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• Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick

  Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. 

  Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times. 

  Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition. 

  While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them. 

  "We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said. 

  "For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.

  "A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.

  "But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."

  Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term. 

  Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.

  "Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.

  "Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.

  "The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.

  "The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."

  And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17). 

  This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.

• Amorim: Man Utd will think 'new Alex Ferguson has arrived' if Sporting beat Man City

  Ruben Amorim joked Manchester United fans will think he is the next Alex Ferguson if Sporting CP manage to beat Manchester City in the Champions League.

  The head coach has agreed to join the Red Devils and will take charge from November 11 after signing a contract with the club until the end of the 2026-27 season.

  Before then, he has two games left in charge of Sporting, starting with their Champions League match against Pep Guardiola's men on Tuesday.

  Sporting have made a perfect start to the Primeira Liga, winning all 10 of their games, and have made an unbeaten start in Europe, but Amorim is prepared to come under more scrutiny while on the touchline against City.

  "Winning tomorrow would be brilliant. Would I be a hero at Manchester United before I land? I don't think about that, my focus is on winning the game for Sporting," Amorim told a press conference.

  "The inferences that people will draw from this game are not important to me because they can be misleading. If the result was very negative, expectations will be lowered, and I don't think that is a bad starting point when I start at United.

  "If we win tomorrow, they will think that the new Alex Ferguson has arrived and that will be very difficult to maintain. What interests me is to win tomorrow, to have a farewell at Alvalade, then win in Braga and then start in Manchester.

  "It can increase or decrease expectations. I don't know what is better. I want to leave the fans and the players happy and confident and qualify the team for the play-offs."

  Sporting won their first European meeting with City in March 2012 in the Europa League, but are winless in their last three against them (D1 L2).

  However, they are unbeaten in their first three Champions League games so far this season, and if they avoid defeat on Tuesday, they will equal their longest-ever unbeaten run in the competition (four between September 1982 and March 1983).

  The 39-year-old boasts the best win ratio of any Sporting coach on record in the Primeira Liga, winning 120 of his 156 such games in charge (76.92%), but captain Morten Hjulmand said the team are ready to prove they do not need Amorim, who agreed with the sentiment.

  "Yes, [Sporting is prepared for his departure]. You heard Hjulmand say that they no longer need the coach," he added.

  "They are very mature; they understand the game very well. They are prepared, it won't make any difference in the end.

  "There is a change, of course, but the team is prepared and has enough maturity to move forward." 

• Premier League MD10: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  We are now 10 games into the Premier League season and the table is beginning to take shape, but that does not mean there is no room for an upset or two.

  On Saturday, both Manchester City and Arsenal fell to surprise defeats at Bournemouth and Newcastle United respectively. 

  It was only the third time since the start of 2017-18 that both of the previous season's top two teams had lost on the same day in the Premier League, after March 7, 2021 and January 14, 2023.

  Pep Guardiola's champions could have few complaints about the result at the Vitality Stadium, where Andoni Iraola's Cherries won the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.04 to 1.56.

  But which other games featured a lucky winner or an unlucky loser? We delve into the Opta data to find out.

  Unlucky losers: Arsenal

  The weekend's action began with Arsenal travelling to St James' Park to face Newcastle, with Mikel Arteta's side chasing a victory to move within a point of leaders Liverpool.

  However, they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat as Alexander Isak's early goal proved enough for Newcastle to make it three wins in their last four home league games against Arsenal (one loss).

  The Gunners could count themselves unlucky to come away from Tyneside with nothing, however, after limiting Newcastle to a measly 0.53 xG – 0.25 of which came from the chance for Isak's goal.

  Only West Ham, who played half of their defeat to Nottingham Forest with 10 men, created a lower figure across the nine games to take place this weekend, with 0.13 xG.

  Arsenal were far from their free-flowing best, though, only recording 10 attempts worth 1.05 xG themselves. They have averaged just 7.4 shots per game in their away Premier League matches this season, with only Brentford (7.5) taking fewer.

   

  Lucky winners: Southampton 

  Just two teams – Wolves and Ipswich Town – remain without a victory in the Premier League after Southampton finally got off the mark by beating Everton 1-0 at St Mary's.

  Russell Martin's team accumulated just 0.74 xG to Everton's 1.56, but Adam Armstrong's strike five minutes from time handed them a huge three points in their fight for safety.

  While Beto, who headed against the crossbar just 25 seconds before Armstrong's winner, and Jack Harrison spurned great chances for the Toffees, Southampton were also grateful for a late VAR intervention, as the former saw a potential leveller chalked off for a marginal offside call.

  It was the first time Everton had failed to score against Southampton in the Premier League since February 2022, bringing their five-match unbeaten run in the competition to a halt.

   

  Unlucky losers: Crystal Palace

  Southampton ended the weekend in 19th, above winless Wolves after they were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Molineux.

  Marc Guehi salvaged a draw for the Eagles, who were without star men Adam Wharton and Eberechi Eze yet arguably still did enough to leave the West Midlands with all three points.

  They racked up 19 shots totalling 2.51 xG to their hosts' 11, which had a total value of 1.51 xG. Palace's xG figure was the highest in the Premier League this weekend, but they were missing their shooting boots as Ismaila Sarr squandered two glorious chances when they were a goal to the good in the second half. 

  With both defences struggling, this was only the second Premier League game of the season to be goalless at half-time but see both sides score at least twice in the second half, after Everton 2-3 Bournemouth in August.

  There could have been a fifth goal in stoppage time, too, as Jean-Phillipe Mateta saw a potential winner disallowed for a foul on Jose Sa in the build-up. Wolves – and their under-fire head coach Gary O'Neil – arguably got away with one.

   

  Lucky winners: Chelsea 

  Sunday's late game saw Chelsea fight back to draw 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford, denying Ruud van Nistelrooy a first Premier League win as the Red Devils' interim head coach.

  Moises Caicedo's well-taken volley cancelled out Bruno Fernandes' penalty and Chelsea arguably looked the more likely victors in the second half, but they only generated 1.1 xG from their 12 attempts – and just 0.29 from six after the interval.

  United, meanwhile, had chances worth 1.98 xG, though Fernandes' spot-kick – with an xG value of 0.79 – was a major contributing factor.

  Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho squandered decent opportunities for United, though, and incoming boss Ruben Amorim has plenty of work to do with their attackers.

  United have scored just nine goals in 10 Premier League games this season – their worst record through 10 matches of any league campaign since 1973-74 (also nine).

  Fans of a certain vintage will need no reminder of what happened at the end of that season – United were relegated from the First Division, their fate sealed by club legend Denis Law scoring against them with a nonchalant backheel, while representing rivals Man City.