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The Football Pink

Late
Final

No. 13Saturday, 24 October 2026Late FinalPrice 20p

PREMIER LEAGUE

JACKSON DOUBLE ENDS CITY'S PERFECT START

Two shots on target, two goals, and the league leaders' 100 per cent record goes up in smoke at Villa Park

By Our Special Correspondent

ASTON VILLA 2 (Nicolas Jackson 6, 60) MANCHESTER CITY 1 (Erling Haaland 52)

Seven played, seven won. Manchester City arrived at Villa Park with the only perfect record in the Premier League. They left with nothing, beaten by a striker who had two shots on target all lunchtime and scored with both.

Nicolas Jackson needed six minutes. Marc Guéhi took a poor touch, John McGinn pounced, and Jackson turned inside Elliot Anderson before lifting his finish high past Gianluigi Donnarumma. The 36,743 had barely settled.

City had the ball for almost two-thirds of the afternoon, and for long spells they looked like the better side. Iliman Ndiaye hit the post and had a penalty appeal waved away. Zion Suzuki saved from Rayan Cherki and Abdukodir Khusanov. Guéhi, already booked for hauling Jackson down on the edge of the box, didn't come back out for the second half.

The equaliser was coming, and it arrived seven minutes after the restart. Ndiaye crossed from the right, and Erling Haaland climbed highest to nod it in. This was the moment City usually press on and win.

Instead the game turned on a save. Josko Gvardiol was through moments later, and Suzuki stood up and blocked him. Unai Emery sent Ibrahim Mbaye on from the bench on 59 minutes. A minute later the substitute drove a low cross across the six-yard box, Jackson met it first time, and the ball squirmed under Donnarumma's left hand.

City pushed men forward and Villa hung on. The yellow cards piled up, and Ian Maatsen cleared Haaland's late header off the line. Jackson went off with eight minutes left to a standing ovation, and the inflatable fruit in the stands got a good waving.

It was Villa's first home league win of the season, and it came four years to the day since Emery took charge. It was also their fourth straight win over City at Villa Park.

He may well have a point. City's expected goals came to 1.79 against Villa's 0.61.

Continued on page 2

PREMIER LEAGUE

PENDERS' PUNCH, PALMER'S RED, SPURS' NIGHT

A goalkeeper's own goal and a red card in three minutes hand Tottenham a first win at Stamford Bridge since 2018

By Our Special Correspondent

CHELSEA 0 TOTTENHAM 2 (Mike Penders 77 og, Mathys Tel 87)

By the end, three sides of Stamford Bridge had emptied. The fourth was full, loud and going nowhere. Tottenham's supporters stayed long after the final whistle, singing with their players. They had waited since 2018 for a night like this at Chelsea, and they weren't going to let it end early.

For 76 minutes it was a game of saves. Antonín Kinský denied Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson. At the other end Mike Penders, making his first start in place of the injured Emiliano Martínez, kept out Omar Marmoush and Mathys Tel. Spurs had the ball for more than two-thirds of the evening, but neither side could find a way through.

Then Mateus Fernandes curled in a corner, Jan Paul van Hecke rose with Penders, and the young keeper punched the ball into his own net. Maxence Lacroix tried to hook it clear and couldn't. Penders became only the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score a Premier League own goal, after Petr Čech.

The flashpoint had come earlier. Fernandes went down and grabbed the ball to stop Palmer breaking away, Palmer barged into him, and three bookings followed in a minute. Nine minutes later Palmer caught Conor Gallagher's ankle late in midfield, and Chris Kavanagh showed him a second yellow card.

Continued on page 2

PREMIER LEAGUE

GABRIEL HEADS ARSENAL LEVEL WITH CITY

A scrappy Konsa opener and a captain's header on a rain-soaked afternoon pull the champions up alongside the leaders

By Our Special Correspondent

ARSENAL 2 (Ezri Konsa 7, Gabriel Magalhães 68) EVERTON 0

The north London rain fell all afternoon, and Arsenal were just as relentless. It wasn't always pretty, but by the final whistle the champions were level on points with Manchester City at the top.

It started scrappily. Seven minutes in, Arsenal won a corner, and Ezri Konsa poked the ball in at the back post for his first goal for the club. It was also Arsenal's first set-piece goal of the season that didn't come from a penalty.

Everton had chances to hit back. A George shot took a deflection and flew narrowly wide, and Noni Madueke turned beautifully before dragging his effort wide. Then, a minute before half-time, Ben White's weak header back towards David Raya let Thierno Barry in. Barry failed to take it, and you sensed it might be costly.

On 55 minutes the Emirates held its breath as Gabriel fell awkwardly on his right knee. He insisted on carrying on, and 13 minutes later he rose to head in White's cross. It was his 200th Premier League appearance, and there could hardly have been a better way to mark it.

Continued on page 2

Championship · page 3

KONE'S HAT-TRICK IN FOURTEEN MINUTES

QPR 5, Swansea 0

Fourteen minutes and forty seconds. That's how long it took Richard Kone to score a hat-trick at Loftus Road, the quickest in English football's top four divisions since Opta started keeping records in 2004. Before Saturday he hadn't scored since April.

Swansea arrived with the best defence in the Championship. They'd conceded eight goals all season and went home having let in five.

The first came inside two minutes.

Full report, page 3

League One · page 4

BAILEY DOUBLE LEAVES OWLS SICK AT THE KEEPMOAT

Doncaster 2, Sheff Wed 0

Sixteen minutes. That was all it took for Wednesday's afternoon at the Keepmoat to be over, and the long trip home to start feeling longer still.

Owen Bailey did the damage on both occasions. On six minutes a corner was only half-cleared, the ball sat up loose in the box, and the Doncaster midfielder hooked it low past Ashley Maynard-Brewer before a Wednesday shirt could get near him. Ten minutes later Isaac Hutchinson got to the byline and pulled a low ball back, and Bailey arrived to sweep it in from ten yards.

Full report, page 4

A mockup of the printed edition. Every word set here comes from the night's reports, results and tables.