Alex Howell
BBC Sport Arsenal reporter

It's been a difficult time for Arsenal summer signing Viktor Gyokeres.

Mikel Arteta said that he gave the forward a hug in appreciation for his effort after the 2-0 win over West Ham.

But, it's just three goals in 10 games for Arsenal and he did not score in his previous six matches before the international break.

He played 90 minutes in both of Sweden's matches this international break but did not find the net meaning he has not scored in his last eight games for club and country.

His team-mates at Arsenal are appreciative of the work Gyokeres is doing making space for the attackers behind him but the £64m centre forward will be desperate for a goal when Arsenal are back in action.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport Arsenal reporter

Arsenal have started this season at an extremely high level as Mikel Arteta looks to lead his side to the Premier League title.

The Gunners squad is arguably the best in the league with two quality options in each position.

They have conceded just three goals in ten games in all competitions and star man Bukayo Saka is building up his fitness after a hamstring injury and has scored in his last two Arsenal games.

He followed that up for England with an excellent goal against Wales and looks to be back near his best.

Arteta believes there is more to come from his side but they have made an impressive start to what could be an exciting season for Arsenal.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport Arsenal reporter

Mikel Arteta said after the last international break that he takes into account the form of his players while they have representing their countries.

That saw Mikel Merino start the match against Nottingham Forest after an impressive time for Spain where he scored a hat-trick.

Merino has continued that form into the international break again and scored twice in Spain's 4-0 victory over Bulgaria.

Gabriel Martinelli scored for Brazil, Leandro Trossard scored for Belgium and Eberechi Eze scored as England qualified for the World Cup with a 5-0 win over Latvia.

It's great news for Arsenal that so many of their players are scoring as Arsenal aim to pick up where they left of with impressive performances.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport Arsenal reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Rich: Can Arsenal win the league with an unfit Martin Odegaard?

There is no doubt Martin Odegaard is one of Arsenal's most important players and, when he is on top form, he is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.

But, with Arsenal's new depth, I think they would be able to cope without him for large parts or at least until he is fit to come back into the team again.

Declan Rice is a powerhouse in the left number eight role, and then Arsenal have options in Mikel Merino, Eberechi Eze and Ethan Nwaneri, who can all slot into the right side of the number eights.

Of course they all offer something different, but this season is the best-placed Arsenal would be to deal with Odegaard being out for a decent chunk of time.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard's start to the season has been disrupted by shoulder and knee injuries.

The Norwegian midfielder has been substituted because of injury in three of his four Premier League starts this term, with his latest knee issue set to sideline him for the next month.

As a result, Odegaard has been limited to just over 200 minutes in the league and 90 in the Champions League. He's completed a full match just twice this season.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport Arsenal reporter

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has had a tricky start to this season.

The midfielder has come off in the first half of the last three of Arsenal home Premier League matches, setting an unwanted record.

His latest issues, a medial collateral ligament injury, comes after two shoulder problems - and is now set to be out until after the November internationals.

Arsenal have plenty of options in midfield now with Ethan Nwaneri, Eberechi Eze, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino but Arteta has a tough choice about which combination he opts for.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Enzo Fernandez withdrew from international duty due to 'inflammation of the knee', according to the Argentine FA.

However, it is understood that the midfielder had always planned to miss the friendly match with Puerto Rico this week and had planned to see family during his leave.

Of course, Fernández has played a lot this season and featured in the Club World Cup with Chelsea in the summer, so it was more load management than any specific injury.

It means Fernandez will likely be capable of facing Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Nottingham Forest

Here's who Nottingham Forest are facing in the next few weeks:

• Chelsea (H) - Saturday, 18 October, Premier League
• Porto (H) - Thursday, 23 October, Europa League
• Bournemouth (A) - Sunday, 26 October, Premier League
• Manchester United (H) - Saturday, 1 November, Premier League
• Sturm Graz (A) - Thursday, 6 November, Europa League

Nottingham Forest

It's not been a great start to life at Nottingham Forest for Ange Postecoglou, who has overseen five defeats and two draws in seven games in all competitions.

• Arsenal 3-0 Forest
• Swansea City 3-2 Forest (League Cup)
• Burnley 1-1 Forest
• Real Betis 2-2 Forest (Europa League)
• Forest 0-1 Sunderland
• Forest 1-3 Midtjylland (Europa League)
• Newcastle 2-0 Forest

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

The international break arguably came at a bad time for Ange Postecoglou who will be desperate for more time on the training pitches with his Nottingham Forest squad.

He had six games in his first 23 days, limiting the time to implement his style of high pressure and pressing, which is vastly different to the compact and direct counter attacking nature of predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo's team.

Postecoglou has been without 12 players who have gone away with their countries, including Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson with England.

During the break Chis Wood became New Zealand's joint most capped player with Ivan Vicelich with 88 appearances.

But, despite positive noises from All Whites coach Darren Bazeley, Wood came off in the 1-1 draw with Norway on Tuesday with a knee problem.

Wood was withdrawn after an hour in the friendly in Oslo and will be assessed by Forest ahead of the weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter

Manchester City will be aiming to maintain their unbeaten run across their next seven games in three competitions before the November international break.

It was at the end of October when the wheels well and truly fell off for City last season, winning only one of 13 games and losing nine in the process.

Boss Pep Guardiola has said his side need to be in the top four come the turn of the year so they can push on for a title tilt during the run-in and the next set of fixtures may well determine how the new look squad is shaping up and in which direction they are headed.

Victories against Villarreal and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League will go a long way to sealing a top-eight spot in the group phase, while they also have a trip to Championship side Swansea in the Carabao Cup.

But the Premier League is the bread and butter and City have four testing games facing Everton, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and a huge clash against Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on 9 November.

Beating the Reds will provide confidence to City's youngsters that they can go on and achieve great things this season.

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter

The chaos over the way at Manchester United, champions Liverpool's losing streak and Arsenal topping the table means Manchester City's performances have gone under the radar somewhat.

But after a sticky start to the season, Pep Guardiola's side have been quietly ticking along quite nicely, now unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions.

Football is a simple game - score goals at one end and keep the ball out at the other and City have two world class players that are helping them do just that at the moment.

Star striker Erling Haaland has made a blistering start to the campaign, netting an astonishing 21 goals in 12 games for club and country - he has only blanked in one match against Tottenham back in August.

In goal, the towering Gianluigi Donnarumma has brought about a calming influence with his big-game experience and the Italian has kept three clean sheets in his first six games for City.

Image source, Getty Images

Erling Haaland's hat-trick against Israel marked the tenth game in a row that the forward has scored in.

The 25-year-old is in scintillating form for both club and country - not that he's ever really in "bad" form.

He and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe have both scored 10 in a row for their respective teams and have only failed to score in one match in 2025-26.

Image source, Getty Images

Erling Haaland continued his excellent start to the season with a hat-trick in Norway's 5-0 demolition of Israel.

Victory kept Norway top of their group, three points ahead of Italy, and ended Israel's hopes of qualifying for the finals.

The Manchester City striker sat out Norway's 1-1 draw with New Zealand in a friendly on Tuesday.

His City team-mate, Oscar Bobb, drew criticism from Norway manager Stale Solbakken after that game, who said his performance was "lacking everything."

Ben Ramsdale
BBC Sport

At least City's forwards aren't in great form, eh Jack...

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Saturday's visit of Chelsea appears crucial to Ange Postecoglou's future at Nottingham Forest.

After seven winless games to open his reign, having replaced Nuno Espirito Santo last month, the pressure remains on the Australian.

Sources close to the squad feel Postecoglou could get Chelsea and Thursday's Europa League visit of Porto but only if the result against the Blues on Saturday is positive and the fans do not turn.

Ultimately, it will be the decision of owner Evangelos Marinakis who has been considering Sean Dyche as Postecoglou's replacement, just five weeks after appointing the former Tottenham boss.

Should Forest supporters snap again, like they did after FC Midtjylland went 3-1 up in the Europa League last month - chanting 'you're getting sacked in the morning' towards their own manager - then a way back for the head coach would appear remote.

Postecoglou has said he did not expect it to be love at first sight with the fans but, so far, it is a tense relationship and you sense some chocolates and a bunch of flowers are not going to repair things.

Ben Ramsdale
BBC Sport

When I tell you there is zero structure to this live this morning I mean it.

It's very much all over the shop and is going to be shaped by you guys and your questions.

If you ask loads about the Gunners, we'll steer a bit more towards them. If you want to hear about the latest at Manchester United, we'll swing that way for a bit.

I'm just here to press buttons and tell bad jokes. So basically, need more of you to get involved so you get less of that.

A few questions in the tank already so make sure you get them in before we switch focus to this afternoon's news conferences.

Click 'Get Involved' to do so.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

It is unclear whether Moises Caicedo's attacking output will continue at this level though.

His three goals this season, from an expected goals (xG) of 0.5, include two from outside the box, tying Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo for the league's highest total.

Since the beginning of last season, Declan Rice has contributed the most offensively among midfielders, with more goals, assists and passes into the box, aided by his set-piece duties for Arsenal.

Caicedo dominates defensively, while Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch balances defensive and attacking roles.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The data clearly shows that Moises Caicedo belongs in the debate over the Premier League's top midfielders.

No midfielder in Europe's top five leagues has made more tackles (28) or interceptions (18) this season than Caicedo.

His 28 tackles represent 23% of Chelsea's overall challenges, the second-highest ratio by a player in a season on record since 2006-07. Only Burnley's Josh Cullen has recorded more defensive blocks among midfielders.

Since last season, Caicedo has made more tackles (142) than any other player without being sent off or receiving a suspension for yellow card accumulation, showcasing his precise tackling.

He makes more tackles and wins a higher percentage of duels (59%) than Arsenal's Declan Rice and Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch, who are both often considered among the league's best midfielders.