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• Kimmich named as new Germany captain

  Joshua Kimmich has been named as Germany's new captain following Ilkay Gundogan's international retirement last month.

  The Bayern Munich player has made 91 appearances for the national team since his debut in May 2016, netting six goals, and has captained the side on 17 previous occasions.

  Kimmich played in all five of Germany's games at Euro 2024 as they reached the quarter-finals, with Nagelsmann confirming how key a figure the versatile player is.

  Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger and Arsenal's Kai Havertz, who captained Germany at youth level, have been selected as vice-captains by Julian Nagelsmann.

  "The captain places the team's opinion with the coaching team. Kimmich was the logical successor," Nagelsmann said.

  "He leads the way with his mentality. We have a very good mix with these three players."

  Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jonathan Tah, Niclas Fullkrug and Pascal Gross have also been selected for Germany's new leadership council.

  "The team council is a very good, responsible group," Nagelsmann added. "We selected it well; the players were all very happy and are keen to fill their roles."

  Nagelsmann also confirmed that Ter Stegen will be Germany's number one following Manuel Neuer's international retirement in August.

  The Barcelona goalkeeper made his debut in a pre-Euro 2012 friendly and has since made 40 appearances, keeping 12 clean sheets, with Neuer's continued presence stopping him from nailing down a starting spot.

  "Marc is number one. And deservedly the number one," Nagelsmann said.

  "He has performed well for several years. He has been captain at Barcelona for several years and is the undisputed number one with very, very good performances.

  "And he will also fulfil that role for us. That's why he's the clear number one."

  Germany will begin their Nations League campaign against Hungary on Saturday, before facing the Netherlands next week. 

• Spalletti hoping to revive Italy dream after Euros disappointment

  Luciano Spalletti has vowed to improve on Italy's disappointing Euro 2024 showing ahead of the start of their Nations League campaign this week. 

  The Azzurri needed Mattia Zaccagni's late strike against Croatia to advance to the knockout stages of the competition, but their journey ended the following game.

  Hopes of retaining their crown were dashed at the hands of Switzerland, who struck either side of half-time to set up a meeting with England in the quarter-finals. 

  The defeat marked their first knockout loss at the European Championship finals since the 2012 final against Spain (4-0), ending a run of six such games without defeat. 

  Switzerland's triumph compounded Italy to their second defeat at the tournament, more than they had managed in any other of their appearances in the competition. 

  But they will be hoping to get back on track in the Nations League, where they will face France and Israel this month, with Spalletti keen to look beyond their Euro 2024 display.

  "When we talk about failure at the Euros, we need to be more precise in our analysis," Spalletti said. 

  "Because in my opinion, it only relates to the game against Switzerland, which was very bad. 

  "Now, we turn a new page and from now on, we have to think more about our identity.

  "I am going to create a new group, a new team, putting less pressure on them, and hopefully they feel the beauty of the Azzurri shirt even more."

  Spalletti was appointed as Italy's new head coach in August 2023 following Roberto Mancini's sudden resignation, giving him less than a year to prepare for Euro 2024.

  Ahead of the tournament in Germany, Spalletti had won six of his 10 matches in charge (D3 L1), showing promising signs ahead of aiming to retain their crown. 

  However, those results did not transpire, with Spalletti accepting the responsibility for Italy's poor showing in the competition. 

  "I probably put too much pressure on them and did not give them the opportunity to enjoy the experience in an Italy shirt," he said.

  "I need to be careful with trying new things or bringing a new message.

  "I think this is the time to try something different, which inevitably means excluding some players."

  One player not involved in their Nations League fixtures is new Liverpool signing Federico Chiesa, who completed a £12.5million transfer from Juventus last week. 

  Chiesa was a key part of Italy's success at Euro 2020, scoring two goals in seven appearances on their way to the final. 

  The 26-year-old featured in all four games at this year's edition, with Spalletti able to detail his omission from the squad. 

  "Chiesa and I spoke and made a fair assessment, I would have brought him as an extra player, not participating in the games," Spalletti said. 

  "He told me that he had spoken to his new club and that he needs to do specific preparation work with them."

• Premier League MD3: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  The Premier League takes its first break for international fixtures over the next two weeks.

  But we had plenty of thrills and spills on matchday three.

  Everton were 2-0 up in the 87th minute against Bournemouth on Saturday, only for Sean Dyche's team to lose 3-2. Manchester City continued their perfect start, while Arsenal were held by Brighton, with Declan Rice sent off.

  On Sunday, Newcastle United overcame Tottenham and Chelsea drew with Crystal Palace, while the headline fixture of the weekend saw Liverpool hammer Manchester United.

  But which teams were lucky, and unlucky, on MD3?

  Lucky winners: Bournemouth

  Andoni Iraola claimed Bournemouth were fortunate to come from behind and beat Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park. The Toffees were leading by 2+ goals until the 87th minute – the latest a team has ever been 2+ goals ahead in a game they've gone on to lose in Premier League history.

  The full-time stats perhaps suggest a different version of events to Iraola's take. Bournemouth finished with a higher expected goals (xG) than Everton (2.22 to 1.97) while having 17 shots to the hosts' 18.

  But up until late on, Everton had complete control. Indeed, as of the 80th minute, Sean Dyche's team had mustered 18 shots, 11 more than Bournemouth.

  And just to hammer that home, 1.79 of Bournemouth's 2.22 xG came from the 81st minute onwards. While the Cherries deserve credit for a smash-and-grab, it is fair to say that Everton, who had five big chances but scored just two of them, will have been left scratching their heads as to how they capitulated.

  Unlucky losers: Chelsea

  Okay, so technically, Chelsea are not 'losers' - they drew 1-1 with Palace on Sunday.

  But, based on the metrics, they were extremely unfortunate not to beat Oliver Glasner's team.

  Chelsea had 13 shots and accumulated 2.4 xG, which was the third highest across the weekend's games, behind Brentford (2.78) and Man City (3.0), albeit a huge chunk of it came from Nicolas Jackson's close-range finish.

   

  Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson was in fantastic form, making some excellent saves to deny Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer and coming away with a goals prevented figure of 1.76, and ultimately, Eberechi Eze's stunner, which had an xG of just 0.06, was enough to claim a share of the spoils and frustrate Enzo Maresca.

  Lucky winners: Newcastle United

  Newcastle beat Spurs 2-1 at St James' Park, and Eddie Howe's team showed how clinical they can be.

  They had nine shots, 11 fewer than Tottenham, but actually amassed a higher xG total (1.83 to 1.26), showing that the opportunities they created were quality ones.

  Indeed, they converted both of their big chances, meaning they join Leicester City (1/1) as the only other team from the weekend to register a 100% big chance conversion rate.

  Unlucky losers: Arsenal

  Like Chelsea, Arsenal drew, but based on the underlying metrics, and even though they went down to 10 men when Declan Rice was sent off, they could be considered unfortunate not to have beaten Brighton.

  Mikel Arteta's team finished with an xG of 2.14, the fifth-highest total from the weekend, while also creating five big opportunities, from which players would have been anticipated to do better, only for the Gunners to miss four of them.

  On the flip side, Arsenal did face 22 shots going the other way, albeit those attempts did not account for a high xG (1.76).