🍿 UCL Thursdays & Super Sunday 🍻

The big game over the weekend was the North London derby but it didn’t live up to the hype, for the neutral at least. Arsenal put in a disciplined defensive display and scored their goal from a well-worked corner routine but Spurs were too cautious! The win means that Arsenal now have 3 wins at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in just five years which is more than Spurs have managed at the Emirates in eighteen years!

The Saudi Clasico also turned out to be a cagey affair. Al Ahli were cruising to a 1-nil victory when, in the 99th minute a shot/cross from right-back Sultan Al-Ghannam took a deflection of Bassam Al-Hurayji and ended up in the back of the Al Ahli net.

Don’t forget the new format pf the Champions League starts this week which means there’s decent games of football on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays nights. What a time to be alive!

This week there’s big games all over Europe, especially on Sunday. The best teams in England play each other at the Etihad and over in Italy there’s the Derby della Madonnina. Plus, this week’s shocker might be the worst miss you’ve ever seen!

Today's game plan:

• Don’t Miss This Game 🎯

• This Week’s Shocker 🤬

• Around The World 🌍

• Games to Keep an Eye On 👀

• Goat Trivia 🐐

Man City vs Arsenal | Sunday | 16:30 BST

City have made a perfect start to the season with 4 wins from 4 and Haaland is banging in goals from all over the place. Down in north London, Arteta has been working to add control and concentration to Arsenal’s game. And over the weekend, when Arsenal were missing key players we saw that they can win games in different ways, and hold on to a 1-nil if they need to.

Obviously this game is looked at as the rivalry between the two best teams in England, with the winner immediately becoming the favourite to win the Premier League title. But there are other battles to look for in this game. Although Arteta has created his own way of playing with his Arsenal team, this game is still a tactical battle between Pep the master and his one time apprentice. Even more interesting for us is the question around whther or not Haaland can do it against the big teams in the games that really matter. Will the goal machine go to work against the best defence in the Premier League?

Form & Team News

Manchester City are in excellent form having won their first 4 games, with the most win being the 2-1 victory over Brentford at the Etihad. As they have done on a few occasions this season, City conceded first against Brentford but the methodical possession play means are able to pin their opponents back and build a huge amount of pressure which inevitably leads to goals.

Erling Haaland is in sensational form and it was his two goals that secured victory as he continues his sensational start to the season. The big Norwegian now has 9 goals in four games in the league and is well on his way to securing the Golden Boot. If he wins the top scorer award this season, Haaland will join Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry as players who have won the Golden Boot in three consecutive seasons.

But what are the chances of Haaland doing the business against Arsenal? In six games against Arsenal, Haaland has scored 2 goals. To be clear Haaland’s scoring record against the top 6 Premier league teams isn’t bad, but he has received criticism for going missing in the big games. For example, he was very quiet in last season’s 0-0 draw at the Etihad, although Arsenal did put a lot of energy and focus into defensive rigidity in that game.

City will be full of confidence going into Sunday. A look at the head-to-head shows that City have won eight of the last nine meetings at the Etihad. In fact, City have turned the Etihad into a fortress in recent seasons —they haven't lost a game over 90 minutes at the Etihad since November 2022. Plus, Arsenal are still without their main creative midfielder.

If City can get through tonight’s Champions League match against Inter unscathed, Pep will have a near-fully fit squad to choose from. Rodri came off the bench in the victory over Brentford and Phil Foden is back in contention. The only injuries City are dealing with are Oscar Bobb who fractured a bone in his leg back in August and Nathan Aké who picked upo a thiugh injury whilst on international duty with the Netherlands. \

GR Man City predicted lineup | Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovačić, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Haaland, Doku

After a draw against a decent Brighton side, Arsenal got back to winning ways by putting in a disciplined performance against Tottenham. Winning 1-nil away from home thanks to a goal from a set-piece is a demonstration of the winning mentality Arteta is working hard to instil in his players.

Despite the grit and determination that Arsenal have shown, winning away at Spurs is a whole different thing to winning away at Man City. Arsenal haven’t taken more than a point away from a game at the Etihad since 2015! And with Martin Odegaard out injured, they are without their main creative outlet. Thomas Partey and Declan Rice will have to put in big performances to contain City’s midfield, especially as Rodri is now back fit.

Although the injury to Odegaard is a major blow, the promising signs for Arsenal is that the rest of the squad have stood up and played to a high level when called upon. In the game against Spurs, Jurrien Timber looked strong on the left and, although they’ve not played together much, Thomas Partey and Jorginho worked well together in the midfield. There was also tireless running from Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal have a an away trip to Atalanta on Thursday night, meaning they’ll have more travelling to do and less recovery time than City before Sunday. Mikel Arteta will be praying that his side come through that game without picking up any more injuries. Arsenal;s injury list includes Martin Odegaard (ankle), Kieran Tierney (hamstring), Mikel Merino (shoulder), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori (both calf).

Bukayo Saka also limped off injured in the second-half of the North London derby but it turns out he was only suffering from muscle cramps and is in contention to start against Atalanta on Thursday. The good news for Arsenal is they can now call on ex-City player Gabriel Jesus, who is back fit to play and adds another dimension to their attack which has been heavily reliant on Kai Havertz this season.

GR Arsenal predicted lineup | Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Rice, Partey, Trossard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz

This Week’s Shocker…

There was an absolute shocker in the Championship over the weekend. Luckily for Ebou Adams, Derby were 1-nil up and went on to win the game but my god…this is a bad one.

Around the world…

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester City 115 financial breaches hearing begins 

The hearing on the 115 financial breaches that the Premier League brought against Manchester City began on Monday. The charges Man City face allege that the club broke various financial reporting rules over a nine-year period and failed to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation. This video gives a good explanation on the rules City are alleged to have broken.

🇪🇸 Dani Olmo out for at least 4 weeks with hamstring injury 

After signing for Barca in the summer, Dani Olmo has played a big part in Barcelona’s unbeaten start to the season. Olmo joined Cesc Fàbregas and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as new signings who have scored in their first three La Liga games for Barca.

🇫🇷 Marseille agree deal with Adrien Rabiot

With the transfer window closed, Rabiot is set to join Roberto de Zerbi’s Marseille as a free agent after running down his contract with Juventus. The France international is 29 years old and brings more quality to a Marseille team that looks like they will challenge PSG for the Ligue 1 title.

🇬🇷 Anthony Martial agrees terms with AEK Athens

After his contract with Manchester United expired over the summer, injury-prone Anthony Martial has agreed personal terms with Greek side AEK Athens. The move comes after multiple clubs, including Brazil’s Flamengo pulled out of talks with the 28-year old due to his wage demands.

Games to keep an eye on…

Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava | Wednesday | 20:00 BST

Celtic go into this first-round of the revamped Champions League in excellent form having won 5 out of 5 in the Scottish Premiership with no goals conceded. The challenge for Brendan Rodgers is to take Celtic further in Europe; as well as the Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava, Celtic will play Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys, and Aston Villa.

Atletico Madrid vs RB Leipzig | Thursday | 20:00 BST

Both of these two have made good starts to their seasons. Atletico have 3 wins and 2 draws from their first 5 games in La Liga and Leipzig have 2 wins and a draw from their first 3 in the Bundesliga. Atletico are an experienced team and are still led by Diego Simeone who knows how to get the most out of his players but RB Leipzig’s front three of Xavi Simons, Openda and Benjamin Šeško is frightening.

Juventus vs Napoli | Saturday | 17:00 BST

The first big game in an excellent weekend of football in Serie A sees Juventus host Napoli. Juve sit in 4th place having drawn their last 2 games 0-0, whilst Napoli are in 2nd place having won their last 3 matches.

Inter vs Ac Milan | Sunday | 19:45 BST

The other big game in Serie A this weekend is the Milan derby, locally known as the Derby della Madonnina. The current Serie A champions Inter have made a better start to the season than their city rivals have —Inter currently sit in 3rd whilst AC are 4 points behind and down in 10th position.

Lyon vs Marseille | Sunday | 19:45 BST

It’s the Choc des Olympiques or clash of the olympics in France on Sunday as Lyon take on Marseille. Lyon have already lost 2 games out of the four they’ve played in Ligue 1 and sit in 13th place whilst Marseille are unbeaten with 3 wins from 4. We’ll be keeping an eye on Mason Greenwood and his efforts to help Roberto de Zerbi win Marseille’s 11th Ligue 1 title —the last time they won was back in the 2009/10 season.

GOAT Trivia…

Say congrats to…

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima ‘O Fenômeno‘ [@ronaldo] turned 48 today, September 18th.

On this day in football…

Back in 2018 when the Champions League had a traditional group stage, Liverpool and PSG played out a fantastic game. Liverpool took a commanding 2-nil lead but PSG brought it back to 2-2, thanks to an equaliser from a young Kylian Mbappe. Then in the 91st minute, Roberto Firmino banged in the winner.

Goal of the week…

Our goal of the week is this 25 yarder into the top corner from Harvey Barnes in Newcastle’s comeback win over Wolves.

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