the first leg and everything seemed set fair for a straightforward passage into the next phase.

But Servette striker Jeremy Guillemenot levelled against the run of play before the interval, and substitute Enzo Crivelli headed the hosts in front on the night after 72 minutes. Chelsea had chances to settle their nerves, but in the end they were relieved to hear the final whistle.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the Europa league and UEFA Conference League phase draws. Man Utd, Spurs and Rangers will feature in the former, which gets underway at midday. Chelsea and Hearts are among those involved in the latter, taking place just after at around 1.30pm.

In the new ‘Swiss model format’, the Europa League has been expanded to 36 teams, all of the clubs will compete against each other in one big league table rather than eight groups of four. Each team will play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away, with two opponents drawn from each of the four pots.

In the Conference League though, each side will face six different teams (three home games, three away) as the boosted 36 teams have been split into six pot.

In both tournaments, the top eight in the league qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16.

As was the case with yesterday’s Champions League draw, the new system simply involves too many multiples and permutations to be done manually using bowls full of Uefa-branded, star-spangled plastic balls.

Instead, each of 36 teams will have one ball in the bowl. Each of the Pot One teams will be drawn out first, before their fixtures are spat out by a supercomputer. These will be displayed on a screen for the audience to see. With the teams in Pot Two already aware of their Pot One opponents, they will be drawn out of the bowl and their remaining six fixtures revealed. And so on, through to the last Pot.

Walking from White Hart Lane station on Saturday, two visiting Everton supporters got their first sight of the steepling Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“Yeah, it’s all right, that,” one said, looking up at the gleaming edifice. “But wait till they get a look at our new place.”

Everton’s sparkling new home on Bramley-Moore Dock is almost finished. But the growing worry for the club’s supporters is what kind of football will they be watching there when it opens for business next season? Unless there is rapid change in their fortunes, the club who have never been relegated from the top flight could well be welcoming Preston, Hull and Portsmouth to their splendid headquarters on the banks of the Mersey.

Anyone who suggests it is a bit early to be making predictions of a descent into the Championship was clearly not at Tottenham on Saturday, when, as they succumbed to a hapless 4-0 defeat, Sean Dyche’s side gave every appearance of a team who have already given up.

“We can’t continue to make mistakes at this level,” ruminated the manager after the match. “It is difficult here and we are stretched. But it’s a strange situation. In my 19 months we build something and go back down the hill again to remind ourselves of the challenge. What about playing when it’s 0-0?”

It is a fair question. His Everton did not play at all in north London. Rarely in their careers can James Maddison have enjoyed such space in midfield or Dejan Kulusevski have been able to skip across a penalty area unmolested by anything approaching a tackle to set up a totally unmarked Yves Bissouma to score the first goal. As for the fourth, when Micky van de Ven barrelled forward from his own box without hint of Evertonian intervention to set up Son Heung-min, Dyche appeared to flourish the white flag, suggesting his club simply could not match such wealth of talent.

“You’re talking about a £30 million defender, that’s what £30 million defenders do,” he said of the Dutchman’s splendid run. “As for Son, I’ve heard he’s quite a useful finisher.”

How Everton could use one of those; a striker who can score. Not to mention a couple of midfielders who can close down space or defenders who can tackle. It is unlikely, given the issues behind the scenes, that money will be found for any such recruits before the transfer window closes on Friday. This is a club who have utterly failed to secure the kind of new ownership that might match the ambition of the supporters. Mind, what was delivered on the pitch on Saturday was hardly the most appetising of commercials for future direction.

Though never mind the wider financial issues, what was even more alarming for those of blue persuasion looking for an inkling of optimism was how bereft Dyche’s side seem of any suggestion of a tactical plan. In the first hour at Spurs, they put together just three passing moves. And two of those involved their goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Not one took place in their opponents’ half. It was not hard to see why they have not won a game away from Goodison in 2024.

Tottenham, in contrast, looked a side brimful not just of enthusiasm and confidence, but ideas too. Their manager Ange Postecoglou, noting his visitors’ reliance on Pickford for starting any attacking move, had instructed Son to harry him at every opportunity. The keeper, who did not make a single error on England duty at Euro 2024, comically succumbed almost immediately to such pressure, gifting the Tottenham striker the opportunity to score the second goal.

“England’s number one,” mocked the Spurs supporters in delight at his generosity.

When even the most reliable are faltering, things are grim indeed.

They do like their history at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Up on the big screen ahead of kick off videos of glories past play on a continuous spool. But trawling that past, even the most diehard fan would be pushed to recall when Tottenham had an easier opening home match of the season than this. With goals from Yves Bissouma, Cristian Romero and two from the captain Son Heung-min, the 4-0 scoreline was not remotely an exaggeration of their evisceration of Everton.

In fact, they could easily have scored twice as many. In the last 10 minutes they were playing with the kind of keep-ball ease that usually attends practice sessions when the under-15s are invited to take on the first XI.

“The performance was excellent,” said their manager Ange Postecoglou. “We looked really threatening going forward all the time.”

Postecoglou was right to enthuse. Spurs were everything he wants them to be – fluent, fast, effervescent. But in truth they were more than a little assisted in their endeavours by an Everton side as poor as any who have represented the club. Bereft of game plan, ideas and progressive thought, their entire attacking ambition seemed to be to sling in a set-piece in the hope it might reach James Tarkowski’s head. Worse, they were entirely lacking in two characteristics usually associated with teams managed by Sean Dyche: defensive organisation and all-round fight. Watching them capitulate from first minute to last, it was easy to understand why they have not won a game away from Goodison Park throughout 2024.

And how Spurs exploited their good fortune. Before kick off, Postecoglou explained that he had restored the ill-starred Bissouma to the starting line-up after his juvenile exploits with laughing gas because of his efforts in training.

“You know what it’s like when you punish your child and they do everything right for the next two days?” Postecoglou said, neatly summing up Bissouma’s schoolboy behavioural characteristics. And the Malian more than responded to his manager here. From the start enjoying the freedom of midfield, within 14 minutes he had found himself unattended on the edge of the area as Dejan Kulusevski laid off a gilt-edged invitation to shoot. He thumped a glorious first time shot beyond Jordan Pickford, a strike he celebrated with vim. And no wonder: it was his first goal for the club across 52 appearances.

“We know Biss is a good footballer,” said Postecoglou. “It’s a good start but he’s got to do more. It’s about him being the best version of himself. Discipline is the important thing. I thought it was a disciplined performance from him.”

The rest of the Spurs team were quick to pick up Bissouma’s lead and join in the fun. Recognising that much of Everton’s threat comes from Pickford’s distribution, Postecoglou stationed Son in an advanced position with instruction to press at every opportunity. Within a couple of minutes of kick off he almost picked the keeper’s pocket, Pickford managing to scrabble away possession as the Korean lurked. The second time, however, he was not so lucky. Son was on him the moment he received a back pass from Tarkowski and, as he fumbled and panicked, quickly relieved him of the ball to tap into an empty net.

Things got no better for Everton in the second half. Dyche attempted to inject some creativity, sending on Iliman Ndiaye and Jesper Lindstrom (and almost gaining reward when the Dane rasped a shot against Guglielmo Vicario’s fingers). But they could not lift a side mired in a gloom which was exacerbated when first James Maddison swung in a corner which found Romero’s sizeable forehead and then Micky van de Ven ran the entire length of the pitch untroubled by Evertonian tackles before presenting Son with his second goal. It was as close to a one-sided match as you would see in the Premier League.

After the match, Dyche recognised the issues at hand.

“In the past, we have done well when the challenges have come our way,” he said. “Anger doesn’t change anything. What changes anything is action. I’ll be taking action.”

Frankly, he needs to. And fast. Much more of this and David Moyes’s return to the club before the first international break looks ever more plausible.