⚽︎(2)LIVERPOOL vs (1)ARSENAL
The Anfield showdown leads a strong Premier League fixture list. Plus: ROMA vs NAPOLI
“We support the Palace, and that’s the way we like it,” the fans boomed as the Eagles went into halftime in the M23 derby 1-0 up following Jordan Ayew’s timely strike on 45 minutes. It was a clever piece of movement and an assured header into the ground from a player who serves as a reminder that Brighton aren’t the only ones who’ve made some clever transfers in recent years. So is Michael Olisé, who bedeviled any defender who got in his way, though the Crystal Palace lead was erased by a genius looping header into the top corner from Danny Welbeck, a capstone on a fine second-half display from Brighton where their superiority on the ball paid.
And that’s how this particular Football Weekend kicked off. Here’s the rest of it:
FRIDAY
MAN CITY vs FLUMINENSE (1pm ET, 6pm GMT)
It’s hard to pretend anyone much cares about the Club World Cup final, though the Saudis are hoping that will change around 2025. City seek the only trophy they haven’t won already, while Marcelo hunts his 29th piece of professional silverware for South American champions Fluminense.
ASTON VILLA vs SHEFFIELD UNITED (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
Villa are unbeaten in six in the Premier League and are looking to hold onto third place in the table. On the other side, the Blades have brought Chris Wilder back from the wilderness to try to save them from relegation. A boyhood Sheffield United fan, he won 106 of 227 matches he managed for the club as he took them up from League One to the Premier League with two promotions in three years. They finished ninth in his first season in the top flight, though he left after a poor run of results in 2021.
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THE HEADLINES
➟ Nottingham Forest dismissed Steve Cooper, who led the club from bottom of the Championship to the Premier League and survival in their first season. Owner and Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis wielded the ax ahead of busy holiday fixture schedule and appointed Nuno Espírito Santo, who did a stint at Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League after his own dismissal as Tottenham Manager in 2021.
➟ THE SUPER LEAGUE RETURNS: You can find people excited about a Super League project in the Instagram comments, but I have yet to meet a fleshly football fan who backs it. What problems with the current system does it fix? What is the purpose beyond allowing Real Madrid and Barcelona a new chance to compete financially with the Premier League?
➟ Did you see “the world’s smallest shinpad” last weekend? It was property of Brighton’s Jack Hinshelwood. The BBC reports the shinpad regulators have no plans to take action.
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➟ 16-year-old Ethan Mbappé got on for PSG this week. His brother, Kylian, scored twice on his own birthday as he turned 25.
➟ Harry Kane will get the first winter break of his career this year as the Bundesliga goes on holiday. He has 21 goals in 15 matches for Bayern Munich this season and 52 in calendar year 2023. That’ll be the most of any player across Europe unless Erling Haaland can overtake him while he’s on vacation.
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SATURDAY
WEST HAM vs MAN UNITED (7:30am ET, 12:30pm GMT)
The Hammers got hammered by Liverpool on Wednesday, but they’re one of the best teams to watch thanks to Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus’s direct running and relentless goal threat. They feed on the clever agility and X-ray vision of Lucas Paquetá behind them in midfield, and Manchester United will have their hands full at the Olympic Stadium. The Red Devils have won three of their last five in the league, but they haven’t exactly been free-flowing. £72 million summer striker signing Rasmus Højlund still awaits his first league goal.
LUTON TOWN vs NEWCASTLE (10am ET, 3pm GMT)
The home team have proved a difficult proposition at Kenilworth Road, and Newcastle come to town in a bad way. They crashed out of the League Cup in midweek in draining fashion having crashed out of the Champions League a week prior, and their form in the league has also crashed since they caught the injury bug. They could be the scalp Luton just missed out on when Arsenal and City came ‘round.
TOTTENHAM vs EVERTON (10am ET, 3pm GMT)
It’s pick-your-poison for this match window, as there’s even a third game (FOREST vs BOURNEMOUTH) that’s fairly enticing. But it’s worth a shout for Angeball vs. Dycheball, perhaps the premier stylistic clash—at least in terms of reputation—that the Premier League has to offer. Everton have won five of their last six, so whatever Dyche is doing, it’s working. Spurs have slipped out of the Top Four amid some key injuries, but they’ve won two on the bounce.
LIVERPOOL vs ARSENAL (12:30pm ET, 5:30pm GMT)
Top-of-the-table Arsenal return to the ground where it all came undone last season. Well, one of them. It was a run of three draws heading into a crunch match against title rivals Manchester City that constituted the beginning of the end of their 2022-23 title tilt, and the first was at Anfield. Arsenal got off to a roaring start as Gabriel Martinelli tiptoed in behind the Liverpool defense to score in front of the Kop, and Gabriel Jesus did the same to put the Gunners 2-0 up within a half hour. But they faltered thereafter and were lucky to take a point, even if, had Martinelli gotten his pass right to a streaking Saka, they could have stolen all three in the 96th minute.
That was just eight months ago, but both sides are now remarkably different. Aaron Ramsdale made a series of superhuman saves to preserve the draw for Arsenal, but he’s been dropped for David Raya. Roberto Firmino scored the equalizer to make it 2-2, but he’s in Saudi Arabia along with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho—nearly the entire Liverpool midfield that was overrun at times in the first half. It’s a new engine room these days for the Reds, but Alexis Mac Allister is out injured. He won’t be partnering Dominik Szoboszlai, perhaps Liverpool’s signing of the summer, who scored a banger in their 5-1 demolition of West Ham in the cup in midweek.
For Arsenal, the biggest change may be that William Saliba is fit this time. His partnership with Gabriel has been the best in the league this season, and it’ll be a different feeling for Mikel Arteta than he had heading up to Liverpool with Rob Holding at the back last time around. In front of them is Declan Rice, the league-wide signing of the summer even at upwards of £100 million. He has been immense in his role as midfield ball-winner, bringing Arsenal’s ability to trap the opposition in their own third of the field to a new level.
That triangle at the base of the team will give Arsenal new belief that they can go and defeat Liverpool in front of the Kop, though this one could just as easily be decided on the wings: Oleksandr Zinchenko is key to Arsenal’s patterns of play, but he was embarrassed by Trent Alexander-Arnold last time ahead of Firmino’s equalizer and will have his hands full with Mo Salah. Will Arteta go for a different option, even with Takehiro Tomiyasu unavailable? Meanwhile, TAA has similar problems on his side with Martinelli. Can he step into midfield in the way he wants to? And with Andrew Robertson out, can Kostas Tsimikas handle Bukayo Saka on the opposite flank?
Jürgen Klopp criticized the Anfield atmosphere in midweek, calling on fans who are “not in the right shape” to give up their tickets to this one. You might read it as fear of the Arsenal threat, but it’s certainly a mind game to generate maximum atmosphere here. The Kop needs little invitation, and that atmosphere has had its effect on the North Londoners over the years. Arsenal haven’t won at Anfield in the league since 2012, but this is the ground where they won the league in 1989. If they can see this one over the line in a way they could not in April, it would be a serious statement of intent as they chase a first title in 20 years.
ROMA vs NAPOLI (2:45pm ET, 7:45pm GMT)
José Mourinho’s Roma have slipped to eighth in Serie A, but they’ve scored 28 goals and conceded 19—the same as Napoli in fifth. Romelu Lukaku has seven goals in 13 appearances in the league, and Victor Osimhen has seven in 12 for Napoli. Mourinho is in need of a result after defeat by Bologna last time out, but that pales in comparison to the 4-0 Napoli took from Frosinone in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday.
SUNDAY
WOLVES vs CHELSEA (8am ET, 1pm GMT)
The hosts caught a beating from West Ham last time out, but they really haven’t had the best luck this season—including from VAR—and could be much higher than 13th. That said, they’ve lost three of their last six, and they need to hold it down at home amid some woeful away form. Chelsea snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the cup this week and will want to turn that into some legitimate league showings. Mauricio Pochettino’s young side are stuck in 10th.
FENERBAHÇE vs GALATASARAY (11am ET, 4pm GMT)
This one’s a bit off-the-beaten-path on BeIN sports, but it’s the biggest match in Turkish football and sure to be a hothouse atmosphere. This is a rivalry of extreme intensity, the explosive kind that you won’t often see outside of Glasgow and Buenos Aires. Istanbul sits on the border of two continents, and Fenerbahçe is from the side of town that’s Asia. Galatasaray is from the European side of the Bosphorus Strait, which is why they call this the Intercontinental.
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THE FPL STOCK MARKET
Welp, I hope you didn’t buy Raúl Jimenez on my advice last week—he went and got a straight red. He’ll be suspended for three matches, and suddenly none of my Fulham recommendations look as enticing.
↗️Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.2m) constitutes a big chunk of your budget, but when he’s doing his thing it means six-point goals from defense, assists, and the occasional clean sheet.
↗️Dejan Kulusevski (£7.2m) is boom-or-bust, but when he booms, he booms, and Tottenham have some decent fixtures coming up.
↘️Alexander Isak (£7.6m) enjoyed a fabulous start to the season, but he’s been struggling with injury and wasn’t scoring much in the league before that. Still, I’m one of the 16.5% of managers who still have him rostered.
↗️Liverpool will be a test for Kai Havertz (£7.1m) and his newfound goalscoring touch in an Arsenal shirt, but after that he’s got a nice run of games.