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PERFECT START CONTINUES

Perusing assorted Social Media Disgrace for some Monday inspiration, Football Daily was struck by the amount of scorn and ridicule heaped upon a large group of men dressed in black, many of them wearing balaclavas to hide their identities. Formed with the intention of creating something resembling a matchday atmosphere in and around the Emirates Stadium, the Ashburton Army is a group of wannabe ultras who would almost certainly retreat at the speed of light if confronted by one of the more hardcore continental firms they style themselves after. While many fellow fans view them with utter disdain for their “try-hard” aesthetic, on the same day a large group of identically attired and significantly older men were marching on Portsmouth to intimidate a boat-load of asylum seekers, the feeling persists that on this occasion, those pouring derision on this gang of overenthusiastic Ruperts might have set their sights elsewhere.

Widely billed as The Basque 44-Year-Olds Who Grew Up Together In The Antiguo Locale of San Sebastián and Remain Close Friends To This Day derby, there was atmos aplenty at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal hosted one of very few teams given a snowball’s chance in hell of challenging them for the title this season. And while Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea took a very early lead courtesy of some uncharacteristically shonky Arsenal defending at a set-piece, the champions ultimately prevailed. Their victory was due in no small part to Martin Ødegaard, who put in the kind of purring performance we simply did not often see from the frequently absent or knack-plagued Norwegian as his teammates ground out victory after victory en route to last season’s title. “I think he is enjoying his football,” whooped Mikel Arteta as he praised his captain after the game. “His personal life is settled. He is available. He is training. He has his routine and if he is intelligent, he can take a lot of benefits from the players around him. I think he was outstanding today.”

Having watched Arsenal play three, win three and score all six of their goals from open play in the Premier League so far, cynics who spent large tracts of last season criticising Arteta’s side’s over-reliance on set-piece goals have had to find new nits to pick. No stranger to controversy last season, on Sunday Gabriel Magalhães prompted a nationwide chorus of grumbles for escaping a red card despite kicking the Chelsea goalkeeper in the head. “Martínez has got the ball in his hands and he boots him in the head,” observed Wayne Rooney with a chuckle on Match of the Day. “I think he’s extremely lucky to stay on the pitch.” And while Football Daily is largely against heads being kicked on the football pitch or elsewhere, the decision not to dismiss Arsenal’s defender was correct because there was no malice aforethought as the Brazilian scrapped for the ball and he did not throw his boot with excessive force. In so many ways this is an Arsenal we are not used to seeing, but one that already looks far better than the one that won the league.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Two months after the events, we note that our questions remain unanswered to date. Given the importance of transparency and clarity for all parties involved, we request the necessary explanations and, at the same time, wish to explore where improvements to the current processes are possible, so that similar cases can be handled in a clear, consistent and efficient manner in the future”​ – Pascale Van Damme, president of the Royal Belgian Football Association. Belgium are currently a “nah” to supporting Gianni Infantino’s run for another go at being Fifa president after an unsatisfactory conclusion to inquiries about how USA USA USA’s Folarin Balogun was suddenly available for selection to face them at the World Cup despite a red card.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

Re: Kieron Dyer and his MJ press conference (Friday’s Football Daily, full email edition). I wish he’d just beat it” – Marc Meldrum.

‘Mike’ Hackett? Let’s start a new trend and give every referee the moniker ‘Mike’, going back as far as 1891. Mike Langenus. Mike Horn. Mike Ellis. Mike Taylor. Mike Partridge. Mike Courtney. Mike Collina. Mike Clattenburg. Heck, even Mike ‘Mike’ Dean. Why not, since they’re all miked up theses days anyway” – Ben van Maaren.

I was wondering if the World Cup had taken some players over that threshold between good and great. Thinking about players who had a brilliant competition and have come back men, not boys. No more nerves or inconsistency. Eg Haaland, post-haircut … maybe Ødegaard? Can you think of anyone else transformed? And, conversely, how would a bad WC affect someone? Or, again, what about Cole Palmer? Four years of hurt or dodged a bullet?” – Russell Richardson.

A promoted team like Hull may be in the top four. Chelsea may sell/loan 40 players and still carry a bench worth half a billion GBP. Manchester United may suddenly look like a team that can play 90 minutes without imploding. Nothing is certain, except Spurs staying in the relegation zone until MD 36. Thank you Spurs, for such stability” – Krishna Moorthy.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Krishna Moorthy, who gets a copy of The Mbappé Project by Philippe Auclair. Copies are available in the Guardian Bookshop if you are not the lucky scribe. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. 

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It’s time for Football Weekly. Max Rushden and the panel discuss Arsenal’s win over Chelsea, Ainsley Maitland-Niles’s stunner and goalless Spurs. If you’d prefer to watch the pod, you can do so here.

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Now on BlueSpace, TikBook, Instachat, all the lesser disgraces. 

REAL GONE MID

José Mourinho would like everyone to know that he has moved on. The Big Cup, after all, is the one trophy he failed to win during his first spell at Real Madrid. So, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Serie A champions Inter at the Bernabéu, it seemed reasonable to ask whether there was unfinished business. Nope. “When I left in 2013, we won what we won and lost what we lost, and we gave it our all,” Mourinho tooted. “What I need to do now has nothing to do with the past.” Fair enough. Although it is worth remembering that when Mourinho arrived in Madrid in 2010, the club were struggling even to make the latter stages of Europe’s premier competition. Now they have won six Champions Leagues in a little over a decade. So perhaps the past is best left alone.

The present, meanwhile, contains a slightly awkward 1-0 defeat by Real Betis on Friday. Not quite the ideal preparation for a Champions League opener, particularly at a club where “give it time” has never been the most popular phrase in the vocabulary.

Mourinho knows this. Stability, he said, is the answer. “We want to win every match, every competition. But you have to work to accomplish stability. Stability. Stability … Structure.” Madrid have not won a major trophy for two seasons. Kylian Mbappé arrived amid enormous expectation. Mourinho is back, carrying all the old Mourinho baggage while insisting the past is irrelevant. And Big Cup, naturally, remains the competition by which everything at the Bernabéu is eventually measured. No pressure, then.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Manchester City are further relieved that Khadija Shaw didn’t do one in the summer as initially advertised last season – her second-half double proved the difference in the WSL champions’ 3-1 victory in their league opener against Birmingham. Potential title rivals Arsenal also kicked off with three points thanks to a 1-0 win at Brighton.

David Moyes was elated with his Everton squad’s response to a tricky week where transfer deadline day went a bit wrong and it emerged that he’s never spoken to his boss. “Sometimes when you have less players it means everybody has to be ready and you have to find a way of making it work,” he puffed, having watched his side’s stirring late fightback for a point against Manchester United.

Jamie Vardy has swiftly moved on from hosting Mike Dean on his podcast to a new gig with early Championship disappointments Burnley. The 39-year-old was a free agent after leaving Cremonese.

Al-Hilal have confirmed the appointment of Richard Hughes as their new sporting director. His departure from Liverpool was announced last week.

And Ronald Koeman Jr, the goalkeeper son of the former Netherlands player and manager Ronald Koeman, scored two spot-kicks for Telstar to rescue a point in their Eredivisie match with Cambuur. His second was converted in the 11th minute of added time.

STILL WANT MORE?

The wild start to Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea was all jam, all sugar rush – and points to more good times for Gunners fans, reckons Barney Ronay.

CBS’s social media-catnip Champions League panel have dusted off their mics for the new season. Kate Scott, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards get their chat on with Jeff Rueter.

‘Hey, you’re the man who sent off Beckham’: a book extract details former referee Kim Milton Nielsen’s infamously big call at the 1998 World Cup.

We’ve recounted them to check, and at the time of typing here’s 10 talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action.

Aubamawho? Two assists and the winner for Deportivo A Coruña leaves Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with one club record and eyeing another, reports Billy Munday.

The often-derided Loris Karius upstaged Manuel Neuer as Schalke held Bayern to a rare goalless draw in a tale of two goalkeepers in Gelsenkirchen, writes Andy Brassell.

And Nicky Bandini reports on the Serie A hierarchy after Inter’s victory over Napoli had the feel of a title race classic, while Juventus and Milan exposed familiar shortcomings.

MEMORY LANE

Not a single Liverpool player was included in Thomas Tuchel’s 2026 World Cup squad. That was a far cry from 1977 when, on this very September day for the Wembley friendly against Switzerland, new England boss Ron Greenwood picked seven players from the Liverpool side that had beaten Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in May’s European Cup final in Rome. Kevin Keegan had since departed but that still meant more than half of Ron’s 22 starting XI were Liverpool players. To show just how much Greenwood was influenced by Bob Paisley’s English and European champions, Ian Callaghan (seen here lifting Big Cup) was making his first England appearance for 11 years. Three Englishmen, Terry McDermott, Tommy Smith (left) and Phil Neal (right), scored in that 1977 European Cup final but there was a collective firing of blanks against Switzerland at Wembley as the Three Lions “lacked cohesion and imagination” … and Greenwood’s first game in charge ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw.

THROWN INTO THE DEEP END