England manager Gareth Southgate should take Ivan Toney to the World Cup, so says "biased" Brentford head coach Thomas Frank.

Toney has enjoyed a fine start to the season for Brentford, scoring five goals across eight Premier League appearances.

Indeed, since the start of last term, only five players have scored more goals in the competition than Toney (17), with Harry Kane (24) the sole English player to have netted more.

As well as being involved in seven of Brentford's 15 Premier League goals this season, Toney has had more shots (23) and created more chances from open play (10) than any other player for the Bees this term.

After scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 rout of Leeds United on September 3, Toney received his first England call-up for last month's Nations League matches against Italy and Germany. While he did not make an appearance in either game, Frank believes he must be an option for Southgate in Qatar.

Ahead of Brentford's trip to Toney's former club Newcastle United, Frank said in a press conference: "I think for Ivan the most important thing is to perform every day at the training ground and then perform on Saturday against Newcastle, hopefully score a goal or two.

"Keep doing that and with his performances he needs to ask questions to Gareth Southgate.

"It is up to Gareth to take the decision over what he thinks is the best squad for the World Cup. I am sure he will take the best squad. Gareth wants to win the World Cup so he will bring the best and most competitive squad.

"If you ask me, I see Ivan every day and I am biassed but I think he should be there."

Brentford's trip to St James' Park comes a day after the one-year anniversary of the controversial Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle.

At the time, the Magpies were languishing in the relegation zone under former boss Steve Bruce. Since then, Newcastle have taken 57 points in the top flight, with only the so called "big six" teams – Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham – winning more games (15).

For Frank, it would be a miraculous if Brentford manage to compete with Newcastle's financial strength over the coming seasons.

"If we have the money we have now, they have their money and we continue doing that, if we are the same level at the same time, it will be an even bigger miracle than it is now that we are competing," Frank said.

"Of course we know in football money talks. It is a very important part and that is one thing but the very good news is it is not only about money.

"Newcastle want to challenge that and there is no doubt they are aiming to be top six so maybe we need to start to talk about a top seven in the future. Put that aside, us being a bottom two budget club in the league, it is remarkable what we are doing."

Albert Pujols has revealed he almost cut short his final season in baseball before going on the hot hitting streak that took him past 700 home runs.

The St Louis Cardinals great was mired in dismal early-season form, collecting just four homers in the first three months, but he added 20 in the remainder of the campaign.

Pujols failed to go deep once in June, which is when he began to doubt himself, questioning whether he should stick with it to the end of the season.

The 42-year-old will sign off on his MLB career after the playoffs, with the Cardinals hosting the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, in the opening game of their best-of-three wildcard round tussle.

His haul of 24 home runs for the season is Pujols' best tally since 2016, when he hit 31, and it justifies the decision to play on after questioning whether he could justify continuing his career.

"There were some times when I [asked] myself that, many times," Pujols told MLB.com.

Pujols said that by early July, he had "figured something out". A homer in an 11-8 loss to the Phillies on July 7 stopped the rot.

He joined only three others in history in passing 700 career home runs: Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Pujols said: "When you have good people around you and they are encouraging you and you realise that God has opened so many doors for you, man, it puts things back into perspective.

"I decided, 'I'm going to stick with it!'.

"I knew sooner or later it was going to come and turn around for me, because it can't be like it was all year long."

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 93-69 record, and Pujols is hoping they have saved the best for last.

He said: "It's my last year and I want to go out with my best. And my best is winning a championship."

Sandwiched between two rounds of European fixtures, this weekend's Fantasy Football selections will be giving managers one serious headache.

The Premier League big boys look set to continue rotating their squads during a gruelling period, leaving plenty of guesswork for those of us on the outside.

That is not to mention a growing list of injuries and suspensions, which could force many to opt for their wildcard at this still-early stage of the campaign.

But fear not as, with the help of Opta data, Stats Perform has picked out four names we not only expect to start this weekend but also accrue some valuable points.

Emiliano Martinez (Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa)

Aston Villa's form has improved of late with two draws, including against Manchester City, and a victory in their past three league outings.

A large part of that has been down to becoming more stable at the back, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez helping his side to back-to-back clean sheets.

After keeping out Southampton and Leeds United, albeit with just two shots on target faced, he is seeking a third successive Premier League shutout for the first time since March.

Conor Coady (Everton v Manchester United)

Everton have looked to improve at the back this season and boast the best defensive record at this stage, having conceded seven goals across their opening eight matches.

Their new-found defensive resilience has coincided with the arrival of Conor Coady on loan from Wolves.

Coady was also on target in the win over Southampton last week, making him the fifth Premier League defender this term to score, assist and register a clean sheet.

James Maddison (Bournemouth v Leicester City)

Leicester City midfielder James Maddison caught the eye again with his double in the 4-0 win against Nottingham Forest, strengthening calls for him to be part of England's World Cup squad.

Maddison has been involved in 40 goals (25 goals, 15 assists) since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, a tally only Kevin De Bruyne (50) and Bruno Fernandes (48) can better.

He has five goals and two assists this season, accounting for 50 per cent of Leicester's goals – only Wolves winger Daniel Podence (67) and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (59) have been involved in more of their side's goals.

Roberto Firmino (Arsenal v Liverpool)

In what has been a difficult campaign to date for Liverpool, the form of Roberto Firmino – who many predicted to depart Anfield – has been particularly surprising.

Not only has Firmino been Liverpool's best attacker with five goals and three assists, only Haaland (17) and De Bruyne (nine) have been involved in more in the division.

The Brazil international will look to continue that form on Sunday as he has scored more league goals (nine) and been involved in more (12) against Arsenal than any other side.

Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson accepted the lion's share of blame for his side's 12-9 overtime loss at home against the Indianapolis Colts.

Wilson completed 21 of 39 passes for 274 yards and two interceptions in Thursday's game, with the second interception proving especially costly late in the fourth quarter.

With less than two and a half minutes remaining, leading 9-6, the Broncos opted to pass the ball to try to seal the game, but instead Wilson took a shot at the endzone and was picked off by former defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore.

The Colts ended up driving down the field to tie the game as time expired, before kicking another field goal on the first drive of overtime to put the pressure back on the Broncos.

Wilson completed long passes to Jerry Jeudy and Mike Boone to move inside the 10-yard line, but when faced with a fourth-and-one at the five-yard line, they decided to go for it instead of kicking for the tie.

The final throw of the game was broken up once again by Gilmore in the endzone, relegating the Broncos to a 2-3 record with one of the worst offenses in the NFL in the first year of Wilson's five-year, $242million contract.

Speaking after the game, Wilson did not hide from his struggles, saying he needs to figure it out in a hurry.

"It's very simple, at the end of the day I've got to be better, I've got to play better," he said. "This team, our defense played their butts off tonight, we had some key, good drives and we moved the ball into the red zone, but we didn't get to capitalise on some of them.

"At the end of the day, those two interceptions can't happen. Can't happen. I let the team down tonight, but the good thing is, one thing I know about myself is I'm going to respond – I don't know any other way.

"I always believe in myself, I always believe in this team and what we can do, and what I can do.

"When you play this game, the one thing you know is you're going to go through adversity, and with adversity you get a choice. I'm always going to choose to understand that adversity is just temporary, and you're going to overcome the obstacles and battles.

"We're all working together, we're all still together and focused on trying to do whatever it takes. It starts with me, and I'll make sure I do that."

Touching on the final play, Wilson said it was the right decision to go for it.

"We had a good play-call on, we went to Courtland [Sutton] there and the guy [Gilmore] made a good play," he said.

"I was ready to move around if we needed to – we came up with a big fourth-and-two a couple drives before – so we went for it.

"We didn't want to end in a tie, we wanted to try and win the game. That was our mentality. I think coach made a good call, I think I've got to find a way to make a play, whatever it takes.

"The thing about close games… is it comes down to finding a way. We've found a way before, but this time we didn't."

Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett also accepted blame for Wilson's struggles, saying he needs to figure out how to get his star quarterback into a rhythm and get points on the board.

"We want to always try to get him into a rhythm, and I didn't feel like we were able to get him into that," Hackett said. "It starts with me, to be able to get him into that rhythm with the receivers and tight ends.

"There were a couple of opportunities – we had a couple of drops again, and a couple of penalties – we keep continually hurting ourselves, and I think that's the thing that's frustrating.

"We need to address it as an offense, and we need to fix that, because the performance from the defense was spectacular, and we're wasting those great opportunities to go win a football game."

Hackett also said he did not regret his final play-call, calling it "a good decision".

"We wanted to win the game," he said. "We hadn't moved the ball very well the whole night, and I thought we had a spectacular drive to get all the way down there.

"It ended up being fourth-and-one, we got the 'go' to go for it, and I thought that was a good decision. We wanted to put the ball in Russell's hands and call a play that we know he really likes – and it didn't work out.

"The timeout before was to get a feel for what they were doing, and the run did not look as good as we hoped it would have, and it gave us a chance with Russell. That's all you can ask for in that situation to win the game."

Jason Robertson has agreed to a four-year, $31million contract extension with the Dallas Stars just a week before their regular-season opener against the Nashville Predators on October 13.

The deal, which runs through the 2025-26 season, was announced late Wednesday after the young prolific goal-scorer missed the first two weeks of training camp over a contract dispute.

"Jason is an integral part of the present and future of our team and we're thrilled to have him for the next four years," Stars general manager Jim Nill said.

Robertson turned 23 years old shortly after the 2021-22 season, when he tallied 41 goals and 38 assists in 74 games to become just the fourth Star to score 40 goals in a season since the franchise moved to Dallas in 1993, joining Hall of Famer Mike Modano, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

His 13 power-play goals led the Stars while his 11 game-winning scores were tied with the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, Rangers’ Chris Kreider and Lightning’s Steven Stamkos for the most in the NHL.

A second-round pick by Dallas in 2017, Robertson had 17 goals and 28 assists in 51 games as a rookie in 2020-21. His 45 points were second most by a Stars rookie since the club relocated to Dallas, trailing only the 55 points Jussi Jokinen had in 2005-06.

"Since he was drafted by our organisation, he has worked tirelessly to become a better player every day. His knack for scoring goals and seeing plays develop on the ice are just some of the tremendous assets that he brings to our team," Nill said. "He is one of the best young players in the NHL, and we look forward to seeing him continue to progress."

The Indianapolis Colts grinded out a gritty 12-9 overtime win on the road against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, with neither team scoring a touchdown in the game.

In an ugly offensive showing, the teams combined for 12 punts, six fumbles and four interceptions, heading into halftime with a 6-3 Broncos lead thanks to a pair of Brandon McManus field goals. 

The Broncos had a chance to run out the clock and ice the game, but instead called a pass play, with quarterback Russell Wilson throwing his second interception of the game to keep the Colts alive.

They would march down the field for a Chase McLaughlin field goal with five seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 9-9 and force overtime, and he would kick his fourth field goal of the night in overtime to take the lead.

Needing a field goal to extend the game or a touchdown to win it, the Broncos finally mounted a strong drive with long completions to Melvin Gordon and Jerry Jeudy to move into the redzone. When presented with a fourth-and-one on the five-yard line, they went for it instead of kicking another field goal to tie, and failed to convert a pass into the endzone.

It was a miserable day for both quarterbacks as their offensive lines struggled to keep them upright, with the Broncos sacking Matt Ryan six times while Wilson absorbed four sacks of his own. Ryan finished up completing 26 of 41 passes for 251 yards and two interceptions, while Wilson completed 21 of 39 for 274 yards and two interceptions.

Defensively, Caden Sterns had both interceptions for the Broncos, while teammate Bradley Chubb had two-and-a-half sacks, but Colts cornerback and former Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore proved to be the game-winner.

Gilmore secured the crucial interception to give the Colts a chance, and was then credited with his second pass break-up on the final play of the game to deny the Broncos the winning touchdown.

After the first trip around TPC Summerlin on Thursday it is Tom Hoge alone atop the Shriners Children's Open leaderboard with an eight-under 63.

Hoge finished his bogey-free round with four birdies and two eagles, holing out from the fairway on the par-four seventh hole, before sinking a 33-foot eagle putt when he took on the water on the par-five 16th.

He leads by one stroke from the duo of Kim Si-woo and Maverick McNealy, who combined to shoot one bogey and 15 birdies to sit at seven under.

Kim is part of a strong South Korean contingent in the top-five, with Tom Kim, Kim Seong-hyeon and Im Sung-jae all part of an eight-way tie for fourth at six under.

Former world number one Jason Day headlines the next group at five under as he continues to climb back up the rankings, and Mito Pereira is at four under after bursting onto the scene last season by making the playoff at the PGA Championship.

Winner of the first event of the season and a strong performer at the Presidents Cup, Max Homa is also at four under, along with fellow United States team member Patrick Cantlay and International team representative Cam Davis.

Marcus Rashford says Manchester United would "have liked to have played better" as they came from behind to win 3-2 at Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League.

United went into the break a goal down after Karim Ansarifard put the Cypriot side ahead, but Erik ten Hag's introduction of Marcus Rashford changed the game as he scored a double and assisted Anthony Martial to put the Red Devils 3-1 up and become the first United substitute to score and assist after coming on in the Europa League.

Despite conceding again to make it 3-2, United held on to make it six wins from their last seven Europa League away games and leave them second in Group E, three points behind leaders Real Sociedad.

Rashford felt his side did not play at their full capabilities against Omonia, telling BT Sport: "Yeah, it's definitely job done, but we'd have liked to have played better.

"I wouldn't say we defended bad, I think it was just mistakes and mistakes happen in football, so we have to move on. The fewer mistakes we can make, the better.

"The first 45 minutes, until they scored, we played well, we had good movement, but we probably could have got in behind them a bit more to be a bigger threat on the ball. I thought we played well, watching the first half.

"When he [Ten Hag] made the subs, he wanted us to be more dynamic, take our chances going forward and to try score goals. When you're 1-0 behind, that's what you need to do, so it was positive changes at half-time."

Fellow substitute Martial also impressed, scoring in consecutive matches as a substitute for United for the first time since August 2017.

He has now been directly involved in four goals (three goals, one assist) in his three appearances for the Red Devils in all competitions this season, and Rashford praised his impact, adding: "He is a massive player for us, has been for a long time.

"When he is happy and at it he is an unbelievable player. I've always enjoyed playing with him. It was nice to link up with him today.

"We've both been injured, him longer than me, so it is good for him to get minutes and make an impact."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta felt his team "lacked consistency and domination" despite cruising to a 3-0 victory over Bodo/Glimt to move top of their Europa League group.

Eddie Nketiah and Rob Holding struck in the first half before Fabio Vieira added a late finish to end a run of three consecutive home games in European competition without victory for Arsenal.

The Gunners are now two points clear of second-placed PSV at the top of Group A, while also leading the Premier League after a brilliant start which has seen them win nine out of their first 10 games in all competitions for just the third time in club history.

However, Arteta had mixed feelings over his team's performance against Bodo, telling BT Sport: "I'm really happy with the win, six points and a clean sheet.

"But we lacked connection between the players, we lacked consistency and domination through the game.

"There were eight changes and a lot of players that haven't played a lot of minutes, and you could feel that, the timing was missing.

"In the final third we looked very dangerous, the goals we scored were good goals."

Bodo started the second half brightly and Arteta reacted by making a number of substitutions, bringing on the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, the latter of whom provided a brilliant assist for Vieira.

Arteta explained the alterations were necessary due to some of the starters' fitness, saying: "A few players, you could see they had a different intensity, not enough exposure in terms of minutes, so we had to make changes."

Victor Wembanyama put on a show for the NBA scouts in attendance for Metropolitans 92's 112-106 victory against G League Ignite on Thursday.

Wembanyama, 18, is viewed as the best NBA prospect since LeBron James entered the 2003 draft straight out of high school, standing at seven-foot-four while demonstrating tremendous movement, ball handling and shooting touch. 

After posting 37 points with five blocks while shooting seven-of-11 from three-point range in his United States debut on Tuesday, the future top overall draft pick backed it up with 36 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in his second go.

The exhibition series was conceived to allow Wembanyama to go head-to-head with fellow top prospect Scoot Henderson, who is signed to the G League. Unfortunately, a knee-on-knee collision between the two headline stars five minutes into the first quarter ended Henderson's night, although he is expected to make a quick recovery after being diagnosed with a bone bruise.

Wembanyama will spend this season playing professionally in France's top league, and his agent confirmed the young phenom has no interest in shutting things down to protect his stock for the draft.

Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers called Wednesday's practice fight between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole "unfortunate".

Initially reported by The Athletic, Wednesday's session turned heated and led to the two players becoming involved in an altercation.

Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes later claimed "league sources" said "there was a build-up stemming from team-mates noticing a change in Poole’s behaviour throughout camp with the guard on the verge of securing a lucrative extension".

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Myers said fights in practice will always be a part of highly competitive team sports.

"Everybody's fine," he said. "Look, it's the NBA, professional sports, these things happen. Nobody likes it. We don't condone it, but it happened.

"Draymond apologised to the team this morning, Jordan was there in the room, I was there in the room with the team, the coaches, the players and we heard that.

"It's unfortunate, I'm not going to deny it. It'll take some time to move through, but we'll move through it and move forward, and I'm confident that we will. 

"We've got a good team, we've got good leadership, we've got some guys that have been here a long time.

"This isn't our first thing that's happened, first sense of adversity; we've been through some of this before. Don't like going through it, but it's part of the NBA and it's part of sports."

But Myers suggested reports of conflict relating to player contracts were wide of the mark, saying "[it's not about] who's getting paid and who isn't; I don't sense that".

Green was not at practice on Thursday, with Myers adding "space is good" and that time is needed to cool things down. 

Myers finished by saying any potential suspension for Green will be handled internally.

Poole, 23, is coming off a career-best season in which he became a major asset for the championship-winning Warriors, averaging 17 points per game in the playoffs at over 50 per cent shooting while leading the NBA in free throw percentage (92.5 per cent).

This upcoming season will be the last of his rookie contract, and he will be expecting an extension similar to that recently awarded to the Miami Heat's Tyler Herro, in the region of four years and $130million.

Meanwhile, Green is also in a crucial contract year, as after the season he will have the ability to opt out of the final campaign of his four-year, $99m deal to seek what will likely be the last big extension of his career.

Neymar declared "I don't think there is a new Neymar" but the in-form Paris Saint-Germain forward feels like he is "a more complete player".

The Brazil international has made a great start to the season, scoring 11 goals in 13 games for PSG.

Neymar has also provided nine assists for the Ligue 1 champions, who are reaping the rewards of having the former Barcelona man fully fit after he spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury last season.

The 30-year-old's impressive performances bode well for Brazil ahead of the World Cup in Qatar and he thinks his all-round game is better than it has ever been.

He told PSG TV: "I don't think there is a new Neymar. I think just that things have dropped into place. I'm having a very good start to the season, like when I came here and in my first two or three years.

"I feel a more complete player now, because I can defend, attack or score goals, make assists, whatever you like. I think I'm now more complete than before.

"I think everyone helps. Of course, I know I'm not an extraordinary defender, but I at least try to help my team-mates however I can."

Neymar is dreaming of a World Cup and Champions League double.

He said: "I'm very happy to have started my season well, whether it be with Paris Saint-Germain or the Brazil national team.

"The aim this year is to win with both teams, to win everything with Paris and Brazil. We have a World Cup coming up and we know just how difficult that competition is.

"But I have a dream of winning it, just like the Champions League will be soon in Paris, I'm sure of that."