Sports
Premier League big issues: Will Amorim, Ange last? Is Salah fading?
The second international break of the season is almost over, and the Premier League is ready to return this weekend, with Liverpool‘s clash against Manchester United at Anfield topping the bill.
Each of England’s 20 top-tier clubs have now played seven league games. The Premier League table is beginning to point to a competitive title race and a relegation battle in which all three promoted teams — Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland — have genuine hopes of avoiding the drop.
Meanwhile, the pressure is growing on struggling managers Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou, big-money summer signings such as Florian Wirtz and Matheus Cunha have yet to have a major impact at their new clubs, and Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are offering signs that they could push for UEFA Champions League qualification.
So with four Premier League matchdays scheduled before the November international break, what are the big issues that could come to a head over the next month?
– How to fix Man Utd in 4 steps by copying Liverpool, Arsenal, City
– What’s wrong with Liverpool: Transfers? Salah? Fixtures?
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Will Amorim and Ange last until November?
Ruben Amorim was given the public backing of Sir Jim Ratcliffe last week; the Manchester United minority owner said Amorim could not be judged in his role as manager until he has had three years in the post. But despite the vote of confidence, Amorim is still — by some distance — statistically the worst United manager of the Premier League era.
United have not won back-to-back league games since the Portuguese coach took charge in November 2024, and their last away win came against relegated Leicester City in March. So far this season, United have beaten two promoted teams and a Chelsea side reduced to 10 players for virtually the entire game, so Sunday’s trip to Liverpool threatens to be a major test of Amorim and his players. And while Ratcliffe’s supportive words will be welcomed by Amorim, it’s worth remembering that he called Erik ten Hag a “very good coach” just three weeks before firing him last season.
Despite Amorim’s difficulties, he is not the manager in most peril right now. That title goes to Nottingham Forest‘s Ange Postecoglou, who is under intense pressure after seven winless games in charge at the City Ground.
The former Tottenham Hotspur manager replaced Nuno Espirito Santo last month after being hand-picked by ultra-demanding Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis. But Forest have nosedived under Postecoglou, and the fans have already turned on the former Australia coach. Marinakis has shown himself to be a ruthless owner many times in the past, so Big Ange is already in big trouble.
1:35
Nicol: Mo Salah is lacking in confidence
Steve Nicol believes Mo Salah could be facing a crisis in confidence this season as his struggles continued vs Chelsea.
Is Salah a fading force?
Mohamed Salah is now fourth on the list of all-time Premier League goal scorers and will become only the third player — after Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane — to break the 200-goal barrier if he scores just 12 more times for Liverpool. But will Salah hit that target this season, or are we beginning to see signs that the 33-year-old is a fading force?
Since the beginning of February, Salah has scored 14 goals for Liverpool in all competitions; six of those have been penalties. So far this season, he has managed just two goals and two assists for the champions in seven league games.
With an Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Egypt looming in December, Salah could be away from Liverpool for six weeks this winter. In addition, summer signings Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike are ready to usurp him as Liverpool’s main goal threat.
So with age catching up with Salah and international commitments — Egypt have also qualified for next year’s FIFA World Cup — set to distract his focus, this season could be a difficult one. It could also be his last at Anfield if his declining output continues.
But here’s the good news. Next up for Salah is Manchester United on Sunday, and no team has conceded more goals against the forward than United (16). Will everything click into gear this weekend?
1:06
Nagelsmann backs Wirtz for Liverpool success
Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann fully expects Florian Wirtz to be successful at Liverpool following his big-money move from Bayer Leverkusen this summer.
Time for big signings to deliver
Every signing needs time to adapt to a new club. Some do it more quickly than others, but eventually, a star player has to deliver. That’s the issue facing the likes of Florian Wirtz, Matheus Cunha, Alexander Isak and Eberechi Eze after over two months of Premier League action for their new teams.
Wirtz is the one with the most to do after making little to no impact for Liverpool since arriving in a deal worth up to £116 million from Bayer Leverkusen this summer. In seven league games so far, Wirtz has registered no goals and no assists, and the pace of the English top-flight has been too hot to handle for the Germany international.
Liverpool teammate Isak, who arrived on deadline day of the summer transfer window for a fee worth up to £130 million, has managed only one assist in three Premier League appearances since his move from Newcastle United, though he’s still getting up to speed after missing the entire preseason due to his desire to force a transfer. Wirtz and Isak have been signed as investments in Liverpool’s long term, but both need to offer more than they have done so far.
Cunha, meanwhile, was signed by United to boost their attacking threat after the side scored just 44 league goals last season, but the £62.5 million arrival from Wolverhampton Wanderers has yet to score or register an assist in six appearances with Amorim’s team. Fellow new arrivals Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are both already off the mark with goals for United, so Cunha needs to step up.
The same applies to Arsenal‘s Eze, who has contributed just two assists in six appearances since completing a £67.5 million transfer from Crystal Palace last month. Eze contributed eight goals and eight assists in his final season at Palace and also played a central role in the Eagles’ first FA Cup triumph, scoring the winner in the final against Manchester City. But the 27-year-old is still finding his feet at the Emirates.
Can Bournemouth and Palace keep pace at the top?
Bournemouth and Crystal Palace have two of the most sought-after coaches in the game in Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner, respectively, and both sides are raising hopes of a top-four finish this season. Iraola’s side is just two points behind leaders Arsenal, while Palace are two points further back after becoming the last team to lose its unbeaten record with a defeat at Everton going into this international break.
But can both sides maintain their early form? And with that, can they also hold on to their highly rated coaches long enough for the first question to be answered?
The two teams meet at Selhurst Park on Saturday, and both sides have players who have made outstanding starts to the season. Antoine Semenyo has scored six goals and registered three assists so far this season for Bournemouth, while left back Adrien Truffert has replaced Milos Kerkez (now with Liverpool) and appears to be an absolute bargain in a deal worth up to £14 million from Rennes. Palace’s Adam Wharton, Marc Guéhi, Daniel Muñoz, Daichi Kamada and Jean-Phillippe Mateta have all built on last season’s performances to excel this time around, so Glasner’s side has strength throughout the roster.
Palace look to have the greater depth to ensure a challenge for the top four, but Bournemouth have real quality, too.
Are winless Wolves doomed already?
The prospects for Wolves are already looking bleak, with Vitor Pereira’s side anchored to the bottom of the table without a win so far this season. But their record of just two points from seven games is one point better than at the same stage last season, so there will be hope that they can turn the situation around at Molineux.
However, with key players Cunha and Rayan Aït-Nouri leaving during the summer for Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively, Wolves would seem to have an even bigger mountain to climb this time around.
Sheffield United hold the record for the longest wait for a first Premier League win after going 17 games at the start of the 2020-21 season, and the Blades were relegated at the end of that campaign. But Wolves had to wait until their 11th league game for a win last season and still ended up avoiding relegation.
Their next two league games look to be crucial if they are to get their season up and running, though. With promoted teams Sunderland (away) and Burnley (home) next up for Wolves, they simply have to get a win from one of those.
TORONTO — Every so often in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse, the “Top Gun Anthem,” full of soaring guitar notes and pick-me-up vibes, will randomly blast from inside a locker. Everyone knows the culprit. Jorge Polanco, the Mariners’ veteran second baseman, is not a fan of silencing his phone.
“But he loves Maverick and Iceman,” Mariners star Cal Raleigh said.
Nobody really minds. When a player is doing what Polanco has done this postseason — rescuing the Mariners from the danger zone seemingly daily, with his latest trick a go-ahead three-run home run that paved the way for Monday’s 10-3 victory — his ringtone could be Limp Bizkit and nobody would utter a peep.
Instead, it’s the perfect soundtrack for this Mariners run, which currently sees them up two games to none against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. The “Top Gun Anthem” is an epic ballad filled with the sorts of ups and downs that personify an organization that has spent 49 years alternating among the desolation of mediocrity and the heartbreak of underachievement. The only team in Major League Baseball to never to play in a World Series, Seattle is two wins away from capturing its first American League pennant and is heading home to T-Mobile Park for Game 3.
The Mariners’ dominant position is in large part thanks to a 32-year-old infielder whose feats have earned him the right to be called Iceman himself — and yet that’s not the nickname Polanco wears these days.
“He’s George Bonds,” M’s catcher Mitch Garver said.
Yes, Polanco’s alter ego is the anglicized version of his first name and the surname of Major League Baseball’s all-time home run leader. He earned it earlier this season, Garver said, when “everything he hit was 110 [mph] in a gap or over the fence. It was unbelievable.”
Particularly when considering that last winter, Polanco didn’t know whether he would be healthy enough to keep hitting major league pitching. Polanco, who had struggled for years with left knee issues, underwent surgery in October 2024 to repair his patellar tendon. A free agent, Polanco drew limited interest on the market and wound up re-signing with the Mariners for one year and $7.75 million.
“It’s been a journey, man,” Polanco said. “That’s the way I can put it. I wouldn’t say it’s been bad. I wouldn’t say it’s been easy. I think God just prepared me for this year. I’ve been hurt a little bit, so yeah; but now we here, and I’m glad to be back.
“You just have to have faith. You overcome. Come back stronger.”
Polanco’s strength has been on display all October. It first appeared in the second game of Seattle’s division series against the Detroit Tigers when he hit two home runs off ace Tarik Skubal, who is about to win his second consecutive Cy Young Award. It continued three games later in a winner-takes-all Game 5 when he lashed a single into right field in the 15th inning that advanced the Mariners to their first ALCS since 2001. It didn’t stop there, with Polanco’s go-ahead single in the sixth inning of Game 1 against the Blue Jays on Sunday.
Then came Monday’s fifth-inning blast off Toronto reliever Louis Varland, who fed a 98 mph fastball over the plate and watched it leave the bat at 105.2 mph, flying 400 feet to turn a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 Seattle lead.
“He’s always been a great hitter,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “His swing right now is very short. That ball tonight, I wasn’t sure it was going to go out of the ballpark, but I think he’s just getting that kind of spin on it right now where it stays up.”
That is no accident. Polanco arrived in the major leagues with the Minnesota Twins at age 20, a bat-to-ball savant whose ability to hit from both sides of the plate carved him out a regular role with the team.
“He wasn’t George Bonds before,” Garver said. “He was Harry Potter. Because he was a wizard. He’d just make hits appear.”
Polanco found power five years into his career and maxed out with 33 home runs in 2021, but the degradation of his knee sapped the juice in his bat and left him flailing too often at pitches he’d have previously spit on. Last year, in his first season with the Mariners, his numbers cratered, but the organization appreciated Polanco’s even-keeled demeanor and believed fixing his knee would fix his swing too.
The Mariners right. George Bonds was born during a ridiculous first month of the 2025 season when he whacked nine homers in 80 plate appearances. Polanco had embraced the M’s ethos of pulling the ball in the air. Raleigh led MLB with a 1.594 OPS on balls pulled. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez was second at 1.497. Polanco hit 23 of his 26 home runs this season to the pull side, and both of his homers off Skubal (hit from the right side) and the one against Varland (left) were met in front of the plate and yanked over the fence.
“Throughout the years, I hated going to Minnesota just solely because of him,” said shortstop J.P. Crawford, the longest-tenured Mariner. “The guy single-handedly beat us so many times. We all know the type of player he is when he is healthy, and it’s clearly showing right now.”
Never in the game’s 150-year history had a player logged three consecutive game-winning hits after the fifth inning in the postseason. It’s the sort of performance teams need to win pennants — and championships. As brilliant as Raleigh has been in a could-be-MVP campaign and as conflagrant as Julio Rodriguez was in the second half and as dominant as Seattle’s pitching has been en route to this point, winning playoff baseball takes more.
Like, say, a guy who over the winter was an afterthought hitting cleanup and never wavering, even in the highest-leverage situations.
“What’s most impressive is bouncing back after a rough year last year,” said Bryan Woo, who will start Game 3 on Wednesday against Toronto’s Shane Bieber. “Especially for a guy on his second team, back half of his career. To do what he’s doing — get healthy, come back, help the team like he has — is even more impressive than just playing good baseball.”
Playing good baseball helps too. Polanco has helped get Seattle in a place that barely a month ago looked impossible to conceive. From mid-August to early September, the Mariners lost 13 of 18, trailed Houston by 3½ games in the AL West and held a half-game lead on Texas for the final wild-card spot. From there, the Mariners went 17-4, won the West, earned a first-round bye and charted a course for history.
They’re not there. And yet even Polanco admitted that Mariners players can’t ignore the team’s history and recognize what it would mean to get to the World Series.
“Yeah, we think about it,” he said. “We’ve heard it a lot. We know.”
The knowledge hasn’t deterred them. Raleigh is raking. Rodriguez is slugging. Josh Naylor, who grew up in nearby Mississauga, blasted a two-run home run in Game 2. And George Bonds has shown up in style, cold as Iceman, cool as Maverick, perfectly happy to eschew silent mode in favor of loud contact.
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A wet and wild Monday night game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders turned into a thriller between two of the NFL’s oldest franchises.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels fumbled a handoff late in the fourth quarter and allowed the Bears’ defense to recover. Caleb Williams and D’Andre Swift led the offense down the field to set up a Jake Moody field goal attempt. It was Moody’s first day on the roster as the team signed him to replace an injured Cairo Santos.
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Chicago Bears kicker Jake Moody (16) celebrates the game-winning field goal with punter Tory Taylor (19) after an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Moody, with three seconds left and a steady mist coming down, nailed a 38-yard field goal to give the Bears the 25-24 win. Chicago improved to 3-2 with the win and the Commanders fell to 3-3.
The Bears jumped out to an early 13-0 lead in the first half. Moody was seemingly in good form. He nailed two field goals and Caleb Williams ran for a touchdown to start the second quarter.
The Commanders cut into the Bears’ lead when Daniels threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Chris Moore. Washington got more points on the board after an eight-play, 25-yard drive in the third quarter, which ended with a Matt Gay field goal.
After Moody hit his third field goal of the night, the Bears’ offense went quiet.
Daniels led back-to-back scoring drives at the end of the third quarter and to start the fourth. He found Luke McCaffrey for a 33-yard touchdown pass and then fired a 6-yard touchdown to Zach Ertz.
Williams and the Bears didn’t stay down too long. The second-year quarterback hit Swift on a short pass. Swift made a few Commanders defenders miss and scampered for a 55-yard touchdown. Chicago missed out on a 2-point conversion and was down two points.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) runs away from Washington Commanders nose tackle Daron Payne (94) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
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Moody was on point with his field-goal tries, despite one getting blocked.
He was cut by the San Francisco 49ers only a few weeks into the 2025 season, despite having a place in the record books during Super Bowl LVIII.
Moody turned around and etched his name into the Bears’ record books, making the most field goals in a Bears debut with four, according to ESPN.
Washington Commanders wide receiver Chris Moore (19) celebrates his touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
“It’s always good to have a fresh start. I always believed in myself, believed in my teammates. Shoutout to (long snapper Scott Daly) and (holder Tory Taylor). They made the operation really easy on me. The same with the (offensive) line up front, protecting great on that last one. You can’t draw it up any better,” he told ESPN’s Lisa Salters.
Williams was 17-of-29 with 252 passing yards and a touchdown pass. He completed passes to eight different receivers. Swift led the team with two catches for 67 yards. Luther Burden III had four catches for 51 yards.
Swift had 14 carries for 108 yards as well.
Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu (4) tackles Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift (4) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) throws a pass in front of Chicago Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo (55) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
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Daniels finished 19-of-26 with 211 passing yards, three touchdown passes and an interception. The Bears’ defense had three takeaways.
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Sports
NFL Week 6 scores: Baker Mayfield delivers victory for Bucs, Jaxson Dart gets Giants in win column
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Baker Mayfield looked like he was in MVP form as he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a huge win over the San Francisco 49ers. But that was far from the lone performance NFL fans will be talking about after Week 6.
New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart set the week off right with an incredible game against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. Dart would help kick off an incredible week around the league.
The Carolina Panthers pulled off the upset of the week with a three-point win over the Dallas Cowboys. The Indianapolis Colts continued their winning ways with a big home victory against the Arizona Cardinals. Justin Herbert led the Los Angeles Chargers to a last-second win over the Miami Dolphins.
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Read below to see how the rest of the week played out.
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025
New York Giants’ Jaxson Dart plays during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
- New York Giants 34, Philadelphia Eagles 17
Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025
- Denver Broncos 13, New York Jets 11
- Indianapolis Colts 31, Arizona Cardinals 27
- Los Angeles Chargers 29, Miami Dolphins 27
- New England Patriots 25, New Orleans Saints 19
- Pittsburgh Steelers 23, Cleveland Browns 9
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, right, and New England Patriots center Garrett Bradbury run onto the field before an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
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- Carolina Panthers 30, Dallas Cowboys 27
- Seattle Seahawks 20, Jacksonville Jaguars 12
- Los Angeles Rams 17, Baltimore Ravens 3
- Las Vegas Raiders 20, Tennessee Titans 10
- Green Bay Packers 27, Cincinnati Bengals 18
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30, San Francisco 49ers 19
- Kansas City Chiefs 30, Detroit Lions 17
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White (1) is congratulated by quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) after scoring against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Monday, Oct. 13, 2025
- Atlanta Falcons 24, Buffalo Bills 14
- Chicago Bears 25, Washington Commanders 24
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