Last season, Arsenal's most common midfield trio was captain Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey. This time, Declan Rice and fellow summer signing Kai Havertz, a £65m recruit from Chelsea, are the most frequent central midfield combination. Rice has started every Premier League game since his move, with only centre-back William Saliba playing more minutes in the league than he has for the Gunners.
Having been at the centre of arguably the biggest and most drawn out transfer saga in Women's Super League history, it was always going to be tough for Alessia Russo to live up to the hype.
It is unlikely England will win this summer’s European Championship without winning a penalty shootout along the way. But does deploying specialists from the spot in extra time actually work?
There was a clear message when Newcastle United landed in Dubai for a warm-weather training camp last week. With ten games left to play, this was the moment to reset, recharge and go again.