Amadou Onana start an plays seventy minutes for Belgium as they beat Wales. It shows he’s fit but it’s also seventy minutes closer to his next injury.

England beat Latvia to ensure qualification for the 2026 World Cup finals and probably win it at the same time. Ezri Konsa does particularly well which means he’s off to Manchester United, or possibly Arsenal for £50 million.

Everyone’s back from the internationals and they all seem in more or less one piece.

Villa announce that Maccabi supporters will be banned from our match against them, after the police advised the Safety Advisory Group. There’s an ominous rumbling from various sources.

Next day the rumbling becomes a volcano of half-truth, lies and hysteria. First up is that well-known football supporter Nigel Farage, who says it’s terrible. So do Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer, who announces that the government will be looking to overturn the decision. That would be a bit of an abuse of power, to say the least. The local MPs are in favour.

The following day the shitstorm gets stormier, and shittier. Occasional Villa supporter and permanent gob for hire Jonny Gould spouts off, as do the honorary president of the previously-unknown Jewish Villans Supporters Club, who it turns out is ore of an IDF supporter, and something called UK Lawyers for Israel, who are going to be launching some sort of discrimination case. Then just when you think things can’t get any worse, Teeny Tommy Robinson announces that he’s going to be supporting Maccabi.

Then to show the other side can be equally annoying, Zara Sultana, the MP for Nowhere Near Aston, says that if Maccabi supporters do come to the match they should be arrested for war crimes as soon as they arrive in the UK. Her mate Ayoub Khan, Perry Barr MP, says it should be at a neutral venue or behind closed doors. Meanwhile Villa say that stewards don’t have to work it if they don’t want to, which could lead to another set of problems altogether.

Finally we play a match, which should be the whole point of our existence. We’re away to Spurs Who Could Go Second. Most of the squad are fit again, which means the team’s looking good and the bench is fine as well. Naturally this in turn means we let in an early goal, because we couldn’t do what we’re supposed to.

We certainly couldn’t do what the national media want because despite having most of the play Spurs Who Could Go Second couldn’t get another but Morgan Rogers could get an equaliser before half-time. Then as Villa got into the game Matty Cash, Lucas Digne and Emiliano Buendia combined for one of the great goals. Tony Morley at Everton, Dalian Atkinson at Wimbledon and Stilyan Petrov at Derby were arguably more spectacular, but for perfect teamwork this was up there with them.