Arsenal deliver at last, Lauren Hemp’s treble sees her top the WSL assist chart and Chelsea have ‘two No 1s’

Five goals, five different goalscorers and a clean sheet – Arsenal’s performance against Brighton felt like it was a long time coming. So often this season they have created chances but not been clinical. On Friday night, however, they were in the mood, producing a high-intensity first half that left Brighton shell-shocked. Beth Mead and Emily Fox combined brilliantly down the right, Katie McCabe and Caitlin Foord equally so down the left to exploit the weakness of the visitors’ full-backs and fallible defensive structure. A trademark Mead goal reminded fans of more fruitful times, a spectacular finish from Frida Maanum the same. The special moment of the night, however, belonged to Lina Hurtig. Her 76th-minute header was her first goal in 362 days, a perfect return after the Sweden winger had spent the best part of the last year on the sidelines. SD

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Socialist club were defeated again but there were reasons to be hopeful on and off the pitch at the Millerntor

It was, in many ways, one of those games we see far too many of today. A significant gap between two sides in the same division all too apparent, with the lesser just keeping their powder dry and holding on, aiming to give themselves a puncher’s chance in the final stages. Bayern Munich emerged victorious thanks to an out-of-this-world rocket from range by Jamal Musiala, a moment of quality seemingly designed to underline the gulf.

St Pauli were the home side yet feeding off scraps. They had three shots during the match, none of them on target. They are still scoreless at home after five matches, now an unenviable Bundesliga record. Have a group of people ever wanted to hear Song 2 by Blur, which greeted goal after goal in last season’s dizzy title-winning campaign, so badly? Alexander Blessin’s team could not have given any more – they collectively ran almost six kilometres more than Bayern – but it wasn’t enough. In one sense St Pauli had suffered a 1-0 thrashing. In another it was a day of frustration.

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• Ploutarchos Pourliakas finishes iconic Greek race
• ‘I’ve never smoked. I don’t indulge in excesses’

At 88, Greek runner Ploutarchos Pourliakas has proved again that age can just be a number and poses no barrier to determination after he completed the 41st edition of the Athens Marathon on Sunday.

The race, also called The Authentic, is organised annually on what is believed to be the same ground that the Athenian messenger Phiedippides ran to bring the news of victory from the battlefield of Marathon 2,500 years ago. Recognised as the original marathon course, the same route was used in the 2004 Olympics held in Athens.

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French president offers ‘fraternity and solidarity’ as Israel discourages wearing of ‘recognisable Jewish symbols’ abroad

Emmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of “fraternity and solidarity” after attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.

Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the game taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza.

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Before the floods, I was always with my boys. Always. This is Tera’s story

Location Martock, Canada

Disaster Nova Scotia floods, 2023

Tera works with people who have physical and mental disabilities and lives in the same rural municipality she grew up in: West Hants . When flash floods inundated Nova Scotia , she was working at a group home and raising her two boys, aged six and 11. Those floods would result in the death of her youngest son.

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North-east team Yarm & Eaglescliffe grab four in five minutes to seal 6-5 win in Northern League Division Two

Step aside Barcelona , forget all the talk about Charlton , Roma and the miracle of Istanbul . Gas engineer Tom Atkinson and Yarm & Eaglescliffe FC could well now be the go-to for football comebacks after a remarkable non-league game in the north-east of England at the weekend.

Sunderland West End were coasting at 5-2 up in the 92nd minute of their Northern League Division Two game and Yarm’s supporters could have been forgiven for having made their excuses and left. But an incredible four-goal burst then sealed the most unlikely of victories for the visitors.

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Some supporters believe race and gender were underlying reasons many won’t admit to for why the vice-president lost

In the hours after Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election bid and endorse Kamala Harris as the democratic nominee for president, 40,000 Black women – leaders in politics, business and entertainment – met on a Zoom call to rally around the vice-president.

“We went from that call to organizing our house, our block, our church, our sorority, and our unions,” said Glynda C Carr, president and co-founder of Higher Heights, an organization that works to help Black women get elected to political office. “That is what we did for the 108 days that she ran for office. Black women used our organizing power around a woman that we knew was qualified, that had a lived experience.”

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Facing a severe drought and reliant on hydropower, the country is enduring relentless blackouts. But experts say opportunities have been missed to adapt and diversify

It’s 6.30pm in Quito, and Anamary Mazorra Vázquez’s flat has fallen into darkness after weeks of government-mandated power cuts to manage Ecuador ’s electricity crisis. She puts clothes away by the light of her phone while her husband, Roberto Vaca, seated on the bed by the window, uses the streetlights to help feed their two-year-old son, who has special needs.

With a newborn and two toddlers to care for, Vázquez’s life has been turned upside down by the blackouts, she says. These past weeks have been particularly challenging, with power cuts from 4am to 11am, then again from 3pm to 10pm, leaving her with only four hours of electricity during the day.

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• Springboks head coach expects ‘very, very tough game’
• England looking for first win of Autumn Nations Series

Rassie Erasmus expects England to bring a sense of frustration to their match against South Africa on Saturday and labelled them “desperate” for a win after two defeats from two in their autumn campaign.

Erasmus’s world champions returned to the world No 1 ranking with a patchy 32-15 victory over Scotland on Sunday as they kicked off their own run of Tests in the northern hemisphere. They now travel to Twickenham to take on Steve Borthwick’s side, who are reeling after suffering two late losses to New Zealand and Australia, 24-22 and 42-37 , respectively, having expected to win both on home soil.

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