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• Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville

  Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.

  United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.

  Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.

  Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.

  Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.

  "It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.

  "That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.

  "I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.

  "It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."

  Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.

  However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).

  While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag's future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.

  "The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won't want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games," Neville added.

  "They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.

  "Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.

  "If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure.

  "The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job."

• Nice 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Mendes rescues points to keep visitors unbeaten

  Paris-Saint-Germain missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, with Nuno Mendes saving a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday. 

  Nice started brightly and caused havoc as PSG struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages. Ali Al-Abdi soon took advantage of their visitors' lacklustre start, opening the scoring six minutes before half-time with a powerful strike from a corner.

  Ousmane Dembele, who was dropped in midweek for the Champions League, orchestrated their equaliser, picking out Mendes, whose deflected shot beat the keeper to hit the back of the net seven minutes after the break.

  They almost had a second moments later, Marquinhos rising high to meet Lee Kang-in's cross, only to see his powerful header rebound off the post.

  Nice held firm despite the late pressure from PSG as goalkeeper Marcin Bulka kept out good efforts by Vitinha and Dembele.

  It leaves PSG two points behind leaders Monaco heading into the international break.

  Data Debrief: PSG's total dominance does not come to fruition

  It has been a fairly disappointing week for PSG, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League, and failed to re-close the gap to Monaco at the top of the league by dropping points. 

  They had 19 shots against Nice, with 14 of those coming in a dominant second half. Seven of those after the break were on target, while Gianluigi Donnarumma did not face a single effort at the other end. 

  However, they only managed 0.97 expected goals (xG) - Mendes' goal came from a strike worth just 0.05 - and they could not find a late winner despite their best efforts.

• Williams shares blame as Athletic miss three penalties against Girona

  Inaki Williams acknowledged Athletic Bilbao missing three penalties against Girona cannot happen in LaLiga, while taking the blame for his part in the disappointment.

  Alex Berenguer was denied by Paulo Gazzaniga in the first half from 12 yards, with Williams then denied in the second period by the Girona goalkeeper on Sunday.

  Gazzaniga was adjudged to have stepped off his line too early for the Williams spot-kick save, though the former Tottenham man then saved from Ander Herrera's retaken penalty.

  In a remarkable turn of fate, Cristhian Stuani converted a 99th-minute penalty for the visiting Girona to snatch a 2-1 victory, much to the dismay of Athletic winger Williams.

  "There are no excuses, we missed three penalties. I plead absolutely guilty, we can't miss three penalties. This can't happen in LaLiga," a frustrated Williams said.

  With Williams' miss not officially counting due to the retake, Athletic became the first side in LaLiga to miss two penalties in one match since Real Madrid in 2022.

  It was also the first time this century that the Basque club have suffered such a feat in the competition, solely down to the heroic exploits of Gazzaniga.

  "I'm happy for the three points the team got. I don't remember another match like this," Gazzaniga said.

  "Again, I would like to highlight the work of the team because without them it wouldn't have been possible.

  "We were studying the penalties with the goalkeeping coach and this time it worked out well."

  Girona's victory ended a four-match winless run in LaLiga heading into the October international break.