Stories By Greg Lea

• Sport

  Surprise League Cup semi-finalists

  Charlton Athletic are one win away from reaching the League Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history. But to make it through to the last four, the Addicks of League One must beat Manchester United in the quarters this week.

• Sport

  Crystal Palace’s first choice striker debate

  Some Premier League teams have a clearly defined hierarchy at centre-forward, where one player – think Gabriel Jesus at Arsenal, Erling Haaland at Manchester City or Aleksandar Mitrovic at Fulham – starts whenever he is fit.

• Sport

  Leeds must find a way to grind out boring wins

  No one could argue that it is dull watching Leeds United. A club that was famed for its helter-skelter style under Marcelo Bielsa has returned to those roots this season with Jesse Marsch at the helm.

• Sport

  Gabriel Jesus’ injury problem for Arsenal

  With World Cup 2022 in the middle of the season rather than the middle of the year, every Premier League club feared their players getting injured in Qatar. Earlier this month, Arsenal received the dreaded news: Gabriel Jesus had damaged his knee and would need surgery, after which he would be sidelined for up to three months.

• Sport

  The Lovren and Gvardiol partnership

  When Dejan Lovren made his Croatia debut in 2009, Josko Gvardiol was seven years old. Now the two players are starring at centre-back together as the Vatreni seek to reach a second World Cup final in as many tournaments.

• Sport

  Will France go all the way?

  Didier Deschamps became only the third manager in history to take a team to three consecutive World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday. He followed in the footsteps of West Germany duo Sepp Herberger and Helmut Schon by overseeing a 3-1 victory over Poland at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha.

• Sport

  Best ever World Cup openers

  The 2022 World Cup begins on Sunday, with hosts Qatar taking on Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. Neutrals will be hoping for an entertaining encounter in the mould of these five opening games from tournaments gone by.

• Sport

  Tottenham’s slow start haunts them again

  Tottenham Hotspur have now played four games against fellow members of the Premier League’s big six this season. Three have ended in defeat and one produced a fortuitous draw. Spurs’ shortcomings in the most high-profile matches may have ended their title hopes before the World Cup break.

• Sport

  Have Forest reached a turning point?

  Nottingham Forest might finally have lift-off. A 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Saturday was only the club’s second win of what has been a difficult season following promotion from the Championship. Forest are still in the relegation zone, but they now have renewed belief that they can be competitive at this level after all.

• Sport

  Are things only going to get worse for Liverpool?

  Arsenal vs Liverpool has not been a particularly enjoyable fixture for Gunners fans in recent years. Between the start of the 2015/16 campaign and the end of last season, Arsenal won just one of 19 meetings between the two clubs in all competitions.

• Sport

  Palace’s long break will have given Viera time to reflect

  By the time Crystal Palace take to the field against Chelsea this weekend, a month will have passed since their last game. Their scheduled meeting with Manchester United on September 11 was called off following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, while a train strike put paid to the game against Brighton & Hove Albion six days later.

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