Mourinho labels Madrid-Barça comparison ‘unfair’, Kompany to miss ‘weeks’ – as it happened

12.00pm BST

That’s it for this Saturday morning. Not as good as Tiswas but better than Swap Shop. Possibly. I shall now hand you to Rob Smyth for hot MBM action on Aston Villa v Man City. Thanks for reading!

Related: Aston Villa v Manchester City: Premier League – live

11.56am BST

Stephen Pearson emails in. No wonder I’m confused.

“Good morning, David – Re your confusion about the mnemonic for changing clocks, I’d have thought that ‘spring forward’ would be a lot easier to do (and therefore makes much more sense) than ‘spring back’ – but I suppose you might be C.B. Fry.”

Related: Letters: Take a bow, CB Fry

11.54am BST

Ed Aarons has gone solo on this one. Here’s his tribute to Brighton’s Pascal Gross.

Related: Pascal Gross: the obsessive runner keeping Brighton ‘one step ahead’ after fast start

11.49am BST

Jumping to Sunday and a 2pm kick-off featuring two teams desperate for a win. In one of the finest collabs since Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush joined forces for, appropriately enough, “Don’t Give Up”, Ed Aarons and Louise Taylor ask some key questions.

Related: Crystal Palace and Newcastle face off with both in search of season kickstart

Alan’s Kate Bush medley, featuring a falsetto ‘Don’t Give Up’. 11.40am BST

Have you captained Erling Haaland? A couple of stats below on the big Norwegian. I’ve given the armband to Alexander Isak in the belief that Liverpool v Brighton tomorrow will be wide open and the Swede will score a brace in a 3-3 draw.

● Erling Haaland scored in his first Premier League appearance against Aston Villa but the Man City forward has not scored in any of his last four against them. In his career in Europe’s big-five leagues, he’s only gone more games without a goal against Newcastle (ongoing run of six).

● As well as having the most goals (8), Man City’s Erling Haaland has had the most shots (27) and shots on target (13) of any player in the Premier League this season, while he ranks for second for big chances (12) and touches in the opposition box (40)

Updated at 11.50am BST

11.30am BST

Some Opta stats ahead of the game…

● Aston Villa have won four of their last six Premier League games against Manchester City, as many as in their previous 35 against them (D5 L26).

● Man City have lost their last two league games against Aston Villa, last losing three in a row between August 1962 and September 1966.

● Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last three Premier League home games against sides starting the day top of the table, beating Arsenal 1-0 in December 2023 and 2-1 in December 2025, and drawing 2-2 with Liverpool in February 2025.

● Having failed to win any of their first four Premier League games this season (D1 L3), Aston Villa have now won two of their last three (D1). However, the Villans are winless in all three home games so far (D1 L2), last having a longer run at the start of a campaign in 2015-16 (9).

● Manchester City could become the eighth side to win each of their first eight games of an English top-flight season, after Everton in 1894-95 (first 8), Sheffield United in 1903-04 (8), Tottenham Hotspur in 1960-61 (11), Manchester United in 1985-86 (10), Liverpool in 1990-91 (8), Chelsea in 2005-06 (9), and Liverpool in 2019-20 (8)

11.25am BST

Aston Villa v Man City team news Here we go. This is how they line up at Villa Park. A midweek hat-trick in the Champions League isn’t enough to get Phil Foden a start. Villa’s full-back problem appears to be over with both Matty Cash, who scored the winner in this fixture last year, and Ian Maatsen in the starting XI.

Aston Villa: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen, McGinn, Kamara, Gomes, Alysson, Manzambi, Jackson.Subs: Bizot, Mings, Barkley, Buendia, Mbaye, Bogarde, Goretzka, Madjo, Hemmings.

Man City: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernandez, Ndiaye, Cherki, Doku, Haaland.Subs: Rulli, Kovacic, Ait-Nouri, Reis, Bouaddi, O’Reilly, Foden, McAidoo, Lewis.

Updated at 11.31am BST

11.10am BST

Our live blog for Aston Villa v Man City is up and running. Rob Smyth is your man in the hotseat for the 12.30pm BST kick-off. Team news coming up very shortly.

Related: Aston Villa v Manchester City: Premier League – live

11.00am BST

Vincent Kompany will be missing "for weeks" An update on Vincent Kompany. Bayern Munich expect their head coach to miss an extended period as he continues his hospital treatment for a virus after collapsing on the training pitch on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Bayern’s sporting director, Max Eberl, confirmed Kompany was still hospitalised in a “stable” condition.

On the length of Kompany’s absence, Eberl stressed: “We won’t be talking about days, but weeks. We need to all be clear on that.”

Related: Vincent Kompany to miss ‘weeks, not days’ with virus treatment, say Bayern Munich

10.50am BST

Arsenal v Everton is one of the two 3pm games in the Premier League today. Ahead of the match, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has expressed concern over Bukayo Saka’s robustness after a series of injuries to the forward in the past year. The latest is a thigh issue which could keep Saka out for six weeks.

Related: Arteta concerned over Saka’s durability as forward faces possible six-week absence

10.42am BST

Geoff Wignal emails in with some BST/GMT advice.

“Good morning David. Here’s how I remember the change of clock: spring forward, fall back (and if you’re lucky you might win a penalty :)“

Cheers Geoff, although people keep telling me that and yet it doesn’t help as ‘fall forward’ and ‘spring back’ also make sense so I end up thinking which is it?

10.35am BST

In this week’s edition of The Talk, some Premier League managers whose surnames all end in a vowel have been talking. Over to you Roberto De Zerbi, Xabi Alonso, Andoni Iraola, Daniel Farke and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Also some news on how the highest-earning Premier League clubs will pay up to £1.8m towards the cost of the independent football regulator (IFR) from next summer.

Related: Premier League news: Spurs’ nine injuries ‘normal’, says De Zerbi; ‘emotional control’ keeps Blues red-free

10.25am BST

And to complete a hat-trick of posts on el clásico, Graham Ruthven ponders if Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé can lift it into a new era after the fixture’s relevance waned as the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry faded.

Related: Is el clásico still the world’s biggest match? Three questions before Barcelona v Real Madrid

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Barcelona 9 30 27 2 Atletico Madrid 9 11 22 3 Real Madrid 9 14 21 4 Real Betis 9 2 19 5 Real Sociedad 9 0 16 6 Sevilla 9 -2 14 7 Alaves 10 3 12 8 Celta Vigo 9 3 11 9 Deportivo A Coruna 9 1 11 10 Osasuna 9 -8 11 11 Levante 9 -2 10 12 Villarreal 9 0 9 13 Athletic Bilbao 8 -1 9 14 Rayo Vallecano 8 -5 9 15 Getafe 9 -6 9 16 Espanyol 9 -1 8 17 Racing Santander 9 -12 8 18 Elche 9 -6 7 19 Valencia 9 -9 6 20 Malaga 10 -12 5 10.16am BST

Mourinho labels Madrid-Barça comparisons 'unfair' Real Madrid coach José Mourinho is up to his old mind game tricks ahead of Sunday’s clash with Barcelona. Can poor little Madrid pull off a shock?

“I think the people that thought a week ago Barca would thrash us will keep thinking the same thing. I don’t think just for the Paris game, or Madrid’s [4-1 win against] Leipzig, they will change their way of thinking,” said Mourinho, keen to point out he’s been in charge for only a few months whereas that Hansi Flick fella has been at Barca since 2024.

“People look at us like a finished product, but finished products in football are difficult because they are never finished... but they look at us like we’re in an advanced phase of the process,” continued Mourinho, really warming to the task now.

“We’ve been working for three months, out of that you can take pre-season when the players were arriving [back from the World Cup], and the recent international break, then we’ve been together a month-and-a-half, two months...

“This is the start of a product, we’re in an initial phase where the coach is learning, analysing, bit by bit defining paths, the players are learning about the coach... comparing a team in this state [to more established sides], I think is unfair.”

But now some defiance when asked about Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal. The 19-year-old Spain international is in sublime form and hopes to win the Ballon d’Or award on Monday.

“He’s a great player and great players you respect,” added Mourinho. One thing is respecting, another thing is to change plans, structures, forgetting your own essence. That we will not do, neither for him or any other player of great quality we face.”

Updated at 10.28am BST

10.04am BST

Surely the biggest game of the weekend is el clásico where José Mourinho’s presence in the Real Madrid dugout elevates it further. Sid Lowe sets the scene for Sunday’s showdown against Barcelona at the Camp Nou (8pm KO GMT).

Related: Older, calmer, but still playing the hits: Mourinho and Madrid primed for clásico

9.54am BST

And more for the grey matter. Plenty of football questions in our proper, official quiz which has ‘reveal’ buttons and all sorts.

Related: Sports quiz of the week: eagles, ultra-endurance feats and assist records

9.45am BST

Let’s go into quiz mode briefly. Without looking, can you name the eight players who have scored four or more Premier League goals this season? Click below and all will be revealed. Six or seven out of eight would be a fine score.

Related: Premier League top scorers 2026-27: who is leading race for the golden boot?

9.35am BST

Just under three hours to go before Villa Park witnesses people defiantly waving inflatable bananas while being called cheats. Taha Hashim looks at Aston Villa v Man City in the second entry of this week’s, count ‘em, ‘10 Things’.

“It was five months ago but it feels a lot longer. When these two sides met in May to finish the season, the contest doubled as Pep Guardiola’s leaving party after 10 years in the job and twice as many trophies, an era now laden with asterisks. It must be surreal for Aston Villa supporters, too. Their 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium, inspired by two goals from Ollie Watkins to complete a league double over City, came only four days after their Europa League triumph in Istanbul, where Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendía were the scorers. Buendía is the only one left in claret and blue as Unai Emery builds a new side.”

Related: Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

9.25am BST

Reader Bruce Crawford has digested Jamie Jackson’s article rather swiftly and he offers a radical fix.

Jamie Jackson’s latest piece listing supposed solutions for MUFC fails to mention the only one that will really work long term.

Relegation, preferably “doing a Leicester”, in order to finally get rid of the Glazers. As long as they are there, nothing will meaningfully change. Even if we never got back to being “elite”, at least I might be able to love my club once again.

9.18am BST

Talking of under-fire managers, Michael Carrick talked a good game yesterday but what can he actually do to turn around Manchester United’s fortunes? Jamie Jackson – a crime writer on the side if you didn’t know - turns detective.

Related: Change captain? Play the kids? How to solve the problems at Manchester United

9.08am BST

It’s a big day in the WSL, with a north London derby no less. All times (for one more day only) BST:

12.45 Tottenham v Arsenal17.15 Brighton v West Ham

Lots of pressure on Arsenal and their under-fire boss Renée Slegers. Tom Garry sets the scene.

“It says much about Arsenal’s predicament that the team who have conceded 12 goals in two games are not the side whose head coach is under most pressure before a north London derby.”

Related: Slegers and misfiring Arsenal badly need a result in WSL north London derby

8.57am BST

Of those other results from Friday, a special mention for Borussia Mönchengladbach. They’d lost their first six Bundesliga games going into last night’s game at Stuttgart but came away with all three points. They’re still bottom but well done to the beaten 1977 European Cup finalists, who were namechecked here (1min 56).

Supercalifragilisticborussiamönchengladbach Die Tabelle….

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Bayern Munich 6 17 14 2 Borussia Dortmund 6 7 14 3 Freiburg 6 9 13 4 Bayer Leverkusen 6 7 13 5 Mainz 6 4 10 6 Elversberg 6 1 10 7 RB Leipzig 6 5 9 8 Werder Bremen 6 0 9 9 Hamburg 6 -9 9 10 Augsburg 6 4 8 11 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 -6 8 12 Cologne 6 -3 7 13 Hoffenheim 6 -3 6 14 Stuttgart 7 -3 6 15 Schalke 04 6 -3 5 16 Paderborn 6 -4 5 17 Union Berlin 6 -12 5 18 Borussia M'gladbach 7 -11 3 Updated at 8.58am BST

8.47am BST

Results from last night. Every team scored, with Middlesbrough winning the goal count after blasting five at Bolton. That victory put them top of the Championship.

Premier League: Ipswich 1-1 Nottingham ForestBundesliga: Stuttgart 2-3 M’gladbachSerie A: Torino 3-2 MonzaLa Liga: Alaves 1-1 MalagaLigue 1: Brest 1-2 NiceChampionship: Bolton 1-5 Middlesbrough

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Middlesbrough 12 10 25 2 Swansea 11 8 23 3 West Ham 11 18 22 4 Birmingham 11 9 20 5 West Brom 11 3 20 6 Stoke 11 2 19 7 Wolverhampton 11 3 18 8 Southampton 11 11 17 9 QPR 11 3 17 10 Blackburn 11 1 15 11 Sheff Utd 11 1 15 12 Millwall 11 0 15 13 Portsmouth 11 0 15 14 Wrexham 11 -1 14 15 Bristol City 11 -3 14 16 Charlton 11 -5 14 17 Bolton 12 -7 14 18 Lincoln City 11 -10 12 19 Cardiff 11 1 11 20 Watford 11 -9 11 21 Norwich 11 -4 9 22 Burnley 11 -5 8 23 Derby 11 -11 6 24 Preston North End 11 -15 4 8.38am BST

Last season, after a slow and creaky start, Aston Villa went into their home fixture with Manchester City on the back of five wins from their last six games in all competitions. They won the game 1-0 thanks to an early strike from Matty Cash.

This season, after another slow and creaky start, Villa also host City on the back of five wins from six. Will history repeat? Or will 100% City continue their bid to reach the maximium 114 points, meaning they’d still finish with 64 (and a likely Champions League spot) even if docked 50 should the guilty verdict hold up?

Check out the team news and predicted starting XIs for all the weekend top-flight matches.

Related: Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend action

8.28am BST

Arsenal v Everton could be decent but it’s those two bookend top-flight fixtures which really take the eye. Today’s Premier League offerings are below – all times BST.

12.30 Aston Villa v Man City

15.00 Arsenal v Everton

15.00 Coventry v Fulham

17.30 Chelsea v Tottenham

And don’t forget the clocks go back tonight. Or is it forward? Back I think. Anyway, it’s goodbye to BST and hello to GMT. I’ll be honest, the latter is my least favourite of the UK time zones but it is what it is.

8.19am BST

Ipswich are up to ninth after that draw with Forest. The visitors have nudged up to 16th but, once more, should really have come away with more than a point.

Fun Ipswich fact: they’ve now won as many home points (7) as they managed in the entirety of their previous Premier League campaign in 2024/25.

Not fun Forest fact: No team have underperformed their xG more than Forest this season – just six goals from 13.4 created.

Here’s Michael Fish’s John Brewin’s report from a windy Portman Road.

“Amid a Suffolk squall, winds whipping, a constant drum of rain, an encounter full of half-chances, mistakes, the obligatory refereeing controversy and searching questions…”

Related: Enciso rescues point in storm for Ipswich to deny Nottingham Forest

8.00am BST

Preamble Good morning! This Premier League weekend is already up and running after a 1-1 draw between Ipswich and Nottingham Forest at Portman Road last night. We’ll have reaction to that and also look ahead to today’s four top-flight matches. There are some crackers and, if it’s too windy outside, the sofa is your friend today as you enhance your televisual experience by following our various blogs and minute-by-minute offerings. You’ve made a great start by already tuning into this one so let’s mildly entertain you for the next few hours.

Updated at 8.11am BST