Tottenham can go all the way in the Premier League title race after making a brilliant start to life under Ange Postecoglou, says former Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen.

Postecoglou has made the best-ever start by a Premier League manager across their first 10 games in charge, leading Spurs to eight wins and two draws while implementing a vibrant brand of possession-based football.

The former Celtic boss could become just the third manager to go unbeaten through his first 11 games in the competition when Spurs host London rivals Chelsea on Monday. 

Frank Clark (with Nottingham Forest in 1994) and Maurizio Sarri (with Chelsea in 2018) are the only men to previously achieve that feat, with the latter avoiding defeat in his first 12 matches.

With new arrivals including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario requiring no bedding-in period, Tottenham have made their best start to a top-flight season since 1960-61.

On that occasion, they won their first 10 games in the old First Division before capturing what remains their most recent league title.  

With a lack of European football giving Postecoglou more time to work with his players, Vertonghen believes Tottenham can dream of replicating that success.

"He's doing an unbelievable job," Vertonghen, an Athlete Partner for APEX, told Stats Perform when asked about Postecoglou's impact.

"Lots of things have happened since I left Tottenham, but this year they made all the right decisions. 

"They signed the right players, the right coach with the right mentality that the club has missed for a while. 

"He's doing an unbelievable job. I'm really enjoying watching them and I don't see why they can't go for the highest things possible. 

"All the other clubs are playing in Europe or struggling with injuries, and besides that, Spurs have a great team and that's very important as well. 

"They have the crowd behind them. I can see them going all the way."

Spurs face a familiar face next time out as Vertonghen's former boss Mauricio Pochettino returns to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Chelsea on Monday.

Vertonghen's old club have won all four of their home league games under Postecoglou, with Manchester United and Liverpool among the teams to leave north London empty-handed in 2023-24.

Another victory would make Postecoglou the first coach to win his first five home games in the Premier League since May 2017, when Craig Shakespeare achieved the feat with Leicester City.

Jan Vertonghen believes Ajax have started to take steps towards a much-needed rebuild, though concedes things may get worse before they improve.

The 36-time Dutch champions have made an awful start to 2023-24, taking eight points from their first nine games of the Eredivisie season to sit 15th ahead of Sunday's meeting with Heerenveen.   

Maurice Steijn left his role as head coach by mutual consent with the club mired in 17th place last week, just four months after he joined from Sparta Rotterdam on a three-year deal.

Hedwiges Maduro then took charge as Ajax made unwanted history against PSV last Sunday, suffering a fifth successive Eredivisie defeat for the first time in their history as they were routed 5-2.

Ajax responded by appointing former winger John van 't Schip as interim coach this week, and his first game in charge resulted in a 2-0 win over FC Volendam on Thursday.

New boss Van 't Schip represented the club for 11 years as a player between 1981 and 1992, before returning as Marco van Basten's assistant coach in 2008.

While Vertonghen – who began his career with Ajax before leaving for Tottenham in 2012 – knows his old club have a long road ahead of them, he believes they have the right structure in place to bounce back.

"It hurts. Obviously, [Ajax] can't win the league every year, but where they are now is not good," Vertonghen, an Athlete Partner for APEX, told Stats Perform.

"It was bad on every level, but sometimes you have to hit lows to get back up. I think they're getting the structure back right. 

"Obviously, they've given a lot of power to someone who wasn't familiar with the culture at Ajax [Steijn]. In three or four months, a lot of damage was done. 

"Where they are now doesn't reflect the quality of the squad at all. Bringing in 13 or 14 new players and a new coach, it takes time, and at Ajax you don't get that time. You need to perform. Being second is not good enough. 

"They've got some people back at the club with Ajax in their heart, who want the best for Ajax. So, yeah, it will take a while, and hopefully they can get into Europe this year."

Vertonghen moved to his homeland to represent Anderlecht last September, but he endured a dismal first campaign with the 34-time Belgian champions, who finished 11th in the Pro League.

However, Anderlecht have bounced back under Brian Riemer this campaign, sitting second in the table ahead of back-to-back away games against title rivals Cercle Brugge and Gent.

Asked about Anderlecht's upturn, Vertonghen said: "Last year was a very, very bad and disappointing season, but we had a very good transfer window. 

"We made great signings, people that didn't really fit in left, and we brought in some young guys and experienced players; Kasper Schmeichel, for example, guys who want to win. 

"That's what we need. The atmosphere in the team is great. We have a very, very strong squad of 20 to 25 players. In Belgium, it works with a play-off system. If you get into the top six, you go through to the championship play-off, and that's our ambition: to be in that top six. 

"Whoever's in the top six can be champions. It's important for all the teams who have the ambition to achieve the highest things to be in that top six. 

"There are eight or nine teams fighting for that top six, and then we'll see. At the moment, we're second but still only a couple of points from seventh, so now we have two massive games.

"It's massive for us, two away games as well, so if you lose those two games, you can be seventh. That's how close it is, so we have to get at least four points out of those two games."

Api Ratuniyarawa has appeared in court charged with sexual assault, hours before he was due to play for the Barbarians against Wales in Cardiff.

The 37-year-old Fiji international, from West Northamptonshire, had been due to be on the Barbarians bench for the match at the Principality Stadium, and Wales international Aaron Shingler was called up to replace him.

South Wales Police said: “Api Ratuniyarawa, 37, from West Northamptonshire, was due to appear at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court this morning charged with sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by touching.”

Ratuniyarawa was released on bail to appear at Cardiff Crown Court on December 4.

Barbarians said in a statement: “As soon as we were contacted by South Wales Police we co-operated fully, assisting them with their enquiries.

“On their advice, we can’t comment any further as the investigation is ongoing.”

The charges against Ratuniyarawa were first reported by the BBC, and Wales Online said they related to alleged incidents at a Cardiff bar in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Ratuniyarawa played for London Irish last season, after signing from Northampton Saints.

The London Irish website said: “The Fijian lock forward arrived at Franklin’s Gardens from Agen in the 2016/17 season, spending the best part of five years with Saints before departing for the capital.

“Having made over 100 appearances for Northampton, Ratuniyarawa’s experience expands onto the international front after appearing in both the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups for his native Fiji.

“A 10-years and 36 caps later, Ratuniyarawa’s international career began miles down the road from Irish’s headquarters in Sunbury when he took on England at the national stadium back in the 2012 autumn internationals.

“He brings with him accolades aplenty, both personal and as a team, attaining the ‘Breakthrough Player of the Year’ award at Northampton whilst also winning the first Premiership Rugby Cup.”

Bruno Fernandes fired home an injury-time winner to secure a much-needed victory for Manchester United at Fulham.

United came into the Craven Cottage clash under a cloud after the midweek Carabao Cup defeat at home to Newcastle.

They were quiet for long periods of the game but a moment of brilliance from skipper Fernandes, who came in for criticism from former United players after the Newcastle loss, gave manager Erik ten Hag a welcome three points.

Fernandes evaded attempts to close him down on the edge of the penalty area before placing his shot beyond Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.

United thought they had taken a 1-0 lead after eight minutes but VAR ruled out Scott McTominay’s effort for offside.

The Scot tapped in Alejandro Garnacho’s cut back but referee John Brooks overturned the goal after VAR ruled Harry Maguire had interfered with play from an offside position.

The decision was a wake-up call for the hosts who were looking to build on Wednesday’s last-16 3-1 Carabao Cup victory at Ipswich.

Craven Cottage was fired up and Willian dragged the Cottagers up the pitch with a slaloming run but his effort was blocked at the last moment.

The Brazilian was Fulham’s main creative outlet in the final third and in the 27th minute he produced a delightful cross, but, in keeping with Fulham’s season so far, no striker was there to finish at the back post.

Nigeria international Alex Iwobi marauded from his own half into United’s box but was wasteful in front of goal, failing to hit the target.

The hangover from United’s back-to-back 3-0 home defeats against Manchester City and Newcastle was clear to see as ten Hag’s side lacked intensity, with Fernandes’ skewed added time cross summing up their first-half efforts.

The visitors searched for a way into the game after halftime through Garnacho who enjoyed touches in promising areas before a dangerous cross was tipped over by Leno.

Momentum shifted in Fulham’s favour on the hour. Iwobi picked out Harry Wilson who tried from range with a powerful outside of the boot effort but he was denied by United keeper Andre Onana.

The Cottagers also came close from the following set-piece when last week’s goal scorer Joao Palhinha failed to keep his effort down as Onana made another save to maintain the deadlock.

The minutes ebbed away and substitutions from both sides sapped the games’ intensity before Fernandes’ free-kick in the 83rd minute gave United hope late on.

The Portuguese midfielder had not been heavily involved but showed what he is capable of when he struck a dipped free-kick towards Leno’s bottom corner and the Fulham keeper did well to prevent United edging in front.

But there was no denying Fernandes in added time. He combined with Rasmus Hojlund and jinked inside onto his preferred right foot before unleashing a powerful shot that proved too much for Leno, who could only palm it into his bottom corner.

Draymond Green congratulated the NBA on a "job well done" following the start of the league's inaugural in-season tournament.

The new competition started on Friday, with seven group-stage games played. The other pool games will be played on six other days across the month of November.

Green finished with 15 points as he helped the Golden State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 141-139.

And the four-time NBA champion believes the tournament is a great idea.

"We talk about this in-season tournament and it's a playoff game," Green said.

"It was a fun game to play in. The intensity level was there.

"It's a job well done to the NBA, adding this type of excitement in November, because there'll be some dark days in November, but you get games like this, you can appreciate them. It was great."

The Warriors won in contentious circumstances, with Stephen Curry's layup with less than a second to go allowed to stand after a video review.

Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic starred for the Denver Nuggets, with 33 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists while shooting 14-for-16 from the field in a win over the Dallas Mavericks.

"What I marvel at is just the consistency," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of Jokic.

"I mean, the guy is just great every night. He's just a great player. I just love how he impacts the game in every way, shape and form. It's really the definition of greatness."

Elsewhere, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers saw off the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat overcame the Washington Wizards.

There were also wins for the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers.

Celtic geared up for their midweek Champions League trip to Atletico Madrid by moving eight points clear at the top of the cinch Premiership with a 3-0 win at 10-man Ross County.

The hosts were up against it following an early red card for James Brown, but – inspired by a brilliant display from goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw – they stood firm until David Turnbull made the breakthrough for the Hoops in first-half stoppage time.

Second-half goals from substitutes Luis Palma and James Forrest allowed the leaders to see the match out in comfortable fashion ahead of their Tuesday night showdown with Atleti in the Spanish capital.

County – back at home following a run of three successive away draws – made three alterations to the side that drew 2-2 at Hibernian in midweek as Ben Purrington, Kyle Turner and Eamonn Brophy were replaced by George Harmon, Yan Dhanda and Jordan White.

Amid a hectic fixture schedule, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers opted to freshen up his squad by making six changes to the side that defeated St Mirren 2-1 on Wednesday as Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley, Alistair Johnson, Nat Phillips, Palma and Forrest dropped out to make way for Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Paulo Bernardo, Hyunjun Yang, Hyeongyu Oh and Daizen Maeda.

The Hoops had the ball in the net after five minutes when Liam Scales fired home from close range but it was swiftly ruled out after Oh was deemed to have pushed White in the build-up.

Celtic were the beneficiaries of a decision from the officials shortly afterwards, however, when Brown was sent off for catching Yang’s ankle with his studs while trying to halt the South Korean as he burst in from the left. The Staggies right-back was initially shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to a red following a VAR intervention.

County boss Malky Mackay, in a bid to bring fresh defensive reinforcement to his depleted team, responded by sending on Will Nightingale in place of striker White.

Despite being a man down, County competed manfully for the remainder of the first half although their goalkeeper was a busy man.

Laidlaw got down brilliantly to tip a 20-yard strike from Callum McGregor behind in the 21st minute. From the resulting corner, taken by Turnbull, Oh glanced his header over the bar.

Laidlaw made another fine save in the 28th minute when he clawed out a Scales header from Turnbull’s corner.

Celtic thought they had the breakthrough in the 31st minute when Oh forced in from close range following a Maeda cross from the right. However, after a VAR check, Maeda was deemed to have been offside as he ran on to a pass from Bernardo.

Laidlaw made an excellent point-blank save to keep out Bernardo in the 38th minute and the County keeper looked on course to end an inspired first half with what would have been a deserved clean sheet when he pushed away a Turnbull shot from just outside the box.

However, the Celtic midfielder eventually beat the defiant County keeper with another low strike from outside the box.

That late hammer blow might have been the signal for the floodgates to open early on in the second half but County and Laidlaw in particular continued to put up admirable resistance.

Five minutes after the restart, Oh was denied by Laidlaw from a tight angle before Bernardo curled a free-kick just over.

Laidlaw then made a superb double save to thwart substitute Furuhashi and Yang in quick succession, and his heroics continued as he threw himself high to his left to tip away a goalbound effort from Oh in the 77th minute.

But Laidlaw was helpless a minute later when substitute Palma looped a stunning strike from 30 yards into the top corner.

Palma then turned provider in the 84th minute as his cross from the left was nodded in at the back post by fellow replacement Forrest.

Laidlaw pulled off another double save in stoppage time to halt Furuhashi and Oh, but the damage was already done.

Cheltenham Festival heroine You Wear It Well made a successful reappearance with an all-the-way victory in the bet365 Mares’ Hurdle at Wetherby.

Jamie Snowden’s charge won four of her six starts last term, including the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park in March. She also finished second in the Grade One Challow Hurdle at Newbury.

The six-year-old was a 2-1 shot for her comeback in Listed company, with Nicky Henderson’s Luccia the favourite at 11-8, and it turned into a straight shootout between the pair in the home straight.

Luccia was travelling better at one stage, but You Wear It Well refused to bend in front, digging deep for Gavin Sheehan to claim top honours by three lengths.

“It’s very special. She had a penalty for those Grade Two wins last season, so to do that with that penalty is great first time out,” said Snowden.

“She’s big and strong and she’s a legend. Gav gave her a wonderful ride. She’s quite feisty and takes a bit of riding, so fair play to the whole team.

“We were probably a little bit keen and a little bit fresh early on, but she’s jumped great bar the last and picked up well and galloped to the line.”

Paddy Power, Betfair and Coral all cut You Wear It Well to 8-1 to claim a second Festival win in the Mares’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park next March and she looks set to be kept against her own sex in the meantime.

“We were thinking about going chasing with her this year, but the mares’ hurdle programme is a lot better than the mares’ chase programme,” Snowden added.

“We’re quite keen to stay in mares’ company, so you’ve got the Sandown race, the Warwick race and then Cheltenham in March. That looks the obvious thing to do, but we’ll take it step by step.”

Sheehan was earlier in the winner’s enclosure aboard Kim Bailey’s The Edgar Wallace (9-2), who jumped his rivals into submission in the Bet Boost At bet365 Handicap Chase.

Making his first competitive appearance since February, the eight-year-old was slick over his fences throughout and proved two lengths too strong for the gallant William Cody.

Bailey’s assistant, Matthew Nicholls, said: “He jumped class and galloped well. Gav hasn’t ridden much for us, but he’s given him a lovely ride.

“He had a few issues last year that we’ve fiddled with and if that worked then he was a very well handicapped horse. We came here hopeful because he’d been showing us an awful lot at home, but until they go and do it you never know.

“He’s back on track and he probably doesn’t want an awful lot of racing as he puts a lot into it.”

Cherie D’Am maintained her unbeaten record in the 6 Horses Challenge At bet365 Novices’ Hurdle.

A point-to-point winner at Hexham 12 months ago, the Great Pretender mare made a successful debut under rules for Dan Skelton in a Uttoxeter bumper in the spring.

The five-year-old was the 6-5 favourite to beat the boys on her seasonal reappearance and hurdling bow – and having been given a patient ride by the trainer’s brother Harry Skelton, she cruised into contention before pulling five lengths clear of Wild Side Of Life.

“That was lovely. A lot of ours have been needing a run and it’s not for any other reason than usually at this time of year the ground is good to soft and that’s how fit we’ve got them – we’ve got them good to soft fit,” said the winning trainer.

“Of course, the more days that go by and the more pieces of work you get into them, they will get a little bit fitter for this type of ground.

“She’s obviously a very, very talented mare. When we bought her after her point-to-point we thought she looked pretty smart and then we loved her after her bumper.

“She’s going the right way. I probably don’t want to go too deep too soon, so we might give her one more run and then go up in grade.

“I’m not afraid to run her in a slightly better race, but I’m not going to go for the Challow Hurdle on her next run.”

England scored 11 tries in a ruthless 60-0 victory over Wales at Headingley.

Amy Hardcastle opened England’s account with two tries before further scores from Shona Hoyle and Caitlin Beevers seemingly put England out of sight at the half-time break.

England showed no mercy in the second period, rushing over the whitewash seven more times courtesy of a Tara-Jane Stanley double alongside contributions from Lacey Owen, Georgia Roche, Tamzin Renouf, Keara Bennett and Emily Rudge.

England took the lead in the eighth minute. After the hooter sounded for a repeat set, the hosts threw the ball right to left and Hardcastle was waiting on the left edge before she flew over the whitewash, with Stanley’s kick making it 6-0.

England had the lead but looked to grow further into the contest and had a second just under 10 minutes later as Roche sent Hardcastle over for her second of the afternoon.

The home side threatened to take the game away from Wales just 24 minutes into the contest and after some neat work from Tara Jones and Jodie Cunningham, the ball landed in the hands of Hoyle who bundled over beneath the sticks to make it 16-0.

Wales attacks were few and far between in the first period but after Vicky Molyneux, in her final game before international retirement, was sin-binned they had a chance to open their account five minutes before the break – only for Georgia Taylor to knock on with the try line at her mercy.

England made Wales pay for their missed chance with another try on the hooter as Hardcastle broke away with a length-of-the-pitch run before she was brought down just before the line by Leanne Burnell, only for Beevers to dive over in the next play to put them 20-0 up heading into the interval.

The second half started in the same fashion with England dominant, and they opened their account for the half just five minutes after the interval when Stanley proved too strong for the Welsh defence.

England had 30 on the board with half an hour still to play when Owen crashed over on her debut appearance.

Five minutes later, England added another when NRL star Roche weaved her way through the Welsh defence single-handed and touched down to help make it 36-0.

England seemed to put points on the board every time they came forward and Stanley yet again picked holes in the Wales line before she crashed over and added the extras.

Renouf was next to get in on the act as she easily ran over and Stanley’s kicking proved to be excellent, landing her sixth conversion, this time from the touchline.

Bennett added another before Rudge scored England’s final try of the afternoon under the posts to cap off a dominant display.

Orne made every yard of the running to win the rescheduled Betfred Horris Hill Stakes at Newmarket.

Saved over from an abandoned Newbury card, the Group Three event looked wide open on paper and so it proved in the race.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained Orne had made a winning debut at Kempton and was not totally disgraced when upped in class for the Group Three Autumn Stakes.

The winner of that contest, Ancient Wisdom, subsequently came out and won the Group One Futurity Trophy, so the form looked strong, but Orne was still sent off at 10-1.

He proved difficult to settle in the early stages for Robert Havlin but once he did drop the bit, he was allowed an easy lead.

Going into the dip, Havlin stole another length and, despite drifting close home, held off Witness Stand by a length and a quarter.

“It wasn’t the plan to make the running. He went last in, but he was first out. Normally he doesn’t do a stroke when he is in front. I went on a fresh bit of ground, and he found a rhythm,” said Havlin.

“Just towards the end, he got a little bit lonely and ducked left, but he has done it well in the end.

“It wasn’t the plan to go on the far side as I wanted to drop in and get a lead and get there late. When I ended up in front, I could see there was fresh ground there so I thought I might as well go there.

“He didn’t stay the mile in the Autumn Stakes. He travelled good and he handled the ground, but he just didn’t stay. He could get quicker this horse over the winter. “

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is happy for Juventus to continue their progress under the radar.

The Turin club are firmly in the Serie A title hunt after a strong start to the season as they bid to make a return to European qualification, having been excluded from this year’s Europa Conference League over breaches of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Juventus travel to Fiorentina on Sunday night bidding for a fourth straight win and Allegri is pleased with their progress.

“We must work on our weaknesses and become rock solid,” Allegri told his pre-match press conference.

“We’re on the right track but we’ve only played 10 games and that’s not enough to achieve our goal of qualifying for next year’s Champions League.

“As I said, the important thing is working hard to grow and improve to become a rock-solid team. We need to be more precise and efficient in front of goal as well as improving our defence because things can go wrong very quickly in football.

“It takes balance. We have to remain solid throughout the season because we’ve got a goal to achieve.

“Low profile, less talk and more graft.”

After an impressive start to the campaign, Fiorentina’s form has tailed off a touch having lost their last two matches without scoring.

But Allegri is wary of the threat posed by the hosts, with Nicolas Gonzalez a particular challenge to Juventus having scored five goals in nine matches.

“It’s a big game tomorrow because there’s always been great rivalry between Juve and Fiorentina,” Allegri added.

“They’re an excellent side even though they’re coming in off the back of two league defeats. They like to attack and play good football.

“We’re going to need a big performance if we want to come away with a good result. I consider Fiorentina one of the best-equipped teams of the season because they have lots of great players both technically and physically.

“They will be fighting for a place in the top four. This year Fiorentina have got a great squad.

“They have a striker like Nico Gonzalez, two centre-forwards with Christian Kouame on the left and Giacomo Bonaventura who’s doing big things. Arthur has also recovered from injury and is doing well.”

Former Everton striker Moise Kean has yet to score this season in nine appearances for Juventus and Italy but Allegri praised the 23-year-old’s growth and told all his attackers that they need to contribute.

“Kean is in a great place. He’s grown both physically and technically and his mentality has improved no end. I’m happy with him but he must keep improving,” Allegri added.

“All five of our forwards are in good form. (Federico) Chiesa and (Dusan) Vlahovic know they need to contribute to the good of the team, just like the rest of the group because everyone is important.”

England were chasing 287 against Ashes rivals Australia in Ahmedabad as they attempted to salvage some pride to their listless World Cup campaign.

Chris Woakes, player of the series after a starring role in this summer’s Test series between the sides, turned in another impressive showing as Australia were bowled out for 286 in the final over.

Woakes topped and tailed the innings, dismissing the dangerous opening pair of Travis Head and David Warner with the new ball and returning to take the last two wickets at the death.

He finished with four for 54, while Adil Rashid’s leg-spin locked down the middle overs in clinical style as he picked up two for 38 from his 10.

But an England side who started the day bottom of the table after five losses from six will be painfully aware that nothing can be taken for granted, having been rolled over for 215 or less by Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India in the last three weeks.

Having gone in unchanged for the third game in a row, keeping Harry Brook benched despite the repeated struggles of the top six, they will need a sharp upturn in productivity from their batters.

Australia were lacking the fire-power of Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell, the former having flown home for personal reasons and the latter concussed after falling from a golf cart, and although their power-hitting was conspicuously absent they did not fold.

Steve Smith (44) and Marnus Labuschagne (71) channelled their less explosive methods to rebuild after Woakes’ early inroads and Cameron Green chipped in a handy 47 on his return to the XI.

Australia kept wickets in hand for long periods but never quite used their foundation, losing five for 66 in the final 10 overs.

England were back at the site of their first match in a dreadful campaign which was branded “crap” in a blunt assessment by Ben Stokes on the eve of this match.

They made 282 for nine and after batting first against New Zealand in the curtain-raiser at the Narendra Modi Stadium only to watch the Black Caps knock off a nine-wicket win with minimal fuss.

They will now be hoping to produce a successful pursuit of their own.

Marcus Rashford was not included in Manchester United’s squad for the game at Fulham.

The England striker was forced to apologise to United boss Erik ten Hag after attending a nightclub party following last weekend’s embarrassing derby defeat to Manchester City.

But Rashford was missing at Craven Cottage due to injury after taking a “heavy knock” in training.

Reports emerged the day after the City match that the England international, who turned 26 on Tuesday, had gone to the Chinawhite nightclub for a pre-arranged birthday party hours after the Old Trafford loss.

“Yes, I am aware of it,” manager Ten Hag said of Rashford’s post-derby night out.

“I spoke with him about it. It’s unacceptable, I told him, he apologised and that’s it. For the rest it’s an internal matter.

“He’s very motivated to put things right. So, he makes a mistake, but that doesn’t say he’s not fitting in. I see him every day in training, what he’s doing, I know.”

Following the team announcement at Craven Cottage, Ten Hag told MUTV: “(Rashford) is OK, but not OK to start. He is not fit enough to start but it is about players who are available.

“(Alejandro) Garnacho can do the job very well, we have seen that often so I am confident.”