Image source, Getty Images

Former Premier League midfielder and ex-Liverpool youth player Craig Hignett, speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside about a superb start to the season made by Reds winger Luis Diaz:

"He's been incredible. It's not just the goals he's scored, but what he's creating for the team and his impact in games.

"For me, he's been Liverpool's standout player at the start of the season. He's been so electric.

"Not only that, his forward play has been outstanding but the other side of it as well; getting back, tracking runners, doing the horrible stuff forwards don't want to do - he does it and he's a willing runner to do it.

"When you had Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino up front, the two wide players scored more goals than the central player. It's getting a bit like that with Diaz and Salah.

"If Diaz gets to 20 goals this season, that would be phenomenal. And he's got a real chance. He looks sharper - I know he had lots of problems last season that were well-documented and maybe that did take a toll on him - but he's come back and looks absolutely razor sharp."

Want more Liverpool news? Have a read of the club page.

Mandeep Sanghera
BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Choices, choices, choices.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot is in the enviable position of having a squad of players who are starting to provide him with some dilemmas.

A much-changed Reds beat West Ham 5-1 in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday when a number of players staked a claim for more game time.

Cody Gakpo scored a couple against the Hammers and, while Luis Diaz should come back for the top flight trip to Wolves on Saturday, the Dutchman is certainly pushing team-mate to keep performing.

Diogo Jota also scored a couple against West Ham and, after Darwin Nunez started up front in the league win over Bournemouth last Saturday, the Portugal international might get the nod to start at his former club.

Virgil van Dijk, Trent-Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai and Diaz did not play any part against West Ham so they are expected to return at Molineux.

Goalkeeper Alisson has missed the past couple of games with a muscle issue and continues to be a doubt.

Slot is due to speak to the media at 11:00 BST and we will get his thoughts on team selection, injuries and more when he does.

Adam

BBC Sport's Daniel Austin has written a piece on how many 'freebie' tickets MPs have received this year. He writes in his report:

• Prime Minister and Arsenal fan Sir Keir Starmer received the most hospitality tickets of any MP for matches in the Premier League, Championship and Champions League totalling just under £13,000 - donated to him by the Premier League and seven English clubs.
• The Premier League also gifted Starmer an additional £4,000 worth of hospitality tickets for a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium in June.
• In this eight-month period, the Premier League gave out free tickets valued at £40,994 to MPs from several political parties.

Read the full piece here.

Laura Scott
BBC sports news correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Lawyers representing some of Mohamed Al Fayed's accusers say they have received "several enquiries" relating to Fulham Football Club during the late billionaire's 16 years of ownership.

Al Fayed was accused by more than 20 female ex-employees of sexual assault or rape in a BBC documentary which aired last week.

The Harrods boss, who died last year aged 94, was chairman of Fulham between 1997 and 2013, and a spokesman for the group of barristers, Justice for Harrods Survivors, said more individuals have now come forward.

In a news conference last week, the group said he was a "monster" who threatened his sexual abuse victims to stay silent.

Fulham say the club "remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected by the reports concerning Mr Al Fayed".

A spokesperson for the Football Association added that they are "aware of the reports and will remain in contact with Fulham FC to monitor the matter".

Read the full piece.

An amused Arsenal fan

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Immediately after Tottenham's 3-0 win over Azerbaijani side Qarabag in the Europa League, Ange Postecoglou played down injury concerns around Son Heung-min without ruling them out.

The Spurs captain, 32, needed treatment on the pitch before being substituted in the 71st minute, shortly after his shot was turned in by Dominic Solanke to seal victory.

He then walked off the pitch gingerly before being replaced by Timo Werner and, when asked by BBC Sport yesterday, Postecoglou said: "I haven't spoke to him. He said he felt a bit tired, but I haven't spoken to him or the medical team yet."

Archie Gray, 18, also appeared to pick up a knock to his ankle in the final moments of the match but his manager again played down concerns after a run in the final minutes to cut out a Qarabag chance.

"He didn't stop running though so can't be that bad," he added.

Postecoglou was more assertive when denying goalscorer Brennan Johnson had picked up any kind of injury. He will speak again to the media on Friday at 1pm to preview the upcoming match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Newcastle United

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on determination from the players to put the Fulham defeat behind them:

"I sense an acknowledgement from everybody, me included. Last week wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t a good reflection on our style, our way of playing.

"So, I think you have games like that, the most important thing is that they are at an absolute minimum, you learn from it and you come back and show how good you are."

Neil in Notts

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on having a good record against Manchester City in the past:

"I think we’ve had some really good games against them at home, maybe not so much away. Reflecting on those games, there were nearly moments for us, especially in the last home game.

"We felt we did a lot right but we didn’t get the result and that’s probably testament to them and their quality and their attitude, the way that they fought till the end and scored a goal in the dying seconds.

"It shows that against that type of quality opposition you have to be good for the whole 95 minutes, you can’t switch off for a second. Defensively we are going to have to be very good in this game."

Gary

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on bad results and criticism from fans. Does that put extra pressure on him to deliver a good performance this weekend:

"I think we always need to deliver, I think there’s always that pressure but yes. I think we have a responsibility to show our true selves, turn up and give our best.

"I think that feeling is always there from and from everybody. The players are very honest with themselves as well, I think they know that last week wasn’t good enough.

"That internal refection can be really healthy, sometimes a performance like that can be healthy for the long terms. If you use it in the right way and that’s what we are trying to do."

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on the loss to Fulham last weekend

"It was one of those games where we analysed a lot, took away a lot from it to try and implement into our game. It was one of those games where you review and you think, we didn’t like ourselves.

"So, some honest conversations this week and hopefully we will see a response."

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on the EFL Cup game against Wimbledon being rescheduled due to pitch damage caused by bad weather:

"It gave us the opportunity to train, two really good days and an opportunity to deal with the issues from the Fulham game. I’m pleased with the work we have done and we are looking for a better performance."

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on team news:

"I don’t think we have anyone coming back, whose been out. Matt Target has had a flare up of eczema, so he’s been dealing with that over the past few weeks and its been a bad episode for him. We are hoping to have him back training today but he wont be involved in the game.

"In terms of long term injuries, Alex {Isak] is still nursing that toe problem."

Football analyst Statman Dave says the performances of Newcastle United have not been as good as their results suggest in the early stages of the Premier League season.

The Magpies lost their unbeaten start to the league campaign following a 3-1 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend.

"One of the big concerns with Newcastle is the amount of shots they are conceding," Statman Dave told the Planet Premier League podcast.

"Nick Pope is a wonderful goalkeeper and having him back this season has stopped the slide from last season but when you are conceding 61 shots in five games from inside of the penalty area, you've got a bit of a problem.

"I think on top of that, when you look at the Newcastle squad, it is still paper thin. They have a great starting XI but after that?

"We've already seen with the likes of Kieran Trippier not being at the top level in terms of creativity. He's been massively important over the past few seasons in terms of creating chances but nobody has stepped up from a set-piece perspective.

"There are a few issues for Newcastle at the moment and behind the scenes there are obviously question marks as well."

Listen to Planet Premier League

Manchester City have scored in each of their past 31 Premier League games against Newcastle, the longest scoring streak one team has against another in the competition’s history.

Want more Newcastle news? Have a read of the club page.

Ian in Devon

Manager Jonas Eidevall said Arsenal's season "starts now" after they secured qualification for the Women's Champions League group stage.

Arsenal won the Women's Champions League in 2006-07.

They remain the only English side to have lifted the trophy.

Recently, they have reached the quarter-final stages in 2020 and 2022, semi-final in 2023.

In the 2023-24 season, Arsenal only reached round one, losing to Paris FC.

Click here to read the match report

Image source, Getty Images

Matt, West Kensington

That's rather provocative, Matt...