Frank Lampard’s impact at Manchester City masks the club’s shortcomings

There is something quite touching about Frank Lampard being named Manchester City’s player of the month for September, particularly given how off the pace he looked in his debut for the club, away at Arsenal, when he was taken off at half time.

Who but a Chelsea fan fails to see the appeal in a 36-year-old veteran, on his way to Major League Soccer to wind down his career, suddenly and unexpectedly having a significant impact at another club in the English Premier League? The fact that he scored the late equaliser against Chelsea being a narrative twist most scriptwriters would have dismissed as too sentimental.

But Lampard’s impact also says a lot about those around him. How can it be that a club that has spent more than a billion pounds trying to make itself one of the European elite ends up relying on a loan signing who had moved to New York City FC on a free transfer in the summer?

City have climbed to second in the table, having won their past two games, and they have a point more than they did at the same time last season.

But they are far from their sharpest with a number of players – Fernandinho, Samir Nasri, Pablo Zabaleta, Edin Dzeko and Yaya Toure – some way short of the standards they set last season.

The problem this season is Chelsea, who look far more ruthless than they did last year and are already five points clear at the top of the table. This is not a season that will forgive errors and City may already have made too many.

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One in nine do not have enough to eat

Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.

One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.

The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.

Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.

It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.

On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.

Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.

Frank Lampard’s impact at Manchester City masks the club’s shortcomings

Manchester City are far from their sharpest with a number of players – Fernandinho, Samir Nasri, Pablo Zabaleta, Edin Dzeko and Yaya Toure – some way short of the standards they set last season, writes Jonathan Wilson.

One in nine do not have enough to eat