The big news: Three-match ban for Aguero

City's new manager Pep Guardiola will have to go into his first Manchester derby against United without the services of his most prolific striker Sergio Aguero. The Argentine striker was handed a retrospective three-match ban by the English Football Association after being found guilty of having elbowed West Ham defender Winston Reid in City’s last league game.

The ban will mean that Aguero will also miss another league fixture against Bournemouth, and City’s third round League Cup match against Swansea City.

Other top stories

  1. Lionel Messi is set to miss Argentina’s next World Cup qualifier after the Barcelona forward injured his groin during the Albiceleste’s 1-0 win over Uruguay in last Thursday’s World Cup qualifier. Argentina are currently top of the table in the CONMEBOL (South American) qualification tournament.
  2. The Indian national team will play Puerto Rico in an international friendly at 8 pm IST in Mumbai this evening. This will be the Blue Tigers’ first match since defeating Laos 6-1 to qualify for the final qualification round for the Asian Football Confederation Cup 2019. A win for India could see them earn crucial ranking points.
  3. Indian Super League side FC Goa have re-signed World Cup and Champions League winning defender Lucio as their marquee player for the upcoming season.
  4. Defending ISL champions Chennaiyin FC have signed Nigerian forward Dudu for the upcoming ISL season. Dudu scored a hat-trick in FC Goa’s 7-0 victory over Mumbai City in the last season.
  5. Sam Allardyce has announced his starting eleven for his first match in charge of England, a World Cup qualifier against Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday. Three changes have been made from England’s 2-1 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016 with Chris Smalling, Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli making way for John Stones, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana.
  6. England captain Wayne Rooney is set to play his 116th international match, making him the highest capped outfield player for the Three Lions, surpassing David Beckham.
  7. Jose Mourinho has hinted that Antonio Valencia may “return too late” for the Manchester derby. The United right-back is currently on international duty with Ecuador. Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are possible replacements for the Ecuadorian.
  8. New York City FC had celebrated Frank Lampard’s 300th career goal on Thursday. The New York City Mayor’s office had hailed Thursday as “Frank Lampard Day” but it turned out that the celebrations had been premature due to an error in calculations as the midfielder had still been stuck on 299 at the time.