• Sign up to Jonathan’s weekly newsletter here

Twelve weeks into the season, there have been zero managerial dismissals – have clubs begun to realize that changing managers is not a panacea?

All is calm, and it’s a little disconcerting. Last season, a record 14 Premier League managers left their jobs, but with a third of this campaign gone, we are still awaiting out first dismissal. It’s true that prime sacking season is not yet quite upon us and that the opening of the transfer window in January may focus minds but, still, this is a period of unusual stability. So what lies behind it?

Immediately there is a caveat, which is that Julen Lopetegui left Wolves shortly before the season began, reasoning that the financial constraints under which he would have had to operate were intolerable. The former Spain manager seemingly turned down the opportunity to take charge of the Saudi champions Al-Ittihad and now lurks as a potential replacement for any Premier League manager who is sacked this winter. Lopetegui’s successor, Gary O’Neil, has done a remarkable job given the restrictions on him: Wolves lie 12th in the table and probably would be in the top half had three poor penalty decisions not gone against them.

Everton have followed in the footsteps of Sunderland, Manchester United, Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth

By Richard Foster for The Football Mine

Everton’s 10-point deduction is the heaviest punishment in the history of the English top flight, but they are not the first club to be docked points.

Sunderland set the trend, relieved of two points in the 1890-91 season when they fielded an unregistered player, Ned Doig. The Scottish goalkeeper went on to become a Sunderland legend, making more than 450 appearances for the club across 14 seasons and winning four league titles. He was also part of the Sunderland team that won the “World Championship” – a match pitting the Scottish title-winners against the English champions that featured 22 Scottish players.

Everton have followed in the footsteps of Sunderland, Manchester United, Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth

By Richard Foster for The Football Mine

Everton’s 10-point deduction is the heaviest punishment in the history of the English top flight, but they are not the first club to be docked points.

Sunderland set the trend, relieved of two points in the 1890-91 season when they fielded an unregistered player, Ned Doig. The Scottish goalkeeper went on to become a Sunderland legend, making more than 450 appearances for the club across 14 seasons and winning four league titles. He was also part of the Sunderland team that won the “World Championship” – a match pitting the Scottish title-winners against the English champions that featured 22 Scottish players.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, John Brewin and Nedum Onuoha to preview the upcoming European qualifiers

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: the panel discuss the upcoming European qualifiers, with the final automatic places to be settled. Wales can book their place in Germany with two wins from two.

• Arnold replaced Ed Woodward in post in February 2022
• News comes with Sir Jim Ratcliffe close to buying into club

Richard Arnold is leaving his role as Manchester United chief executive, the club has announced.

Arnold has been with United since 2007, working as commercial director before becoming group managing director in 2013. The departure of the executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward saw him take up the role of chief executive in February 2022.

• £72m striker could miss rest of November with muscle strain
• Eriksen’s knee injury set to rule him out for next six games

Rasmus Højlund and Christian Eriksen both face spells on the sidelines through injury, Manchester United announced on Monday night.

The duo picked up problems in the win against Luton on Saturday, and were both forced to be substituted during the 1-0 win. They have been withdrawn from the Denmark squad for their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Slovenia and Northern Ireland.

Even as Storm Debi battered Manchester, thousands turned out to line the route as the cortege wound past Old Trafford

“He was internationally famous …” the Reverend Grace Thomas said, “but he was most at home with his family.” The head of the Manchester United Foundation John Shiels and the former United chief executive David Gill, who delivered eulogies, both made reference to his intense privacy. And that perhaps was the most striking aspect of the memorial service for Sir Bobby Charlton at Manchester Cathedral on Monday: he would have hated it, but he would have gone through with it because he recognised he had a responsibility to do so.

This was the public event; the family service will be held on Tuesday. The Football Association was represented by Prince William, Manchester United by a host of players, former players and managers and the wider football world by the likes of the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, the England manager, Gareth Southgate, and the Manchester City chief executive, Ferran Soriano. It said much about Charlton’s international resonance that Real Madrid sent their former striker Emilio Butragueño, while a service was held in Charlton’s memory in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

Former Manchester United and England great Sir Bobby Charlton was laid to rest with both fans and the football community arriving en masse to pay their respects. The funeral procession wound its way past Old Trafford, with thousands lining the route from the stadium to Manchester cathedral. Many United and footballing greats also paid tribute to the World Cup winner.

• ‘Passing of an era’: Bobby Charlton’s funeral brings fans together in Manchester

Thousands of mourners lined the route from Old Trafford football stadium to Manchester cathedral

Some footballers are remembered for their individual success. Others are forever linked to a team. Vanishingly few symbolise what one fan described on Monday as “the passing of an era before our eyes”.

As Sir Bobby Charlton left Old Trafford for the final time, his funeral cortege carried by a ripple of applause, thousands of mourners bade farewell to a titan of the game, revered as much for his impeccable character as his talent.

Chelsea are becoming great entertainers, Zinchenko provides solutions for Arsenal and Fulham need goals

If in doubt, watch Chelsea. For the second time in six days, Mauricio Pochettino’s blend of youth and experience staged a fabulous show and scored four times against a fellow member of the old Big Six. Their 4-4 against Manchester City was not so much a soap opera, more a box-set thriller squeezed into 105 minutes. When City took the lead through the two most boring words in the football lexicon – “Haaland pen” – it wasn’t hard to see Chelsea crumbling. But then they had gone a goal down at Spurs too. They showed tremendous mettle, and soon they were 2-1 up. City regained the lead, then lost it, then grabbed it again – only for Cole Palmer to save a point and join Raheem Sterling on the scoresheet. Pep Guardiola is happy to sell players to other big clubs, and they are happy to make him pay for it. Tim de Lisle

Match report: Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City

Match report: Bournemouth 2-0 Newcastle

Match report: Manchester United 1-0 Luton Town

Match report: Arsenal 3-1 Burnley

The former Manchester United coach on working with Sir Bobby Charlton, Erik ten Hag’s problems and his job with Australia

An accusation often thrown at those associated with Manchester United these days is that they view football with red-tinted spectacles. If you hark back 10 years or more you’re a nostalgia merchant, you’re History FC; most of us have become familiar with the social media sneers.

Making such a jibe to René Meulensteen, however, would be to overlook the vital part he played in helping Sir Alex Ferguson forge the third, final and arguably most complete version of the United juggernaut. Meulensteen was part of the furniture at Old Trafford for 12 years from 2001: working in the club’s famed academy before succeeding Carlos Queiroz as Ferguson’s closest confidant alongside Mike Phelan from 2007 to 2013, during which time United, as their fans still sing, won the lot.

• Manager Ten Hag ‘happy’ despite ban for third booking
• Injury concerns as Eriksen and Højlund forced off

Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United needed their win over Luton but that their 21 points after having 16 players unavailable this season put the team in a “very good position” for a top-four finish.

The manager’s mood was not affected by his third yellow card of the season received towards the end of the game, which means he will serve a one‑match ban for the league visit to Everton after the international break.

While United avoided embarrassment against Luton, their latest prosaic victory could well be another false dawn

“We want to do it in the United way,” Erik ten Hag proclaimed before the start of the season. This concept was supposed to be “aggressive” and “dynamic” but most importantly it would “surprise” supporters.

Twelve Premier League games and a seventh win by one goal later, the only surprising element is how mundane the football has become. It required a winner from Victor Lindelöf to secure the points against Luton, the third time this season United have needed a centre‑back to settle the result.

Erik ten Hag can breathe his latest sigh of relief as Manchester United head for the international break in good cheer. For this Victor Lindelöf should be thanked after a match-winner that ended a three-year wait since his last goal in club colours and lifts United up to 21 points, three behind fourth-placed Liverpool, who have played a game fewer.

The goal came from a corner on the left. Bruno Fernandes took this, the move broke up, and the ball was worked by Mason Mount to Marcus Rashford on the opposite flank. He drilled a cross in and there was the Sweden defender to blaze beyond Thomas Kaminski.

• United manager demands his senior players help address slump
• Ten Hag praises Maguire’s improved level of performances

Erik ten Hag has called on Manchester United’s senior players to show more leadership in clutch moments and named Harry Maguire, the former captain, as one of those who can “step up”.

United’s mindset has appeared fragile in adversity this season, with the 4-3 Champions League defeat to Copenhagen in midweek the latest example. United were leading 2-0 and, according to Ten Hag, enjoying their “best minutes of the season” before Marcus Rashford’s red card triggered another dramatic collapse.

You can see glimpses of how the Dutchman’s plan may pay off eventually. For now, pretty much anything could happen

“What can you do?” Erik ten Hag kept asking in the press conference room in Copenhagen. Little tip: maybe stop doing that. By all means have a little whinge about VAR after a narrow defeat in Europe. But perhaps drawing everyone’s attention to your own essential powerlessness is not the smartest move at a time when you have lost nine out of your last 16 games and your leadership is widely held to be in crisis. And people said Ten Hag couldn’t turn Manchester United into Ajax.

In one sense, the 4-3 defeat against Copenhagen was of a piece with United’s season to date: calamity snatched from the jaws of promise, an inability to defend simple crosses, an unswerving determination to step on whatever rakes were strewn in their path. It was the third time this season United had lost from a winning position. And yet if the Copenhagen game was the perfect encapsulation of how things have gone wrong for United, it also offered evidence of how things may yet, with a little time and a little luck, go right.

• Ratcliffe set for £25% stake and control of football operations
• Next week likely too soon but following week seen as realistic

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is hopeful of completing a deal to buy a minority stake in Manchester United over the next fortnight.

The British billionaire is set to spend about £1.25bn to acquire £25% of the club and gain control of football operations. It is likely the agreement will be finalised before United play Everton at Goodison Park on 26 November. Although informed sources said next week appeared too soon for a deal, the following week is regarded as realistic.

Pressure mounts on Erik ten Hag, Aston Villa close on a home record and Eddie Howe is back in Bournemouth

The obvious subplot at Molineux centres on Hwang Hee-chan facing Son Heung-min in the Premier League for only the second time – in a game known as the Korean derby – but perhaps the most pivotal battle will rest on an unfashionable but excellent centre-back in Craig Dawson. Six weeks ago the 33-year-old, whose career kicked off in League Two with Rochdale, successfully tamed Erling Haaland in victory over Manchester City, leading Alan Shearer to praise his “faultless display” against the league’s top goalscorer. “It was all about concentration and keeping focused,” Dawson said at the time and he and his centre-back partners Toti Gomes and Max Kilman, the Wolves captain, will have to be on their guard again if they are to halt Son and co returning to winning ways. Ben Fisher

Wolves v Tottenham, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Arsenal v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Luton Town, Saturday 3pm

• Team beaten nine times and bottom of Champions League group
• Copenhagen defender Vavro describes Garnacho as ‘a clown’

Rasmus Højlund is confident “every player in the dressing room” backs Erik ten Hag after Manchester United’s 4-3 loss at Copenhagen in the Champions League.

The 20-year-old striker scored twice to take his total in the competition to five but United are bottom of Group A with two games left. United have lost nine of their 17 games this season, winning the other eight. Wednesday’s defeat will add to the scrutiny on Ten Hag going into Saturday’s visit of Luton in the Premier League.

The latest round of Champions League games are in the books. We run through the standouts, surprises and disappointments, grading all 32 teams

Editor’s note: these grades are for teams’ performances in this week’s round of matches rather than their chances of winning the competition as a whole.