A fairly low-profile tri-series in Zimbabwe continues to bring a number of high moments for Ish Sodhi. In New Zealand’s opening game, he made his 200th international appearance and then he marked his 201st appearance by becoming the third player to 150 wickets in men’s T20Is after Tim Southee and Rashid Khan. Along the way, Sodhi, 32, bagged his career-best T20I figures of 4 for 12 against Zimbabwe in the lead-up to the final against South Africa.Sodhi is uncontracted – young legspinner Adithya Ashok pipped him and earned his maiden deal – but he certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by new coach Rob Walter. In the final, Sodhi is set to tick off another landmark: New Zealand’s most capped T20I player. He’s currently level with Southee on 126 T20Is.Related

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A numbers man, Sodhi is savouring every high. “It’s really nice. I’m really proud of the achievement. To get 150 wickets in a format for your country, obviously you have to play for a long period of time to be able to do that. It’s something I’m really proud of and hopefully there’s a lot more on the bank.”On Thursday, Sodhi also took a moment to reflect on his early years. Born in India, Sodhi moved to Auckland with his parents when he was a child. After impressing Daniel Vettori during an Auckland playing trial he broke into the New Zealand squad when he was 20. He has since become a key player for New Zealand, especially in white-ball cricket.”It has been an incredible journey,” Sodhi said. “I think something came out of the other, I think I debuted in 2013. I think my first ODI was here in Harare. It’s nice to be here and still being able to perform for New Zealand. Hopefully it’s something I can still do for a time to come.”Contracted or not, Sodhi is eager to play for New Zealand and win games for them. Having been thrown a lifeline by Walter, Sodhi could form a potent partnership with captain Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell as New Zealand tune up for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.”There’s always incentive to win games for your country, I like playing international cricket,” Sodhi said. “Growing up, it’s the only thing I ever wanted to do and I think it’s probably the same for all the guys that are in there now. International cricket is really special. You pop the fern on, certainly things you dreamed of in the backyard growing up playing. Any game for New Zealand, there’s always motivation out there to be playing your best.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean was a forgettable one for Sodhi and New Zealand. In spin-friendly conditions, Sodhi sat out three of New Zealand’s four games, but in the lead-up to the next World Cup, he’s trying to reinvent himself. On Thursday, he fronted up to bowl in the powerplay – after Zimbabwe had run away to 21 for 0 – and claimed figures of 2-0-5-3 during this phase. Sodhi had also operated in the powerplay against South Africa in New Zealand’s series opener. This tri-series is the first time since 2021 that Sodhi has bowled in the powerplay in T20Is and it’s a role he relishes playing for the Black Caps.”It’s quite a new role for me and I haven’t bowled a lot in the powerplay in my career,” Sodhi said. “So, this is a really strong New Zealand side nowadays, so trying to get into the side and almost have to learn to be able to bowl in the powerplay. So, it’s really nice it could come off as it is relatively a new role. I’m trying to play for New Zealand and yeah to get some wickets was quite pleasing and it shows me I can do it at this level and yeah something I want to keep building.”Sodhi also delivered a glowing appraisal of Tim Seifert, who is currently the leading run-getter in the tri-series, with 166 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 145.61. Sodhi believes that Seifert has become a more versatile and dangerous batter after playing franchise T20 cricket around the world. In the lead-up to the tri-series, Seifert was part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL and San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC, and his next franchise assignment is with CPL champions St Lucia Kings.”Yeah, look Seife is incredible,” Sodhi said. “I’ve sort of seen him come through when he was 18 years old playing cricket in all the districts he came through. A lot of talent, hit the ball really nice and cleanly. But I think the product of franchise cricket that’s made him such a good player is that he’s been able to play on surfaces that aren’t actually that great for batting.”If you look at that surface out there, it wasn’t the truest of surfaces but to score at the rate that he did shows great growth in his game. It shows that he’s rallied around a lot of great players all around the world in the franchise tournaments that he’s played and it’s making him a lot better player. It’s a huge asset for New Zealand cricket the way that he’s playing and he’s still so young.”The way he’s batting is showing a lot of leadership. He’s leading from the front and it’s great to see him being in my shoes having seen him come through when he was an 18, 19-year-old. It’s brilliant to see.”

Tottenham Hotspur are now leading the race to sign FC Porto striker Samu Aghehowa, with the Portuguese club willing to cash-in for a huge fee this winter.

Tottenham have struggled in front of goal at times this season, failing to score in three of their last four matches in all competitions, and the most recent result against Chelsea is likely to be particularly concerning for Thomas Frank.

Spurs fell to a 1-0 defeat at home against their London rivals on Saturday, failing to create a single big chance across the 90 minutes, which meant Randal Kolo Muani was limited to just 16 touches of the ball before being substituted in the second half.

Kolo Muani is yet to get off the mark in front of goal, while Mathys Tel has also struggled, scoring just one Premier League goal this season, and the Frenchman clearly hasn’t impressed Frank, having lost his place in the starting XI in recent weeks.

With that in mind, it would make sense to bring in a new striker in the January transfer window, and the door could be open to sign a Liga Portugal star…

Tottenham leading race for Aghehowa

According to a report from Correio da Manha (via Sport Witness), Tottenham are now in the lead in the race for Porto striker Aghehowa, alongside Chelsea, with the London rivals potentially set to do battle for his signature.

The Portuguese club are now willing to sanction the 21-year-old’s departure for a fee of €80m (£70m) in January, despite the youngster having a €100m (£88m) release clause included in his contract.

A £70m offer is deemed ‘irresistible’, so a deal could be on the cards if Spurs are willing to eclipse the £65m fee they shelled out on Dominic Solanke and break their transfer record.

Journalist Zach Lowy believes the Spaniard, who has the same agent as Mohammed Kudus, could be destined for the very top, singling him out for very high praise on X back in June.

The Melilla-born marksman had a fantastic debut campaign in Portugal, scoring 19 goals in 30 league games, and he has since gone on to make an impressive start to the new season, finding the back of the net nine times in 11 matches in all competitions.

Aghehowa’s goal record at such a young age indicates he could have what it takes to become one of the best strikers in the world, and with Tel and Kolo Muani struggling, it would make sense for Tottenham to pursue a move this winter.

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For the first time in a long time, West Ham fans had something to celebrate on the weekend.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side had the daunting task of hosting a Newcastle United side that had just brushed aside Tottenham Hotspur during the week, so expectations were low.

However, much to the surprise of pundits and fans alike, the East Londoners were comfortably the better side, thanks to goals from Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek, and Sven Botman, and ran out 3-1 winners.

There were impressive performances across the pitch for the hosts, with Freddie Potts looking particularly impressive. So fans should be delighted that the academy may be about to hand them someone who could be an even bigger prospect than the Englishman.

Potts' performance vs Newcastle

Given West Ham’s poor form over the last few months and the lack of dynamism in the midfield, there have been calls for Potts to be given a chance for some time.

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Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

Nuno finally gave in to those calls on Sunday afternoon, and instead of bringing the 22-year-old off the bench, he handed him his first competitive start for the club.

It turned out to be an excellent decision as, even before getting onto his technical qualities, the academy graduate added some desperately needed dynamism and physicality into the midfield.

He is by no means a fast player, but compared to the midfielders that Nuno has been starting in recent games, the difference was night and day.

Moreover, as journalist Alex Crook put it, he was “a real driving force for the Hammers,” and his statistics more than back up such an appraisal.

In his 90 minutes of action, the Barking-born monster played two key passes, completed two crosses, took 57 touches, won 66% of his tackles, made one interception, won three of four ground duels and made six clearances.

In short, it was a dream start for the academy product and one that could have been even better had it not been for the thinnest of offside margins.

With that said, while Potts could go on to become a star for West Ham, there is another prospect in the academy who could be even better.

West Ham's next Potts

West Ham have a proud history of producing brilliant young players, and while Potts is the name in the headlines today, it could be Preston Fearon in a couple of years.

The 18-year-old gem joined the Hammers in 2022 and, since then, has gone from strength to strength, progressing through the youth sides to sign his first professional contract last year and then secure another, longer-term deal just a few days ago.

One of the teenager’s significant strengths is that he can, and has played in several positions during his time in the academy, but like Potts, he thrives in the middle of the park.

For example, since joining the Irons’ academy set-up, the youngster has made 40 appearances across the U18s and U21s, of which 15 have been in central midfield and nine in defensive midfield.

However, don’t be fooled into thinking that he can’t offer much going forward, as across those 40 appearances, totalling 2692 minutes, he has scored three goals and provided seven assists.

That works out to a goal involvement every 269.2 minutes, which for someone in his position is not bad at all.

Moreover, when discussing him on the website, Jarrod Bowen described the 18-year-old as a “special player” and noted that he has “never seen someone nutmeg so many people in training.”

Finally, the club also clearly rate the academy gem as they took him on the pre-season tour, where he featured against Manchester United.

Ultimately, Potts is the man of the moment, but in four years, when Fearon is the same age, don’t be surprised if he is already a first-team regular for West Ham.

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Dominic Lund

Nov 2, 2025

يعتقد روبي فاولر أسطورة ليفربول أن الريدز يفتقد أحد لاعبيه الذين رحلوا عن صفوف الفريق خلال سوق الانتقالات الصيفية.

وكان ليفربول قد قام ببيع لويس دياز إلى صفوف بايرن ميونخ بعد ثلاث سنوات ونصف في صفقة تكلفت قيمتها 65 مليون جنيه إسترليني.

وأنفق ليفربول أكثر من 450 مليون جنيه إسترليني لضم لاعبين جدد، ومع ذلك فقد تعرض للهزيمة في خمس مباريات من أصل 11 مباراة ويتأخر عن آرسنال بفارق ثماني نقاط في جدول الترتيب.

وأرجع فاولر سبب العديد من المشاكل إلى رحيل لويس دياز، والذي يقدم مستوى رائعًا مع بايرن ميونخ منذ بداية الموسم الحالي.

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وقال فاولر في تصريحات نشرتها “مترو” البريطانية: “لا أعرف سبب رحيل دياز، لكن يبدو أنه أراد ذلك، بالنسبة لي كان على الأرجح أحد أبرز لاعبي ليفربول العام الماضي”.

وأضاف :”لذلك أنا مندهش حقاً من عدم الحديث أكثر عن مدى افتقاد ليفربول لخدماته”.

وواصل: “عندما ننظر إلى ليفربول وبالتأكيد بدايتهم الصعبة، ربما واجهوا صعوبة في اختراق دفاعات الفرق الأخرى عندما كانت الفرق الأخرى تكتفي بالدفاع المنخفض، لويس دياز من اللاعبين القادرين على اختراق الدفاعات لذا أعتقد أنهم افتقدوه حقاً”.

ويعتقد روبي فاولر أن النجم الشاب الذي تخرج من أكاديمية ليفربول تايلر مورتون ورحل إلى صفوف ليون في الصيف يعد لاعباً واعداً ويأمل أن يثبت خطأ الريدز في بيعه.

It really didn't look too hard for Shohei Ohtani on Saturday night, who went 2-for-5 with three runs batted in in the first game of the postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the first-ever MLB postseason game for Ohtani. The Dodgers won, 7-5, on their home field.

Ohtani, of course, has not played for a team that has qualified for the postseason to this point, despite winning two MVP awards with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 and 2023.

After the game, Ohtani shared what he views as the "most difficult" part of a first postseason game while speaking about his fellow teammate's troubles.

Asked about Yoshinobu Yamamoto's struggles on the mound, Ohtani explained, "It's really hard to play loose in the first game of a playoff series. I'm sure Yoshinobu wasn't satisfied with his outing today."

In addition to it being the first game of the series, the Dodgers were coming off of five days' rest since they clinched a first-round bye in the National League.

While it's the first MLB playoff game for Ohtani, he did play deep in the postseason during his time in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

If you didn’t believe that Manchester City were bona fide title contenders, well, you surely do now.

On Sunday, the serial champions crushed the reigning champions 3-0 at the Etihad, doing so with plenty to spare.

Despite the fact Erling Haaland saw an early penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, this merely momentarily delayed the Sky Blues onslaught.

Haaland headed home the opener soon after, before Nico González’s deflected shot deservedly doubled the Citizens’ advantage in first-half injury time, with Jérémy Doku curling home a clinching third; more on the brilliant Belgian in a bit.

The match marked Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th match in management and took his tally to 716 wins, which isn’t bad.

Now eyeing a seventh Premier League title, Manchester City are just four points adrift leaders Arsenal, after Mikel Arteta’s team were denied victory at the Stadium of Light on Saturday night by Brian Brobbey’s last-gasp equaliser for Sunderland.

if Man City are going to become champions of the land once again, they’ll need two of their stars from Sunday to continue to perform.

Jérémy Doku's performance against Liverpool

As noted by Opta, Jérémy Doku won 11 duels, completed seven dribbles, created three chances and registered three shots on target against Liverpool.

If you think that sounds impressive, well, that’s because it is. He is the first player to rack up such an impressive figure in a single Premier League game since Eden Hazard against West Ham in April 2019.

Doku’s thunderous strike capped off the victory as well as his own sublime display, with Gary Neville, speaking during commentary for Sky Sports, saying never before had he awarded the player of the match after 62 minutes, until today.

David Hytner of the Guardian asserted that the winger was ‘unplayable’, praising his ‘blur of tricks and direct running’, with Doku tormenting Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley, the Northern Irishman having pocketed Vinícius Júnior just a few days before.

This was Doku’s 100th appearance in sky blue, scoring just his 17th goal for the club, previously netting against Napoli and Swansea this season, his previous Premier League goal coming at Portman Road against Ipswich in mid-January.

Now though, perhaps the 23-year-old is showing signs of realising his full potential so, while he was the obvious star of the show, an under-the-radar Man City player also deserves to be heralded for their display.

Pep Guardiola's unsung Man City hero

12 months ago, when Manchester City were in complete free fall, all the talk was about how this team cannot win without Rodri.

Well, despite enjoying a brief cameo off the bench against Bournemouth last weekend, the Ballon d’Or winner was not even in the matchday squad against Borussia Dortmund nor Liverpool subsequently, which was one of the major talking points prior to kick off on Sunday.

Nevertheless, Guardiola once described Nico González as like a “mini-Rodri”, and the midfielder helped ensure his compatriot was not missed.

Nico scored the second goal, a hammer blow for Arne Slot’s team coming on the cusp of half-time, and put in a generally imperious performance, as the numbers support.

Goals

1

1st

Accurate passes

51

3rd

Passing accuracy %

88%

5th*

Defensive actions

8

3rd

Tackles won

3

2nd

Duels won

6

4th

Ground duels won

5

3rd

Touches

72

2nd

SofaScore rating

8.3

2nd

*minimum 30 passes completed.

As the table highlights, the midfielder ranked in the top four when it came to a wide variety of statistics, registering more touches than any other player in sky blue, winning five of the six ground duels he contested as well as completing 51 of 58 passes. Truth be told, this was probably his best display in blue, dominating one of the best sides in the division.

The Manchester Evening News awarded him an 8/10 for his performance, noting that the Spaniard took ‘charge of the game’.

This, in truth, should not be overly surprising.

The midfielder joined from Porto back in January for around £50m and did so with a big reputation, given that he is a La Masia graduate, breaking into the Barcelona team with fellow mononymously known midfielders Pedri and Gavi, rated as highly as both when they were teenagers.

Nevertheless, it is still invaluable for Man City that Nico is able to take a step forward in his development and has the quality to operate as a one-man midfield, allowing their attacking stars, namely Doku, Haaland and others, to shine.

With Rodri and his obvious back-up Mateo Kovačić both struggling due to ongoing injury issues, while Tijjani Reijnders appears ill-suited to the role, Nico has been thrown in at the deep end in the number 6 position, but is gracefully swimming like a swan, rather than sinking like a heavy stone, to continue that analogy.

When Manchester City return to action after the international break, they’ll do so with a tricky trip to St James’ Park, but victory over Newcastle would cut the gap at the top to just one point, ahead of the North London derby the following day.

For the here and now, on the occasion of Guardiola’s 1,000 match as a manager, it was probably fitting that a diminutive Spanish defensive midfield shone.

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