That's it from us here. Thank you very much for following along throughout the day.

As we bid you farewell, here is a reminder of today's top stories, which you can also find on the key points section of this page.

• Chelsea's James out with another hamstring issue
• Postecoglou backs Bentancur appeal after 'mistake'
• Leicester winger Fatawu out for rest of the season
• Plenty of drama but where have all the goals gone?

We will be back first thing tomorrow morning to bring you all of the latest news ahead of the return to Premier League action this weekend.

Goodbye!

Friday's live text will undoubtedly be a busy one!

Of the Premier League's 20 managers, 13 are set to speak tomorrow.

Among those, Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim will speak to the media for the first time since moving to Old Trafford.

Manchester City's Pep Guardiola will also be speaking following the news of his expected contract renewal.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot is also among those set to speak and will be here once again from take you through them all from 7am GMT.

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler reacts to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's contract extension.

"You can learn from him and to compete with him is a big big experience," said Hurzeler.

Brentford

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on Everton: "They are extremely solid, they had a tough start when they hadn't won in three or four games but one defeat in the last seven. Everything about them, a strong Sean Dyche team. Sean is a fantastic coach and manager and he always makes his team difficult to play against.

"They're physical, intensive in the pressing, they're really coming with the pace, very good in set pieces. I expect a difficult but even game with them, last two years we went there, we lost 1-0. Last year was a boring game if I was honest. But they won 1-0. I expect a completely even game, hopefully we get the win."

Brentford

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on Goodison Park: "It's an iconic ground, I think there's so much history into that ground. For me as a foreigner, coming into the Premier League, to England and playing there, it's one of the grounds I enjoyed the most to play at.

"Of course we haven't had as much success, we've lost more than we have won but no matter what, the fans, the ground and everything around is amazing and I am looking forward to it again and it will be noisy, no doubt about that and it's up to use to keep the noise down."

Brentford

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on Bryan Mbuemo, Yoane Wissa and Ethan Pinnock: "All of them I expect to be available and ready for Saturday. In all three situations, different minor issues.

"It was a bit similar to the last international break, where we had [Mikkel] Damsgaard and [Christian] Norgaard called up for Denmark but they didn't travel but they managed to get ready for the next game, so sometimes a week rest makes all the difference so I expect them to be ready."

And to round off Thursday's Premier League press conferences, here is Brentford manager Thomas Frank...

Image source, Getty Images

A reminder of one of today's top stories so far.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is an "outstanding person" who made a "mistake" with the racial slur made against team-mate Son Heung-min.

The Uruguay international, 27, was banned for seven matches by the Football Association earlier this week, following the comments he made while appearing on Uruguayan television in June.

Spurs have appealed against the ban, saying they accept the guilty finding but not the severity of the punishment.

"I fully support the club's decision to appeal the severity of the ban," Postecoglou told Sky Sports, external, external.

"I spoke to him in the lead-up [to the FA's decision] and as I said he understands he's made a mistake and he's prepared to accept whatever penalty comes his way.

"We as a club are going to support him because the one thing that's undeniable to me - because I know him - is that he's an outstanding person, an unbelievable team-mate and a person of the utmost character that's made a mistake."

Read the full story here

Image source, Getty Images

Pictures from Sky Sports News are showing Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer is training ahead of Saturday's trip to Leicester City.

Palmer and Blues teammate Levi Colwill both withdrew from England's squad last week, but both are training this afternoon.

Malo Gusto withdrew from France's under-21s squad, but he has also been pictured training, as has midfielder Romeo Lavia, who withdrew from Belgium's squad.

Earlier today, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said captain Reece James was the only player guaranteed to miss the fixtures against the Foxes, but other players will be monitored.

In case you are just joining us, here is a round-up of all of today's Premier League press conferences so far.

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has said the news that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is set to extend his contract at the Etihad Stadium is the "best thing than can happen to the Premier League."

At Leicester, winger Abdul Fatawu has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a anterior cruciate ligament injury on international duty with Ghana.

Chelsea will be without Reece James for Saturday's trip to Leicester City, following his eighth hamstring injury in four years.

Southampton are set to be without goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and centre-back Jan Bednarek in the coming weeks with both suffering injuries.

Everton winger Dwight McNeil and centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite could both feature against Brentford this weekend after recent injuries.

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo said his staff are monitoring a few players ahead of Saturday's trip to Arsenal.

Premier League

Saturday

Leicester v Chelsea (12:30 GMT)

Bournemouth v Brighton

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace

Everton v Brentford

Fulham v Wolves

Man City v Tottenham (17:30 GMT)

Sunday

Southampton v Liverpool (14:00 GMT)

Ipswich v Man United (16:30 GMT)

Monday

Newcastle v West Ham (20:00 GMT)

Image source, Getty Images

Bernd Leno, Fulham, goalkeeper, £5m (home to Wolves)

There's enough budget for a decent bench this week, and a back-up keeper with a half-decent chance of a clean sheet.

Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, midfielder, £5.7m (home to Brighton)

The shot monster was close to making the starting XI this week so watch him haul!

Semenyo has now taken 47 shots - 10 more than any other midfielder. He only has 11 on target but he's still a very reliable threat in FPL.

Lucas Digne, Aston Villa, defender, £4.7m (home to Crystal Palace)

I could easily bench boost this week! Digne, who has made this team before, is playing a goal-shy Palace side and has an assist in him.

Ibrahima Konate, Liverpool, defender, £5.4m (away to Southampton)

Konate is your budget way into the Liverpool defence. He's had a bigger goal threat so far this season than Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

It wasn't hard to predict what the themes would be ahead of Enzo Maresca's return to the King Power Stadium, where he achieved the Championship title with Leicester City last season before accepting the Chelsea job.

The Italian looked back fondly on his time in the East Midlands, was laughing and fresh from a week of much-deserved holiday during the international break, with two matches per week to come until February.

This will be an emotional return to kick-start the defining portion of the season for all clubs in English clubs.

But Maresca and Chelsea looked prepared aside from the one international break curve ball - an injury to Reece James - which isn't bad but is a hamstring injury that is beginning to look like a chronic issue that he can't overcome.

Image source, Getty Images

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Chelsea have played 87 Premier League matches and Reece James has only featured in 30 of those, making just 22 starts.

That works out as appearing in just 34.5% of league matches and starting in just 25.3% during that time.

The last time James played 90+ minutes in three consecutive Premier League matches was in April 2023, a run of four consecutive matches playing 90 (against Everton, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Wolves).

• BBC Sport has a dedicated Chelsea page packed with news, analysis and fan views - get it here

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo on his team's belief going into Saturday's game, as they are level on points with Arsenal: "We always believe that we can compete, that's our approach. We're going to face a good team, a tough team, and we are going to compete, doing the things that we want, trying to avoid the things Arsenal wants to do and does really well. It's going to be a tough game."

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo on set-pieces, from which Arsenal have been a huge threat under Mikel Arteta: "The first step was the awareness of the players to understand that we need to improve on that aspect of the game. Their involvement was massive for us because we put effort on it, a lot of time spent on the training ground doing the tasks, keeping focus. The last game was not so good on that but the effort is from the players and a credit to them on that."

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo on whether Arsenal are title contenders: "The table is not a reference. You know what I think of the table, basically because the table doesn't dictate what you have to do. If you need points you have to play better. Let's always look at the game by the game itself, and compete well. If I don't look at the table, I don't have to assess the other teams."

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo on building momentum: "After the international break it's always a question mark for the team about what response is going to happen in the game. We are in the same situation. Hopefully we can prepare well and perform well again because even though the result was not the best one [losing 3-1 to Newcastle], in terms of performance we have to admit that Newcastle played really well. We didn't do the things we wanted, now there's a chance to improve and get better."

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo on team news: "There is still [Ramon] Sosa to arrive. The rest of them are here, and for now they're OK. [We're] just managing some players, some situations, as we took the chance in the international break to recover some players, so let's see how they improve."

• BBC Sport has a dedicated Forest page packed with news, analysis and fan views - get it here

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou was also asked whether he has spoken with Rodrigo Bentancur since his seven-match ban was made official.

The Australian said, as a club, they will try to support Bentancur throughout his suspension.

"I haven't spoken to him since this came out," Postecoglou told Sky Sports News. "He's obviously been away with Uruguay and he's not quite back yet but I spoke to him in the lead-up to it.

"As I said at the time, he understands he's made a mistake and he's ready to accept whatever comes his way. As a club, we are going to support him because the one thing that is undeniable to me is I know him, he's an outstanding person, he's an unbelievable team-mate and he's a person with the utmost character and he's made a mistake.

"I think when that happens, our role with that is to support him in any way we can."

Image source, Reuters