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• Guardiola not concerned despite Manchester City's poor defensive record

  Pep Guardiola is not worried about Manchester City's defending despite the reigning champions failing to keep a clean sheet in their last six Premier League matches.

  City went 1-0 down against Fulham before fighting back to win 3-2 on Saturday. Their opponents also amassed an expected goals (xG) total of 2.4 compared to City's 1.55.

  It follows a trend of unusually sloppy defensive displays from the champions, who have conceded eight goals in their last six league matches. They also had to come from behind against Brentford in September.

  Guardiola, however, is not overly worried.

  "Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don't we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve," he said, via the Guardian.

  "I would say except [Yoane] Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It's not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0."

  City allowed Fulham five big chances compared to their one, with the London side taking 11 shots, nine of those from inside the box.

  Comparatively, City had 20 shots with only half of those coming from inside the box. However, two of the visitors’ goals came from outside the area with Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic both firing in from distance. 

  "I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score [usually] those goals," Guardiola said of Kovacic, who is one of the midfielders the City boss expects to fill in for the injured Rodri this season.

  “We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic.

  "The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal."

• 'I back myself on penalties', says Everton's spot-kick hero Pickford

  Jordan Pickford said he fancied Anthony Gordon would switch up his penalty routine after scoring his last two spot-kicks for Newcastle United.

  Gordon was a livewire for Newcastle against Everton on Saturday, though the England international ultimately fluffed his lines in the biggest moment of the 0-0 draw at Goodison Park.

  With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Gordon failed to beat his former club-mate Pickford from 12 yards after James Tarkowski had fouled Sandro Tonali.

  The Goodison faithful were in a buoyant mood after seeing Gordon, who left Everton for Newcastle in 2023, squander his big chance, though the Toffees could not craft an opening at the other end, albeit Dominic Calvert-Lewin was perhaps unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty of his own.

  Nevertheless, Everton held firm to make it three Premier League games unbeaten and secure their first clean sheet of the campaign.

  Pickford and Gordon spoke on the pitch at full-time, and the England goalkeeper told Sky Sports: "He asked me why I went that way. I just said both his penalties before had gone right, so I fancied him going to the left, which he did.

  "I back myself on pens, it’s the first one I’ve saved for Everton in a while."

  It marked Pickford's sixth penalty save from 33 spot-kicks faced in the league during his time at Everton, and his first stop since a crucial one from James Maddison against Leicester City in May 2023.

  Newcastle, meanwhile, have had two of their last three Premier League penalties saved (one goal), having scored 23 of their previous 24 spot kicks in the competition.

  Asked if it helped going up against a player he knows well in Gordon, Pickford said: "I watched the game [against Man City] and he reversed it against Ederson, and he went the same way the game before so I just fancied him going goalkeeper's left.

  "It hit me off my knee, straight off my beak [nose]. I don't think Ant executed it to perfection, he'll be disappointed, but I’m there to make the save and that’s what I’ve done.

  "It's like trying to double-bluff each other – I've got the better of him, it’s a big moment and managed to get us a draw. Now we move forward."

  Eddie Howe, meanwhile, said his team took "big steps forward" despite not getting the three points.

  "I have to credit the players because it is a difficult environment to play in and it is a much better defensive display from us too. Big steps forward," Howe told BBC Sport.

  "We stood up to the physical test and were technically very good. We are trying to break barriers and have an outstanding season. I think we are capable of more and we have some tough fixtures to come.

  "Anthony handled the occasion very well. I think his all-round game was very good. He will be disappointed with the penalty. But credit to Pickford for the save."

  This was just Newcastle’s third clean sheet in their last 32 Premier League away games – they had recorded three consecutive shutouts on the road before this run.

  Since the start of last season, meanwhile, only Arsenal (21) and Liverpool (15) have kept more Premier League clean sheets than Everton (14).

• Leverkusen complacency key in disappointing Kiel draw, says Alonso

  Xabi Alonso slammed Bayer Leverkusen's complacency, which saw them squander a two-goal lead to draw with lowly Holstein Kiel ahead of the international break. 

  Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann had given the hosts a comfortable advantage after the first eight minutes, but Kiel, yet to win this season, capitalised on Die Werkself's wastefulness. 

  The visitors pulled a goal back in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time through Max Geschwill, with Fiete Arp scoring from the spot after the break following Jeremie Frimpong's foul on Armin Gigovic. 

  Leverkusen have now lost seven points from winning positions in the Bundesliga this season, with only Bochum and Wolfsburg (both eight) losing more.

  "I am not satisfied with our performance. It was our own fault," Alonso told reporters. 

  "We did not play intelligently, and we thought the game was done, but in football you have to keep going always with the same intensity.

  "We were far too passive. After a big game in the Champions League, we did not have the right mentality for this game."

  It was an encounter dominated by Leverkusen for large parts, with the hosts failing to take advantage of their dominance before the break. 

  14 of the hosts' 23 shots during the contest came in the first 45 minutes, with six of those on target, but they only managed to register an expected goals (xG) total of 0.8. 

  They struggled to find an opening after the interval, with Florian Wirtz's 63rd minute effort the only shot on Timon Weiner's goal in the second half. 

  "We had control but soft control without the aggressiveness for a third goal. The first Kiel goal just before half-time was a signal that it could get dangerous," Alonso said.

  "But the biggest mistake was in the first half because we did not know how to handle the game after the 2-0.

  "We were just not intelligent enough. There was a bit of complacency when we should have been more focused. We will learn."