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• No love lost for Conte ahead of 'emotional' Juventus reunion

  Antonio Conte is relishing Napoli's upcoming clash that will see him return to Juventus, a club he both played for and managed. 

  Conte has started his career in Naples in fine form, leading Napoli to three wins from their first four league games and to second in the Serie A standings. 

  But this weekend sees him return to the club he made 419 appearances for as a player, winning 12 titles, which included the Champions League in 1995-96. 

  Having started his managerial journey at Arezzo in 2006, the Italian returned to Juventus in 2011, replacing Luigi Delneri as their new head coach. 

  Conte led Juventus to three consecutive Scudetto titles, winning 90 of his 133 games in charge (D30 L13) before becoming the Italy national team head coach. 

  The last time the 55-year-old travelled to Turin as the opposing team's manager was in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with his Inter side losing 3-2 having already won the title. 

  "My past is clear, 13 years at Juve as a player, I was captain for several years, winning practically everything," Conte said.  

  "I had the opportunity to coach for three years, starting a series of nine Scudetti.

  "I am part of Juve's history because of what I've done and given them. It's easier to stay at one club your entire career.

  "But as a coach it's impossible to decide your own career. I coached Juve for three years, my career took me to different places.

  "Today I have the true pleasure of coaching a team like Napoli. For me, being someone from the south, it is a proud and satisfying feeling.

  "There will be lots of emotions returning to that stadium, because last time I returned during COVID."

  Conte comes up against a man he knows well in Juventus head coach Thiago Motta, having managed him during his time with the Italian national team. 

  Motta has collected eight points from his four games in charge of his new club after leading Bologna to Champions League qualification last term. 

  The 42-year-old marked his first game as a head coach in the Champions League with a comfortable 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday. 

  Conte wished Motta well for the season, but not at the expense of his Napoli side. 

  "Thiago Motta takes on a heavy legacy... It's not a trivial thing to coach there, there is a demand for victory, like at Milan or Inter," Conte said.

  "He was a player of mine with the national team at the European Championships. He makes me smile, but it also saddens me a bit because I'm getting old.

  "He did very well in Bologna and so I wish him the best from a human point of view, but not in the games against us." 

• Women's Champions League roundup: Real Madrid snatch first leg lead

  A late goal from Melanie Leupolz gave Real Madrid a 2-1 first-leg aggregate advantage over Sporting CP in their Champions League qualifier.

  The away side took the lead after just 11 minutes as Athenea del Castillo capitalised on a poor mistake from Sporting keeper Hannah Seabert and slotted the ball into an empty net.

  Despite Madrid's dominance, they were pegged back on the stroke of half-time after a foul by keeper Misa Rodriguez in the box, with Andreia Bravo making no mistake from the spot.

  Madrid continued to dominate in the second half, with Alba Redondo going close, but it looked as if Sporting would hang for a draw to take to Madrid next week.

  But that was before Leupolz headed the ball into the net in injury-time after Olga Carmona's cross could only be parried out.

  Meanwhile, Galatasaray squandered a two-goal advantage to draw their home-leg encounter with Slavia Prague.

  A second-half brace from Andrea Staskova looked to have given the Turkish side a healthy lead to take to the Czech Republic, but Slavia Prague responded late on, with Benan Altintas scoring an own goal 15 minutes from time, before Kristina Kosikova's 98th minute equaliser.

  St Polten, meanwhile, hold a healthy first leg lead after defeating Musa 3-0 at home.

  The first half produced no goals, but the Austrian side showed their class in the second half, with Kamila Dubcova, Melike Pekel and Izabela Krizaj all getting on the scoresheet.

• O'Neil looking to flip the script against Villa after tough start to season

  Gary O'Neil admitted that Wolves may be second favourite in every game, but he is hoping they can flip the script against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.

  Wolves have endured a difficult start to the season with one draw and three losses, including a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United last weekend after they failed to hold onto their lead.

  They sit 18th in the Premier League table and go into the weekend having also been knocked out of the EFL Cup after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Brighton on Wednesday.

  O'Neil did not shy away from their run of poor form and is hopeful they can start to get results that match their performances.

  "Of course, should haves and could haves aren't going to help us, but moving forward you can still see that we're giving ourselves good opportunities to win football matches against tough teams," O'Neil told BBC Radio WM.

  "Unfortunately, at this moment in time, we haven't managed to turn one [result] our way. The lads are still taking a lot of heart from [the Brighton game].

  "So far, my guess would be that we have been second-favourite in every game. I think we will be for the next few as well so, we're having to fight against the odds at the minute.

  "We are doing enough to get results, but we are falling a bit short."

  Meanwhile, Villa have lost just one of their four Premier League outings so far and came from 2-0 down to beat Everton 3-2 in their last such match.

  The Villans are returning to Premier League action on a high after opening their Champions League campaign with a dominant 3-0 victory over Young Boys.

  Youri Tielemans was delighted with their showing in Europe but already has his focus back on the top-flight.

  "For our first match, it was amazing," Tielemans said. "We can enjoy this and focus on the next game now.

  "It was a good performance from myself, from the team, so we can move forward."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Aston Villa – Jhon Duran

  Jhon Duran has scored the winning goal in all three of Villa's Premier League victories this season, with all three coming as a substitute.

  No player has scored four winning goals from the bench in a single campaign in Premier League history.

  Wolves – Andre

  Andre completed all of his 40 passes for Wolves against Newcastle United before being withdrawn (100%).

  He also won five of his nine duels and won possession four times in his first start for Wolves.

  MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

  Villa beat Wolves 2-0 in their last league meeting in March last season – only in their first two such encounters in 2003-04 have they won consecutive Premier League games against them.

  The Villans have won three of their four Premier League games this season, losing the other against Arsenal. Only in 1998-99, 2009-10 and 2020-21 have they won as many as four of their first five in a single campaign in the competition.

  However, between March and Christmas 2023, Villa conceded just eight goals in 16 Premier League home games (0.5 per game), and never more than once in a match in that time. Since then, they have conceded 26 goals in 12 games at Villa Park (2.2 per game), conceding at least twice in 10 of those (including each of the last four).

  Meanwhile, Wolves have only lost one of their last five away league games against Aston Villa (D2 L2), though it was in this exact fixture last season (0-2).

  Wolves have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games (D3 L10) and are winless in seven (D1 L6) since a 2-1 win over Luton in April. It is their longest run without a victory since a run of 12 between April and August 2022.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Aston Villa – 57.6%

  Draw – 21.4%

  Wolves – 21%