City's Anfield statement, Barcelona's eight from eight, and an abandoned night in Vallecas: 5–11 October in Europe

The Premier League and LaLiga came back on 9 and 10 October, after the merged international break that ran from 21 September to 6 October, and the Nations League closed its fourth matchday on 6 October. 123 The Champions League's league phase has been dormant since 10 September: its 36-team table stands as it did after the opening round, and Matchday 2 arrives on 13 October. 4 This issue covers 5 to 11 October.

The week in three lines. Manchester City won 3-0 at Liverpool in their first match since being found guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League charges, and stayed perfect: six wins from six, three points clear. 56 Barcelona beat Getafe 3-0 for an eighth LaLiga win in eight, matching the best start in the club's history. 7 Rayo Vallecano's first home game of the season was abandoned inside half an hour, after supporters threw paper planes and rubber balls onto the pitch. 8

Manchester City's first match since an independent commission found them guilty of 114 charges was at Anfield, and they won it 3-0. 5 For an hour it was a contest. Andoni Iraola called it "two different games". 5

The second one began with Ryan Gravenberch's second booking in the 62nd minute. City scored two minutes and 37 seconds later, Erling Haaland converting Jeremy Doku's deflected shot. 9 Doku curled the second into the top corner three minutes after that, and Rayan Cherki finished a 41-pass move in the 78th. 9

Haaland has scored in each of City's last six matches and has eight goals in all competitions. 9 The win ended Iraola's unbeaten start at Liverpool and was Liverpool's first home league defeat since February; City lead Arsenal by three points with six games played. 9

The noise was the point of the afternoon. City arrived through the staff and contractors' entrance. 10 Banners around the ground read "A Generation Of Supporters Cheated" and "All Of Your Stars Are Fading Away", and the Anfield DJ played Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" after the final whistle. 10

Enzo Maresca said his players had to "learn how to deal with the noise because the noise will be with us at all of our away games", and that their job was to "make our noise — our noise is to win games". 5 Virgil van Dijk said he had "really enjoyed the rivalry" on the pitch and that "what has happened off the pitch is a totally different story", adding that he would say more once the case is settled. 5

What the win counts for is still open. City lodged their appeal on 1 October and sanctions have yet to be announced; a separate independent appeal board will hear it. 11 Rival clubs do not expect City to be in the Premier League next season if the appeal fails, and many of them believe a points deduction would be too light a punishment if it produced only one season outside the top flight. 12

The case has also become a political one. On 11 October Andy Burnham, the prime minister, said he would publish details of his meetings with senior figures at City, after criticism of his comments on the verdict; Kemi Badenoch, the opposition leader, had demanded it. 11 Burnham said he had held one significant meeting, in 2021, and that "the football issues are different from the investment issues". 11 Sources told BBC Sport that some clubs were "astonished" by his stance and "concerned" about political interference in the appeal process. 11

On r/soccer the two most argued-over posts of the week were both about what any of it means: a clip of the Kop singing "you cheating bastards, you know what you are" before kick-off, and a piece asking whether City's run of wins is meaningless. 1314

Nine of the ten fixtures are done. Coventry City against Newcastle United closes the round on Monday evening, with Newcastle able to go fourth and Coventry able to climb out of the relegation places. 2

Arsenal. Leeds United led at home in the 55th minute through James Justin, their first defeat of the season still 35 minutes away. 15 Arsenal led within 15 minutes, Riccardo Calafiori and Bruno Guimarães scoring, and took five shots in that spell after managing five in the opening 55 minutes. 15 Mikel Arteta said: "We had an incredible response. You could sense the crowd, the energy changed immediately. The finishers came in and made a huge difference." 15 It was Guimarães' second winning goal from the bench this season, both of them assisted by Declan Rice. 15

Chelsea. Jordan Henderson and Morgan Rogers had Chelsea two goals up inside two minutes and 29 seconds, the earliest the club has ever taken a two-goal lead in a Premier League game. 15 João Pedro added two more, the first 30 seconds after the restart, taking him to five goals in five games. 15 Henderson finished with two goals and an assist at 36 years and 115 days, the oldest Chelsea player on record with three goal involvements in a single Premier League match. 15 Chelsea have now scored 16 and conceded 13, the highest combined total in the division. 15 Bournemouth are in the bottom three, with Marco Rose still waiting for his first win as their head coach. 15

Brighton. They played most of the second half at Sunderland with ten men, after Pascal Struijk's red card, and won 2-0. 15 Maxim De Cuyper and Pascal Gross combined for the first goal; at 35 years and 117 days, Gross is the oldest player to provide an assist in three consecutive Premier League games since Ryan Giggs in February 2012. 15 Jaouen Hadjam added the second, and Sunderland mustered 0.23 expected goals after the interval. 15 Brighton are third, with three straight wins without conceding for the first time since October 2018. 15

Palace and Forest. Oliver Glasner returned to Selhurst Park with Nottingham Forest and lost 3-1. 16 Dan Ndoye scored in the third minute and Forest had 16 first-half shots worth 2.18 expected goals. 16 Walter Benítez, standing in for the injured Dean Henderson, kept out Liam Delap from point-blank range after Morgan Gibbs-White had hit the crossbar. 16 Daichi Kamada and Jefferson Lerma scored four minutes apart before the break, Yéremy Pino added a third after it, and Forest's argument that Lerma's header had brushed Anan Khalaili's elbow got nowhere with the video assistant referee. 16 It was Palace's first Premier League win over Forest at the 13th attempt. 9

Hull and Everton. Joe Gelhardt's first Premier League goal since he scored for Leeds four years and 212 days ago put Hull ahead in the 48th minute. 9 Everton led through Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry before Mohamed Belloumi equalised late; six of Hull's eight goals this season have come from players who were at the club last season. 9 Everton are unbeaten in their opening six league games for only the third time. 9

Ipswich and Brentford. Dara O'Shea headed Ipswich Town's winner in the first minute of stoppage time against Fulham, minutes after Abdoul Ouattara had equalised — Ipswich's third win this season from a goal in the 90th minute or later. 15 Brentford have opened the scoring in each of their first six matches, the first side to do that since Liverpool in 2018/19, and stayed unbeaten by coming from behind at Villa Park: Kristoffer Ajer equalised 146 seconds after John McGinn had put Aston Villa ahead. 15 Aston Villa have gone three home games at the start of a league season without a win for the first time since 2015/16. 15

Manchester United have six points from six games, their fewest at this stage of a league season since 1986/87, when they had four. 17 They are winless in four and sit closer to the relegation places than to the Champions League spots. 17

Saturday's 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur was the second successive home game in which United dropped points against ten men. 17 Bryan Mbeumo put United ahead; Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off five minutes later for a headfirst charge at Luke Shaw; Dominic Solanke equalised in stoppage time, outmuscling Lisandro Martínez and beating Senne Lammens at the far post. 17

Michael Carrick said he was "not happy with the amount of points we've got so far" and that "we can't throw points away in that manner". 17 United go to Leeds on 18 October, either side of Champions League trips to Atlético Madrid and Como. 17

Tottenham have gone six league games without a win at the start of a season for only the fourth time in their history, after 2008/09, 1955/56 and 1912/13, and are 18th. 2 Roberto De Zerbi said he "liked" the red card: "We needed it in that moment. Football is character." 2

Fulham are bottom on two points, with Álvaro Arbeloa still waiting for his first league win. 6 Bournemouth and Coventry City are the other two in the relegation places, and Coventry can climb out of them on Monday. 6

Anthony Gordon scored 78 seconds into his seventh appearance for Barcelona, his first competitive goal since he signed from Newcastle United in May, and Barcelona beat Getafe 3-0. 7 Gabriel Jesus made it two after Gordon's pressing forced a mistake from Zaid Romero, and Jules Koundé stabbed in Lamine Yamal's cross after the break. 7 Barcelona had 82.7% of the ball and 23 shots to Getafe's four. 7

The win was their eighth in eight in LaLiga, equalling the start they made under Gerardo Martino in 2013/14, and left them on 24 points, five clear of Atlético Madrid from the same number of games. 7

Real Madrid stayed third on 18, and did it the hard way. 18 Yan Diomande, 19, scored his first goal since a summer move from RB Leipzig worth up to £120m, in the 62nd minute. 18 Ten minutes later Vinícius Júnior, on as a substitute, had a goal ruled out and was then sent off for violent conduct, having pulled Nathan Saliba's hair in the build-up. 18 José Mourinho did not attend the post-match news conference, reportedly worried that anything he said could bring a suspension; he had been shown a yellow card during the game. 18 Real Madrid visit Barcelona on 25 October. 18

Real Betis went third on 19 points by beating Osasuna 5-2, with Isco scoring in the ninth and 66th minutes. 1920 Atlético Madrid are second on 19 after a 2-1 win at Alavés, and Sevilla, fifth on 13 points from seven games, play at Levante on Monday. 21

Rayo Vallecano against Athletic Club was abandoned and Levante against Sevilla is played on Monday evening, which leaves the round two results short. 3 In the table, Athletic Club and Levante have played six games, Rayo Vallecano and Sevilla seven, and the other sixteen clubs eight. 21

Rayo Vallecano's game against Athletic Club was their first at the Estadio de Vallecas this season. 8 LaLiga and the Community of Madrid had ruled the stadium unfit in the summer over fire protection, the electrical installation, emergency lighting, hygiene and sanitation, and missing safety documentation, and Rayo played their first three home games at Leganés' Estadio Butarque. 8

Supporters blame the club's president, Raúl Martín Presa, for the state of the ground and fear losing it. 8 Paper planes and small rubber balls began landing on the pitch in the 13th minute; Óscar Valentín and Isi Palazón went to speak to the Bukaneros behind the goal; play resumed for about ten minutes before the referee took the players off with less than half an hour played. 8 Both teams came back out, but the officials suspended the match on police advice as the objects kept coming and the home fans chanted for Presa to resign. 822

The Bukaneros said the protests were "the culmination of the frustration and anger felt by thousands of season-ticket holders after years of disastrous management". 8 The game is expected to be replayed at a later date, and Rayo's next home fixture is against Elche on 24 October. 8

The Nations League's fourth matchday crossed into this window. France beat Belgium 4-1 and Italy beat Türkiye 3-1 on 5 October; England beat Czechia 3-0 and Croatia lost to Spain on 6 October. 1

England and Kane. Harry Kane scored twice at Wembley in the 40th and 57th minutes, either side of Vladimír Coufal's own goal, on the night he equalled Peter Shilton's record of 125 England caps. 23 Those were his 90th and 91st international goals, his sixth in four games across the window, and they extended a run of scoring in seven consecutive matches for club and country. 23 It was England's third win in eight days. 23

Spain. Mikel Merino, on as a substitute, scored in the 61st and 88th minutes as Spain came from behind in Split after Ivan Perišić had put Croatia ahead. 24 The win took Spain's unbeaten run to 43 matches and their Group A3 total to 12 points from four. 24

France. Belgium led at the Stade de France through Dodi Lukébakio's 35th-minute goal. 25 Zinedine Zidane sent on Rayan Cherki and Michael Olise on the hour; Désiré Doué equalised in the 77th, Olise set up Cherki in the 81st, and Olise scored twice himself, in the 88th minute and in stoppage time. 25 France lead Group A1 on 10 points from four games. 25

Leagues C and D finished their matchdays on the same two days: Cyprus 2-1 Latvia and Montenegro 0-0 Armenia in C2, Kazakhstan 2-2 Faroe Islands and Moldova 0-4 Slovakia in C3, Estonia 0-0 Iceland and Luxembourg 0-2 Bulgaria in C4, and Albania 2-1 San Marino and Belarus 1-0 Finland in C1. 1 The league phase ends on 17 November, with Matchdays 5 and 6 running from 12 to 17 November. 1

The Champions League returns on 13 and 14 October with Matchday 2. 4 Arsenal host Lille, Atlético Madrid host Manchester United, Galatasaray host Barcelona and Inter host Club Brugge on the Tuesday; Manchester City host Paris Saint-Germain, Roma host Real Madrid, LASK host Liverpool and Real Betis host Porto on the Wednesday. 4

The Premier League's Matchweek 7 runs over 17 and 18 October, when City host Ipswich Town, Liverpool go to Brentford, Arsenal go to Nottingham Forest and Manchester United go to Leeds. 6 LaLiga's Matchday 9 runs from 16 to 19 October. 20

Still to come, and still undated: the sanction hearing that will decide what City's perfect start is worth, and the appeal against the verdict itself. 12