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Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey has described captaining Fulham as a “privilege” after taking on the leadership role following an injury to regular club captain Tom Cairney.

Bassey has worn the captain’s armband in Fulham’s opening three Premier League fixtures, assuming greater responsibility as he begins his fourth season with the West London club.

The 25-year-old said he was honoured to lead the side and credited his experience at the club for making the transition easier.

“It’s a privilege. Being able to captain this club is unbelievable,” Bassey told Fulham’s official media team.

“Going into my fourth season, I know the boys and get on with everyone, so I just be myself and try to help everyone.

“Leading comes naturally because of the position I play, being able to see everything and having to communicate as a centre-half.”

Bassey also explained that the captaincy had not changed his personality or approach to leadership, saying he preferred to remain calm and positive rather than confront teammates immediately after difficult matches.

“Nah, not really, that’s not me! I’m more chill,” he said.

“Before the game, I’m just happy, smiling as always. I just want everyone to go in with good energy.”

The defender added that he understood the frustration players could feel after disappointing results and believed it was sometimes better to allow emotions to settle before discussing mistakes.

“I know everyone goes out there and gives 100 per cent, and sometimes we’re just not able to win,” he said.

“I know they’re frustrated, I’m frustrated, but I think sometimes it’s best just to leave people be and then speak about it later.”

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Hull City had a strong start to their Premier League return after a nine-year absence, debuting with a 2-0 win over Manchester United.

They wanted to keep up their unbeaten slate in the competition at Stamford Bridge and quickly showed how they got here with incredibly organised play.

Under Xabi Alonso we are increasingly getting the fame of thriving in chaos and Hull City weren’t giving any of that to us. They eventually slipped and on a fast break following a corner kick in the opposition’s favour Morgan Rogers opened the score for the Blues.

Many teams would panic in similar situations at the Bridge. Hull City did not. They kept their patience and even though they had less possession they were not having too many issues finding space to attack Chelsea.

On a extremely long goal kick the ball fell to Hull right-back Ryan Giles. His cross didn’t seem to have a target but it was pinpoint to Mohamed Belloumi. With Jorrel Hato looking a bit confused as to how to close the midfielder’s shot angle he just volleyed it straight into the back of Emiliano Martínez’s net.

Belloumi would haunt us again a few minutes later. On a corner kick where Semi Ajayi was free to head the ball onto our post Oli McBurnie was able to recover it and pass it to the man who got Hull City their equaliser. He was helped by a lucky deflection to get the visitors ahead in the scoreline.

Far from afraid from making changes when needed our head coach brought on Pep Chavarría in place of Hato at half-time. We did need something different on the pitch if we were to come out of this with a win.

Hull were still dangerous and their third only didn’t come into fruition due to Martínez’s heroics on a close-range McBurnie shot. When it was our turn to take a close-range shot, João Pedro got it top bins to set it all level.

As we got closer to the final whistle Hull seemed happy to snatch a draw at the Bridge while Chelsea weren’t having any of that. We tried our hardest to find a third but it wasn’t enough.

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Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan finished second in the women’s 100m hurdles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Friday.
Amusan clocked 12.34 seconds to claim the silver medal, finishing behind United States Olympic champion Masai Russell, who won the title in 12.22 seconds.

Netherlands’ Nadine Visser completed the podium in 12.39 seconds.

Amusan, the former world record holder in the event, was unable to reclaim the top spot from Russell, who broke her world record with a time of 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League in August.
Russell entered the Budapest final as the favourite after her record-breaking performance in Zurich and continued her impressive 2026 campaign with another victory.

The American maintained her unbeaten run this year, adding the Ultimate Championship title to her Diamond League Final triumph in Brussels last week.

Reflecting on her performance after the race, Amusan said she approached the championship determined to give everything she had after what she described as a challenging period during the season.
“First, God is good,” Amusan said.

“What started off as an amazing season, you know, in between I had some nipping here and there. You know, I’m not a robot. You know, the body did shut down at a point.”

The hurdler said she gradually regained her momentum by taking each race at a time before arriving in Budapest with a determined mindset.

“Coming into this championship, my mindset going to the line was, ‘We die here.’ I just kept telling myself I have to give it my all,” she said.

Amusan said she was determined to put everything into the race regardless of the eventual outcome.

“All I knew was, look, I did it. That’s all I knew. And the second I saw the second-place finish, I was like, look, I can’t complain. God is good,” she said.

Her silver medal comes after a difficult few weeks for the former world record holder.

Amusan finished third at the Commonwealth Games and later saw her 100m hurdles world record broken by Russell before finishing fourth at the Diamond League Final.

She admitted that the period had been emotionally difficult but credited her family, mentor, coach and boyfriend for helping her regain confidence.
“I’m not going to lie. It was very rough,” Amusan said.
“I mean, to my family, to my mentor, to my coach, to my boyfriend. That’s brought life back into me.”

According to her, words of encouragement from those around her helped her put the setbacks behind her and focus on the race in Budapest.

“This morning it was all about put the past behind you and just go for it. And those few sentences that I got here and there got me to this finish line today,” she said.
Amusan said her second-place finish, together with her Commonwealth medal, represented a positive response to the setbacks she had experienced.
“With the Commonwealth medal, it is a statement,” she said.

On the growing competitiveness in the women’s 100m hurdles, Amusan described the event as increasingly difficult, warning that the battle among the leading hurdlers will become even more intense.
“Honestly, in that event, I think I would be the sleeping lion,” she said.

“I think the women’s hurdles is just getting scarier every damn year. Next year, I do not know what’s going to happen. But it’s going to be bloody.”