* People:
Carlos Tevez is facing a club-versus-country row after being called up for Argentina's friendly in Australia next month - four days before Manchester United's tough trip to Everton.
Tevez, 23, faces a draining 21,000-mile round-trip to take part in the September 11 Melbourne clash before returning for the Premier League encounter with David Moyes' men.
* NOTW:
Roman Abramovich walked into the Chelsea dressing room with a face like thunder.
He had just seen his team go top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth...but that was little consolation.
Even when several players tried to cheer him up with the fact Chelsea were 18 places ahead of Manchester United, Abramovich did little to hide his displeasure.
Because he had sat through another turgid game at Stamford Bridge, 90 minutes where Chelsea barely managed to scrape into top gear and played the kind of pedestrian and conservative football the Russian billionaire has grown to despise.
He had made it clear to Jose Mourinho in a summer meeting designed to clear the air between the two that he would no longer tolerate the kind of pragmatic style which had become the hallmark of the Portuguese coach's team.
Abramovich had received assurances both from Mourinho and intermediaries that Chelsea would play flowing, attractive football to match anything Manchester United with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo could produce.
One Chelsea source said: "There is something boiling up between Roman and Jose again. Roman is really fed up with the way the team are playing. He came into the dressing room after the Portsmouth game and you could see how upset he was.
"He was promised it would be different this season but it's still the same old style.
"That's why he wanted to find out if he could really get Ronaldinho because that would have sent out the message to Jose about the way he wanted Chelsea to play.
"But Jose didn't want Ronaldinho. He's not his kind of player and he wouldn't have fitted in with the Chelsea pattern. He's also upset Roman would go behind his back when Jose had done everything to keep the peace this summer."
* Sunday Express:
David Beckham is considering putting his American dream on hold in a desperate bid to save his England career.
He is seeking crisis talks with bosses of LA Galaxy to discuss a possible return to England on loan in January.
The fiercely patriotic Beckham, who will definitely miss England's next two European Championship qualifiers - and possibly the next four - with a knee ligament injury, believes it may be the only way to achieve his cherished dream of winning 100 England caps.
At the moment he is on 97 and his biggest worry is that if England do qualify without him the chances of coach Steve McClaren recalling him to the fold will be dramatically reduced if he is out of sight on the other side of the Atlantic.
* Arsene Wenger:
"United have spent a lot of money and again the question is how will they all click, coming into a team who are champions. Logically you expect them to be stronger and I think they will be. But there will be more competition for places and sometimes that can also take something away from the players. They (Nani and Anderson) are players for this season. They were both regulars for their teams in Portugal.
"They are not teenagers so if you are a special talent, you need to play at that age. I don't know where Hargreaves will fit in. Will he replace Michael Carrick? I don't think so because Carrick is a very good player. So I don't know how their best side will line up."