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Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will meet in a tantalising UFC main event this weekend, as they clash for the vacant light-heavyweight title. The original headline bout at Madison Square Garden pitted heavyweight champion Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic, but an injury to Jones has led the initial co-main event to be elevated. The bout will see former champion Prochazka, who vacated the light-heavyweight belt due to injury last year, face ex-middleweight champ Pereira in an intriguing match-up of striking specialists. In the new co-main event of UFC 295, Britain’s Tom Aspinall and Russia’s Sergei Pavlovich will fight for the interim heavyweight title, with the winner in line to challenge Jones in 2024 – possibly leaving former champion Miocic out in the cold. Here’s all you need to know. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. When is UFC 295? The event is set to take place on Saturday 11 November at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The early prelims are due to begin at 11pm GMT (4pm PT, 6pm CT, 7pm ET), with the regular prelims following at 1am GMT on Sunday 12 November (6pm PT, 8pm CT, 9pm ET on Saturday). The main card is then scheduled for 3am GMT on Sunday (8pm PT, 10pm CT, 11pm ET on Saturday). How can I watch it? The card will air live on TNT Sports in the UK, with the broadcaster’s app and website also streaming the fights. In the US, ESPN+ will stream the action live, as will the UFC’s Fight Pass. If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch the event, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are and also with the terms of their service provider. Odds Prochazka – 11/10; Pereira – 13/20 Pavlovich – 10/11; Aspinall – 10/11 Via Betway. Get all the latest UFC betting sites’ offers Full card (subject to change) Jiri Prochazka vs Alex Pereira (vacant light-heavyweight title) Sergei Pavlovich vs Tom Aspinall (interim heavyweight title) Jessica Andrade vs Mackenzie Dern (women’s strawweight) Matt Frevola vs Benoit Saint-Denis (lightweight) Diego Lopes vs Pat Sabatini (featherweight) Prelims Steve Erceg vs Alessandro Costa (flyweight) Tabatha Ricci vs Loopy Godinez (women’s strawweight) Mateusz Rebecki vs Nurullo Aliev (lightweight) Nadim Sadykhov vs Viacheslav Borschchev (lightweight) Early prelims Jared Gordon vs Mark Madsen (lightweight) John Castaneda vs Kyung Ho Kang (bantamweight) Joshua Van vs Kevin Borjas (flyweight) Dennis Buzukja vs Jamall Emmers (featherweight) Read More UFC announces three major title fights will kick off 2024 UFC 295 card in full with two titles on the line What time does UFC 295 start this weekend? When is the next UFC event? UFC schedule 2023: Every fight happening this year Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Brock Lesnar paydays revealed amid UFC lawsuit

Newcastle travel to Germany this evening to face Borussia Dortmund in a crucial Champions League contest that could decide the fate of both teams in Group F. Currently the Magpies are level on points with Dortmund though they sit behind the Bundesliga side in the group following their defeat at St. James’ Park last time out. An away victory tonight will push Eddie Howe’s men into the top two of the table and leave them on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages. Paris Saint-Germain sit top of the table with six points, two more than Howe’s side, and take on AC Milan in tonight’s other group stage clash. Howe will need to mastermind a victory against Dortmund without the services of some of his key players. Dan Burn, Matt Targett, and Jacob Murphy all have injuries while Sandro Tonali has been banned for 10-months. Follow all the Champions League action below and get the latest odds and tips right here:

Manchester City continue their Champions League campaign as Young Boys visit the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s side have won three from three so far in European competition and could book their place in the knockout rounds with another win here. A 6-1 weekend win against Bournemouth was evidence of their scoring prowess even with the precautionary half-time withdrawal of Erling Haaland. Young Boys were beaten 3-1 in the reverse fixture last month and look to be battling with Red Star Belgarde for third spot in the group and a place in the Europa League. Here’s everything you need to know. Get all the latest football betting sites offers here. When is Manchester City vs Young Boys? Manchester City vs Young Boys is due to kick off at 8pm GMT on Tuesday 7 November at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. How can I watch it? Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on TNT Sports 2, with coverage on the channel from 7pm GMT. Subscribers will be able to watch online via Discovery+. If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch major sporting events, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN roundup is here to help: get great deals on the best VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are and also with the terms of their service provider. Team news Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Gomez remain absent for Manchester City, while Erling Haaland may not be risked with a couple of crucial Premier League encounters on the horizon. Midfielder Sandro Lauper was dismissed in Young Boys’ weekend victory over Winterthur but will be able to feature in European competition, while forward Meschak Elia should be fit to feature. Kastriot Imeri and Lukasz Lakomy are out. Predicted line-ups Manchester City XI: Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Walker, Lewis, Rodri, Grealish; Doku, Alvarez, Foden Young Boys XI: Racioppi; Blum, Camara, Benito, Garcia; Males, Lauper, Monteiro, Ugrinic; Itten, Elia Odds Manchester City win 1/14 Draw 12/1 Young Boys win 25/1 Full odds and tips here Prediction A comfortable home win. Manchester City 5-1 Young Boys. Read More What do Arsenal, Man City, Man United and Newcastle need to reach last UCL 16? From Aguero winner to Keegan dismay, Spurs-Chelsea joins Premier League classics Always need to improve – Nicolas Jackson keen to push on after hat-trick heroics Marcus Rashford tells Man Utd fan channel to ‘stop spreading malicious rumours’ Erling Haaland trains for Manchester City after weekend injury scare Manchester City issue Erling Haaland fitness update ahead of Young Boys clash

Anthony Joshua has told Louis Theroux about a “massive” fight he had with “six guys” in the street, showing the journalist his scars in the process. Joshua, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, is the subject of the 7 November episode of Louis Theroux Interviews, in which “AJ” discusses his upbringing, boxing career and future plans. In the opening segment of the episode, Theroux asks the 34-year-old: “Can I see your hands? Are those little marks from boxing?” “Well, this one is,” Joshua replies, before Theroux adds: “What about on your knuckles?” “You know, funny enough...” Joshua begins. “I’m not a troublesome person, I’ll be honest with you – far from troublesome – but I used to get in fights, and my skin hasn’t healed too well. “So, this knuckle... I was going to get chicken one evening, and I ended up fighting six guys on my own. And that was just like massive – really good scrap. And I think this [one] is from the same time.” When asked if he ever put anyone in hospital, Joshua replies: “No, no, no, no. In a coffin. No, I’m joking!” In the latest episode of Theroux’s BBC programme, Joshua also discusses his career no longer being “fun” and his drug habits as a teenager in London. Much of the episode focuses on Joshua’s points win over Jermaine Franklin in April, when the Briton bounced back from two straight losses to Oleksandr Usyk. AJ has since fought again, knocking out Robert Helenius in August. Louis Theroux Interviews: Anthony Joshua airs on BBC Two on Tuesday 7 November, starting at 9pm GMT. Read More Anthony Joshua reveals how much cannabis he smoked as a teenager Anthony Joshua admits his boxing career has stopped being ‘fun’ Eddie Hearn eyes up fight against Francis Ngannou for Anthony Joshua

An honest Anthony Joshua has told Louis Theroux that the days when boxing “was for fun” are “gone” for him. Joshua, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, is the subject of the 7 November episode of Louis Theroux Interviews, in which “AJ” discusses his upbringing, boxing career and future plans. In one emotional segment of the episode, Theroux asks Joshua about his second successive loss to Oleksandr Usyk, who took the unified heavyweight belts from the 34-year-old in 2021 before beating AJ again in 2022. After that second defeat, Joshua seized a microphone and ranted at the crowd in Saudi Arabia, while also throwing Usyk’s titles out of the ring. “It was like, ‘These don’t even mean anything anyway. What? I ain’t got them, so they don’t mean anything.’ That was the ego and pride coming out,” Joshua tells Theroux in the latest episode of the BBC programme. “‘I brought this heavyweight division back.’ “Right or wrong...” Joshua continues, before Theroux interjects: “Probably wrong, probably wrong. I don’t think anyone says it was the right thing to do.” Joshua replies: “You asked me a question, yeah? You asked me a question and I’m answering it. Could I have done it better? Of course I could have. “I felt frustrated and annoyed, I knew I was out of the title race, and then the questions started: ‘What is he like? Where’s his head at? Can he be three-time champion of the world?’ “People now create this narrative and put pressure on me. It’s, like, too much. Gone are the days when it was for fun, when you’re just doing it for the passion, [when] you’re a prospect.” Theroux then says to an emotional-sounding Joshua, “Let’s have a cup of tea. Are you alright?” to which the boxer replies: “Yeah, I’m feeling good, come to the kitchen.” Later in the episode, the pair return to the subject, with Joshua saying: “Yeah, [money] plays a part, but I’m passionate. This is all I know, this is what I dedicate my life to. “Do I want to get myself to the championship? I would love to. Am I gonna be smart in how I get there? Yeah. Do I know a lot more about boxing than I used to? A hundred per cent. Am I still trying to improve as a boxer? Yeah. ‘How come he doesn’t fight with the same passion that he used to?’ Because I’m a better boxer than I was then.” Elsewhere in the episode, Joshua relives a fight he had with ‘six guys’ who attacked him in the street. Joshua bounced back from his losses to Usyk by outpointing Jermaine Franklin in April. The Briton then knocked out Robert Helenius in August. Both fights took place at London’s O2 Arena. Louis Theroux Interviews: Anthony Joshua airs on BBC Two on Tuesday 7 November, starting at 9pm GMT. Read More Anthony Joshua relives fight with ‘six guys’ who attacked him in the street Eddie Hearn eyes up fight against Francis Ngannou for Anthony Joshua Betfred ads featuring boxer Anthony Joshua banned because of appeal to under-18s Fury vs Ngannou 2? Joshua vs Wilder? The heavyweight fights we need in 2024 Hearn makes bold Fury vs Joshua prediction after Ngannou win On this day in 2017: Anthony Joshua beats Carlos Takam to retain world titles

The launch of a celebrity brand is both mundane and rousing. Though it’s rarely groundbreaking when a public figure announces their new entrepreneurial project, due to the sheer frequency of them, we’re almost pressured to add our opinion regardless. Conversations circulate, complimenting inventiveness and speculating failure – and we, as their around-the-clock audience, are enticed to pick a side because after all, it’s a part of pop culture, a phenomenon which relies on commentary. Most recently, Kylie Jenner, the 26-year-old reality star responsible for her $1bn eponymous beauty company Kylie Cosmetics, declared her next career move in the fashion industry with her own clothing line, Khy. And there’s been a lot of talk. The moniker being motivated by her childhood nickname, Khy presents a line of mod items priced reasonably. To create the clothing line, Kylie partnered with her mom, Kris Jenner, as well as the impressive investor duo Emma and Jens Grede, co-founders of numerous celebrity brands such as Skims, Good American, and Brady. Khy aims to bridge the gap between quality and affordability with versatile pieces priced low, but high enough to forego the assumption of cheap garb. Between a bundle of faux leather outerwear with a subtle air of raunchiness, to nylon basics meant for layering, the fashion muse, along with designers Nan Li and Emilia Pfohl from the Berlin-based brand Namilia, crafted the first drop, surpassing $1m in sales within the first hour on 1 November, per a People report. “For this line the main goal is to bring major fashion pieces, and work with these amazing designers and have it be accessible – having everything in this first drop be under $200 dollars was very important to me,” the innovator told Vogue writer Luke Leitch. In conversation with the Wall Street Journal Magazine for its “Innovator’s Issue” ahead of the line’s debut, Kylie revealed she intends to rotate in a myriad of guest creatives to collaborate with throughout the year, with new drops to come every couple of weeks. However, the overarching concept for each collection will reflect her personal wardrobe and taste – this first, “001”, blending edgy character with biker chic. Her intention is allegedly to provide consumers with options suitable for every mood, which means we shouldn’t expect all pleather moto all the time. For me, the beauty mogul’s new venture drove a discerning fact to the forefront of my mind – luminaries are never going to stop creating namesake brands due to their financial standing and privileged connections, no matter their industry expertise or lack thereof. And this certainly rings true for the Kardashian/Jenners, a family with a growing appetite for commercial businesses. Admittedly, I was frustrated by Kylie’s decision to be an architect of her own label, knowing there’s a torrent of independent designers out there who’ve been working on contemporary projects for years and aren’t as widely recognised. For smaller creators, increasing brand visibility is challenging, while celebrities automatically have a widespread presence. But does that mean we should shame Kylie for utilising the mass following she’s built to advertise her new brand? Can we even compare the work of autonomous creatives to that of public figures? No. Because celebrities will inevitably take advantage of their notoriety, we need to be careful with how we talk about their business ventures, ensuring we aren’t lending fruitless attention to irrelevant points, unnecessarily boasting them or prematurely bashing them. According to Mosha Lundström Halbert, a fashion news writer and founder of “Newsfash,” an innovative media company, just as we can’t put celebrity clothing brands into the same category as renowned fashion houses like Gucci or Balenciaga, we can’t compare them to smaller designers who started their career in school. The industry presents us with a platter of concepts, and they shouldn’t be grouped all-together. “Just because something is fashion, just because a company creates clothing doesn’t mean that it’s a fashion brand,” Halbert told The Independent. “My expectations for brands that celebrities come out with are very different than how I look at a brand by a designer who has either come out of a fashion school or worked in the industry.” “I think we can’t lump everything together just because they’re all creating clothing and accessories. I don’t see this as in competition with other established fashion brands, especially when you look at the price point and how many brands are already on the market,” she continued. “Small designers need to be focusing on their own work and not... worrying about what Kylie Jenner is doing. Like, there is completely different lanes.” The target audience for an independent designer isn’t the same for a celebrity creator. Famed figures, like Kylie, with millions of followers, are hoping the mass of people who show a dedicated intrigue in their personal style, reccomendations, and taste will want to purchase clothing with their name on it. “The most important thing to understand is that celebrity launches stand for ‘launches for the masses’. Whereas, most small designers have their niche audiences that are more community-driven,” Bernard Garby, a popular fashion news TikToker, pointed out. As someone who works on the commercial side of luxury goods, Garby reiterated to The Independent that there are different markets underneath the vast umbrella of fashion. “They are two complete opposite markets with two absolutely different target audiences. Therefore, my advice to smaller brands is to focus less on competition and focus more on growing their communities and developing their loyalty because that is their key to success,” he said. “If you’re a small designer with big commercial dreams, in fact, watch those celebrities and look at how they commercially approach and navigate their launch and get inspired by their work and see if there is anything you can adapt to your own business from their strategy,” Garby added. Whether we should speculate the success or failure of Kylie’s clothing venture, it’s too early, even though the reported sales so far suggest a favourable outcome. But there are a few factors that support both sides – the first being her unique selling point. At 17, Kylie capatilised on her love of makeup, noticing a need for matching lip liners and lipsticks as a frustrated consumer herself. During this time, she was also vocal about feeling insecure concerning the size of her lips, constantly overlining them before she got temporary filler in 2015. Therefore, the decision to outset a makeup brand was motivated by her identity. Her first product – a selection of lip kit duos – catalysed her entire empire. In Garby’s opinion, Kylie’s first company was “organic”. When we look at the streamline of successful businesses born from the Kardashian/Jenner family – Skims, Good American, Poosh – all were built based off an “organic” or intimate selling point. For Kim, making shapewear sexy reflected her longstanding sentiment of being unafraid to wear what you need to, to feel comfortable and confident in your figure. For Khloe, someone who’s spoken candidly about battling body insecurities amid public scrutiny, Good American focuses on size inclusivity, wanting to represent and empower women with a range of different body shapes. And Kourtney, the sister who’s avowed her love for wellness openly, invented Poosh, a “modern guide to living your best life,” according to her. “Looking at the Kardashians, it’s actually really interesting. They’ve tried a lot of businesses that haven’t panned out,” Halbert remarked. Between Dash, the family’s retail chain born in Calabasas which eventually closed in 2018, to “The Kardashian Kard,” a prepaid MasterCard debit card, the ravenous reality bunch weren’t always triumphant in their enterprises. So, if having an intimate devotion or being established in a particular niche has proven to help Kardashian brands prosper in the past, does this mean it won’t be long before Khy goes under? Speaking to Vogue, Kylie pointed to the personal anecdote which drove her to create Khy, ensuring consumers understand this venture isn’t all that arbitrary. Like so many, Kylie was a “Tumblr girl” during her teen years, drafting mood boards to mirror her current obsessions. Dubbed “Kalifornia Klasss,” the adolescent used the platform to realise herself then and the woman she’d become. She was “King Kylie,” and Khy has every bit to do with that persona. “It is really significant. King Kylie for me was less about what I was wearing, and more about how I felt in that era. I just felt confident, free, and I didn’t care what anyone said,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot of power in that and I’m definitely channeling my King Kylie energy this year.” Aside from having a unique selling point, Garby noted how pertinent product quality is, especially inside a competitive market. A celebrity can be a known fashion muse, model, or aspiring designer, but a brand will never truly thrive if the quality of the product is poor. “Establishment can help you drive awareness - but in the end - it comes down to the actual product that they try to sell,” Garby noted. Based on the current selection of faux leather items, made from thermoplastic polyme, which can take up to 500 years to decompose, can emit toxic chemicals once discarded, and have the potential to shed microplastics while being used, per a Nomomente analysis, I personally don’t see how Khy differs from other designs already out there, with the cropped leather jacket and strapless midi dress seemingly familiar to what you see priced similarly at Zara. Nevertheless, Kylie’s not alone, being backed by Emma and Jens Grede, the all-too-competent pair who are already responsible for the continued achievement of other Kardashian brands. Emma, who grew up in London, co-founded Good American with Khloe, and Safely, Kris Jenner’s line of natural cleaning products. Meanwhile, Jens, originally from Sweden, partnered with Kim as a co-founder of Skims, driving the company value up to $4bn in the years since it’s initial launch, according to The New York Times. As of now, details on Khy’s subsequent drop, “002”, remain under wraps as an omnipresence of anticipation looms over an eager audience waiting to see what the brand will offer next. While we can only really judge Khy off of personal style preference, quality, and fit, time will tell whether it’s just another celebrity brand doomed to fail or whether “King Kylie” will irrevocably shape understated luxury and fashion fads to come. The Independent has contacted Kylie’s representatives for comment. Read More Kylie Jenner says she and Travis Scott are doing ‘best job’ they can as co-parents Former Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld says ‘no one’ wanted to dress Kim Kardashian Why does Philadelphia Eagles player AJ Brown wear pink shoes? Former Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld says ‘no one’ wanted to dress Kim Kardashian Why does Philadelphia Eagles player AJ Brown wear pink shoes? Fast fashion retailer ASOS struggles to engage consumers as company losses balloon

It is a big game, but then they all are now for Newcastle. By Christmas, they will have played Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund twice each, and Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Brighton once apiece. The definition of a major match can shift according to reason, to the quality of the opposition – despite the size of their fanbase and stadium, Newcastle may not have been underlined on the fixture list by the elite during their wilderness years – but the sight of the massive Signal Iduna Park is another reminder they are back in the big time now. Whether they remain there in spring is still to be determined. Dortmund may have always been the biggest game of perhaps the biggest week thus far for Newcastle – a triple header of Manchester United, Arsenal and last season’s Bundesliga runners-up – but Eddie Howe’s side arrive in Germany having proved masters of brinkmanship. Short of players, but high on spirit, they are looking to complete a famous hat-trick. In four days, they could have exited the Carabao Cup and been distanced from the Premier League’s top four; instead, they overcame United and Arsenal. Now for the side who inflicted their only defeat in their last 12 matches. Three points would put Newcastle on course for the knockout stages. “Every game is a must-win,” said Howe. “The term is probably overused in football.” And if he was right to note that too much of the language can be hyperbolic – certainly some was at St James’ Park on Saturday – a setback could be very damaging. With a trip to Paris next, defeat in Dortmund could mean Newcastle are out of the Champions League after five games. Howe will have to navigate the rest of the group stage without the symbolic hero of their demolition of Paris Saint-Germain. Dan Burn’s aerial ability brought a goal then, but he landed awkwardly on his back after going up for a header on Saturday. “A long-term problem, a couple of months is a speculative number,” said Howe. “He has been gigantic for us.” It was not just a reference to Burn’s height and, with Matt Targett out for around three months, Newcastle are now short of left-backs. They were already missing the spine of a side, in the flagship signings Sven Botman, Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak. With Burn, Targett and Harvey Barnes absent as well, Newcastle are shorn of players who have cost more than £200m of their £400m outlay in Howe’s reign. Big numbers have given way to small ones. Newcastle have too few players. There was no room in the Champions League squad for Emil Krafth and Matt Ritchie, two fit players. Selection could be a process of elimination. “You just see who is fit and who is available,” Howe said. “The games have come at a cost.” Nor is there much respite for the overworked. “The problem we have is a lot of the injuries are on a longer-term scale, which means there’s no relief coming around the corner,” he said. The last men standing will have to carry on running for quite some time. It is something depleted groups managed to do against United and Arsenal. But, deprived of some of the players who brought stardust, Newcastle feel still more reliant on hard work. Certainly, it is harder to outclass teams. And, while a 4-1 scoreline against PSG was spectacular, otherwise Newcastle are yet to score. The statistics are explained in part by the toughness of a pool without a minnow who can be thrashed but of the 32 teams in the Champions League, so far Newcastle have the third-lowest expected goals and the fourth fewest shots. They rank fourth from bottom for completed passes and have had the third-fewest touches. Only three goalkeepers have made more saves than Nick Pope; of those who have played two or more games, only one has a higher save percentage than his 86.7; as he is Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel, it could add to a struggle to score. They drew a blank at home two weeks ago and the realist in Howe was apparent when he reviewed Dortmund’s victory at St James’ Park. “It was a tight game but they deserved to win,” he said. The sense is the rematch could be tight; so, too, the pool. At the start of the competition, Opta’s predictive statistics gave Newcastle a 54 per cent chance of qualifying from Group F. Halfway through it, their supercomputer now thinks there is a 54 per cent likelihood they will go through. That said, Opta gave Newcastle a 78 per cent chance of a top-two finish before the defeat to Dortmund two weeks ago. It could shape up as the pivotal result of their European campaign. And yet, as Howe is very aware, there are worse problems than being deprived of key players for a marquee match against one of Germany’s great clubs. Wednesday marks the second anniversary of his appointment. Dortmund were not on his agenda then. “The vision was short-term. It was, can we stay in the Premier League?” he recalled. Now the question is whether Newcastle can stay in the Champions League. Read More Sporting director Dan Ashworth believes Newcastle are on ‘an upward trajectory’ How Anthony Gordon became central to Newcastle’s Champions League hopes Arsenal lose unbeaten start as Newcastle keep their heads in the battle of St James’ Park

With college basketball back on the schedule, here's a look at the evolving NBA Draft landscape in early November.

A farce that sums up a lot of modern football, or one of the games of the season? It maybe sums up how confusing and contradictory this game was that it could genuinely be both. Chelsea’s eventual 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur could have huge effects for both of their seasons too. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have got the win it feels like they have been waiting for, and that at the stadium that still means more to him than any other in football. Ange Postecoglou’s scarcely believable high line with nine men and no main centre-halves did make it borderline for some time. Such a creditable approach earned the applause of the home crowd when it finally went wrong for Nicolas Jackson’s decisive second goal, but there was that unsettling feeling of momentum being undone. Spurs have not just lost their first league game under Postecoglou but also Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero to suspensions and possibly James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury. That all has the feeling of bringing down a flight that had been improbably soaring for some time. Postecoglou could of course tell his players it was a freak game. That’s one way of putting it. It was almost several different events in one, as we saw a spell akin to the infamous Battle of the Bridge as well as Saturday’s Copa Libertadores final, a grand staging for every debate about VAR over and over and then what amounted to a bizarre but brave training session, where Postecoglou seemingly set up the irrepressible Guglielmo Vicario against the entirety of Chelsea’s young attack. To top it off, and turn everything on its head, the previously misfiring Jackson got a hat-trick late on. It wasn’t quite an exhibition of finishing but there was enough to show the potential that is there. Whatever about this evening exhibiting various types of football events in one, mind, there were alternating periods that looked like it could have come from completely different matches. It was incredible to contemplate this by even the half-hour mark, but the first 18 minutes looked like it would be a comprehensive and confident Spurs win to continue their early-season surge. They were shredding Chelsea, especially on the wings. Both sides were being targeted, something inevitable given all the space, and the first real attack brought a goal. Dejan Kulusevski shot and the ball cannoned off Levi Colwell and past Robert Sanchez. Reece James was even more exposed on the other side, allowing Brennan Johnson to just saunter through and square for Son Heung-Min to slide the ball in. It was all so easy that Spurs were getting ahead of themselves, as the Korean’s wayward foot saw the goal ruled out for offside. That was what made what happened next all the more inexplicable, as Udogie went in with a dismally reckless challenge on Raheem Sterling. He didn’t get sent off – yet – but it was like the entire tone changed. It was also a bit of Chekov’s foul, as Udogie would go for similar later on. That itself was influenced by what the match briefly became, which was somewhere between an old storyline from this fixture like the Battle of the Bridge and the Libertadores final. Cristian Romero was at the centre of it, with two challenges of his own that each could have received red cards. He was eventually sent off as part of the same sequence that saw a second Chelsea goal chalked off, to bring a penalty. It was almost difficult to keep up, the sense of dislocation added to by how the match was played at a frenetic pace and yet also frequently stopped for long VAR checks. Cole Palmer’s ensuing penalty consequently may not have been as pure as he’d have liked but it did make its way in. For Pochettino’s part, Udogie’s challenge wasn’t the only big change. He altered Chelsea’s formation to ensure they had taken tactical control of the game even before Romero’s red card. It probably shouldn’t have got to that for Spurs, though. It was going to get worse. Both Maddison and Van de Ven had to go off injured before Udogie eventually got his red card. What happened next was perhaps the most unexpected development of all, though. Postecoglou refused to back down. He doubled down. Despite nine-man Spurs losing two of their leading players to injury, with both of their main centre-halves off the pitch, Postecoglou seemed to go even higher with his line. Spurs basically offered up the entirety of their half to Chelsea’s attack. It was bold, to say the least. It immediately led to Chelsea setting up a series of one-on-ones, the game almost becoming a training exercise between their forwards and Guglielmo Vicario, with some vague use of the offside trap in between. And yet this might well have been where there was a clear logic. Given how inexperienced this Chelsea squad is, many of them seemed to keep making the bad choices when such good chances were offered. There was rarely a third-man run. Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson kept going outside when they should have gone inside, or vice versa. Vicario, for his part, was brilliant. Every unlikely stop amplified the atmosphere. It was as if every wasted one-on-one – and they were becoming countless – was further eroding their confidence. This could have been a hugely embarrassing game for Chelsea, rather than the humiliation for Spurs it was almost set up for. Except, the risk was just too great. A team with someone as experienced as Sterling was eventually going to get one right. It was duly his pass that set up Jackson. At 2-1, Spurs had no choice but to go for it even more. Jackson claimed even more, twice scoring in stoppage time. That may be a turning point for him as well as Spurs, but only after a night that really did the rounds. You can try to make sense of it – but maybe it’s just best to be experienced. Read More Ange Postecoglou reacts to VAR calls as Spurs earn two red cards in defeat to Chelsea Ange Postecoglou’s high line epitomised Tottenham’s optimism - and their downfall Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: Spurs went down with flag held high but loss hurts a lot

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When Mauricio Pochettino was asked about Ange Postecoglou’s surprisingly high line at nine, he wasn’t too willing to get into it. The Chelsea manager instead pointed to his side’s own impact on proceedings, how proud he was. He probably wasn’t the only one unwilling to indulge too much praise of Tottenham Hotspur, after a 4-1 defeat Postecoglou’s side unnecessarily lost control of. There is already that sense of rival fans, if for rather obvious tribal reasons, bristling at the regular appeals to “mate”. The explanation of that high line was probably extreme Postecoglou, the Australian in his ultimate form. “It is just who we are, mate, it is who we will be for as long as I am here,” the Spurs manager said on TV. “If we go down to five men, we will still have a go.” And yet the last six words are why there was a sense of pride around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, almost because of a 4-1 defeat where they went against the grain to their own cost. Postecoglou was willing to abandon himself to the “purity of the game”, as he actually said later about VAR. It is so different to what Spurs fans feel they have had to put up with over the past four years. As incredible as the sight of eight outfield players at the halfway line was, going against most football convention, it’s obviously more invigorating than just keeping 11 back as both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte did. It wasn’t all self-defeating purism, either. There was some pragmatic logic to it, in the calculation that an inexperienced Chelsea weren’t guaranteed to take advantage. This wasn’t Manchester City, for all the post-game discussion of how Pep Guardiola’s side might have scored around nine in that situation. That appreciation could be sensed in the loud applause that went around the stadium after Nicholas Jackson’s first goal, and Chelsea’s eventual second. There was the feeling they’d made the best of a bad situation, and given themselves the best chance of victory. Spurs did waste one big chance at just 2-1, and it could have been very different had Eric Dier delayed his run for that offside goal by a millisecond. That doesn’t mean discussion should stray too far into describing this as a moral victory. It was a largely self-inflicted defeat. There’s even an argument that is Postecoglou’s very excitable approach with a young team maybe played into a certain recklessness. Spurs were in complete control at 1-0, only for an inexplicable series of rash challenges to see them lose the lead, two players and - eventually - the game. Through that, they have also lost crucial momentum, that had felt like it had been elevating what would still have been an encouraging start to the season even without the winning run. It’s difficult to argue Spurs haven’t been overperforming now. Within that applause was also the awareness this was also about to get a lot more difficult. As well as that emotional momentum, they won’t have Cristian Romero, Micky van der Ven, Destiny Udogie or James Maddison for a time. That is going to take some adjustment. It might represent the start of a period where things start going the other way. That doesn’t mean discussion should go too far the other way, mind. One temptation from Postecoglou’s line was to dismiss it as typical Spurs, all talk about romance and no victories. It’s abundantly clear that the Australian is changing things here. They have just been markedly overperforming, and ahead of schedule. They shouldn’t now be overly criticised for that, as they probably face up to a trickier period that was always going to come. Postecoglou’s approach will bring more wins than they would otherwise achieve. His willingness for adventure shouldn’t be confused with tactical naivety. There is a serious coaching mind underneath. That is something that has also become clear to everyone at the club. It was why the players, after the game, were only too content with the approach. They weren’t questioning it. Postecoglou, after all, has far more answers than just that high line. Read More Ange Postecoglou laments ‘theatre’ of VAR checks after Chelsea defeat Ange Postecoglou appears to aim barb at Arsenal and Mikel Arteta over VAR controversy Ange Postecoglou reacts to VAR calls as Spurs earn two red cards in defeat to Chelsea Chelsea triumph over Tottenham in Premier League clash that had everything and more Tottenham vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and reaction Ange Postecoglou happy with Daniel Levy relationship but rules out rafting trip

Kevin de Bruyne has admitted that his hamstring was so flimsy it was like a wet kitchen towel before he was injured. The Manchester City midfielder played with a hamstring problem for the final two months of last season before being injured in the first half of the Champions League final win over Internazionale. And after making a comeback, he was hurt again in the Premier League opener against Burnley, lasting just 23 minutes before undergoing surgery. The Belgium captain could be back in December and is confident this time he will last longer on his comeback. He said: “It was a serious operation. It’s actually going very well. There will be a major scan next week and then we will know how the injury is progressing. In the end, everything is going according to schedule. I have not been given a time when I could play football again. “It is important that I get this injury 100 per cent right. There were a lot of cracks. Those hamstrings could have torn at any time. It was - on paper - a wet kitchen towel. Ultimately, I had a major maintenance carried out after 700 matches, a bit like you do with your car. “I had been struggling for two months, but I was able to hold on well and with the club we were able to manage everything. I was able to arrange to be there at the right time. During the week when I felt at my best, but my body said that it was enough. I still had a lot of stress in that final. Because of all those movements I may have made the crack a little bigger. But it was worth it. “This has never happened to me before. It is a serious surgery and something like that doesn’t happen very often with a hamstring injury. But all the surgeons said an intervention was necessary.” Read More Pep Guardiola responds to concerns over artificial pitch ahead of Young Boys clash Watch: Jurgen Klopp’s amusing reaction to Man United being thrashed at home ‘I am a fighter’ insists Erik ten Hag after chastening Manchester United defeat