⚽︎Friday, Dec. 15: Can Manchester United Retain Some Dignity at Anfield?
Liverpool beat them 7-0 last time and 4-0 the time before that.
In case you missed it, TFW’s big feature on the making of the CBS Champions League show went live on Wednesday. There are interviews with Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards, Kate Abdo, and Thierry Henry, and some fun stories about how they came aboard. You can also check out a few video versions of those vignettes on Instagram and TikTok, where I’m trying not to be a Cringe Millennial.
You might notice it’s a bit of a new-look TFW this week. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or send me a note at jack@thefootballweekend.com. This newsletter is a tool for football fans, and I want to know how it can be most useful to you.
FRIDAY
NOTTINGHAM FOREST vs TOTTENHAM (3pm ET/8pm GMT)
The Early Weekend finds Tottenham visiting the City Ground. Spurs were without a win since October 27 when they saw off injury-hit Newcastle last weekend, while Forest are still in a hard skid of their own. Winless since November 5, Sky Sports reported that Steve Cooper would have been sacked if they’d lost to Wolves last weekend. It would be harsh on a manager who’s won a lot of games for the club, but they’re struggling to stay clear of the relegation scrap.
SATURDAY
WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE: TOTTENHAM vs ARSENAL (7am ET/ 12pm GMT)
It’s the North London Derby, WSL edition. It’s the second meeting in the space of a few days: These two met in the cup this week, where Arsenal won on penalties. After a poor start to the season, the red side of North London is in a position to compete for the title after defeating champions Chelsea on Sunday.
NEWCASTLE vs FULHAM (10am ET/3pm GMT)
The Magpies are ravaged by injuries and at risk of falling out of the Top Four race, while Fulham have shaken off an indifferent start to the league season and started smashing in the goals. They’ve scored 16 in their last four matches.
BURNLEY vs EVERTON (12:30pm ET/ 5:30pm GMT)
It’s the Sean Dyche Derby, with the kind of relegation implications that such a name entails. In fairness, Everton are cruising out of the drop zone under Dyche’s leadership, even after the 10-point deduction. Without it, they’d be in 10th place, above Fulham, Brentford, and Chelsea, and four points off Man United in sixth. Burnley look to be in far more trouble, though they smashed in five against the even more troubled Sheffield United last weekend.
VALENCIA vs BARCELONA (3pm ET/8pm GMT)
If only we were back in the David Villa days, when Valencia were in that third-challenger position in La Liga that Atlético Madrid have occupied for most of the days since. The Bats are mid-table now, but it’s still a grand old club, and their home form is decent. Barcelona just took a big L from upstarts Girona—who remain top of the league—and the Catalans are fourth in the table, behind Atléti on goal difference.
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THE HEADLINES
➟ The Champions League group stage concluded this week with Matchday 6, and some notable clubs were turfed out of the competition: A.C. Milan, Benfica, Galatasaray, Sevilla, Celtic. Shakhtar Donetsk fell short but did qualify for the Europa League at a time when they could really use the participation money.
➟ Outside of Milan, the biggest exclusions from the knockout phase are certainly Newcastle and Manchester United. Both finished last in their groups, and the English clubs did poorly enough that the Premier League may miss out on getting a fifth Champions League spot next season. (It’s one of many innovations in next year’s competition). Newcastle were in the Group of Death, but there’s no excuse for Erik ten Hag. Finishing dead last—with four points and 15 goals conceded—sure feels like a fireable offense for a Manchester United manager.
➟ For all that misery, though, some fun clubs have tickets to the knockouts: FC København, who beat up United a couple of times in Group A, have qualified. So have Real Sociedad, and the Basque outfit have looked one of the better teams in this competition. Porto made it with 40-year-old Pepe still at centerback—and still scoring goals. He broke his own record for oldest UCL goalscorer this week.
➟ Mikel Arteta has escaped punishment for the heinous crime of saying in a post-match interview that disgraceful Premier League officiating is disgraceful. In a 32-page(!) report, an independent regulatory commission did not confirm the charges made against him by the Football Association nearly a month ago following his rant after Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal. Arteta argued he was discussing the standard of officiating, not attacking individual officials, and Arsenal’s defense of their manager included a bit of Spanish-to-English linguistics trivia.
➟ This comes the same day that ex-referee Peter Walton tried to link Arteta (and Jürgen Klopp) to a shocking attack on a referee in Turkey last weekend. Walton made no mention of Pep Guardiola or his reprehensible display at halftime of Man City’s match against Luton Town last weekend, a blatant attempt to intimidate the match officials that goes way beyond some comments at a presser. Clownish punditry.
➟ Rebecca Welch will become the first woman to referee a Premier League match this month when she takes charge of Fulham-Burnley on December 23.
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SUNDAY
ARSENAL vs BRIGHTON (9am ET/2pm GMT)
Brighton have both scored and conceded in their last 20 league matches—the great entertainers. The last time they kept a clean sheet was May, when they took part in the ritual slaughter of Arsenal’s title bid. They’ll have similar plans here, as the Gunners seek to leave last week’s defeat against Aston Villa in the rearview.
LIVERPOOL vs MANCHESTER UNITED (11:30am ET/4:30pm GMT)
“Anfield—until you go there and play as a Man United player, you will never know what it is,” Rio Ferdinand said. Patrice Evra has talked about how Sir Alex Ferguson would rest players ahead of a trip to Anfield not for fitness reasons but so they’d be mentally sharp. Those three were involved in some very different Manchester United sides—teams that competed for the biggest trophies—and the Red Devils haven’t won away at Liverpool in any competition since 2016. They haven’t scored at Anfield since 2018. The last time they were here, in March, they lost 7-0.
Someday, looking back, we may see that result as the beginning of the end for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United. Maybe he will still go on to greatness at this particular helm, but the disaster in Europe does not bode well. United’s league form has been better, as they’ve won four of their last six since the drubbing at Manchester City, but last time out they were trounced 3-0 by Bournemouth at Old Trafford. Maybe the Dutchman will continue as Manchester United’s head coach despite these kinds of results, but it would represent a rubber-stamp on the club’s serious decline in standards.
Victory at Anfield would certainly resuscitate him in this job, but Liverpool are a force in the Premier League once again. They were a race car in need of a pit stop last season, but Jürgen Klopp put a new set of wheels on his midfield this summer and got the machine humming again. It is likely a three-way race for the Premier League title, and Liverpool always need a result knowing that Man City will go on one of their signature 14-win runs at some point. They will expect a result here. They will expect to dominate Manchester United.
As mismatched as it all seems, though, these remain the two biggest footballing institutions in England. They’re the most decorated, with 32 league titles and nine European Cups between them, and perhaps the best-supported. Liverpool just announced that the upper tier of the Anfield Road Stand will be open for the first time on Sunday, bringing the cauldron’s capacity to over 57,000 people. It’s the largest crowd at Anfield in 50 years and sure to be an electric atmosphere—unless United are well-beaten early. The time before the 7-0, it was 4-0.
LAZIO vs INTER (2:45pm ET/7:45pm GMT)
Maurizio Sarri was bullish this week, saying he’d like Lazio to draw Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16. It’s some talk considering how Lazio have begun the season, particularly in the league. They sit 10th, and before any trip to Spain the Roman outfit have drawn the best team in Italy. Internazionale are imperious in Serie A, top of the table with 37 goals scored and just seven conceded. They’ve lost just once.
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THE FPL STOCK MARKET
↗️Dominic Solanke (£6.6m) is cooking at the moment, and Bournemouth have some good fixtures coming up. Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m) was in this list a few weeks ago and continues to perform. Marcos Senesi (£4.4m) can’t stop scoring and represents phenomenal value in defense.
↗️Pablo Sarabia (£4.7m) is playing well and should join Matheus Cunha (£5.7m) and Hwang Hee-chan (£5.8m) on the Wolves buy list.
↘️Manchester United: By all means, keep Scott McTominay (£4.9m) or Alejandro Garnacho (£4.8m) for the cheap goal potential, but pretty much everybody else is a sell. They’ve got Liverpool-West Ham-Aston Villa over the next three games.
↗️Raúl Jiménez (£5.3m) is finally finding some form at Fulham after a rough few years following a serioushead injury. Willian (£5.3m) and Andreas Pereira (£5.3m) join last week’s Harry Wilson (£5.3m) among the buys.
For CAPTAIN, you probably want to go (as usual) with Mo Salah. He simply loves scoring against Manchester United.⚽︎