Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

Julen Lopetegui will take charge of West Ham for their crucial Premier League game with Wolves on Monday.

More to follow.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was asked about team news at his press conference. He said there are no new injury concerns with Kaoru Mitoma, Tariq Lamptey and Yasin Ayari available for tonight's game. Right-back Joel Veltman will train before a decision is made on him.

Jack Hinshelwood and Ferdi Kadioglu remain sidelined with their respective injuries.

There "is a possibility" that captain Lewis Dunk will return to the starting line-up after recovering from his calf problem.

And on 2inger Solly March: "He said to me yesterday, 'Gaffer I’m ready'. I think it’s important that we calm him down and give him the time to be prepared for a Premier League game after all this time. We don’t want to make two steps at one time."

Image source, Getty Images

Argus journalist Brian Owen believes Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba has the potential to play at the highest level but needs to find consistency.

"I love what he does," Owen told BBC Radio Sussex's Albion Unlimited podcast.

"He combines some of the best of players like Caicedo and Bissouma who we have seen in previous years.

"Because his highest level is so high you can't necessarily have that all the time - so sometimes the level will dip a bit.

"There was a sort of Baleba-sized hole at times in that second half [against Southampton] but I remember going up to Fulham last season and I think Van Hecke was in midfield so I hope we're better prepared this time."

Former striker Warren Aspinall believes"Baleba has to go straight back in" to the starting line-up when Brighton go to Fulham on Thursday.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

We will be previewing the two games that will be played this evening in the Premier League next.

We also hope to hear from Nottingham Forest's Nuno Espirito Santo imminently. Plus any news lines that drop.

IFAB are also pressing ahead with plans to introduce an eight-second referee countdown rule to force goalkeepers to release the ball.

Trials in Premier League 2 and in Malta have proved effective after it was accepted goalkeepers and referees were ignoring the current six-second rule, which is supposed to result in an indirect free-kick being awarded.

The new version involves the following:

• A referee raises their hand in the air after three seconds
• A countdown then begins for the final five seconds, by which time the ball must be released

Officials have noted fans in Malta have joined in with the count, putting the goalkeepers under more pressure.

A formal rule change is likely by the 2026-27 season

Image source, Getty Images

Football’s law-makers are looking at ways to tweak the current offside law to give an advantage back to the attacking team.

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, now chief of global football development at world governing body Fifa, had considered a ‘daylight’ rule, where an attacking player would be regarded as onside if any part of his body overlapped a defender.

Wenger is now cautioning against that because the advantage would be too great.

However, the International Football Association Board, recognises the growing influence of VAR has taken out the ‘margin of error’.

There are no specific proposals as yet but the issue is being discussed at high levels of the game.

IFAB technical director David Elleray said: "We all agree that it would be nice if goals weren't necessarily chalked off for a toenail or a nose. It is part of an early debate but we are seeing if there are ways in which we could deal with the challenges.”

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

Football's rule makers are trying to work out what to do about the growing instances of goalkeepers going down for treatment to trigger tactical time outs.

At moments of stress, such as after red cards, the keeper going down is the trigger for the remaining outfield players to run to the side line to get some advice from their manager.

It causes consternation amongst fans, although solutions are not easy.

“We're monitoring that,” said International Football Association Board chief executive David Elleray. “It's not easy to deal with because the goalkeeper has a right to be treated.

“We noticed it developed a couple of years ago and sometimes it's used very much as a tactic when a player gets sent off. It’s something that's on our radar.”

Brentford

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on his side's expectations: "We've got big expectations for ourselves and big beliefs, that's why it hurts when we lose a game. We thought we could do something last night, unfortunately we couldn't. We've showed, many times, we can play against any team in this division and go toe to toe. We didn't do that yesterday."

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been speaking at his media conference today about Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Aston Villa: "Looking back at the game, on the way home and this morning, more positive, I think we played 20 good solid minutes, then we lose the game in 40 minutes. In many ways, top action from them, they created three goals where yes there are things we can do better. We're talking the smallest of details we could have done differently. That was not enough, we lost the game. In Premier League, you need to play 90 good minutes but we didn't."

Fifa is currently facing legal action, external from player unions and leagues about the scheduling of the tournament.

Global players’ union Fifpro and the top European Leagues say the international football calendar is "oversaturated" and "risks player safety and wellbeing".

Several players - including Liverpool's Alisson Becker and Manchester City's Rodri - have raised concerns about player wellbeing amid an increasingly jam-packed football calendar.

There are just five weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League match of the 2025-2026 season, which is scheduled for 16 August.

The Club World Cup will also partially overlap with Women's Euro 2025, which runs from 2-27 July.

Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense

Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, Salzburg

Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan, Al Ahly, Wydad, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo

Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami

The format will work like the 2022 World Cup - the 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four, with the top two in each group qualifying for the knock-outs.

One spot in the tournament is reserved for a team from the host nation.

Fifa opted to award that place to Inter Miami for winning the 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield, the trophy given out to the team which has the best regular-season record. The Floridians then lost in the MLS play-offs, meaning they are not this season's champions.

The decision to invite Inter Miami to the Club World Cup before the MLS campaign was concluded has been interpreted by some as an attempt on Fifa's part to ensure Lionel Messi, who joined the team in 2023, will play in a tournament that has attracted little public enthusiasm so far.

Image source, Getty Images

Teams from each of the six international football confederations will be at the Club World Cup: Asia (AFC), Africa (Caf), North and Central America (Concacaf), South America (Conmebol), Oceania (OFC) and Europe (Uefa).

There are 12 places available for European clubs - the highest quota of the confederations. These places are decided by clubs' Champions League performances over the past four seasons.

Other European teams have qualified through a Uefa ranking system determined by clubs' performances over the four seasons.

There are four club places each for Asia, Africa and also the North and Central America federation.

Six places are awarded to South American clubs, and one to Oceania.

The draw for the revamped Club World Cup will take place at 18:00 GMT on Thursday, 5 December.

You can follow live text updates of the draw on the BBC Sport website and app.

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford

Brentford CEO Jon Varney spoke about rainbow armbands on 5 Live Breakfast: "It's not a situation that has been presented to us before [players not wearing rainbow armbands]. We're talking about hypotheticals. What I can say is that these matters are really personal to each individual and therefore it is difficult to make any sweeping statements.

"At Brentford, we want everybody to feel at home, we want to open our doors and make our fans feel really welcome, regardless of their faith or their background. It's something that we've considered in the past. I think it's really important that we support the policies and the activities that the Premier League are doing and they are focusing on groups of people that previously haven't felt welcomed at football matches. I think we are in a brilliant situation and have a fantastic platform to promote more diversity at football grounds and we would continue to support that."

Image source, Getty Images

BBC 5 Live Breakfast

More from Premier League Player Care Officer Hugo Scheckter on rainbow armbands: "I think it is always a challenge in any professional team schedule to find time for anything. You've got training, you've got recovery, you've got analysis meetings and then you've got education and discussion sessions as well as everything else so it's always hard to find time but I think for me, it's really important to have that pro-active approach where you are explaining what you are going to do in advance and then seeking feedback at that point in planning stages and really getting them to buy into it.

"Because so many times a t-shirt is thrown on them or they're told to hold something up and take a photo. But if you really want change, having people who are really championing the cause, who really believe in something, is far more powerful than having one or two people, who for any reason, don't want to support it, really undermining the conversation and taking all the bandwidth."

BBC 5 Live Breakfast

Premier League Player Care Officer Hugo Scheckter on rainbow armbands: "There's a lot of focus on the negativity, rather than the positivity which is 18 clubs doing it impeccably. I think, for me, this comes down to a lack of conversation with the athletes directly, in terms of explaining what the campaign is about, understanding what their reaction is going to be before it, answering any questions, really getting them engaged because I think there is a real tendency to say we are doing this and that's that.

"I've seen that in the past where people don't understand it, players don't understand it and then they reject it, not because they don't agree with it, but because they don't really understand it."

Image source, Getty Images