Napoli stole the headlines, but who is their ‘new Maradona’ Khvicha Kvaratskhelia? 

Dotun, Andy and David Cartlidge chew over a dramatic first matchday of the Champions League. They wonder at Inter’s limp performance and a resurgent Leroy Sane, while David *does not* hold back on Max Allegri after Juventus' night in Paris showed just how far they’ve fallen in Europe. 

Plus, what’s the perception of Thomas Tuchel in Europe after his Chelsea sacking?

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The Ramble curse strikes again! Thomas Tuchel is out of the door. Marcus and Andy bring you an emergency Ramble Reacts to discuss what went wrong, where next for Tuchel and when exactly Rafael Benítez will be hired as interim manager.

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Dinamo Zagrabbed all three points from Chelsea! After the first Champions League tango of the season, Marcus, Jim and Andy discuss an evening to forget for Tommy Tuchel. Or, as the case may be, an evening to become increasingly and very publicly annoyed about.

Plus, Jeff Bridges operates some new offside technology, Alex Telles leads the line for Sevilla for some reason and there’s a Hart-warming night in Glasgow as Celtic return to Europe’s top table! Oh, and an Aberdeen striker enjoys the game in the Real Madrid end.

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Today, we’re discussing football’s most fabled breed. They are the enforcers, the tough guys, the bouncers of the football pitch that everyone loves to hate. We are, of course, talking about football’s hard men!

Pete, Jim and Vish discuss some of the game’s most iconic examples of the genre, including the Colombian player with the most red cards in history and English football’s so-called OG hard man, who used to bring a gun to contract negotiations. Plus, we ponder if there is still a place for the quintessential hard man in the modern game.

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Glorious goals, calamitous errors and a goalkeeper getting sent off for pissing in a hedge? Our resident experts on all those things - Marcus, Pete, Jim and Vish - are here to relive it all!

We ask just how many celebrations Antony made, make the case for Ivan Toney to go in goal for England, and offer up some solutions for the weekend’s VAR debacle. Just take that Brentford kid’s money, all right? Plus, a fortune teller knows Kevin Keegan’s future.

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Dear Gov. Greg Abbott,

Was it already a year ago that you declared Texas’ “Goal Number One” was to “eliminate rape,” after a reporter asked how you could justify signing a 6-week abortion ban without rape exceptions? How’s that going for you?

Or, more specifically, how’s it going for the Texans who report an estimated 13,500 rapes to their local authorities annually, according to the FBI’s most recent crime stats? Did you know that’s a vast undercount, since 90 percent of Texas survivors never report to law enforcement, much less identify their experiences as sexual assault, given the social stigma and victim-blaming around it? 

Did you have those numbers in mind this week, when you said during a taping of Lone Star Politics that your state’s abortion laws didn’t need a rape exception, because survivors “can get the plan B pill that can prevent pregnancy from occurring in the first place”? Do you know how much you sound like Todd Akin? Do you realize that emergency contraception must be taken within 5 days, costs up to $50, and is believed to work less effectively for those with a higher body mass index? 

While we’re on that topic, how do you feel about the right to contraception, which 195 of your Republican colleagues in Congress voted against codifying on July 21? Did you know that the anti-abortion movement is explicitly targeting birth control next, by expanding the definition of abortion to include contraception? Is that where you plan to draw the line, after years of helping anti-abortion activists push through their agenda in Texas?

Manchester United will play host to Arsenal in tomorrow’s big game, and the Darren Bent and Andy Goldstein have vastly disagreed on the predicted scoreline.

The Red Devils have returned to form of late, winning three straight games on the bounce, but you would have to say that their performances have been far from perfect.

Arsenal on the otherhand have started their season with a 100% winning record, whilst mostly playing some really dominant football also, and already sit top of the table despite many of the other teams (including Manchester City) having played six times already.

While you can understand why both sides would have reason to back their teams going into tomorrow’s clash, the Man United and Arsenal fans on TalkSPORT had very differing predictions.

“If #MUFC lose, I wear an #AFC shirt!”

Manchester City failed to take their opportunities against a struggling Aston Villa side this evening, leaving Arsenal top of the table before they take to the field against Manchester United.

While our game is no gimme, given that we travel to Old Trafford for a Super Sunday clash with one of our long-time rivals, but with the fact that we have opened the new campaign with five straight wins and are playing with confidence, the chance to move four points clear of the current Premier League champions is one that we will hopefully achieve.

Man City couldn’t reclaimed top spot had they beaten Villa, but despite Erling Haaland scoring his tenth goal in only six league games since joining this summer, they were unable to hold out for the win with Leon Bailey finding the all-important equaliser.

Now we head into their city in search of our own victory as we take on Erik Ten Hag’s newly revitalised side, having won their last three outings themselves after a torrid start to their season, but their overall performances have been far from impressive, and I can’t help but feel like we should go into the game as favourites to claim bragging rights.

The fact that a draw will keep us on top at this stage will be solace should we settle for just the one point, but a win would make a statement of intent as we try to mount a title challenge as one of the underdogs going into the new campaign.

THE TRANSFER SHOW – Summer review discussing every player that has come to Arsenal this summer…

On today’s transfer show, Alfie, Rob and Daniel discuss Arsenal’s transfer window in its entirety, looking at all the incomings, the outgoings and then the stuff we didn’t do.

Are you concerned about a lack of depth or can we deal with it? Should Arsenal have gone all out on Deadline Day?

Listen to what the boys have to say and see if you agree.

Please leave comments below or on the YouTube Channel…

The US Department of Veterans Affairs will begin offering abortion services for the first time, opening up new options for veterans and other VA beneficiaries whose pregnancies resulted from rape or incest or otherwise pose a threat to their health. Under a new Biden administration interim rule that takes effect immediately, pregnant veterans and their eligible family members will be able to receive abortion counseling at VA hospitals. Those that qualify will be able to get an abortion, regardless of state laws. 

The VA is preparing to provide abortions services in “as many locations as possible,” the department announced Friday. VA doctors will have case-by-case discretion to decide, along with their patients, when a pregnancy puts a patient’s health at risk. Those who seek abortions under the rape or incest provisions won’t be required to provide a police report; self-reporting will be considered sufficient evidence.

VA secretary Denis McDonough called the policy shift a “a patient safety decision.” Fifteen states currently ban abortion in all or almost all cases, and some states—like Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma—don’t allow exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. People who want or need to end their pregnancies in those states currently must travel elsewhere or seek out abortion medications online, a legally gray area.

“We came to this decision after listening to VA health care providers and Veterans across the country, who sounded the alarm that abortion restrictions are creating a medical emergency for those we serve,” Shereef Elnahal, the VA’s under secretary for health, said in a statement. “Offering this care will save Veterans’ health and lives, and there is nothing more important than that.”

The shift in policy brings the VA in line with the Defense Department, which offers abortions to military service members in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life, according to the Washington Post. But the services are little-used: Annually, fewer than two dozen service members receive abortions at military hospitals, with others seeking care from private clinics. About 300,000 women of childbearing age currently receive health care through the VA.

Arsenal are claimed to be eyeing a move to sign Danilo from Palmeiras come January after failing to bolster their CM role before the summer transfer window closed on Thursday.

The Gunners were strongly linked with Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz in the final 48 hours of the window, and despite supposedly lodging two offers for his signature, the Brazilian wasn’t permitted a move away from the Midland club.

While we could well return for his services again when the new window opens, the Express claims that we are keen to move for the younger Brazilian in Danilo.

The report by FourFourTwo adds that while the Palmeiras star could be eyed to play the more defensive of the two midfield roles in our side, he has all the makings of a number eight also, and could well be a clever signing due to his versatility to play either option at the base of our midfield.

We have shown a clear preference for younger players in previous windows, but the fact that both Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans are into the final 12 months of their playing deals, both could potentially be available for a bargain fee come the new year, and both could well pose as players who would easily increase their monetary value to be sold on at a later date if needed.

In recent weeks we have been focussing in on each of the players in the Arsenal Womens squad, hopefully helping to build your knowledge of this fantastic team.  Today we focus in on Kaylan Marckese.

We only have Midfielder Mana Iwabuchi left to focus in on and we will have covered the whole Arsenal Women squad.  We hope you enjoy this article on Kaylan Marckese and look out for our last ‘Focus In On’ article tomorrow.

Today we focus in on Kaylan Marckese (Goalkeeper No.18)

Born in 1998, in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. St. Petersburg, Florida, USA Kaylan signed to Arsenal in July 2022, from Danish side HB Koge.

Marckese was Arsenals first signing of the 2022 summer transfer window, she was recruited to provide top competition for Manuela Zinsberger between the goalposts.

Arsenal can repeat Saliba trick with this youngster

William Saliba developing into a fine defender is for everyone to see.

The youngster was signed from French outfit Saint-Étienne in the summer of 2019 for a whopping £27 million.

After such a massive outlay, there was expectation among the club’s faithful that the 18-year-old would become a regular started immediately.

However, it became frustrating for the fans, when they saw the Frenchman being loaned out for three successive seasons.

Obviously a lot of Arsenal fans are worried about the team losing their 100 per cent start to the season when we visit Old Trafford tomorrow afternoon, and now those worries have increased dramatically after Mikel Arteta’s injury update.

We now Know that we have both Mo Elneny and Reiss Nelson out with very long term injuries, which wouldn’t matter too much in the great scheme of things if we weren’t already short of Thomas Partey and Zinchenko in midfield as well.

Now, on top of those two, Arteta revealed that both Odegaard and Ramsdale have not been able to train after getting bad knocks in the game against Fulham.

So now Arteta has big selection problems on how to set up the team at Old Trafford, so I am going to see if I can make an educated guess on how we will line up without those players.

First of all, I’m not sure that goalkeepers need so much recovery time, so I am hoping that Ramsdale can start. Although I am sure Matt Turner has potential, I would prefer him to get his debut against Zurich on Thursday than the cauldron of Old Trafford. It’s too big a risk in my opinion…

Arsenal are currently under threat of missing key players Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale when they take on Manchester United at on Sunday, and Paul Merson is reluctant to see Fabio Vieira come in to replace the Norwegian.

Odegaard is our new club captain after our previous leader Alexander Lacazette departed to return to Lyon this summer, and he has taken the armband in his stride in north London.

He has been amongst our best players so far in 2022 in fact, and should he prove to be below 100% this weekend, he will be sorely missed, and Mikel Arteta could be forced to decide on who will replace him in the starting line-up.

Vieira and ESR are the two most likely options to come into the AM role in his absence, with Eddie Nketiah or Marquinhos other options to come into the starting XI, but Merson insists that Smith Rowe should be the one to be called upon.

“If Odegaard is injured, I’d go with Emile Smith Rowe,” Paul wrote in his Sportskeeda column.

Arsenal will make the trip north to take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, and they could well come up against their new signing Anthony.

The Brazilian completed a Deadline Day move to the Red Devils on Thursday, for what seems to be a crazy price on what he has shown thus far, but he clearly has the potential to be a star.

I personally would have no issue seeing him line-up against us, as I struggle to see him making an immediate impact, but manager Erik Ten Hag will have to make that decision after seeing him train with the squad for the first time yesterday as confirmed on their official website.

The boss did admit that Anthony Martial is one player who will not be available however, as he struggles to overcome an injury picked up against Liverpool.

On both Aaron Wan Bissaka and Luke Shaw the boss was not so certain however, and claimed a decision would later need to be taken on their availability.

So Arsenal’s biggest game of the season so far is coming up tomorrow at Old Trafford, and despite the fact that United lost their first two games, they have bounced back and now won three in a row, including beating Liverpool at Anfield.

But the Gunners are also in a rich vein of form, but Arteta is well aware of the challenge our weakened team faces tomorrow. The boss said in his pre-game press conference: “When you look at the squad that they have, the players that they have signed the amount of money they have spent in the market, it is no surprise – they are going to win a lot of football matches. The history of Manchester United tells you this is going to happen. They are a big rival, we know that and we are going to compete with them.”

When asked if this was our biggest test of the season, he declared: “The test in the Premier League is every single week, every opponent that you play. You see it in every game that will be played this weekend and I don’t expect anything different.”

We have historically got an awful record at Old Trafford, but Arteta is not worried about previous records but the focus is on tomorrow. Does he think it could be a problem? “I don’t think so. We have gone through things like that when we hadn’t won at Stamford Bridge for 20 or something years, but you need to believe that you will do that. If you can play the way you want to play, you will win football matches. We’ve done it, and that’s the belief that we have.

“It’s not something new. We’ve done it, we have to do it again and we have to believe from today, yesterday and straight after the game that we are capable of going there and playing how we want in the match.”

Intermingled with top secret, secret, and confidential documents that federal agents seized from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month were more than three dozen empty folders marked “classified,” according to a court filing unsealed today. Still more empty folders were labeled “return to staff secretary/military aide”—a reference to the White House official responsible for the flow of documents to the president.

The disclosure of so many empty folders raises questions about whether the FBI recovered all the sensitive government documents it was seeking. According to the unsealed filing, agents found classified documents mixed in with news clippings, books, clothes, gifts, and hundreds of other government documents and photos without classification markings. 

Trump’s attorneys are trying to convince a federal judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, to appoint a “special master” to decide whether any of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago were subject to executive privilege or attorney-client privilege—even though FBI says its document screeners have already reviewed them. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and intelligence officials are reviewing the classifications of the recovered documents and starting to assess the potential risks their mishandling poses for national security, according to Politico. The DOJ is investigating Trump for potential violations of the Presidential Records Act, the Espionage Act, and obstruction of justice.

Read the list of recovered documents here.



A few hours before President Joe Biden delivered his fiery speech calling former President Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” representatives of “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Trump went on a conservative radio show and seemingly did his best to prove Biden’s point.

Speaking to Wendy Bell, an independent talk-radio host, Trump insisted, as usual, that he won the 2020 election—the strategic “Big Lie” his advisors planned even before voting took place. He said that if he runs again and wins the presidency, he would look “very, very favorably” at full pardons, plus a government apology, for the rioters who stormed the US Capitol and attacked police officers on January 6 in their attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

In a new development, Trump added that he was financially supporting some of the people prosecuted for their involvement in the mayhem.  “They were in my office actually two days ago. It’s very much on my mind. It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them,” Trump said. 

Later that night, in a speech reportedly motivated by lingering claims of election fraud ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, Biden condemned the Capitol rioters in scorching, abstract language, calling on listeners to defend democracy against the threat posed by Trump and his millions of supporters. “We can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. They’re incompatible,” Biden said in his prime-time address. “We can’t allow violence to be normalized in this country. It’s wrong. We each have to reject political violence with all the moral clarity and conviction this nation can muster now.”

Ten times during his speech, Biden singled out Trump’s supporters as “MAGA Republicans,” a group he said was “not the majority of Republicans” but a more extreme faction that threatened US democratic traditions. “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” he said. “They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election…They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence.” 

Deadline day is over! Aubameyang returned, Nottingham Forest dug up some grubs, and Louis van Gaal got involved for some reason. And don’t mind Gary, he’ll stop bothering you soon.

Marcus, Luke, Andy and Jim discuss all that, while Brendan Rodgers got the claws out last night. Plus, there’s the small matter of Arsenal’s visit to Old Trafford and a Merseyside derby! Hold on to your sons.

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