Hello good people… well, just when we thought it was all over (Liverpool’s mini-era and Manchester City winning the league) it’s all gone tits-up again!
What else should we expect from the Premier League? Never fails to deliver a story! Unfortunately I had to watch the Anfield shootout without sound and missed the first five minutes due to the weird scenes at Elland Road where a taste of loadshedding nearly caused a cancellation (and a riot).
Liverpool were decent against City, managed for the best part to break the Pep-flow and create quite a few chances themselves.
It’s not so much the three points on the board, but, echoing Virgil van Dijk’s words after the game, the result “will bring some confidence back into the side”.
Meanwhile, Arsenal showed that the football they’ve been playing and results that they’ve been getting aren’t necessarily going last.
Struggling Leeds definitely deserved at least a point, making the Gunners look quite ordinary and vulnerable. Still, they picked up another win, grinding out the points and made further headway given the result at Anfield.
Across north London and Spurs keep marching on, but man, they’re proper boring to watch.
They remind me of Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel – robotic, fixed formation, players struggling to express themselves or take a risk… it’s horrible to watch.
Of course, Spurs fans won’t mind that – and of course they’ve now won an honour; The Best Start in a Premier League Season by Spurs Team Cup.
It’s hard to predict whether the pragmatism of Antonio Conte will overcome the progressive style of Mikel Arteta at the end of the season? The battle for (north) London looks close.
Meanwhile, Chelsea bagged another win. That’s three in a row in the league under Graham Potter, but they were awful on Sunday. Villa actually looked good for long parts of the game as the Blues just couldn’t find their rhythm.
They looked unbalanced, struggling to gain any kind of foothold despite a Mason Mount brace. Could it have been the massive loss of rightback Reece James?
The boy is crocked for a reported eight weeks, putting him out of contention for the World Cup as well. What a hammer blow. One of the best performing players in the league right now, in most pundits opinion, way ahead of the likes of Alexander Trent-Arnold and Kieran Trippier.
Rounding up the traditional top six and what’s happening at Old Trafford again? They come, they go, they win, they lose, they dream, they scream!
It must be a complete nightmare never knowing what kind of performance they’re gonna deliver. After a pathetic outing against some Cypriot Sunday League club on Thursday night, the struggle against Newcastle was somehow even worse.
But it’s still very early days for Erik ten Hag and there is no doubt it’s generally looked better than it’s been for some time.
United fans will however be disappointed by the news that broke last week regarding a potential takeover bid from the current blood-sucking owners.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe revealed that the Glazer family have told him that they “don’t want to sell” Manchester United and he is unwilling to wait around.
Speaking back in August, a spokesperson for Ratcliffe confirmed that the billionaire was interested in buying the club saying: “If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer. If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership.”
As we’ve chatted about before, these days (unfortunately) it’s the luck of the draw, are you gonna get bought by a “good” or bad billionaire.
Ratcliffe is estimated to be worth somewhere in the region of £10bn and as with the recent Chelsea deal, suggested that he would invest heavily on and off the pitch.
Unfortunately, the crumbling stadium and stuttering team are still in the same boat.
After all the breaks, football seems to be coming at us at a fast rate right now with Premier League action continuing tonight and tomorrow, with United v Spurs the stand-out fixture on Wednesday, before The Glazers visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday for the evening kickoff!
Take care now, chat next week…bye bye.