Other clubs' transfers

Mitrovic to Saudi gets the HWG.

It gets better. Apparently he was reported by the bookie Betway.... who are West Ham's shirt sponsors.

Told you.

Having lost Mitrovic to Saudi, it looks like Fulham are also going to lose Adarabioyo to either Monaco or Spurs. If he goes to Spurs they'll probably get Dier in return.

This does not seem like a good thing for Fulham, who beat a pretty miserable Everton team on opening day but then got spanked by Brentford yesterday.

Everton have apparently agreed a deal to sell Demarai Gray to Saudi. They are replacing him with Che Adams from Southampton for 15M.

If I were Everton this seems like a thing I would not do.

The only thing Everton seem to have in their favour (if you can call it that) in what appears certain to be another relegation scrap, is the manager. He's not everyone's cup of tea but knows his way around the lower reaches of the division and is probably their trump card.

A poor start and a change of direction could be interesting. I think they'd be doomed and I'm all for teams staking strong claims for 18th, 19th and 20th places because we're absolutely in that mix. My hope is that if we hold our nerve again on the Cooper front, there are perhaps four or five sides I'd be cautiously optimistic about finishing ahead of.

On Everton, what's the latest with their potential points deduction?

I've no idea, but the general notion seems to be delay delay delay and hope everyone forgets and you can bribe enough people for it to go away. Ala Manchester City.

Hearing on October 25th.

Was thinking what kind of points deduction would make me feel confident they couldn't finish ahead of us. Somewhere between and 5 and 10, probably.

To guarantee relegation ... 15?

We've got a bottom 5 already. Only question is the order. 10 points guarantees Everton go down.

That's what I figured - they probably aren't going to get 45 points, so minus 10 would finish them. Early days but I can't currently see them getting 7 points more than us. (Until I see evidence otherwise, I don't expect Sheffield United or Luton to get 30.)

Suggestions this morning that City are after Eze from Palace or Nunes from Wolves in place of the Paqueta deal. Either would suit me just fine TBH.

Palace will be fine this season. Nunes leaving Wolves would he just the ticket.

Chicago: Watching Rome burn.

Brentford have bid £40m for a fiorentina winger so guessing they have moved on from Brennan.