================

IN ENGLAND
================

Arsenal star Eberechi Eze has scored against his former club as the team beat Crystal Palace one-nil to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to four points.

Eze joined the Gunners in a deal worth sixty-seven million pounds in the summer and his winner came from another trademark Arsenal set-piece.

Declan Rice curled a free-kick into the area which was knocked down by centre-back Gabriel, and Eze acrobatically fired the ball into the corner of the net.

The win means Arsenal are now unbeaten in ten matches in all competitions.
================

Manager Sean Dyche’s first Premier League game in charge of Nottingham Forest ended in defeat as Bournemouth moved up to second in the Premier League with a two-nil thoroughly deserved victory.

Marcus Tavernier and Eli Junior Kroupi scored a goal each for Bournemouth.

The win moves Andoni Iraola’s team four points behind leaders Arsenal, while Forest remain in the relegation zone after suffering their sixth league defeat of the campaign.
================

Tottenham captain Micky van de Ven scored twice as the team extended their unbeaten run on the road in the Premier League and handed Everton their first defeat at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The Toffees were unbeaten in their five previous fixtures at their new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock, having left Goodison Park behind after one hundred and thirty-three years at the end of last season.

Van de Ven pounced twice from corners in the first half to put their impressive record at risk, and they were unable to turn it around before Pape Matar Sarr assisted by Richarlison to score the third goal for Tottenham.

The win moves Thomas Frank’s side up to third in the Premier League, five points off north London rivals and leaders Arsenal, while
Everton remain 14th and sit six points clear of the relegation zone.
================

Manager Unai Emery celebrated three years as Aston Villa manager with a hard-fought one-nil victory to end off-colour Manchester City’s nine-game unbeaten run.

Villa are unrecognisable since the Spaniard took over from Steven Gerrard in 2022 and, after a sticky start this season and shock defeat by Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League, the battling victory over City was their fourth on the bounce in the league.

The hosts netted the winner on nineteen minutes courtesy of Matty Cash’s precise left-foot finish from the edge of the box after a corner, but the visitors were unhappy with the set-piece being awarded, feeling Lucas Digne had fouled Matheus Nunes in the build-up.
================

Burnley star Lyle Foster’s 95th-minute winner earned the team their first away victory of the season to leave Wolves winless and rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

Foster struck late just as it looked like Wolves had earned a point after fighting back from two-nil down.

Zian Flemming scored a brace for Burnley, while Wolves’ two goals were scored by Jorgen Strand Larsen and Marshall Munetsi.
================

League One club Reading have sacked manager Noel Hunt.

The Royals are 19th in the table, with just three wins from fourteen games this season, and are just two points above the relegation zone following Saturday’s home draw with Doncaster Rovers.

The 42-year-old was appointed in December 2024 after Ruben Selles left for Hull.
================
IN NIGERIA
================

Flamingos will face Italy in the round of sixteen at the Under-seventeen FIFA women’s World Cup.

The Flamingos booked their place after thrashing Samoa four-nil in their final Group D game.

The big win was enough to see them finish as one of the best third-placed teams.

They will now take on Italy on Tuesday, 28th October in the first knockout round.

To reach the round of sixteen, Italy topped Group A after winning all their three games.
===============

Wikki Tourists put an end to Shooting Stars’ five-game unbeaten streak, handing the Oluyole Warriors a two-nil defeat in Bauchi.

Abdullahi Usman and Jonathan Mairiga scored a goal each for Wikki Tourists.

Plateau United defeated Enyimba two-one, Rangers and Kwara United battled to a thrilling goalless draw in Enugu, while Warri Wolves defeated Bayelsa United two-nil, and Abia Warriors defeated Barau FC two-nil.

Kun Khalifat and Bendel Insurance played on-all draw.
================

Remo Stars has crashed out of the CAF Champions League after a two-nil defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.

The Nigeria Premier Football League, champions lost the second preliminary round tie seven-one on aggregate.

Nuno Santos and Peter Shalulile scored a goal each for Mamelodi Sundowns.

Sundowns sealed a place in the money spinning group stage of the competition for the 11th consecutive season.

Nigeria’s other representative in the competition, Rivers United booked a place in the group stage after a three-two aggregate win over Black Bulls of Mozambique.
================

Galatasaray rallied to beat Göztepe three-one in their Turkish Super Lig clash at the RAMS Park with the Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen continuing his impressive scoring form.

The visitors stunned the home fans when they took the lead through Efkan Bekiroglu in the sixth minute.

Osimhen led the comeback equalising for the home team twelve minutes later.

It was the powerful striker’s third league of the campaign for Okan Buruk’s side and six in nine matches in all competitions so far this season.
================

Super Eagle star, Alex Iwobi has expressed disappointment with Fulham’s two-one defeat to Newcastle United.

Iwobi declared that it was important for Marco Silva’s side to move from the defeat.
================
Udinese head coach, Kosta Runjaic has thumbed up Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye’s performance in the club’s win over Leece.

The Zebras defeated Leece three-two in a thrilling Serie A clash at the Blue Energy Stadium.

Despite conceding twice in the game, Runjaic has kinds for the Nigeria international.

It was Okoye’s second appearance since his return from suspension.
================

OTHER LEAGUES
================

Real Madrid star, Jude Bellingham has scored and assisted for the first time in La Liga this season as Real Madrid overcame Barcelona two-one in a breathless and fiery Clasico at the Bernabeu.

The England midfielder produced a defence-splitting through ball to tee up Kylian Mbappe for the 22nd-minute opener, before his 43rd-minute tap-in restored his side’s lead, five minutes after Fermin Lopez had levelled.

It was Bellingham’s fourth goal in five appearances in the clash between the league’s top two sides, with Xabi Alonso’s men moving five points clear of Barcelona as the game ended with clashes on the touchline.
================

Rampant Hearts has powered eight points clear of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership to bolster their early-season title credentials and deepen the malaise around Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Alexandros Kyziridis’ fine strike and Lawrence Shankland’s penalty gave Derek McInnes’ side a three-one lead that the reigning champions could not recover from.

Dane Murray scored an own goal for Hearts, while Celtic’s only goal was scored by Callum McGregor.
================

Bayern Munich chief Max Eberl believes Nicolas Jackson has made great impact at the club.

While he has two goals in the Champions League, Jackson is yet to find the back of the net in the Bundesliga.

After victory at Borussia Monchengladbach, where Jackson started before being taken off on 59 minutes, Eberl said the space was extremely tight for the strikers.
================
OTHER SPORTS
================

British boxer, Fabio Wardley has declared that he is battle ready to face Oleksandr Usyk after overcoming Joseph Parker.

The 30 year old was behind on two of the three scorecards and drawing on the third when, in the 11th round at London’s O2 Arena, he forced the intervention of the referee Howard Foster and, in so doing, moved into position to challenge for the undisputed heavyweight title in 2026.

Victory over Parker gave him victory not only as the underdog but over a former world champion who was considered the favourite.

Reacting after the fight, Wardley said he was not afriad to face Usyk for the heavyweight title bout.
================

In Tennis, Jannik Sinner fought back from a set down to claim his fourth title of the season with victory over Alexander Zverev in the Vienna Open final.

The top seed, who is currently on a 21 match-winning streak on indoor hard courts, battled through early hamstring cramp to seal the 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win in just under two and a half hours.

It marks Sinner’s second title of the month, having won the China Open at the start of October, while he also added to his Grand Slam haul with victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon earlier in the year.

Sunday’s final was the pair’s first meeting since Sinner beat Zverev in straight sets in the Melbourne final back in January.

Earlier, Great Britain’s Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool secured their seventh Tour-level title of the season with a 6-1, 7-6, win over Austria’s Lucas Miedler and Portugal’s Francisco Cabral.
================

Also, Welsh teenager Mimi Xu secured the biggest victory of her career so far by beating Mika Stojsavljevic to win the Lexus Wrexham Open.

Xu defeated her fellow British teenager and former Junior Billie Jean King Cup team-mate 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

Later in the day Xu teamed up with Ella McDonald to win the doubles title.

The British pair beat fellow British player Amarni Banks and Switzerland’s Valentina Ryser to win the doubles final 6-2, 6-4.
================

In Cricket, Rain prevented a result between Bangladesh and co-hosts India in the final group stage game of the Women’s World Cup as persistent rain had the final say in Navi Mumbai.

Chasing an adjusted target of 126 under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after the game was reduced to 27 overs per side, India were 57-0 when the match officials were forced to call off the dead rubber.

Smriti Mandhana, the tournament’s highest run scorer, hit an unbeaten 34 to keep her purple patch going but an injury to her opening partner Pratika Rawal while fielding will be a major cause of concern for India.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s side, already assured of their semi-final place, will now face defending champions Australia in the last four at the same venue on Thursday as they look to secure their maiden title.
================

In Rugby, Uncapped Saracens wing Noah Caluori is among the players named in Steve Borthwick’s thirty-six-man England squad for the autumn internationals.

Caluori was invited to train with England last week after scoring five tries on his full Premiership debut in Saracens’ win over Sale, but now makes the full international squad.

Sale pair Tom Curry and Raffi Quirke are also back in the squad after injury issues but Leicester forward Emeka Ilione misses out with a shoulder problem.

England begin their autumn internationals against Australia at Twickenham on next Saturday.
================

In Golf, England’s Laurie Canter sank a one hundred-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole as he finished in a tie for second at the Genesis Championship in South Korea.

The 35-year-old’s incredible final putt helped him finish alongside Spain’s Nacho Elvira on eight under in Cheonan, three shots behind home winner Jung-Hwan Lee.

Patrick Fishburn’s 106-foot putt at the Texas Open in April is the longest in a major professional tournament in 2025.
================
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
You beat me a lot. More than I managed to beat you.
You challenged me in ways no one else could.
Words from Roger Federer on the retiring Rafael  Nadal.