The Man Utd-Arsenal Feud: Archaic or Eternal?
They battled in the Premier League's greatest rivalry. Then they both fell off. Now they're in two very different places.
For this week’s guest and for me, MANCHESTER UNITED vs ARSENAL is the essential Premier League rivalry. I despise Chelsea, too, but it was United who battled my team for titles, season after season, in what even fans of some other clubs might call the league’s greatest era.
Then Arsène Wenger lost his magic touch, Sir Alex Ferguson won the war, and we Arsenal fans had to listen to Patrice Evra come out after every encounter and declare it was “men against boys out there.”
Jesus, I hate United. So it’s been a great few years.
The Red Devils are in terrible shape after a decade of self-sabotage, cycling through managers and executives and even — with the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe — ownership structures. None of it’s helped, and now this week’s guest, Manchester United fan and host of Touchline Fracas, Morayo Bamidele, fears his team could be embarrassed at Old Trafford:
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LONG READS
⚽︎ The Premier League’s aggregate revenue is nearly as much as La Liga and the Bundesliga combined, Matt Slater reports for The Athletic.
⚽︎ On Substack, Clive Tyldesley talks over what it’s like to be called “biased” by fans of every club he’s ever commentated on.
⚽︎ Also on the Stack, Jonathan Wilson wonders why empty heads with deep pockets insist on meddling in the world’s game.
⚽︎ Goalkeepers rarely get much love and attention, so here’s the deepest of dives from The Athletic’s Matt Pyzdrowski on Alisson Becker’s heroic performance for Liverpool in Paris this week.
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MORE MATCHES
NOTT’M FOREST vs MAN CITY
Sat @ 7:30am ET, 12:30pm UK
Here’s a somewhat improbable meeting of third and fourth in the Premier League, and one where it’s genuinely difficult to classify Manchester City as the favorites. It’s not just that Pep Guardiola’s side have struggled every which way this season. It’s also a nice cocktail from Forest’s perspective: at the City Ground, their home, they’ll be happy enough to cede possession to the fallen champions and try to smash them on the counterattack.
BRIGHTON vs FULHAM
Sat @ 10am ET, 3pm UK
It’s a clash of Europa League hopefuls, with eighth-place Brighton hosting ninth-place Fulham at the Amex. They’re each a point or two off Newcastle in sixth, and they’re each good value for a ticket to Europe next season. This could genuinely go either way, as they’re both capable of great performances and poor showings, and they’ve each taken two points per game from their last six. Fulham’s away form has been significantly better than Brighton’s at home, however: the West Londoners have taken 13 of the last 18 points available on their travels.
VALENCIA vs REAL VALLODOLID
Sat @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK
A relegation scrap in La Liga? I must confess I’m interested in this one mostly due to a soft spot for Valencia CF. It seems impossible that the club where David Villa, David Silva, Juan Mata, and more all played in the same team is now at risk of dropping into the second division. A couple of consecutive victories would most likely pop them out of trouble, but for now they’re 18th and going down. It would be just their second season outside the top division since 1930. Victory over bottom side Vallodolid is an absolute necessity.
TOTTENHAM vs BOURNEMOUTH
Sun @ 10am ET, 2pm UK
Daylight Savings Time dawns in the United States, so this one’s an hour later than usual for the Americans. This could be an interesting test of Bournemouth’s European credentials heading into the final stretch of the season. Andoni Iraola has done a splendid job on the South Coast, snatching Tottenham’s place in the table away from them. It’s been a disastrous injury-hit season for the North London side, but Dominic Solanke, Cristian Romero, and Micky van de Ven are on the mend now — just in time for Dejan Kulusevski to be ruled out. Can Spurs find a way to dig out a win here and escape 13th place?
If you’d rather spend your time down in Italy, by the way, NAPOLI vs FIORENTINA kicks off at the same time.
JUVENTUS vs ATALANTA
Sun @ 3:45pm ET, 8:45pm UK
And speaking of Italia, there’s a Top Four clash in Serie A. The visitors from Bergamo are firmly in the title picture, nipping at Napoli and Inter’s heels even if Gian Piero Gasperini’s men failed to take advantage of the draw between the two leaders last weekend. (They had to settle for a point at home to second-from-bottom Venezia.) Their hosts in black-and-white stripes are having a weird season, crashing out of the Champions League to PSV and often playing some less-than-thrilling stuff, but they’ve rattled off five league wins in a row and could — if they keep grinding out those results — pull themselves into the title picture.
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GEAR
👕 Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, Umbro drops an Irish heater. This one’s going fast at Umbro.com, as are the blue aways styled after St. Patrick’s storybook cloak.
👕 The Total 90s are back at Nike.com, just in time for street football sessions on the blacktop now that winter is (maybe) fucking off. Pretend it’s 2008 again.⚽︎