How Orlando quietly skewered 90s bigotry

Kate's off to west London for today's episode of The Drop In, where she's shown around QPR's training facilities by a Premier League icon. It's only bloody Les Ferdinand!

(Sir) Les sits down with Kate to discuss a storied career that took him from QPR to Newcastle and many places in between. They talk about how representation needs to be accompanied by meaningful action from footballing authorities, discuss his role as QPR's Director of Football and remind us of the importance of non-league football. We also get the answers we* have always wanted, such as did he really fly himself to Bolton training in a helicopter?

*Pete. Obviously.

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When we asked Terrance Hayes to make a playlist for you, our readers, he wrote us a poem. Of course he did. As Hayes told Hilton Als in his Art of Poetry interview in our new Fall issue, formal constraints offer him “a way to get free.” Many of Hayes’s poems derive their titles from song names and lyrics; others are influenced by the mood of a particular album or track. Music, he tells Als, “changes the air in the room.” This particular playlist-poem has a track for almost any kind of air—or room—you might find yourself in this week. Read and listen to “Occasional Soundtracks” below.

Soundtrack for almost any morning: “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You” by James Ray

Soundtrack for twelve minutes in the bathroom: “Mind Power” by James Brown

Soundtrack for grooming: “Look” by Leikeli47

Jules, Vish, Pete and Andy recap more bonkers Barclays from the weekend, as Leicester valiantly conceded six and Arsenal's U8's beat Brentford. 

We also take stock of Everton's long walk to freedom after their first win of the season, check in with our pal Moysey and hear of potentially football's shortest ever debut. 

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Arsenal make the short trip to Brentford for Sunday’s early kick-off, which is now scheduled to begin at the new time of 12:00 (GMT).

This game was initially meant to be getting going at 14:00, but was moved a little earlier to ease pressure on the police amidst a busy weekend in and around London following the death of HM the Queen.

While the time of the match should have no bearing on the result, the fans will no doubt be affected by the earlier travelling needed, and you can be assured that the team will be thankful of the support.

Today’s clash is unlikely to be a stroll in the park. The Bees have only tasted defeat once so far this season, away to Fulham, and are known to be a strong outfit, especially when playing from home.

At this stadium they have already enjoyed a massive 4-0 win over Manchester United, who beat us into a 3-1 loss in our last showing in the division. They remain unbeaten in their own stadium, and having beaten us 2-0 here last term, we will certainly be weary of our rivals.

Gabriel Jesus has wasted no time in getting his Arsenal career off the ground, and his input clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the fans.

The Brazilian’s signing this summer brought huge excitement to the club, and his pre-season performances only moved to enhance his following. He’s then continued that into the new season with three goals and three assists so far, and the fans have made their feelings known by voting him as their Player of the Month for August.

Introducing your August Player of the Month…

Gabriel Jesus

The first of many, Gabby

Emile Smith Rowe is claimed to be struggling with issues related to growing pains, and not considered an actual injury as he looks to make his Arsenal return.

The midfielder was seen to pull up in the warm up ahead of taking on Manchester United two weeks ago, with him initially named on the bench for that matchup, but reports coming out of the club claim that he isn’t really injured at all.

The Athletic claims that the staff at Arsenal don’t consider his injury as anything substantial, and he is expected to return sooner rather than later in a boost to our squad options.

Mikel Arteta reiterated the importance Smith Rowe has within the squad, despite the fact that he is yet to start a single fixture so far this season when talking in his press conference ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Brentford, and it can’t be denied how important some of his goals were on our previous campaign.

I must admit, ESR’s increasing absences have been something that has been a growing concern, and I hope that this latest information means that we will soon have our academy graduate back fit for an extended time once he gets over his current issues.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, having dominated the past several news cycles by flying Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard without notice—a move his critics depict as a particularly cruel attempt to “own the libs” for political gain—has announced that he’s doubling down.

“We’ve got an infrastructure in place now. There’s going to be a lot more that’s happening,” DeSantis said Friday, according to CNN.

He noted that he plans to use “every penny” of the $12 million that Florida legislators had allocated to relocate migrants. Further flights are “likely,” and he is considering sending migrant buses like those Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have used to shuttle thousands of asylum seekers to DC, New York City, and other urban Democratic strongholds, leaving officials and nonprofit workers scrambling to accommodate the newcomers.

He might even try and collaborate with Abbott, DeSantis said.

He denied reports, however, that some migrants had been misled about where they were headed and/or what awaited them on the other end—reports that have sparked Twitter accusations of “human trafficking.”

Noel Whelan believes Emile Smith Rowe will now struggle to break into the current Arsenal team after suffering another injury.

The midfielder has become injury-prone after becoming a key member of the Gunners squad.

Arsenal bolstered the squad in the last transfer window, and in his absence, the senior team is thriving.

This means anyone that wants to break into it has their work cut out, and Smith Rowe is in that category.

If he stays fit, he can build momentum and push the other players above him on the pecking order for a place on the team.

Granit Xhaka is reborn in this campaign, and he has become one of Arsenal’s key men.

The midfielder has previously played in a more defensive role alongside Thomas Partey.

They help protect the defence while the likes of Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe play further and closer to the opposition goal.

However, in this campaign, Xhaka has now been playing further forward and in a freer role.

This has improved his attacking output as revealed by a new report on Whoscored.