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• Former Liverpool defender Matip confirms retirement

  Former Liverpool defender Joel Matip has confirmed his retirement from professional football. 

  Matip, who joined Liverpool on a free transfer in 2016, has been without a club since leaving Anfield at the end of last season and has since decided to call time on his 15-year career. 

  The 33-year-old started his career at Schalke, making 258 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit and helping them lift the DFB-Pokal and German Super Cup in 2011. 

  Matip was among the first signings made by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, joining in the same window as Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Loris Karius. 

  He helped the Reds return to the Champions League in Klopp's first full campaign in charge, making 29 Premier League appearances and keeping nine clean sheets. 

  However, his spell with the Reds was marred by repetitive injuries, sustaining 16 different issues across his eight-year spell on Merseyside. 

  The former Cameroon international's final appearance for Liverpool came in a 4-3 win over Fulham in December 2023 after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in the same game. 

  Matip made 201 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, scoring 11 goals and winning six major honours, which included the Reds' sixth Champions League triumph. 

   

• Palmer will become one of the world's best players, predicts Cucurella

  Cole Palmer will be among the very best players in the world if he continues on his current trajectory, believes the forward's Chelsea team-mate Marc Cucurella.

  Palmer enjoyed a magnificent debut campaign in 2023-24 after swapping Manchester City for Stamford Bridge, with his 33 Premier League goal involvements (22 goals, 11 assists) the most of any player.

  After impressing for England at Euro 2024 – where he came off the bench to score in their 2-1 final defeat to Spain – Palmer has picked up where he left off this term, registering 11 goal contributions (six goals, five assists) to once again lead the charts.

  He became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals before half-time in a single game versus Brighton and Hove Albion in September, when he scooped the competition's Player of the Month award.

  Palmer also won England's Player of the Year award for last campaign and Cucurella, who was a key part of the Spain team that defeated the Three Lions in Berlin, believes he is destined for the very summit.

  "If you see him not in his kit you would never in your life say he was a footballer, but then on the pitch... he shoots and it doesn’t seem like he is hitting it hard but he scores," Cucurella said in an interview with The Guardian.

  "He's very different. I don't know how to explain it: he's special. We’re very lucky we have him. 

  "We [Spain] are lucky he didn’t play much in the Euros either because he came on and almost messed it up for us. 

  "If he carries on like this, he'll be among the best. He doesn't have much strength in the air, but if that’s his only problem, then he's all right."

   

  Chelsea are unbeaten in six Premier League games since going down 2-0 to champions City on matchday one, with boss Enzo Maresca winning the competition's Manager of the Month prize for September.

  Though it is still early days for the Italian coach, Cucurella says the Blues have lofty ambitions under him.

  "Our objective has to be to win a trophy," he said. "In the Conference League we can do something good, and the cups. 

  "Arsenal and City have been working in the same way for many years, the same idea, the same players, and I think we’re a bit far away from that. 

  "Liverpool too because it's been the same players. But we can get into the Champions League, that's the key objective."

• Fernandes relishing Portugal challenge with Man Utd 'not in a positive moment'

  Bruno Fernandes believes Manchester United's recent woes have left them "not in a positive moment", but he is hoping to take centre-stage for Portugal in the Nations League. 

  Fernandes has gone 12 games without finding the back of the net for United, his longest goal drought since he arrived at Old Trafford back in January 2020.

  The Red Devils have failed to win their last five games across all competitions, with their last outing ending in a goalless draw against Aston Villa before the international break. 

  Erik ten Hag's side have managed eight points from their opening seven Premier League games, their fewest at this stage of a league campaign since 1989-90 (seven).

  They have also failed to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under Ten Hag's stewardship. 

  Fernandes is now preparing for Portugal's Nations League clash with Poland on Saturday, with the midfielder hoping to continue the Selecao's perfect start in Group A1. 

  "I will talk about myself personally. It changes a lot because the space is different. This is not a positive moment at Manchester, we are not winning games," Fernandes said.

  "The space for the national team is completely different. It's a space where, in the last few days, I have felt very comfortable.

  "I have felt that I can enjoy my football, and I think that in all the games we play we are going to win, and we have all benefited from what we've come to do, and I'm in my country, I speak my language, I have better food. All of this is connected with psychology.

  "But the important thing is to know how to differentiate the moments, the places, but above all to make sure that what has been negative, try to pass that on to the positive, regardless of the club or the national team.

  "I try to give my best in all the games I play, regardless of the club or the national team I'm representing. My will and my effort will never change what I want to bring to the game."

  Fernandes was part of the Portugal side that won the Nations League in 2019, playing 81 minutes in their 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final. 

  Many of the players that started the final in Porto remain in the current squad, though head coach Roberto Martinez has shifted to a more youthful approach since.

  While Portugal suffered a quarter-final exit to France at Euro 2024, Fernandes is confident the current crop of talent can replicate their Nations League success from five years ago.

  "The first difference is that we haven't reached the final four yet. I think all the teams were strong, regardless of the names that came through here and whether they won or stopped winning. I think Portugal has always had a strong team," Fernandes said.

  "If we look at the history of our country and football in our country, we had great names and players who always represented the team at the highest level and at the level that is required.

  "There are times when you go further and others when you fall by the wayside, others when you win, as happened in 2016 and 2019.

  "This team is hungry to repeat this achievement in 2019 because no Portuguese team enters any competition to not win.

  "Everyone knows that our ambition is to always win and to win every game, so our ambition now is to win against Poland because we are a team that respects very much what we are going to find as opponents, because we know that our final objective will only come if we manage to win every game."