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Norway head coach Stale Solbakken has raised concerns over Martin Odegaard’s fitness, revealing the Arsenal captain has picked up another knock while on international duty.

Odegaard suffered a blow to his ankle in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton last weekend and was substituted in the 73rd minute, with Gabriel Martinelli coming on in his place at the Emirates.

The midfielder seemed to shake off the injury and travelled with the rest of Norway’s squad for the side’s Nations League opener with Kazakhstan, but there are now some doubts surrounding his potential involvement in Almaty.

While Odegaard has been pictured in training with his fellow countrymen, it appears the former Real Madrid man has picked up ‘another bang’, in addition to the knock he sustained versus Brighton.

‘I don’t think that [the Brighton knock] is what it is,’ Norway manager Solbakken told reporters when asked of Odegaard was carrying an injury from the Brighton match.

‘I think it’s another bang, I was about to say.

‘I think it is something other than the bang, so to speak.’

A fresh injury to Odegaard would come as a major concern to Mikel Arteta ahead of Arsenal’s upcoming north London derby with Spurs in the Premier League.

However, there are still ten days to go before Arsenal’s trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Arteta’s men will look to return to winning ways after dropping points against the Seagulls.

The Gunners will no doubt be hoping the Norway national team treat Odegaard’s fitness with care and caution.

Solbakken believes Odegaard has grown both on and off the pitch in the time they have worked together with the national side.

‘He has experienced fantastic development as a player and a person,’ he added.

‘He has developed a lot both on and off the field during the time we have been together.

‘He got the captain’s armband straight away and is a completely different personality both on and off the field now.’

After a number of loan moves, Solbakken feels Odegaard has benefitted massively from finding stability at Arsenal.

‘He’s now got a “permanent club”, you can say, with a contract instead of being a “foreign player”, and it has been very good for his development,’ Solbakken continued.

‘We see that now and he is one of the highest profile players in the Premier League.’

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Ange Postecoglou has given an injury update on Tottenham star Micky van de Ven with the North London Derby against Arsenal on the horizon.

Van de Ven has been a vital player for Spurs since joining the club last summer with Postecoglou’s side often struggling in his absence.

There was naturally great concern then when the centre-back appeared to badly hurt his knee during the 4-0 win over Everton last weekend though he managed to play the full 90 minutes.

And after the manager didn’t mention him in his pre-match press conference, it was assumed he would be fit for Sunday’s clash at Newcastle United.

But the Dutchman didn’t make the trip to St. James Park, with Radu Dragusin taking his place, one of two changes to Tottenham’s starting XI, with Pape Sarr also replacing Brennan Johnson.

It’s a huge blow for Tottenham and even more concerning when they’re next match is against arch-rivals Arsenal on September 15 after the international break.

However, Postecoglou has suggested that Van de Ven will be back in time for that match, saying his injury is ‘nothing serious’.

‘Micky was close in training this week but with the international break he’s not quite 100 per cent,’ the 59-year-old explained ahead of kick-off for the Magpies game.

‘Part of me was keen to give Radu a run, especially at this venue, so yeah we’re going with Radu today.’

Asked if it was disappointing, the manager replied: ‘No, not really. It’s nothing serious.

‘We’ve got a heaped programme straight after the international break so we’re going to need all our back four. So getting Radu a game today I think is a positive thing for us.’

Spurs also have injury issues up front, with centre-forwards Dominic Solanke and Richarlison both out for the Newcastle clash.

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Paul Merson has named new Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham stars as his top three best Premier League transfers of the summer window.

The English transfer window slammed shut last Friday night, with top-flight clubs splashing just over £2billion on new signings.

Once again, Chelsea forked out the most with new manager Enzo Maresca spending over £200million on 11 new players.

Just over a quarter of that went to prizing Pedro Neto away from Wolves, with the highly-rated winger previously a long-time target of rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.

Though Jamie Carragher previously slated the Blues’ transfer policy under Todd Boehly, he conceded that Neto was a good buy and Merson agrees.

‘I like Neto at Chelsea. I think if they can keep him fit and he can keep on getting on that football pitch, he’s unplayable,’ the Arsenal icon said on Twitter.

‘I think he’s top, top draw. The only problem though is if they can keep him fit.’

Neto has already made a positive start to life at Stamford Bridge, grabbing an assist against his former club in Chelsea’s 6-2 win against Molineux in August.

Listing his other two best signings of the summer, Merson includes another former Wolves player: ‘We’re always talking about forwards and attacking players, [but] I’m going to go for Max Kilman at West Ham.

‘I think he’s gone under the radar, he’s a top defender. You need good defenders in your team when you’ve got players bombing forward, that’s the name of the game.

‘For me, Kilman’s a real, real good signing, good centre-half, does what he says on the tin. I think he takes West Ham to the next level.’

Kilman has moved to the London Stadium for £40m, while across London Dominic Solanke joined Spurs from Bournemouth for a club record £65m.

‘I think he’s an outstanding signing for Tottenham, he takes them to the next level,’ Merson added.

‘He scores a lot of goals. I know he missed a few against Leicester City, but kept on getting in the positions and you’ve got to be there to miss them.’

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Arsenal star Declan Rice will miss the north London derby against Tottenham after being sent off against Brighton.

The Gunners midfielder was booked in the first-half of Saturday’s Premier League meeting after a strong challenge on Joel Veltman as he chased down a loose ball on the halfway line.

The England international was given his marching orders five minutes into the second period in a bizarre incident involving the same Brighton player.

Rice was penalised for a foul near the corner flag and attempted to delay the restart, knocking the ball away with the slightest of touches.

Veltman, in attempting to take the free kick quickly, swung a leg through the back of Rice just as he knocked the ball away. The Arsenal star was promptly shown a second yellow by referee Chris Kavanagh, sent off for the first time in his career.

Rice is set to serve a one-match suspension – ruling him out of the trip to Tottenham which immediately follows the international break on 15 September.

The former West Ham star was left bewildered by the decision with his teammates surrounding the match official, believing Veltman should have been the one sent off.

The Gunners had taken the lead in the first-half through a superb finish from Kai Havertz, who chipped the Brighton goalkeeper after excellent work from Bukayo Saka.

Less than 10 minutes after Rice’s red, Joao Pedro equalised for the visitors.

Rice’s absence for the north London derby will be complicated by the absence of new signing Mikel Merino.

The Spain international completed his move to the Emirates in the final week of the summer transfer window but suffered a fractured shoulder in his very first training session with the club.

Merino was pictured with his arm in a sling watching the action on Saturday afternoon.

Son Heung-min’s father has been indicted on charges of abusing children at a training centre funded by the Tottenham Hotspur star.

Son Woong-jung is one of three coaches accused of physically and verbally abusing young players who are part of the Son Football Academy in South Korea.

The 32-year-old Spurs forward’s older brother Heung-yun was another of the coaches ‘summarily indicted’ by prosecutors today, according to the Yonhap news agency.

All three men have been ordered to pay an ‘undisclosed fine’ and must ‘complete a training program designed to prevent further child abuse’.

Woong-jung, 62, is well-known in South Korea for his time as a professional player, also as a striker, as well as his work at the training facility in the city of Chuncheon, around 45 miles north-east of Seoul, the country’s capital.

If he and his fellow defendants choose not to seek a public trial, the order put forward by the prosecutors will be finalised.

It comes after Woong-jung and two of his assistant coaches were reported to police by the parents of one of the players.

They claimed their son had sustained injuries to his thigh area and required two weeks of treatment after he was struck with a corner flag by Heung-yun at a training camp in Okinawa, Japan, in March this year.

The youngster’s parents also allege that Woong-jung hurled profanities at players for making mistakes during those sessions.

Video footage showed Woong-jung kicking a player during a match and other coaches swearing at the children, according to Yonhap’s report.

Woong-jung has denied the charges levelled against him and his staff, claiming that anything done at the academy was only out of ‘love for the players’.

He has previously admitted hitting a student with a corner flag for ‘coming last in a race’, for which he apologised but didn’t agree it amounted to ‘physical abuse’.

‘This incident was not corporal punishment but a mutually agreed event as part of fitness training,’ he said in a statement at the time, claiming the player was supposed to be ‘hit once’ on the thigh.

But the boy’s father told Yonhap: ‘Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes me angry.

‘I decided to report the case to the police because I didn’t want to see another case like this.’

Son’s dad is credited with helping the Tottenham striker develop into one of the best players in world football, having scored 164 goals in 410 appearances for the north London club, as well as netting 48 times in 127 games for the South Korea national side.

The Son Football Academy – which boasts six pitches, a classroom and clubhouse – cost around £11million to construct, according to The Athletic.

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Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that Dominic Solanke will miss Tottenham’s trip to Newcastle this weekend due to an ankle injury.

Solanke made his debut for Spurs in their opening game of the Premier League season – a 1-1 draw at Leicester City – but missed their last outing.

Postecoglou’s side were fine without him, thrashing Everton 4-0 in north London, with Yves Bissouma, Son Heung-min (2) and Cristian Romero on the scoresheet.

He would have liked to have Solanke back in contention regardless, but he will not have that luxury on Sunday, nor will he have Richarlison available.

The Brazilian is going to be out for a number of weeks after suffering an injury in training.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Postecoglou said: ‘Dom is close but we’re going to be a bit cautious with him, we’ve got a big programme post the international break, so he’ll miss out on Sunday.

‘The only other one we got midweek is Richarlison, who unfortunately picked up an injury in training, so he’ll probably miss the next few weeks.’

The Spurs boss added that Rodrigo Bentancur is available again after a head injury picked up against Leicester.

‘Rodrigo is all good, he’s passed all the protocols we need to, and more importantly he feels really good and the medical team are really comfortable with him being available for Sunday,’ said the Australian.

Newcastle have started their Premier League campaign with a win over Southampton and a draw at Bournemouth, while the scraped past Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Tottenham may be the fresher side after having a full week off following the resounding win over the Toffees.

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Manchester United and Tottenham have learned their opponents for the Europa League in this season’s revamped league format.

Like the Champions League, Europe’s second club competition has undergone a drastic overhaul. 36 teams will now each face eight different opponents – four at home and four away – with hope of progressing a more regular knockout format next season.

United will take on Rangers at Old Trafford in one of their eight games over the coming months and face a test on the road to Fenerbahce – where Jose Mourinho will be reunited with his former club.

Erik ten Hag will also take one of his former clubs in FC Twente, having ended his playing career with the Dutch club in 2002.

Tottenham will also play Rangers away from home and also face a trip to Galatasaray. Spurs welcome Serie A giants Roma to north London in one of the biggest ties of the league phase.

Rangers, in addition to ties with Premier League opposition, take on Lyon during their campaign.

No dates have been assigned to games as of yet with fixture confirmation to come this weekend.

What is the new Europa League format?

Like the Champions League, the old group stage phase has been done away with. 36 teams will now compete in a league format with each club facing eight different opponents, with four home fixtures and four away fixtures.

Once the dust settles on that packed schedule – each team will play two more games than they did in its previous guise – the top eight progress directly to the round of 16.

Teams that finished ninth to 24th head into knock-out play-offs with the remaining sides eliminated.

The knockout stage of the competition is a little more familiar, comprising of two-legged ties leading up to the final.

With the Champions League format undergoing major changes this season, the Europa League is also undergoing a makeover for the 2024-25 campaign.

Manchester United and Tottenham will be the Premier League’s representatives in Europe’s second tier competition this season with the competition format undergoing major changes.

The end goal is the same – a major piece of silverware and automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League.

But the road to the final is now rather different.

What is the new Europa League format?

Like the Champions League, the old group stage phase has been done away with. 36 teams will now compete in a league format with each club facing eight different opponents, with four home fixtures and four away fixtures.

Once the dust settles on that packed schedule – each team will play two more games than they did in its previous guise – the top eight progress directly to the round of 16.

Teams that finished ninth to 24th head into knock-out play-offs with the remaining sides eliminated.

The knockout stage of the competition is a little more familiar, comprising of two-legged ties leading up to the final.

When is the Europa League draw?

The Europa League draw takes place on Friday August 30 from Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Proceedings will get underway from 12pm.

How to watch the Europa League draw on TV

The Champions League draw will be available to watch live on TNT Sports 1.

The draw will also be available to stream for free on the TNT Sports YouTube channel, the UEFA website and the BBC Sport website.

Who can Man Utd and Tottenham face in Europa League draw?

United and Tottenham will each be drawn to face two teams from each pot. Clubs from the same nation cannot be drawn together and can only play a maximum of two teams from the same country.

Which teams are in the 2024/25 Europa League? Pots revealed

There is still quite a bit to be resolved tonight before pots are finalised.

Europa League play-offs to be decided tonight

A number of Europa League play-off games are still to be decided on Thursday night.

Neal Maupay has slammed the Everton fans who abused him and his teammates as they boarded a train on the way back to Merseyside following Saturday’s 4-0 defeat against Tottenham.

Sean Dyche’s side have endured a miserable start to the new campaign and are rooted to the bottom of the table having also been hammered 3-0 by Brighton at home on the opening day.

After overcoming a points deduction last term to comfortably stave off relegation, it had been hoped that Everton would resolve their ownership issues over the summer and build on the momentum they built during the second half of last season.

Instead, it has been another tumultuous close season for Dyche, compounded by the sale of key midfielder Amadou Onana to Aston Villa.

Although the club have so far resisted the temptation to cash in on defender Jarrad Branthwaite, who is wanted by Manchester United, Everton’s resolve is likely to be tested during the closing stages of the transfer window.

Chaos and uncertainty off the pitch is now being mirrored on it, highlighted by last weekend’s emphatic defeat against a rampant Spurs.

Anger turned to outright abuse at Euston on Saturday evening with players branded ‘rats’ by supporters who fear another season battling to beat the drop is already inevitable.

Maupay, whose Everton career appeared to be over having been farmed out to Brentford on loan a year ago, was one of those players who bore the brunt of the abuse.

Reacting to a video posted on X, the striker said: ‘Imagine another job where it’s normalised to get abuse like this.

‘Hanging around at a train station to scream at men who are trying their best!’

Back-to-back defeats at the start of the season for the third straight year does mean Everton are already slipping towards full crisis-club mode.

‘It’s a strange situation, here,’ said Dyche. ‘We kind of build something, and then we have to go down the hill and build it again. What about playing when it’s 0-0?

‘We’ve done well when the challenges have come our way. We’ve done great. So I reminded them of that afterwards. Reminded them that this is not our first rodeo.

‘We get written off and then we start changing the storyline again. It’s a never-ending challenge at Everton.’

Tottenham and Newcastle are being linked with a late move for Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen, who is open to leaving the Catalan club.

The 28-year-old has been at the Camp Nou since he joined from Chelsea in the summer of 2022 on a free transfer.

He has been a regular face in the first team, making 75 appearances in all competitions, but he looks unlikely to be in the starting XI under new manager Hansi Flick.

The Denmark international did feature in the opening La Liga game of the season, but it was a late appearance of the substitutes’ bench in the win at Valencia.

Sport report that Tottenham are interested in bringing him to north London, while Mundo Deportivo state that Newcastle are interested in his signature.

The Sport report also states that Manchester United are keen on Christensen, but a move from the Red Devils does not seem likely after they have signed Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt already this summer.

€25m (£21.2m) is reportedly the price Barcelona will accept for the centre-back, with two years still left to run on his contract with the club.

Newcastle’s pursuit of a new centre-back has been well publicised, with four bids made for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi, although none have been successful.

The Magpies may now turn to Christensen as Palace are even less likely to sell Guehi now they have allowed Joachim Anderson to leave for Fulham for £30m.

Spurs already have Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as their first choice centre-backs, with Radu Dragusin next in line, but after that their squad looks quite thin in that key position.

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