⚽️MONEY WARS💰💰
MAN CITY vs CHELSEA is the nouveau riche beef.
This is THE FOOTBALL WEEKEND, your Friday morning rundown of all the best matches across world football over the coming weekend in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and more. Join subscribers from 66 different countries:
This is not exactly a BANNER WEEKEND for world football, as the fixture gods saw fit to bless us with precious few hot ones. Still, the show must go on, and there is a money-drenched tête-à-tête to contend with when Manchester City host Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. But first…..
THE HEADLINES
➡️ Déjà vu pour Kylian: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Mr. Mbappé is reportedly on his way out of Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this season. Fabrizio Romano reports the French superstar has informed the PSG hierarchy, and Real Madrid are—stop me if you’ve heard this one before—the favorites to sign him.
➡️ The same transfer guru reported Thursday that Crystal Palace have moved to replace head coach Roy Hodgson with Oliver Glasner, though further reports soon surfaced that the 76-year-old—the Premier League’s oldest-ever manager—was in the hospital after falling ill during a training session.
➡️ Erling Haaland is coming out with his own ice cream, though it looks like you’ll need to be in Norway to get it.
➡️ Arsenal Women have sold out the 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium for the first time in their history for the visit of Manchester United this weekend.
SATURDAY
BRENTFORD vs LIVERPOOL (7:30am ET, 12:30pm GMT)
The home team just produced another stunningly positive report on the club finances, but things are going less well for the Bees on the pitch: they’ve sunk to 14th in the table, just 6 points clear of the drop zone. Not the best time for title-chasing Liverpool to come to town, then, though the Reds are still missing Mo Salah through injury.
TOTTENHAM vs WOLVES (10am ET, 3pm GMT)
Spurs are unbeaten in the league in 2024, with 14 goals scored in their last six matches. But they also leaked 12 over that period, and their opponents here are substantial. Wolves are better this season than their 32 points suggest, though Mattheus Cunha—a pillar of their attack—has been struck down with a hamstring problem.
MAN CITY vs CHELSEA (12:30pm ET, 5:30pm GMT)
Money well spent hosts money spent. For all the justifiable chatter about Man City’s 115 charges for alleged financial improprieties, Chelsea are the OGs of buying your way into contention. They’ve now entered a new phase of buying their way out of it. Around $1 billion has gone out the door since Todd Boehly and Co. took over from a far more effective—if problematic—benefactor, and Chelsea find themselves in 10th.
They could jump up to seventh if results go their way this weekend and they get an incredibly improbable win up in Manchester, where the Sky Blues are six games into their customary 14-game win streak this time of year. Maybe young Cole Palmer can get some more revenge against his former employers—he scored a penalty in stoppage time to make it 4-4 at Stamford Bridge in November. Presumably, the winner here will be presented with a pile of bearer bonds.
VALENCIA vs SEVILLA (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
The Bats have won five of their last seven in the league and hauled themselves up to a place of respectability in the table. Their guests are having a lot less fun this season, mired in 15th and just six points clear of the drop zone. These are two grand old clubs seeking better days, and the Mestalla is always a wonderful venue for a match.
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SUNDAY
LAZIO vs BOLOGNA (6:30am ET, 11:30am GMT)
Two of the form teams in Serie A face off as they both chase a Champions League place. Bologna have won three on the spin and are scoring lots of goals—12 in their last four matches—while Lazio are coming off a massive victory over Bayern Munich in the UCL Round of 16. They’re five points back from Bologna in fifth—and Atalanta in fourth—so victory here is imperative.
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs BRIGHTON (9am ET, 2pm GMT)
United rose up like the Undertaker last weekend, choking out Luton Town just as their fellow promotees were looking to climb out of the relegation zone. It may have been an attempt to drag them down to the Championship, which is surely still where SHU are headed, but they could play spoiler to other teams’ ambitions this season and Brighton certainly have those. Roberto De Zerbi may be out the door this summer, headed for bigger and better things, but in the meantime he’ll want to keep Brighton in Europe next season and they’re a point off Newcastle in seventh place.
LUTON TOWN vs MAN UNITED (11:30am ET, 4:30pm GMT)
This is the kind of match Luton fans would have dreamt of when their team lined up for the Championship playoff final in May. While this is not the Manchester United of old, Erik ten Hag’s side have started pulling together results at a good time. They’re in the Top Four race now, but the Hatters have shown they can give anybody a game at Kenilworth Road with some domineering physical play complemented by a few technical wizards like Ross Barkley.
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THE FPL STOCK MARKET
It’s a double gameweek for Liverpool and Manchester City, so it’s tempting to go all-in, but be aware that Liverpool have a blank coming up in Matchweek 26. Chelsea are also off next week.
↗️Declan Rice (5.4m) scored last time out, but he’s also taking many of Arsenal’s set pieces and they excel in those situations. Have a look at Leandro Trossard (£6.5m), too—he’s playing False Nine in a team that’s starting to smash in goals.
↗️Phil Foden (£8.0m): I’m lookin’ like a damned fool for picking up Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m) a couple weeks back. His young teammate has been the form midfielder in the league since.
↗️Diogo Dalot (£5.1m): Man United are difficult to depend on, but they’re getting results at the moment and have a favorable fixture list apart from Man City in a couple weeks. The Portuguese fullback is a threat going forward and can snag points for any clean sheets the Red Devils keep.
↘️Mark Flekken (£4.5m) has been posting points, but Brentford have a bodacious schedule coming up with Liverpool, Man City, West Ham, Chelsea, and Arsenal over their next five. I’d offload whichever Bees you’ve got.
↗️David Raya (£4.9m): Arsenal have some fairly friendly fixtures on the horizon and are kicking into form, which makes their whole defensive unit a buy. I’d even wager the goalkeeper will get himself an assist soon the way he’s spraying long throws out to Gabriel Martinelli (£7.7m) on the left wing.⚽︎