Aston Villa registered their 13th Premier League home win on the bounce as Unai Emery’s men beat Fulham 3-1.

Villa were two goals up at the break following an Antonee Robinson own-goal and a strike from skipper John McGinn.

Fulham came close early in the second half when Emiliano Martinez tipped a Raul Jimenez shot against a post before Ollie Watkins added a third for the hosts with a 64th-minute finish.

Jimenez pulled a goal back for the visitors, but Villa were not to be denied as they equalled the post-war club record for successive top-flight home victories, matching the 13 in a row achieved in 1983.

Emery’s side have scored at least three times in each of their Villa Park wins this season, with the total being 23 goals for the midlands outfit across the six games.

It was also a return to winning ways in the league after last Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, since when they had defeated AZ Alkmaar 2-1 at home in the Europa Conference League.

While fifth-placed Villa are a point outside the top four, Marco Silva’s Fulham are 16th after their winless run in the league extended to a fourth game.

The home side made a lively start to the contest and after Moussa Diaby had a sixth-minute effort saved by Bernd Leno, another Villa attack moments later saw Watkins’ shot come off Timothy Castagne and referee Simon Hooper award a penalty.

However, VAR intervened and with Hooper having surveyed footage pitchside, the handball decision was overturned.

Martinez was then called into action to keep out an Andreas Pereira strike, although the flag was up for offside, before Emery’s men pushed forward again and took the lead in the 27th minute.

Youri Tielemans, making his first league start for Villa, curled a delivery from the left towards Diaby and the ball went off Robinson into the net – the defender’s second own-goal of the season, having also scored one in Fulham’s win against Sheffield United last month.

As Villa sought a second, Matty Cash was denied by Leno, and the advantage was doubled in the 42nd minute as McGinn collected the ball from a Robinson header, took a touch to move away from Joao Palhinha and fired in from just outside the box.

Fulham started well after the interval and almost reduced the deficit three minutes in when a Martinez touch diverted Jimenez’s strike against a post, with Willian shooting over on the follow-up.

There was also a shot just wide of the near post from Willian, but soon after Villa made it 3-0 as Leon Bailey, just off the bench, crossed and Watkins sidefooted in his 11th club goal of the season in all competitions.

Jimenez produced a similar finish, teed up by Robinson in the 70th minute, to open his Fulham account – his first Premier League goal since March 2022.

Substitute Carlos Vinicius thought he had scored another for Fulham in the 81st minute when he went around Martinez and slotted in, but he was flagged offside, before the ball hit the Fulham bar off Palhinha and Watkins headed the loose ball wide when looking certain to score – a surprising miss that mattered little come the final whistle.

Mohamed Salah continued his remarkable Anfield scoring record with two goals in Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over Brentford to bring up his 200th in English football.

Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has scored more in the Premier League this season than the Egypt international, who took his tally to 10 by scoring for the sixth successive home game to write another entry in club’s history books.

Intriguingly, the pair will meet in a mouthwatering first-versus-second encounter at the Etihad Stadium immediately after the international break in what will be a true test of Liverpool’s title credentials.

After a complete midfield rebuild over the summer following a fifth-place finish, the primary aim was to regain their Champions League status, but after eight wins in their opening 12 matches – and a 100 percent record at home in every competition – a different complexion has developed as they have emerged as City’s chief chasers again.

After taking 39 minutes to break down a stubborn Brentford, Salah’s double either side of half-time was added to by Diogo Jota’s late strike to put a quick end to questions over a mini-stumble after the draw at Luton and Europa League defeat in Toulouse.

In becoming the first Liverpool player to score in each of their first six home matches, Salah joined Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry in having scored or assisted in 15 consecutive Premier League home games.

And, while he claimed the plaudits once again, in many ways the architect of the victory was Darwin Nunez, whose rapid development this season continues to impress.

The Uruguay international, criticised for his wayward shooting last weekend, had two goals disallowed for offside – one only very marginally by VAR – and provided yet another assist for Salah.

His total of nine assists in his Liverpool career have all been for the Egypt international and in the Premier League it is only the third time two players have combined for an individual’s first seven in a campaign – Kevin Campbell for Ian Wright (first 10) and Troy Deeney for Odion Ighalo (seven) the others.

His all-round play has improved immeasurably from last season’s erratic performances and, while still prone to the odd aberration, he is gradually morphing into the all-action number nine the team needs.

After an early deflected cross was saved at the near post by goalkeeper Mark Flekken, Nunez poked home in the 22nd minute after Dominik Szoboszlai’s shot was deflected into his path.

It was not the first time he would have a goal ruled out for offside, although it was the most marginal.

When he buried an overhead kick after Flekken had parried Virgil van Dijk’s header it was apparent he had returned from an offside position.

Brentford had been limited to counter-attacks but almost snatched a goal when Bryan Mbeumo outpaced Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Alisson Becker got a crucial touch on the shot and Liverpool’s right-back got back to collect.

The defender was equally effective at the other end in the 39th minute when he picked out Nunez on the edge of the area and he laid off for Salah to tuck a left-footed shot inside the far post for a goal of brilliant simplicity.

A Nunez piledriver, a Salah volley over from Alexander-Arnold’s delicious chipped diagonal pass over the Brentford defence and a perfectly-judged Nathan Collins’ recovery tackle to deny the Uruguay striker a one-on-one with the keeper saw the half end on a high for the hosts.

Eighteen minutes into the second half Liverpool benefited from VAR as it ruled Kostas Tsimikas’ cross to the far post had remained in play as there was real doubt cast by Salah’s muted celebrations after heading in.

Jota capped a dominant performance with the third in the 74th minute, cutting in from the left to fire home from the edge of the area.

Late on Alexander-Arnold hooked away Collins’ goalbound header and Alisson tipped over Ethan Pinnock’s effort from the resulting corner to keep Liverpool ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and add yet more significance to the trip to the Etihad.

Tomas Soucek’s persistence paid off as his late header secured a 3-2 win for West Ham against Nottingham Forest.

In the closing stages, the Czech midfielder hit the crossbar and had a header miraculously saved by Forest keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

But Soucek made it third time lucky when he nodded home James Ward-Prowse’s corner to finally see off the visitors.

Goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga had put Forest into the lead after Lucas Paqueta fired the Hammers ahead in the third minute.

But Jarrod Bowen’s eighth Premier League goal of the season hauled West Ham level before Soucek’s late heroics.

Paqueta struck after Nicolas Dominguez’s stray pass across the pitch cannoned off Ibrahim Sangare’s backside.

The Brazilian still had plenty to do but his low, accurate finish from the edge of the area comfortably beat the dive of Vlachodimos.

Forest were denied an equaliser by a stunning save from Alphonse Areola, who got a powerful hand on a point-blank header from Awoniyi.

Moments later Mohammed Kudus led a counter-attack and squared the ball for Paqueta, only this time his control let him down and his tame shot was straight at Vlachodimos.

But Forest gradually regained their shape and set about frustrating West Ham, who seemed to rapidly run out of ideas.

The crowd began to get restless as sideways pass after sideways pass came to nothing.

Even Forest got bored of it eventually, and they hauled themselves level on the stroke of half-time when Sangare won the ball in a congested midfield.

Sangare, with probably the first forward pass of the match from either side, played Morgan Gibbs-White through on goal.

Gibbs-White’s angled drive was kept out by Areola but Awoniyi was on hand to tap the rebound into and empty net.

West Ham came out with more impetus after the break and Kudus had a shot deflected over before Emerson Palmieri fired narrowly wide.

Forest should have gone ahead when Awoniyi played a one-two with Elanga only to slice his shot way off target.

Instead they got their noses in front just after the hour when Elanga tucked in a low cross from Ola Aina.

But West Ham hit back immediately, Bowen meeting Ward-Prowse’s corner with a powerful header past Vlachodimos.

Then Soucek took centre stage, first lifting the ball over Vlachodimos only to see it come back off the crossbar before the Greek keeper somehow tipped his downward header over the top.

But Soucek struck with two minutes remaining, leaping over team-mate Bowen to meet another Ward-Prowse corner at the far post to seal West Ham’s first Premier League win since September.

Philippe Clement praised Rangers for the way they dealt with a “tricky” trip to Livingston as he called on the Scottish football authorities to consider implementing Sunday evening kick-off times for teams playing in Europe on a Thursday.

The Rangers boss watched his team run out comfortable 2-0 winners at the Tony Macaroni Arena less than 72 hours after an energy-sapping 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian and the Ibrox side have all had to contend with playing domestic matches on Sunday afternoons after Thursday night European fixtures this term, and Clement feels Scotland should follow the lead of other leagues by allowing teams more recovery time in such situations.

“I think it’s better for Scottish football to do it that way,” said the Belgian. “They do it in Belgium and in other leagues.

“People who have never played may think, ‘what is the difference between six hours or eight hours more?’ but it’s a big difference in the recovery of a body, these hours of sleep and recovery because it’s a really short time for players to recover.

“We play every three days, we will have a schedule of 12 games in about 38 days (after the international break) so recovery is an important part of it. The food, the drink, the cryo, when to sleep.

“It’s important I think in every league that teams that play in Europe on Thursday evening play on the Sunday evening. In a lot of leagues, that’s done so it’s maybe something we can see in the future.”

Clement made four changes for the Livingston game and admitted his team selection was influenced by the gruelling impact of the Sparta match.

“Yes, because for example, Danilo did 1,300 metres of high-intensity runs on Thursday so if I let him start today I take a risk, for example,” he said. “Of course, I looked at that.”

The win at Livingston came courtesy of a first-half goal from Cyriel Dessers and a second-half penalty from James Tavernier, who had missed an earlier spot-kick. Rangers also had first-half goals from Connor Goldson and Ross McCausland – on his first start – ruled out following VAR reviews.

“It was a tricky game, with the circumstances with the (plastic) pitch which is not an advantage for us with the football we want to play,” said Clement.

“Also kick-off at 12 o’clock after a European night. Also having European success and then playing domestically, it’s sometimes dangerous in the heads of the players.

“So the team showed a really good mentality and the right spirit to play a very mature game because we didn’t give away anything and we deserved to win, clearly.

“Also when you miss a penalty and a goal is disallowed, sometimes you get in dangerous games for losing points because the circumstances are not on your side. At the end, it’s a very positive afternoon.”

Livingston go into the international break after suffering a fifth consecutive defeat. Manager David Martindale – who rued a “disappointing” first-half performance – is unfazed by their current predicament.

“This is not an abnormal situation for us,” he said. “Yes, we are bottom of the league on goal difference, but we have gone on spells where we’ve not won a game in five in most seasons.

“We just need to get back on track. I am not big on stats or data, it’s about one game at a time and what we can control. Hopefully that will lead to performances, which leads to results.”

Manchester United manager Marc Skinner is demanding even more from his team despite a commanding 5-0 home victory against West Ham in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

First-half strikes from Geyse, Millie Turner and Nikita Parris set United on the way to victory but West Ham were dominant after the break until goals from Lucia Garcia and Melvine Malard in the final five minutes rounded off the win for the hosts.

Skinner said: “I’m happy with the result, goals and clean sheet but I want to be consistent in the message I give to the media and the start to the second half wasn’t good enough.

“We were sloppy, we had become too comfortable after the first half – and I thought the first half was excellent.

“The best thing about our group is that I said this at the end in the huddle and they were like, ‘Yes, we agree’. We want the highest standards possible at Manchester United across the 90 minutes.”

With England midfielder Ella Toone outstanding for United, Skinner said the way his side can tear a team apart needs to be carried on throughout the match.

He said: “What pleased me most was the fluidity. When you play against us we can attack in so many different ways.

“I love that about us, I love the flair – I want us to excite our fans. I liked our attitude and the way we pressed in the first half.

“It’s not a slight on my team, it’s not a bad attitude, it’s just that we took our foot off the gas a little bit and you let the other team in. The league is too good to do that now and credit to West Ham. I felt they maintained their energy throughout the game and if they play like that more often they’ll get some really good results.”

West Ham boss Rehanne Skinner remained positive despite the defeat which leaves the Hammers with just one win after six WSL games.

She said: “Second half for 40 minutes we played how we wanted to play, we caused problems, but when you’re not doing that for 90 minutes then it will cause a bit of a challenge.

“It is frustrating because we know what our players are capable of. We see it in training day in and day out and you want them to step up and deliver at the weekend.

“In this league we have to be competitive every week and today we gave too much time and space. You can’t give Man United that much time and space without being punished for it.”

Jonjo Shelvey channelled his inner David Beckham and Harry Kane by scoring a wonder goal from his own half for Turkish side Rizespor.

The 31-year-old sent a pinpoint shot from the centre circle in his own half over goalkeeper David Jensen to put his side 1-0 up in the fifth minute against Istanbulspor.

It was his first goal for the Super Lig club following his move from Nottingham Forest in September and was a similar strike to the one Kane scored for Bayern Munich against Darmstadt.

Shelvey was only at the City Ground for eight months after joining from Newcastle last January, but fell out of favour after throwing a tantrum when he was left out of Forest’s trip to Liverpool in April.

Rizespor are currently midtable in the Super Lig after an inconsistent start to the season.

James Tavernier missed a penalty and scored another as Rangers maintained their encouraging start under Philippe Clement with a comfortable 2-0 win away to struggling Livingston on Sunday.

Cyriel Dessers set the Ibrox men on their way to victory in the first half with his sixth goal of the season before captain Tavernier sealed the points with a second-half spot-kick after he had sent his earlier attempt from 12 yards out wide of the post.

Clement has now overseen seven games unbeaten – six of which have brought victories – since replacing Michael Beale last month.

After four consecutive defeats left his side bottom of the table prior to the visit of the on-form Ibrox men, Livi boss David Martindale made five changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Dundee last Sunday.

Goalkeeper Jack Hamilton, Miles Welch-Hayes, Jason Holt, Danny Lloyd and Stephen Kelly all dropped out to make way for Shamal George, Cristian Montano, Mo Sangare, Bruce Anderson and Luiyi de Lucas.

Clement freshened up his Rangers team for the trip to West Lothian, making four alterations to the XI that started Thursday night’s 2-1 win at home to Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Ben Davies, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers and Danilo dropped out to be replaced by Leon Balogun, Dessers, Tom Lawrence and Ross McCausland, who was handed his first Gers start.

After enjoying a bright opening, the Ibrox side thought they had gone ahead in the 16th minute when Connor Goldson had the ball in the net from close range.

However, the goal was ruled out following a VAR check after Dessers was deemed to have been offside and interfering with play as he darted in at the near post and tried to get a touch on Tavernier’s inswinging free-kick. The wrong-footed Livi keeper George then pushed the ball out to Balogun, who in turn nodded it into the path of fellow centre-back Goldson.

Rangers created a good opening with a rapid counter-attack three minutes later but McCausland shot over after bursting on to a Lawrence pass.

The 20-year-old winger’s pace caused more problems for the Lions midway through the first half when he won a penalty after being brought down by George as he ran on to a Tavernier pass.

Tavernier, however, sent his spot kick wide of the goalkeeper’s left-hand post.

Rangers had been well on top and they made a deserved breakthrough in the 26th minute when a lovely pass from Lawrence released Nigerian forward Dessers, who got away from Sean Kelly to slot the ball behind the advancing George.

McCausland thought he had scored his first senior goal for Rangers when he fired the ball high into the net just before half-time but the goal was disallowed for a foul by Abdallah Sima.

Rangers continued to dominate after the break but – after struggling to create many clear chances – they had to wait until the 74th minute to put the game beyond their hosts.

Following a VAR check, it was deemed that the ball struck the arm of Michael Devlin as the Livi captain challenged Rangers forwards Danilo and Sima in the air while trying to defend a cross from the left from Borna Barisic.

This time Tavernier made no mistake in tucking the ball to the right of the helpless George as Rangers continued their strong start to Clement’s reign and left Livi at the foot of the table on goal difference from Ross County.

Empoli increased the pressure on under-fire Napoli boss Rudi Garcia with a 1-0 win in Serie A.

Viktor Kovalenko’s injury-time winner gave the visitors the smash-and-grab points in Naples and left Garcia in no doubt about how the home fans feel about him after he received jeers.

Last year’s champions are in fourth after this sorry defeat.

It could have been so different had the hosts taken two early chances, but they came up against inspired Empoli goalkeeper Etrit Berisha.

The Albania international tipped Matteo Politano’s effort wide and then kept out Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s header from the resulting corner.

Napoli thought they had taken the lead in the 27th minute after Giovanni Simeone poked home but he was ruled offside.

Empoli showed they meant business and fired two warning shots before the break when Matteo Cancellieri fizzed a shot just wide and then Andrea Ranocchia volleyed inches over.

Napoli took a while to get going after the break and then found Berisha was in no mood to concede.

Jesper Lindstrom, who had just come on, fired a wicked effort from 20 yards that was heading for the top corner, but the goalkeeper made a superb flying save.

He then twice denied Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as Napoli kept knocking on the door.

First he kept out an arrowed effort from the Georgian and then used his leg to save another low shot.

It looked like Napoli would be mulling over two points dropped as the game headed into injury time, but things got a lot worse as Empoli stole the win.

In the first minute of injury time Kovalenko found space on the edge of the area and found the far post with a delicious curling effort which beat goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini and went in off the post.

There was no time for Napoli to respond and Garcia was left staring down the barrel.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is desperate for some positive injury news over the international break.

The Magpies have been decimated by injuries and were without 11 players for Saturday’s defeat at Bournemouth.

They also lost Miguel Almiron to a hamstring problem in the first half which Howe hopes is not too serious.

Also absent was Bruno Guimaraes through suspension, with Newcastle failing to win all seven of the matches he has missed since he joined the club.

“The break has come at a very good time,” said Howe.

“It doesn’t mean we will have a flood of players back but hopefully one or two.

“Bruno was a huge miss. We’ll get him back. But a lot are longer-term and we have to accept that.

“I think we’ve been unlucky – some bizarre injuries. Jacob Murphy’s shoulder, Dan Burn landing on his back. There’s nothing we can do about that. Its a unique situation.”

Dominic Solanke’s second-half double lifted Bournemouth out of the relegation zone.

Solanke told Sky Sports: “Obviously we haven’t had the best of starts to the season, but I think we’re in a place now to kick on.

“We’ve had two back-to-back wins at home in the league now. We’re looking to push forward and hopefully I can keep scoring.”

Coventry manager Mark Robins was pleased his side “stopped the rot” after a four-game losing streak but admitted his disappointment after his side drew 0-0 with Stoke.

The Sky Blues had been on a miserable run that culminated with a 3-2 defeat to Preston last time out, while the Potters left the West Midlands on a six-match unbeaten run after a fourth clean sheet in succession.

Ellis Simms came closest for the home side when he hit the post in the first half, whilst Jamie Allen and Matty Godden squandered good chances.

“I’m pleased with stopping the rot because it was getting boring, but frustrated because we should have taken the chances to have taken the game away from a really good side,” said Robins.

“There has been a lot of good work which has gone on this week, some of which has come out in today’s game, some of which didn’t and it will take time for it to come out fully.

“The work rate was incredible from everyone. Haji (Wright) on the left-hand side worked his socks off, Matty Godden, Ellis was trying to find his way, hits the post with one, Matty missed a chance when it has come off his shoulder from a header when you would expect him to score.

“You need something to move forward from and today is hopefully that. It’s been a tough (period from) international break to international break in terms of the points we have picked up but some of the performances have been really good – parts of performances have been really good.

“We’ll take it, the clean sheet on the back of the goals we’ve conceded, and some of the decisions that have gone against us have been laughable really.

“We’ve got to take the point and move on from that. Plenty of work to do.”

Alex Neil conceded his side did not do enough to win the game as Stoke battled to a second 0-0 draw in succession.

He said: “I thought there was some really good bits and some not-so-good bits. We played well through the back but I thought we lacked a real punch at the top end of the pitch today.

“I didn’t think we created enough real chances, we got into some good areas and got to the byline probably six or seven times in the game and I think when you get there you’ve got to create better opportunities, whether it’s a clear cut-back or you stand it up at the back post.

“I thought they were similar, they had some good moments but not anything clear that should win the game either.

“That’s four clean sheets on the bounce we’ve had and for us over a number of years that is rare so that’s a good point. What we need to do is make sure we’ve got enough aggression in our game, enough quality.

“We didn’t lack enough threat going forward in terms of volume of players, we just didn’t really select the right options. Sometimes in these tight games you need one player to produce one moment of quality and unfortunately for both teams that wasn’t quite there. We huffed and puffed without it really being enough.

“If you don’t do enough to win the game, don’t lose the game.”

Coventry halted their four-match losing run with a 0-0 Sky Bet Championship draw against Stoke.

The Sky Blues had been on a miserable run which culminated in a 3-2 loss against Preston last time out, but could have taken all three points as Ellis Simms hit the post in the first half.

Stoke left the West Midlands with their own unbeaten run intact as their second stalemate in succession left them six unbeaten.

Simms came closest to giving Coventry a much-needed three points when Jake Bidwell hung up an inviting cross to the back post which the former Everton man headed against the woodwork.

It was a much-changed Coventry side that saw Simms partnered by Matty Godden and Haji Wright up front, with all three strikers starting together for the first time in a new-look 4-3-3 formation.

Brad Collins was handed a first start in goal at the expense of Ben Wilson, whilst Bidwell was preferred to Jay Dasilva at left-back and Kyle McFadzean unavailable after the death of his mother on Tuesday.

The unchanged Stoke line-up featured two former Sky Blues at centre back as former loanee Luke McNally was partnered by Michael Rose.

After a dull opening 20 minutes, two of the front three linked up when Simms chested down for stand-in captain Godden, his deflected effort clawed away by Jack Bonham.

Collins was forced to save low to his left from Daniel Johnson at the other end with the Coventry back line stood still after the offside flag had been raised and then put down, cueing a chorus of boos from the majority of the 25,003 inside the ground.

Mark Robins’ side started well after the break when Wright headed Godden’s pinpoint cross over the crossbar before the American picked out Jamie Allen in the box, but the midfielder scuffed his effort.

Dwight Gayle forced Collins into a second save in a rare foray forward for Alex Neil’s men whilst Matt Vidigal’s acrobatic effort went wide.

Josh Eccles won possession high up the field and drove forward before feeding Simms but the 22-year-old skewed his effort wide before Wright could only find the side netting when he was played in down the left.

Godden then found a yard in the box but he could only nod Bidwell’s corner wide of Bonham’s goal.

The Sky Blues may have failed to find their all-important goal but a seventh draw of the season meant Robins’ men avoided a fifth straight defeat for the first time since February 2017.

Leandro Trossard is confident every time Bukayo Saka has the ball he will make something happen as the Arsenal pair combined once again to open the scoring in Saturday’s win over Burnley.

Belgium forward Trossard has scored six goals this season and they have all been assisted by Saka, whose header to the back-post was bravely converted by his team-mate.

Arsenal won 3-1 to move second in the Premier League as William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko goals cancelled out Josh Brownhill’s equaliser for the visitors.

Mikel Arteta praised the “connection” Trossard has with his Arsenal colleagues but none is seemingly as strong as that he has with Saka.

“I don’t know why but every time B (Saka) is on the ball, I just know I need to make a movement or come close to him,” said Trossard.

“In this moment I just gambled on him winning the header and he did and that’s why I got the goal.”

Trossard risked injury to bundle home the opener, turning in Saka’s header from close-range before clattering into Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford and the post.

“In the moment I headed the ball I tried to protect myself,” he added.

“But I hit the post with my forearm and it was really painful but it’s okay and the pain has calmed down.

“It’s always nice to score a goal, of course, that helps your team to win a game and that’s what we did today so it was really important to go into the international break like this and we have done it.”

While the win sees the Gunners leapfrog north London rivals Tottenham, it condemned Burnley to a 10th defeat in their opening 12 games.

The Clarets have now lost five in a row in the league, shipping 14 goals and scoring just three in that time.

Brownhill drew them level for all of three minutes at the Emirates Stadium but the Burnley captain believes there is still plenty to take from recent performances heading into the international break.

“I think overall there’s a lot of positives to take but at the end of the day it’s a defeat, so everybody’s frustrated but like I say I think there’s a lot of positives in there,” he told the club’s official website.

“The confidence that we’ll take, even though the results haven’t gone our way, the performances have been really, really good. It was always going to take a little bit getting going.

“Now it’s time to rest, come back but we’ve got to start getting the results, that’s the main thing.

We can perform well as much as we want but the most important thing is the result and I believe in this team, what we can do and what we can achieve this season – so it won’t be long before we start getting the results we deserve.”

Megan Rapinoe was left devastated after her career swansong came to an early end as she limped out of the National Women’s Soccer League final.

The 38-year-old suffered a suspected ruptured Achilles in just the third minute of the season-decider in San Diego and then had to watch her side OL Reign lose 2-1 to NJ/NY Gotham FC.

Rapinoe won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal in a brilliant 203-cap career for the United States, but the defeat means she ends her domestic stint without an NWSL title.

She admitted that it was the “worst possible outcome” to her finale.

“It felt like just a huge pop,” Rapinoe told ESPN.

“The worst possible outcome. I just thank god I have like a f****** deep well of sense of humour. But just obviously devastating to go out in the final so early.

“That’s life, it’s part of the game. I was feeling really good before the game, wasn’t feeling tight or wasn’t having calf issues or anything. You don’t always get to have the perfect ending.

“I feel so lucky and so grateful to have played as long as I’ve played and to have played with the incredible players that I’ve played (with).

“Every sort of new cycle that I’ve come with, I’ve gotten close to certain players and built relationships and played with some of the very best players in the world.

“I’m looking forward to retirement. I’m retiring on the field, but you’ll definitely be seeing a lot of me off of it.”

Victor Lindelof says Manchester United must keep building after Erik ten Hag’s below-par side fought for a fourth narrow win in five Premier League matches.

This has been a difficult second campaign to date for the Dutchman, who oversaw a ninth loss in 17 games in Wednesday’s 4-3 Champions League collapse at Copenhagen.

United rallied at a packed Old Trafford on Saturday and Lindelof’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 win against unfancied Luton, easing pressure before an international break they head into in a surprisingly good spot.

Despite relentless scrutiny and some chastening defeats, no team has won more points over their last five Premier League games than a Red Devils team with plenty of improvements to make.

“We want to score more goals and that’s the next step for us,” Lindelof said.

“Right now the most important thing is the three points and the result.

“But after that we have to keep going, keep working and building and hopefully we can score goals, close the game and not make it difficult for ourselves. But it’s step by step.

“We haven’t been playing at the highest level and we know that. We’ve just got to keep working hard.

“”We’re (not far) off the top four, and it shows that even if we’re not playing at the highest level, we can still get a result.”

All seven of United’s Premier League wins this term have come by a one-goal margin.

Ten Hag believes things will improve when his goal-shy frontmen’s form turns and is happy how others have stepped up in the meantime, with defender Lindelof lashing home just his fourth for the club on Saturday.

“It’s always special and nice to score a goal – I don’t score that many anymore,” the Sweden skipper told MUTV.

“To score the match-winner in front of the Stretford End is a special feeling and I felt that today.

“I saw the ball drop and I was thinking to myself ‘just try and hit it quite hard and quite high’. It was a good goal, I think.

“After the goal we dropped a little bit but, like I said, three points was the most important thing.”

Lindelof and many of his team-mates now turn their attention to international matters with United now not back in action until the trip to Everton on November 26.

Luton return to Premier League matters a day earlier at home to Crystal Palace as Rob Edwards’ promoted side look for a second victory of a season after a pair of promising displays.

“We are disappointed,” the Hatters boss said after a narrow loss at Old Trafford followed a 1-1 home draw with Liverpool.

“Of course, there was hard work in the performance and there was good quality in the second half from us.

“We showed a lot of bravery on the ball, and our fans know we aren’t a team that necessarily dominates on the ball.

“To grow on the ball in one of the best stadiums in the world and in the toughest league in the world is difficult, so the boys showed incredible bravery.

“It was harder to break United down later in the game as they got more players behind the ball, we just needed to find moments in the game at the right times and create some chances.

“I saw a determination, a steel, a grit about us in that first half, we rode our luck once or twice but had a chance of our own through the Carlton (Morris) header and it was important to stay in the game.

“The support we had from the fans was incredible today. It was very important at the beginning that we showed that respect which we did immaculately, and then I could hear them the whole game.

“It made me really proud to be representing this club and I hope everyone has a safe journey home.

“Take a lot from it, be proud of the football club today, but we are greedy and we want more points.”

A new champion will be crowned in this year’s ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup, as St George’s College denied defending champions Jamaica College a spot in the semi-final for the first time since 2012, after they played out a 1-1 stalemate in their decisive Group two quarterfinal encounter at Ashenheim Stadium on Saturday.

St George’s College entered the contest needing only a point and did enough to ensure they got in when Brian Burkett converted a 45+3-minute penalty. Though Jamaica College pulled on back through substitute Jayd Johnson (59^th), stout defending, coupled with some excellent glove work by D’Jone Davis, in goal for St George’s College, broke the hearts of their Old Hope Road-based counterparts.  

With the point, St George’s College finished second on five points, two behind group winners Hydel High, who were 3-1 winners over Tivoli High in their fixture at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.

Both St George’s College and Hydel will next face Mona High and Kingston College respectively in the semi-final, with all four teams also set to represent the urban area in the all-island Champions Cup knockout tournament.

Meanwhile, Jamaica College, who ended third on three points, it is on to the consolation Walker Cup knockout tournament, along with the pointless Tivoli, who are defending champions.

Marcel Gayle, assistant coach of many-time champions St George’s College was delighted by the outcome, which he credited to the work done by goalkeeper Davis, in particular.

“I must say credit to Jamaica College, they are a very quality team, fought hard, and it is something that we were prepared for. It was a case of defence versus attack and we defended stoutly, credit must be given to D’Jone in goal, he was fantastic and I think he made the difference for us today,” Gayle said in a post-game interview.

With 53 titles between them, the clash between Jamaica College and Jamaica College was always expected to be a humdinger affair and it didn’t disappoint.

The games started at a good tempo with both teams going at each other in end-to-end action. Jamaica College gradually gained the ascendancy, as they showed more enterprise in attack which resulted in numerous squandered chances.

They should have opened the scoring in the 11^th minute when Jabarie Howell was left unmarked deep inside the 18-yard box, but his shot kept out by Davis.

A minute later Jamoy Dennis produced a tidy run down the right channel and played a pass inside to Amarlie King, who couldn’t sort his feet out in time to get a shot on target.

Jamaica College again went close in the 24^th when Malachi Sterling combined with King on a counterattack, but the latter again muffed his effort.

The “Dark Blues” of Old Hope Road, thought they had the go-ahead goal on the half-hour mark, but the goal was flagged offside.

As St George’s College struggled to break free, Jamaica College was again denied by Davis, who left his line well to block Tahir Lawrence’s stinging shot from point blank range, in the 35^th minute.

Just when it seemed like the teams would go into the break goalless, the “Light Blues” of North Street found the lead against the run of play when Burkett converted from the penalty spot, after Zabir Taylor was felled inside the area by Javaun Mills.

Having paid for their profligacy, Jamaica College now requiring two goals to progress, again came out pressing on the resumption and pulled level 14 minutes in. This, as Johnson got in behind defenders and applied a tidy finish beyond Davis from an angle.

The Davion Ferguson-coached Jamaica College continued to create chances in their push for the winner. The best of those came in the latter stages when Johnson’s freekick was blocked by Davis and three players converged on the rebound but none could convert in time added.

That basically summed up Jamaica College’s Day, and Ferguson was left bitterly disappointed.

“We came out here today with a plan, we created enough chances to win the game and we just didn’t put them away. We’ve had some issues up to and it showed here today. St George’s came here with a resilient spirit, and they deserve to go through, so congratulations to them,” he said.

Saturday’s results

St George’s College 1, Jamaica College 1

Hydel High 3, Tivoli High 1

Semi-Final Matchups

Mona High vs St George's College

Hydel High vs Kingston College