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Prem Showdown and Der Klassiker
Is Sunday’s game a title decider and why could Man United be barred from UEFA competitions next season...?
Erik Jansson
March 26, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 16 minutes
Prem Showdown and Der Klassiker
Is Sunday’s game a title decider and why could Man United be barred from UEFA competitions next season…?
Hey there MVP,
The weekend’s international friendlies were pretty boring, as we expected. But there was some interesting news: Germany beat France 2-0 in Lyon and a youngster by the name of Florian Wirtz scored a screamer after just 7 seconds. The incredible thing was that Witrtz’s goal wasn’t even the fastest goal of the evening!
As well as the huge game between Manchester City and Arsenal, we also take a look at the UEFA rule which could see Man United being barred from UEFA competitions next season.
Today's game plan…
Don’t Miss These Games
This Week’s Shocker
Around The World
Games to Keep an Eye On
Goat Trivia, Meme of the Week & Rate the Play
Manchester City vs Arsenal | Sunday | 16:30 GMT
This big upcoming game is Sunday’s title showdown at the Etihad. With just 10 games left to play in the 2023/24 Premier League season, Man City host Arsenal in a huge top-of-the-table clash. As it stands, Arsenal are top of the league on 64 points, whilst City are in 3rd place on 63 points.
What makes this one interesting is that both teams have to go for the win. A victory in this game is a serious statement of intent. The winning team will emerge as favourites for the title and gain a massive amount of belief, confidence and energy. Furthermore, Arsenal and City can’t forget about 2nd-placed Liverpool. Despite the FA Cup defeat a few weekends ago, Liverpool are quietly putting up a serious title challenge in what is Jurgen Klopp’s final season. Liverpool are level on points with Arsenal, and only behind on goal difference. Another reason why both City and Arsenal can’t hold back on Sunday.
Form & Team News
The interesting statistic to focus on here is Manchester City’s record against the ‘big 6’ this season. Surprisingly, the only big 6 side Pep Guardiola’s side have managed to beat this season are Manchester United. And, this season’s head-to-head also paints an interesting picture as Arsenal have beaten City twice this season —once in the Community Shield and then with a 1-0 win at the Emirates back in October. Looking at City's recent form, there was a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup, and before that was the 1-1 draw away at Liverpool. Although City started that game well, they lost momentum after Ederson went off injured and, truth be told, City were dominated by Liverpool for large parts of the game, particularly in the second half. The international break probably came at a good time for City, giving Pep a chance to reorganise his team and a chance for injured players to recuperate.
At the time of writing, City are assessing the fitness of a number of key players. Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne are both doubts, as is Kyle Walker who went off injured during the first half of the friendly between England and Brazil. City have played much of the season without De Bruyne, which may explain the poor results against big 6 teams but not having Ederson with his sweeping and range of passing may unsettle this City team.
Unlike City, Arsenal didn’t have an FA fixture before the international break. By the time the game kicks off on Sunday, it will have been 18 days since Arsenal's last game —the important 1-0 win over Porto in the Champions League. In the league, Arsenal are on an eight-game winning streak and are scoring plenty of goals. However, the most recent league game was the nervy 2-1 win over Brentford. Although they came out with a win, the performance was not convincing with Kai Havertz scoring the winning goal in the 86th minute. But, by finding a way to win even when they’re not playing well, Arsenal are beginning to show the resilience that’s needed to win the Premier league. If they can win at the Etihad on Sunday, a ground where they haven’t won for over 9 years, Mikel Arteta’s team will have officially turned a corner.
With another round of international friendlies to play before Sunday, there could yet be injury news for Arsenal. There’s promising news around Bukayo Saka and Gabriel. Both Arsenal players were left out of international duty due to niggling injuries, but both are expected to be fit to play on Sunday. Unfortunately for Arsenal, Gabriel Martinelli is still not cleared to play and remains a doubt due to a foot injury.
Bayern Munich vs Dortmund | Saturday | 17:30 GMT
Saturday’s big game is in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich hosting Borussia Dortmund in ‘Der Klassiker’. Although this game doesn’t mean much for the league title which looks like it will be won by Bayer leverkusen, Der Klassiker is still a massive game, especially for Dortmund who are battling RB leipzig for 4th place.
Bayern find themselves in a strange position in the Bundesliga: 2nd place and 10 points behind runaway leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Even though Harry Kane is scoring goals for fun, Thomas Tuchel has overseen an inconsistent season for Bayern Munich and he has announced that he will step down as manager at the end of this season. Bayern’s focus has most definitely shifted towards the Champions League and the massive upcoming quarter final clash against Arsenal. Dortmund still have a lot to play for in the Bundesliga and this match has historically been the big one that football fans look out for in the Bundesliga calendar.
Form & Team News
The previous meeting between the two clubs was back in November and ended in a 4-0 win for Bayern and a hat-trick for Kane. The German champions' recent form has been up and down. Bayern have scored plenty of goals but they’ve also conceded a lot of goals which has seen them draw too many drawn games and lose to teams they really shouldn’t be losing to. A month ago Bayern lost 3-2 to Bochum, a team that currently sits 1 place above the relegation zone. Bayern have won their last 3 games. There was a 3-0 home win over Lazio in the Champions League and league wins over Darmstadt (5-2) and Mainz (8-1). We should point out that both Darmstadt and Mainz are firmly in the relegation zone and are likely to go down this season.
Bayern have 2 ongoing injury concerns; Manuel Neuer and Harry Kane. First choice keeper Neuer suffered a muscle injury during training with the national team and is a doubt for the game on Saturday. Kane damaged his ankle in the win over Darmstadt and although he met up with the england national team, he didn’t train and later withdrew from the squad before the friendly against Brazil.
Dortmund are currently enjoying a good run of form. They qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 aggregate win over PSV and have won their last 3 games in the Bundesliga. The most recent result was a 3-1 win over 6th-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and before that they secured wins over Werder (2-1) and Union Berlin (2-0). Dortmund are now entering a crucial part of the season with a run of crucially important games coming up. After this weekend’s game against Bayern, Dortmund will play 3rd-placed Stuttgart, then Bayer Leverkusen and then RB Leipzig who they are battling for 4th place. Four tough league games, the results of which will have a massive impact on whether or not Dortmund qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund’s only player to be included in the Germany squad for the recent international friendlies is striker Niclas Füllkrug. Dortmund will be hoping he can make it through the game against Netherlands without incident, as they are still without other first-choice striker Sebastian Haller. The African forward picked up an ankle injury whilst playing for the Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. The other notable absence is loanee Jadon Sancho who has a hamstring injury. Despite Sancho picking up the hamstring injury just a few weeks after recovering from a groin injury, Dortmund are reported to be interested in securing his services on a permanent basis.
This Week’s Shocker…
Manchester United could be barred from playing in European competition next season.
A UEFA rule on multi-club ownership prevents clubs with the same ownership from competing against each other in the same UEFA competition. As Sir Jim Ratcliffe has stakes in French club OGC Nice and Manchester United, one of the clubs could be barred from competing in UEFA competitions next season.
The rule would come into effect if the two clubs qualify to play in the same European competition. In that scenario, it’s the club that ranks higher in their respective league that will be entitled to appear in the European competition. United fans will need to keep an eye on how Nice get on in Ligue 1.
Around the world
Barcelona’s President Joan Laporte confirmed that the club hope to sign on-loan Athletico forward Joao Felix and Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo on a permanent basis.
Having been linked with Gallacher for much of the season, Ange Postecoglou is reportedly preparing a bid to sign the English midfielder over the summer.
With all the talk about how talented this England squad is, 17-year-old Brazilian striker Endrick took the headlines in what was a boring friendly. Endrick will join Real Madrid in July 2024.
The US national team continued their dominance of the Concacaf Nations League with a win over regional rivals Mexico. The US took the lead in the first half through a long-range drive from Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams.
On March 17th, the leaders of the Saudi Pro League set a new record for the most consecutive league wins by winning 28 matches in a row. The 28th win took them past Welsh top-flight club The New Saints’ run of 27 wins, set during the 2016/17 season.
Germany recorded an unexpected 2-0 win over France in Lyon. The game got off to a mad start when Florian Wirtz scored the fastest ever Germany goal after just 7 seconds. The other talking point was that France didn’t really trouble the German defense.
Games to keep an eye on
Georgia vs Greece | Tuesday | 17:00 GMT
Qualifier for Euro 2024. Georgia beat Luxembourg 2-0 in the previous qualifier, whilst Greece smashed Kazakhstan 5-0. This should be an attacking game, especially as exciting Napoli winger Kvaratskhelia is fit to play.
Ukraine vs Iceland | Tuesday | 19:45 GMT
Qualifier for Euro 2024. Ukraine beat Bosnia Herzegovina 2-1 in the last round, whilst Iceland beat Israel 4-1. Ukraine are favorites to win, but Iceland are notoriously tough to play against.
Wales vs Poland | Tuesday | 19:45 GMT
Qualifier for the Euro 2024. A huge game for Wales and Poland, who have both become accustomed to playing in major tournaments over the past few years. Wales cruised to a 4-1 win over Finland to get here, whilst Poland smashed Estonia 5-1.
Ireland vs Switzerland | Tuesday | 19:45 GMT
Ireland are going through a transition phase under caretaker manager, John O’Shea whilst Switzerland are preparing to take part in the Euros proper. But the Irish fans will be behind the team, and Ireland should take confidence from holding Belgium to a goalless draw.
Brentford vs Manchester United | Saturday | 20:00 GMT
After the thrilling FA Cup quarter final win over Liverpool, United have an away game at Brentford in the Premier League. Brentford are on a horrible run having lost 5 of their last 6 whilst United are trying to put a run together to gain ground on 5th-placed Tottenham.
Marseille vs PSG | Sunday | 19:45 GMT
Say what you want about Ligue 1 and PSG’s dominance, Le Classique is a big European derby. Although 20 points separate 1st-place PSG and 7th-place Marseille, this derby always delivers a big talking point.
Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao | Sunday | 20:00 GMT
Another classic match between two of Spain’s historic clubs. Real Madrid are 8 points clear at the top of La Liga and Bilbao are in 4th, just 1 point ahead of Atletico Madrid. Both teams come into this having won their last 2 league games.
GOAT Trivia
Say congrats to…
Jadon Sancho [@Sanchooo10] turns 24 today.
On this day in football…
In 2014, Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga on Matchday 27 with 9 games still to play making it the earliest Bundesliga title win in history.
Goal of the week…
Our goal of the week is from the recent friendly between France and Germany. Florian Wirtz’s stunning strike hit the back of the French net after just 7 seconds, meaning he takes the record of Germany’s fastest ever goal scorer.
Incredibly, a faster goal was scored on the same evening! Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored against Slovakia after just 6 seconds, making it the fastest goal ever scored in international football.
Scoring straight from kick-off ⚡🤯
Baumgartner 🤝 Wirtz
#EURO2024
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024)
5:19 PM • Mar 25, 2024
Classic game…
With a Der Klassiker on Saturday, this week’s classic game is an 8-goal thriller from the 1983/84 season.
Featuring legendary players such as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Marcel Răducanu, this was a game that went from end to end. First Bayern took the lead, then Dortmund take the lead, only for Bayern to equalize with 10 minutes to go.
Enjoy these classic highlights!
Meme of the week
That s**t gotta hurt! from Giphy
Fan Highlights: Your MVP Reviews!
