The 24-year-old, who has spoken in the past about his devout religious beliefs, wore the adapted armband in Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Newcastle United.
The PA news agency understands Guehi and Palace have now been contacted by the FA reminding them that the appearance on, or incorporation in, any item of clothing, football boots or other equipment, of any religious message is prohibited under Rule A4 of the governing body’s regulations.
The FA declined to comment on whether any repeat by Guehi could lead to a charge. The armbands are being worn as part of the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign which runs from November 29 to December 5 to show support for people in the LGBTQ+ community across football and beyond.
It is understood there will be no FA action in regard to Ipswich Town skipper Sam Morsy.
His club issued a statement on Monday saying he chose not to wear the armband due to his religious beliefs.
The FA is understood to deem that as a matter for Morsy and his club, and would not amount to any breach of its regulations.
Rule A4 in full states: “The appearance on, or incorporation in, any item of clothing, football boots or other equipment of any distasteful, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting, discriminatory or otherwise ethically or morally offensive message, or any political or religious message, is prohibited. The advertising of tobacco products is prohibited.”
Palace have been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Stonewall charity, the Premier League’s partner in the Rainbow Laces campaign, said: “It has been incredible to see so many football teams at all levels support our campaign to make sport safer and more inclusive for all.
“When we see clubs show their support for LGBTQ+ inclusion, it helps people feel safe and welcome both on and off the pitch.
“It is up to individuals to choose if and how they show their support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.”
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Reading owner Dai Yongge has rejected yet another offer to buy the club – this time from former striker Roger Smee, i can reveal.
Smee, who went on to become a property tycoon after his playing career, is considered a hero by many fans after helping the club resist plans by Robert Maxwell to merge the club with Oxford United in the 1980s.
Smee became Reading chairman and eventually sold the club to John Madjeski, the former AutoTrader owner who guided the club through many successful seasons, including spells in the Premier League.
The 76-year-old made a sizeable and serious bid for Reading last Friday, i has been told, but it has been rejected by the owner. Smee had attempted to keep his attempts to buy the club out of the public domain.
“After many months of diligently preparing a structured and connected bid in alliance with many of the town’s key local stakeholders, I’m disappointed that news of my bid has been leaked to the media,” Smee said.
“I am respectful of the owner and the sale process and wanted my interest to remain private.
“In response to these claims in the media, I reluctantly feel I have to comment. I confirm that my team submitted a carefully considered bid last week.
“I believe it was firmly competitive with previous proposals that had been entertained and publicly granted exclusivity. At this stage, I am not prepared to divulge the details of our bid, again in respect of the owners, their ongoing process, the club and its dedicated fans.
“I confirm the motivation for my interest is solely the future for Reading Football Club, ensuring it continues to play at its highest level, playing an integral role in the town’s sporting and cultural community.
“Disappointingly, after more than a year of a full working team, with no public leakage of our efforts, my efforts have appeared in the press. This is not what I wanted and helps no one. I am equally sad to tell you my bid has been rejected.”
Former Wycombe owner Rob Couhig was confident he had secured a deal for the club, thought to be around £25m, only for it to fall through this season.
Reading fans have been campaigning for years, led by protest group Sell Before We Dai, calling for the owner to sell the club. They have launched a series of high-profile stunts, including throwing tennis balls onto the pitch, to raise awareness of their situation.
There had been confidence that Couhig was set to take over. Reporting on the collapse of Couhig’s bid in September, Sell Before We Dai spokesperson Caroline Parker told i: “All the ingredients are there for someone to run the club properly.”
She added: “The indications were everything was progressing well. Rob was meeting fans, at games, he sold the dream it was all going forward. I don’t know what happened. It leaves you with the uncomfortable feeling that you don’t know what’s going on at your own club.”
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Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. The best way to follow his journey is by subscribing here.
OLD TRAFFORD — Steve Crompton knew that there was value in waiting. We had met up at 11am near Manchester United’s Trinity Statue that pays homage to the three greats of the club’s working-class past.
Over the next hour, fellow members of FC58 – a fan coalition – arrived along with other supporters who knew how much this meant. Some were itching to get going. Crompton wanted to wait for the Everton contingent.
Stop Exploiting Loyalty is an initiative designed by the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) to campaign against the increased price-gouging of regular match-going supporters in the Premier League.
On Sunday, as around the country over the last few weeks, Manchester United and Everton supporters held banners together. At Anfield, a banner was held across the divide between Liverpool and Manchester City supporters. The message is clear: enough is enough.
Back at Old Trafford, where a large swell of people now formed, this was an appropriate week to take a stand.
Midweek had brought news that Manchester United were raising the cost of match tickets for members to £66 and removed all concessionary prices. Those tickets had previously started at £40 for adults and £25 for children. Supporters fear that this is merely a prelude to significant price hikes for season ticket holders in 2025-26.
As such, Sunday’s protest split into two distinct groups. In front of the statue, facing the stadium and with flags and green flares, one group chanted angry anti-Glazer and anti-Jim Ratcliffe songs until they settled into a routine: “£66, you’re taking the p*ss”. One homemade banner, sheets of paper taped together, made a forceful point: “Local lad Sir Jim charges £66 for OAPs and juniors. Stop exploiting loyalty”.
The irony punches you in the face. Ten yards in front of the group, around 50 people queued up to pay £5 and take a photo with a plastic copy of the Premier League trophy. Close by, someone else had a similar queue and had all three trophies from the 1999 Treble-winning season in plastic.
I counted 18 merchandise sellers in a crowded scene and most of them were flogging half-and-half scarves to punters, many of whom told me that they were making their first trip to this ground.
A short distance away from the anti-Glazer chants is the protest that I have come to see. There is no righteous anger and no chanting. There is no attempt to focus their attention on one individual or even one club.
Instead there are red shirts of Manchester United and blue shirts of Everton, standing together behind a banner, asking the sport that they love to stop taking them for a ride.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has upset United supporters with the increase in ticket prices (Photo: Getty)
Unity is the secret to this campaign. For all the tradition of English football fan culture, we have routinely proven ourselves lacking in putting tribalism to one side for the greater good.
The example of German football, where supporters are consistently effective at joint campaigning on the subject of television scheduling, ticket pricing and sportswashing, hangs heavy in the air and it is something that must improve here for us to have any chance of success.
“This is an FSA-led protest and it’s against football in general: the pricing out of working-class supporters,” Crompton tells me.
“Without us, these clubs wouldn’t exist anymore. Everton joining us today, plus the protests at the Liverpool vs Manchester City game, is the result of us all working together. The game cannot keep biting the hand that feeds it.
“This has to be the start. We were contacted by the Manchester City guys and we have their banner today. That unity is where strength will come from. If fans from all Premier League clubs come together then we are a massive voice.”
Nobody is trying to sanitise rivalry here. Nobody here is a lesser supporter of their own club for standing with those from another before kick-off. We are all football fans as well as fans of individual clubs and there has to be more that unites than divides us when it comes to pushing for fairness.
If you see empty seats in a Premier League stadium, rather than crowing about “s**t fans” to score non-existent banter points, perhaps ask yourself why that might be. Think about who isn’t sitting in that seat and who might want to.
That is what gives Sunday’s protest at Old Trafford extra impetus.
Everton have recently announced season ticket prices for their new stadium next season that are entirely reasonable. No child will pay more than £199 for the season for a regular seat. The club discussed pricing with fan groups and they listened.
Dave Kelly and others are not here because they’re angry at Everton; quite the opposite. They’re here because they would urge other clubs to be more like Everton when it comes to ticket pricing and because they understand that the rise in prices and abandonment of concessions has becoming a creeping wave. And if something affects some football supporters, it is a concern to all football supporters.
“Today is about Liverpool and Manchester, two cities that aren’t always exactly friendly to one another in a matchday setting,” Kelly tells me.
“Until kick-off, I don’t care what shirt you’re wearing or what badge is on your chest. This is about solidarity, about Scousers and Mancunians being treated fairly.
“It’s about football being affordable, not just for this generation but for those who come next and will be the lifeblood of the game.”
Man Utd 4-0 Everton (Sunday 1 December)
Game no.: 42/92
Miles: 192
Cumulative miles: 6,967
Total goals seen: 119
The one thing I’ll remember in May: Manchester United and Everton fans stood together before the game. At the highest level, this happens far less often than is healthy
Kelly knows only too well that this can work. He was instrumental in leading the “Twenty’s Plenty” campaign that worked tirelessly to fight for price caps on away tickets in the Premier League. People told those campaigners that it wouldn’t work.
He remembers former Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore laughing at them when they went to London to meet the Premier League. A price cap now exists. You never realise how strong you are until you rely upon that strength.
Stop Exploiting Loyalty is a response to the greatest threat to English football culture: loyalists being abandoned for a quick cash grab. The general rise in ticket pricing well above inflation was inevitable as facilities and the product improved, but the greed has now rushed far beyond the pale. It is hard to imagine a more perfect embodiment of the Premier League’s capitalist wet dream than the removal of concessions for children at matches.
A reminder, though it should not be necessary: clubs don’t need to do this. At the last shareholders’ meeting in November, it was announced that the Premier League’s global and domestic commercial and broadcast revenue would rise by 17 per cent for the cycle between 2025 and 2028. That revenue would total an expected £12.25 billion.
As the league’s biggest clubs increase their broadcasting revenue, the percentage of their revenue that comes from ticket sales decrease. But they take and they take and they take, because it never strikes any of these people that any other way exists. Billionaires gonna billionaire.
Rather than seeing match-going supporters as individuals, then, best to think of them as units. A season-ticket holding unit will come to every home game and will have a matchday routine perhaps including some or all of: pub or restaurant away from the ground; wearing specific items of club clothing, colours faded through love and wear; beeline to seat shortly before kick-off; comparatively sensitive to changes in policy and pricing.
Someone who comes to Old Trafford once a season – and especially a first-time visitor – will typically have a different routine: inelastic demand to pricing structures (the “red letter day” principle); likely to spend more time (and thus more money) around the environs of the stadium; likely to visit the club shop; likely to eat and drink inside the stadium.
These are the units that clubs typically want now. If that’s unfair, they have a funny way of showing it.
That would all be depressing enough, but what really angers regular match-goers is the pretence, the p*ss in their pockets that their clubs keep telling them is rainwater. You see it a lot: the gratitude for loyalty in words – 12th man, thank you, you made the difference, we’re all in it together – followed by abandonment through actions.
Add to that the newest dagger to the heart: emotional blackmail. That is where the exploitation really occurs. Football supporters are loyal to the point of fault. They will not go elsewhere unless you really destroy their spirit. They will take it because their club is part of their heritage and their family. And the people in charge of clubs know that.
“What else can we do?” ask elite clubs with a straight face. “You want the team to perform better and have better players and that means investment so we all have to do our bit.” Then they point at Profitability and Sustainability Rules, say some guff about the governing bodies leaving them no choice and, somehow, plenty of supporters swallow this stuff whole.
Let’s be clear: elite football clubs do not have a revenue problem; they have a spending problem. Wages increase, agents fees increase, clubs routinely make bad decisions. And what happens, every time, is that those costs are partly pushed onto supporters even when commercial revenues are rising year on year and life outside the Premier League’s gross bubble gets harder.
The more honest explanation would be simple: supply and demand. We are raising the price for your seat because we believe that we can sell it. And even if we only sell two in every three seats that are left vacant by those who can no longer afford it, we believe that those two people will atone for the empty space by spending more money inside the ground than the original two people did anyway.
Which probably makes some economic sense in the short-term, even if it’s emphatically bleak. But beyond that short-term, who knows.
From left to right: Dave Kelly, Steve Crompton and Chris Haymes (Photo: i)
The loyalty of long-time match-goers may be a curse when it comes to their exploitation, but it’s a blessing to a club when things go wrong. Through the sackings, owners leaving, relegations, administrations, it is those supporters who will stick with you most. Replace them entirely with those who are only coming irregularly and see how your atmosphere shifts.
Nobody is campaigning for anything outrageous here. Certainly nobody is saying that clubs attracting new fans to games is a bad thing – that is why the model of season tickets and match tickets exists. But gouging those season ticket holders, squeezing them dry, just because you can? That’s gross and it’s misguided.
As Sunday’s protest at Old Trafford begins to wind down, and supporters of both teams head to their seats to allow their righteous tribalism to rush back in, I get a photograph of Crompton, Kelly and Chris Haymes – also from FC58 – embracing each other in a hug. They have done fine work today, steps taken to unite rival supporters for the greater good.
Stop Exploiting Loyalty must only be the start; on that point all three, and those around them, agree. People will say that the clubs are too powerful, that they will never listen; perhaps they’re right.
But if you don’t try to stop this relentless avarice then your voice loses credence further down the line and doing something will always be better than doing nothing. The fight continues. It’ll probably never stop.
Daniel Storey has set himself the goalof visiting all 92 grounds across the Premier League and EFL this season.You can follow his progress via our interactive map and find every article (so far) here
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You know that the festive football season is underway when the first midweek round of Premier League games takes place.
There is a full schedule of fixtures this midweek starting on Tuesday and ending on Thursday with Amazon Prime broadcasting each one live on their streaming platforms.
December is a relentless month in the Fantasy Premier League season with squad rotation kicking in as managers look to protect their players from picking up injuries. Make sure you have a strong bench for the coming weeks.
The pick of the midweek action is on Wednesday when Erling Haaland, Mo Salah, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer are all in action. All four are viable captaincy picks based on their fixtures.
Join i‘s FPL league and sign up to our Fantasy Football newsletter
The Gameweek 14 deadline is deadline is at 6pm on Tuesday 3 December:
Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea)
Doubling up on Chelsea’s attack is tempting given the form that they are in and the fixtures that they have coming up.
The Blues face bottom-of-the-table Southampton and a depleted Tottenham defence this week before embarking on a hugely promising run until the end of January. Beyond the next two, Chelsea’s matches until Gameweek 23 are against Brentford (h), Everton (a), Fulham (h), Ipswich (a), Crystal Palace (a), Bournemouth (h) and Wolves (h).
Nicolas Jackson looks like a great option for the foreseeable future. The Senegalese has scored four goals and provided an assist across his previous six league outings and only three forwards (one of whom will be mentioned below) have outscored him in FPL during that period.
One downside to buying Jackson is that he has to avoid picking up a fifth booking of the season in his next six appearances otherwise he will trigger an automatic one-match ban. Make sure you have decent bench options if you decide to bring him in.
The only player bought more times than Jackson since Gameweek 13 ended is Bukayo Saka and considering he has amassed 31 points in his last two appearances it isn’t hard to see why he’s proving so popular.
Saka has been sensational lately, scoring two goals and providing four assists in back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and West Ham to galvanise Arsenal’s title hopes.
The winger has been a creative force this campaign, so much so that he has set up at least two more goals (10) than any other payer in Europe’s major leagues. Furthermore, Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil and Harry Kane are the only players in Premier League history to reach double figures for assists in a season quicker than Saka, who has done so in just 12 games.
Manchester United could be tricky opponents after thrashing Everton, but Arsenal will be confident of beating anyone at the Emirates, particularly with their starboy in such sparkling form.
Price: £10.3m Points: 98 Gameweek 14 fixture: Man Utd (h)
Evanilson (Bournemouth)
Justin Kluivert made history on Saturday by becoming the first Premier League player ever to score a hat-trick of penalties and he has Evanilson to thank after the Brazilian was fouled for all three.
The Brazilian would be a more attractive FPL option if he were the one taking the spot-kicks, but if he can keep on winning them he could prove to be just as valuable.
Evanilson has started his Bournemouth career strongly (Photo: Reuters)
The summer signing from Porto has quietly become a very reliable source of points in FPL. After a slow start, he has provided attacking returns in six of his last eight matches culminating in his best score of 12 against Wolves last time out.
Currently owned by just over two per cent of managers, Evanilson could be a superb differential against Spurs who are set to be without their first-choice goalkeeper and two best centre-backs for their trip to the Vitality.
Portman Road will play host to a relegation six-pointer on Tuesday when Ipswich (19th) take on Crystal Palace (17th).
A win for either side would be extremely welcome considering they have both only beaten Spurs so far this season and are level on nine points after 13 games.
If Ipswich are to eke out a first home win of the campaign, Leif Davis will probably have played a key role. The left-back has created at least 20 chances more than any other teammate and is also the most creative defender in FPL.
The quality of Davis’ delivery is also worth pointing out. Saka, Palmer, Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha are the only players in the division to have created more big chances than him.
Plenty of FPL bosses are offloading Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) this week with his points drying up and Brentford’s fixture list looking tricky.
If you are looking to say bye-bye to Bryan you could do a lot worse than take a punt on Jarrod Bowen as his replacement. West Ham have been inconsistent so far but have an encouraging run with matches against Leicester (a), Wolves (h), Bournemouth (a), Brighton (h) and Southampton (a) in their next five.
Bowen has made a reasonable start to the campaign, producing three goals and four assists in his 13 appearances and remains an integral part of the team having completed a full 90 minutes in each of West Ham’s last 10 games.
He hasn’t been at his explosive best yet but you’d back him to improve his attacking numbers against some obliging defences this month.
Apparently Manchester City are bad now, and everyone is scrambling to work out how they didn’t see it coming.
Defeat to Liverpool makes it seven games without a win, including six losses, and there is an increasing sense that there are fundamental issues in the make-up of this City squad.
So how did we get here, and what are the biggest transfer mistakes Pep Guardiola’s side have made in recent years?
Not signing back-up to Rodri
No-one is saying finding adequate replacement for Rodri is easy – or even possible – but City have completely failed in their search.
His absence remains the most obvious catalyst and facilitator of the recent decline, even if it is far from the only reason.
While some will argue City have made signings in central midfield, Matheus Nunes and Kalvin Phillips are both very different players to the Spaniard, as is the returning Ilkay Gundogan.
Mateo Kovacic has been the most convincing replacement, but he’s injury prone, inconsistent and at his best slightly further forward. Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis have also both been used at the base of midfield, but their lack of height and physicality is an insurmountable obstacle.
The lack of a capable elite pivot was agonisingly obvious against Liverpool, as City were turned over in their own half repeatedly. Even if the replacement didn’t have Rodri’s offensive capabilities, the defensive impact of his absence is catastrophic and must be resolved in January.
Selling Cole Palmer
Hindsight’s 20-20, but selling Cole Palmer may well be remembered as one of the great transfer snafus. It’s easy to say that City didn’t see his rise coming, but why should they be let off that easily?
This is a player who had been on their books since 2010. They were well aware of his capabilities and potential.
To say a team which is so lacking in creative spark and freedom did not need a player of Palmer’s free-wheeling genius is just false. Not finding space for him is an inescapable failing and one they should already be regretting.
Sticking with Kyle Walker
When Bayern Munich came calling in 2023, there was a clear opportunity for City to move on from Kyle Walker. This summer he was also linked with a Saudi move, among others.
It has been a great six years, but the captain is rapidly declining, beset by off-field distractions of his own making and repeatedly at fault for key goals.
This would have allowed them to commit to Rico Lewis at right-back, or more saliently find a younger, more capable replacement in Walker’s mould.
Instead, they are stuck with a 34-year-old who has built a deservedly world-beating career on a pace and physicality he is losing by the day.
Signing Matheus Nunes
This is nothing against Nunes, who is a perfectly serviceable Premier League midfielder, but his £53m signing in September 2023 was bizarre.
The Portuguese had been good in his sole season at Wolves, and Guardiola had once called him “one of the best players in the world” after City beat Sporting Lisbon 5-0 in the Champions League last-16.
But he has failed to make any real impact, or show any real improvement, since his move. Now utilised as a left midfielder, he has started six of the seven winless matches, and despite a good goal against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, he has clearly not settled in the role.
Had the Nunes money been spent on a player which better suits this City squad – or even on a Rodri replacement – the club would be in a stronger position today. This feels like a Guardiolan passion project he has forgotten to dedicate the necessary time and care to.
Selling Liam Delap
City’s academy is the best in England, and so it is no surprise they end up regretting some of the sales they make.
But having stuck with Liam Delap until this summer, allowing him to leave for first-team football when City only have one recognised striker in the squad is remarkably short-sighted.
He is now the joint-ninth top scorer in the Premier League and has converted more of his shots (29 per cent) than Erling Haaland (19), Mohamed Salah (26) and Palmer (19).
A powerful ball-carrier and brilliant finisher, he is similar to Haaland in style and stature, and having Delap as a back-up – or partner – to the Norwegian would only strengthen City’s options this season.
Not replacing Julian Alvarez
This is an issue which could have been dealt with by keeping hold of Delap or Palmer, but while £83m was a transfer fee City had to take for Julian Alvarez, not replacing him smacked of complacency.
Oscar Bobb may have been able to shoulder that weight, but having broken his leg before the start of the season, City had plenty of time to assess that even a short-term loan replacement was necessary.
Instead City have a glut of wide attacking options and only Haaland through the middle. Phil Foden’s collapse in form has not helped this either, but he is more comfortable operating from deeper than Bobb or Alvarez.
Re-signing Ilkay Gundogan
It should have been abundantly clear to anyone who watched Gundogan at Barcelona that while his gifts on the ball were as sharp as ever, his off-ball play was rapidly declining. In football parlance, his legs were going.
They have now well and truly gone, and City’s former box-crashing captain is now resigned to short passes and chasing shadows.
Had the German not returned, Guardiola would have recruited smarter in midfield and may have found either the necessary Rodri replacement or a far more functional central option.
Signing Kalvin Phillips
This doesn’t need hugely rehashing. Kalvin Phillips did not work in Manchester, to an extent he may never fully recover from. He never felt like a City player and Guardiola mistreated him in the media and failed to support him adequately behind the scenes. A shambles from start to finish.
Not replacing Joao Cancelo
Not enough is made of the impact Joao Cancelo’s sudden departure had on City in January 2023. Comfortable on both sides of defence, City have not had a traditional left-back of the requisite quality since he left, meaning they almost entirely rely on converted centre-backs.
While this regularly works, there are plenty of days it doesn’t entirely. Adequately replacing Cancelo would have lessened the impact of Walker’s struggles while also giving City different options down the left.
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Edoardo Bove is “awake, alert and oriented” in hospital after collapsing on the pitch on Sunday, Fiorentina have said.
The 22-year-old midfielder went to ground with a little over 15 minutes gone of Fiorentina’s Serie A match against Inter Milan and quickly received medical assistance, with the match being abandoned.
In an update on his condition on Monday, Fiorentina said: “Fiorentina has announced that Edoardo Bove, following an uneventful night, was awakened and extubated this morning. He is currently awake, alert and oriented.
“He has spoken with his family, club management, the coach and his teammates, who all rushed to go and see him as soon as they heard the good news. Further tests will be carried out in the coming days to establish what led to the critical situation that took place yesterday.
“The doctors at Careggi University Hospital who are treating the player have confirmed that diagnostic tests are ongoing. Fiorentina would like to thank Careggi University Hospital and all of the doctors and staff for the wonderful humanity and professionalism they have shown.
“The club would also like to thank the wider Fiorentina family and the entire world of football who, during this difficult time, have shown their great sympathy and care through their messages and support, which have been of great comfort both to the club and Edoardo and his family.”
Distressed Fiorentina and Inter players had formed a shield around Bove as he received treatment on the pitch before being taken to hospital in an ambulance.
Fiorentina club president Rocco Commisso said on Sunday night: “Forza Edoardo, we’re with you. You’re a strong boy with a great character. We’re reaching out to the boy’s family during these moments.”
Bove, a product of Roma’s youth system, joined Fiorentina from the Giallorossi in August on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
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Arsenal and Chelsea kept up their challenge with claret-and-blue strolls, the former scoring five in the first half at West Ham.
Manchester United won their first league game under Ruben Amorim by thrashing a pathetic Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Also at the bottom of the league, Ipswich Town struggled again when given lots of the ball and Leicester City just struggled to keep the ball out of their net. Wolves gave away three penalties and one of their fans tried to attack goalkeeper Jose Sa, if you’re wondering how that’s going.
Scroll down for our verdict on every team (listed in table order).
A third of the season gone, 11 points ahead of Manchester City, Liverpool go marching on.
“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” 60,000 Scousers sang, revelling in what might have been a rout had the score reflected Liverpool’s astonishing supremacy.
That’s another first for Pep Guardiola to embroider a run that stretches to six defeats in seven winless matches. And he thought the 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur was the nadir. This was far more painful since to some degree it was the delivery of a result foretold.
City were not even second best when the game kicked off and ended it in fifth, just a point above Nottingham Forest.
From all angles it seems Guardiola’s fading empire is being assailed. City were dispatched by the same scoreline as Real Madrid. Kylian Mbappe one day, Erling Haaland the next. It’s all the same to Liverpool in this unquenchable mood.
A full 25 minutes elapsed before we saw a semblance of a passing sequence from City in Liverpool’s half, and 39 when Rico Lewis mustered their first shot. Before that it was all fretful anguish, thrashing about to stay their suffering.
That first period showed how Liverpool felt about themselves, never mind what they thought of City. They were full of it, cocksure, dynamic, toying with their ragged foe. Even before Cody Gakpo put them ahead, Virgil van Dijk smacked a post and sent another header narrowly wide. By Kevin Garside
Every opponent knows about Arsenal’s set-piece prowess by now but their ability to innovate and adapt means it remains a potent weapon for Mikel Arteta’s team.
Stratford was the setting for a daft London derby and the first Premier League game in 12 years to feature seven first-half goals.
There were no shortage of talking points: Bukayo Saka was brilliant (again), Declan Rice was booed and applauded by the West Ham faithful in equal measure, Julen Lopetegui is surely sleepwalking towards the sack and Emerson Palmieri scored a ludicrously good free-kick.
But the opening goal of the game from Gabriel Magalhaes was the catalyst for the ensuing chaos.
Not every team will be as vulnerable to Arsenal’s aerial bombardment as West Ham were: only Wolves and Southampton have conceded more times from such situations than the Hammers this campaign.
But Arsenal will keep finding ways to keep their opponents second guessing and in Saka they possess a superb corner taker. By Oliver Young-Myles
If Arsenal are title contenders, so are Chelsea. That’s the reality that the league table, the greatest truth-teller of all in football, reveals.
It is not always an unimpeachable source – Match of the Day used to never show until everyone had played three games – but with 13 games played, it is a pretty accurate measure of who is where in their season.
“We are not ready to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal and [Manchester] City for many reasons, and because we win today, I’m not going to change my idea. We are not ready for that,” Enzo Maresca said after dispatching Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. That is the same Man City who trail the Blues by two points.
It might still come as a surprise to followers of The Narrative that Chelsea are Liverpool’s joint-nearest challengers, level on points with second-place Arsenal and, whatever Maresca says, part of the title race.
“Chelsea today showed as well [that] this year is different,” said Unai Emery, under no illusion after Chelsea’s dominant 3-0 win over his Aston Villa team, who had beaten them 1-0 here last year.
“They are feeling stronger. They don’t have doubts like last year, for example. The power and capacity as well is higher.”
There are many reasons behind that higher “capacity”, but their tactical fluidity – perhaps a byproduct of Todd Boehly’s mad talent-hoarding – is one thing that makes them a challenging prospect. Even though there were only three changes to the team, it was not clear how Chelsea would shape up, and it even took 10 minutes for Unai Emery to work it out completely. Moises Caicedo’s role as an inverted full-back, playing in midfield in attack and right-back in defence, is not a novel one in the Premier League, but just as often it would be Romeo Lavia or Levi Colwill stepping up to prevent Morgan Rogers from finding a pocket of space, not afraid to leave the defensive line one-on-one with Jaden Philogene or Ollie Watkins.
Caicedo’s dual role has knock-on effects further forward, namely the ability to include Enzo Fernandez, who had not started in the Premier League since 6 October, a run that Maresca had previous blamed on the need for balance and physicality in midfield. With both the World Cup winner and Cole Palmer on the scoresheet, it’s easy to see why Maresca has been searching for a way to get them both into the team.
“Almost all goals happen inside the box, so we need players inside the box. It’s the only way to try to score goals, and also it’s important the other ones that they are at the edge immediately cover the ball,” Maresca added. He makes it sound simple, and his players are starting to understand. By James Gray
Brighton
It is distinctly uncharitable to point out any flaws in Brighton after they temporarily went second in the Premier League, but an opportunity was spurned on Friday evening because Brighton seemed to ease off in intensity during the second half. And that is becoming an established pattern.
If you ended matches at half-time (obviously this sounds silly, but I’m making a point), then Brighton would have 25 points and would have gone top of the Premier League by that measure on Friday evening on a points-per-game basis. Create a table of second-half results and Brighton would have moved to 11th on Friday night.
That’s because Brighton tend – and, to repeat, they are generally doing brilliantly – to miss chances which they then pay for later in matches that they have not killed off when on top.
This is what makes them such a brilliant watch for the neutral. In their last five home league games, Brighton have drawn three times after holding leads – Southampton, Wolves, Nottingham Forest. They have won twice after falling behind, against Manchester City and Tottenham. Work that one out.
Man City
Pep Guardiola thought Manchester City started the first half well, a clear sign of the trouble he is in. Denial is the first stage of grief, an attempt to protect himself and his wounded players from the trauma of another thorough beating.
Even neutral observers were reeling at what they were seeing, a once imperious force overrun by the ferocity of an emerging power out for blood. The first half at Anfield was the retelling of the oldest story on earth, the end of empire, a rampant force letting the old regime have it.
Every question afterwards was answered by long, rambling answers in which he sought to convince himself that things were not as bad as they appear. “I am here sitting as a manager and defending what we have done in the past thanks to them and more than ever I want to be with them and hug them. We have to change results and in the right time we will take the decision.”
Take that as a pre-January summit to freshen the squad in the new year. City improved with the introduction of wingers Jeremy Doku and Savinho in the second half, the former in particular stretching the Liverpool defence down the left.
Whilst the teams were separated by only a single goal City gained energy as the second half wore on. Liverpool became more anxious in their defending, which almost convinced City they were in the game. Yet Liverpool were murderous on the break and the introduction of Darwin Nunez eventually took the match away from City.
Mo Salah should have put City away ten minutes into the second half. He was never going to blow out a second time. Two-nil flattered City. Guardiola must work through his grief quickly to begin the recovery. By Kevin Garside
Nott’m Forest
Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood scores from the penalty spot versus Ipswich Town (Photo: Getty)
I don’t really know why, given their position in the table, but Saturday felt like a significant result for Nottingham Forest. Nobody here wants the momentum to dissipate from their start to the season. Losing to Newcastle and Arsenal, and the two Manchester clubs coming up away from home, left Ipswich as the obvious opportunity to make hay.
It’s a bit much to call that hay-making – 1-0, penalty, tension towards the end of the game – but Forest are still in the top seven and momentum is back. More importantly, the “1-0 to the Nottingham” vibe is back.
During their first season back in the Premier League, Forest survived relegation because of Steve Cooper’s ability to play backs-to-the-wall football and close out 1-0 leads via whatever means necessary. Forest won six games via that scoreline, all six of which came after games they failed to win. It was their cheat code to staying up.
Last season, as Forest’s points total dropped slightly and they survived only because the promoted three clubs were almost entirely awful over the second half of the season, the 1-0s dried up. Forest won 1-0 at Chelsea in Cooper’s penultimate win on 2 September 2023, and that was it.
The good times are back and so are the 1-0s. Forest have won four league games 1-0 already – Southampton, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Ipswich. In each of them the first half has been tight and cagey, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have scored after the break and sat deep to close it out. There’s nothing better than finding a formula that works.
Tottenham
This was the sort of game there was nothing to grab on to, a game which felt both meaningless and like it summarised everything Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham are.
Timo Werner ran around a lot. Yves Bissouma did the same. Ben Davies made last-ditch blocks and Brennan Johnson scored in far too much space. It was generally fine, a balanced aggregate of the extreme poles of Postecoglou’s men.
After the game, Postecoglou was typically belligerent in defence of his side, and his own merits, saying: “It seems with this club, whatever we do well is then used as a millstone to bring us down at every other opportunity.”
He was attempting to justify how Spurs can beat Manchester City 4-0 one week, then come desperately close to losing to Fulham the next. He pointed to Guglielmo Vicario’s ankle injury, as well as being forced to start Johnson and Werner rather than bringing them off the bench.
In principle, he’s right – this is an injury crisis by any measure. Except his comments would carry far more weight if this didn’t happen all the time, in all manner of similarly and dramatically inconvenient circumstances. He can blame injuries, understandably question some of the club’s priorities in their summer transfer business, but ultimately there are fundamental issues of mentality and of reconciling the different levels of quality throughout the squad.
He should only need to look at Marco Silva’s Fulham to know it’s possible to get more out of the players he has at his disposal, even this so-called second string. These are not new players and he’s long past being a new manager. The Postecoglou project constantly seems predicated on the idea that everything will work when all the stars align. But you have to learn how to win even with they don’t. By George Simms
Brentford
After a comfortable home win against a weak opponent (although Brentford are perfectly capable of trouble anyone at the Gtech), it’s worth us giving some love to two players who haven’t always found life easy at Brentford.
Mikkel Damsgaard has long been an effective creative influence for Denmark, but the same hasn’t really been true since he joined from Sampdoria. Damsgaard struggled for regular starts and struggled to offer goals and assists when he did start. The suspicion was that the Dane just looked a little lightweight and position-less in the Premier League.
That’s changed this season. Damsgaard has started 11 league games, trusted by Thomas Frank to be a creator from central areas. He’s repaid that faith with four assists already.
On Saturday, Kevin Schade was the primary beneficiary of Damsgaard’s work. Schade had scored two Premier League goals before Saturday, a serious injury making life harder for a young kid who arrived from Freiburg with a large price tag and rave reports from Bundesliga scouts.
Now Schade has five goals after the fourth ever Premier League hat-trick by a German player. An understandably delighted Frank poured praise on both of his players. There’s nothing that managers like more than showing patience in individuals who then pay them back double to convince fans that the head coach made the right call.
Man Utd
To give you some sense of the desperation at Old Trafford for Manchester United to claw after a new age free from miserable mediocrity, it took until the Bodo/Glimt post-match press conference for someone to ask Ruben Amorim how long he thought that this ship would take to turn around. Wait a few days and Amorim could have prepared a decent answer: it depends how often we get to face Everton.
For 30 minutes, Sunday was unpleasant and uncomfortable. On the touchline, Amorim put his hand over his chin more than once and shook his head as if to suggest “Are these guys listening to a thing I am telling them?” He would then look to the bench for emotional support, where colleagues nodded their heads: “It’s not you, mate”.
Manchester United’s midfield was open and the defence was stretched. Kobbie Mainoo, back in the team, was left doing the job of two and thus spliced into unhelpful pieces. Diogo Dalot seemed an unsuitable wing-back and Noussair Mazraoui a make-do central defender.
Everton created chances and had breaks. Play like this against Arsenal, home supporters worried, and we will be humbled.
We are still in the fact-finding stages, and thus there is much to learn beyond Everton’s incompetence. Whatever the method, if United fans could have chosen the identity of goalscorers and providers for the first two goals, Bruno Fernandes setting up Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee would surely have topped the list. One striker needs goals to start his United career; the other needs them to re-energise it.
They would both add one more each before the end, with Rashford in particular making runs as the central striker that bode well. For all the impatience, the doubt and the worry about a young man’s frame of mind, we all know that a firing Rashford would be an effective bellwether of the club’s health as a whole. Early signs are promising.
It should no longer be a surprise that Fulham can dominate Tottenham, as they did for large periods on Sunday. Just one point separates them in the Premier League table, even if that translates to three places. These are sides of fundamentally similar quality as it stands.
This season, they are similarly impressive in key statistics such as shots on target per game – Spurs are third, Fulham fifth – and shots conceded per game – Spurs fourth best, Fulham fifth. Both can be inconsistent but are brilliant at their best. And it’s increasingly hard to say Ange Postecoglou is a stronger manager than Marco Silva – in fact quite the opposite.
In north London, they may well have found a winner had Tom Cairney not nullified the benefit of his excellent goal with a hideous tackle on Dejan Kulusevski. They doubled Spurs’s shots on targets – six to three – and defended excellently bar Antonee Robinson’s complete dereliction of duty to allow Johnson’s goal.
Even with all of the current top four to come in the next five matches, Fulham consistently look like a top eight Premier League side, and the numbers back that up. With no cup distractions to come until January, there’s no reason why they can’t take advantage of nosediving form elsewhere to continue their ascent. By George Simms
Newcastle
A change in midfield did little to change Newcastle’s fortunes following on from the defeat at West Ham.
Captain Bruno Guimaraes was playing No 8 for the first time in the league this season, a shift up from No 6 with Sandro Tonali dropping back against Crystal Palace.
The pair were starting together for the first time in five matches, and it was very much the case of an experiment still in its infancy when, given it was late November, Newcastle fans would rather have hoped the time for such trials were over.
Eddie Howe bullishly praised both – “I thought they both played well. I thought Sandro was excellent, he put out a lot of fires for us, and I was pleased with the physical effort he gave” – but in reality this structural change spoke of their wider issue which is a lack of creative spark.
Guimaraes struggled in that regard, while Crystal Palace’s industrious pair of Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma taught Newcastle’s midfielders a thing or two – with Lerma in particular sticking to Guimaraes like glue and breaking up numerous attacks.
That leaves Howe plenty to ponder before they host Liverpool on Wednesday, although he can’t quite pinpoint where his side are going wrong, having been the fourth-highest scorers in the league last season (85) but now lingering in the bottom half in that regard this term.
“It’s a strange performance from us,” Howe said. “Nothing in the final third. A lot of set-plays, opportunities to get a head on something, but we look a little low on confidence. We were without a recognised striker [after losing Alexander Isak], we were just lacking a cutting edge.”
Asked about why scoring has become an issue, he added: “It’s a difficult one to answer but we haven’t changed our attacking philosophy. It’s difficult to give a clear and direct answer, but one we’re aware of. I’ve got no issue with the quality of players we have.” By Michael Hincks
Aston Villa
The existence of an Aston Villa fan is a strangely twisted one this season, doing whatever the opposite of living for the weekend is.
Because in the Champions League, Villa are living in dreamland, Juventus one week, Bayern Munich the next. But then come Saturday, or more often Sunday, they are back to Premier League duty and the form that earned them these European nights has all but deserted them.
Their problems are not even restricted to one area of the pitch, with both scoring and preventing goals a real Premier League problem. Up front, Ollie Watkins is their top scorer, but he really should have so many more than just six. Against Chelsea, he had two chances that each should have forced Robert Sanchez into more than a comfortably held save. Watkins dithered on one and snatched at the other.
“When you miss chances, you do start to doubt yourself,” said Daniel Sturridge on Sky Sports’ coverage, stating the obvious.
But Watkins will be more than aware of his numbers: only Mo Salah and Erling Haaland have a higher xG (expected goals) in the Premier League this season, and Nicolas Jackson, who scored his eighth league goal on Sunday, has had 15 fewer touches in the box than Watkins, for two more goals.
At the other end, Emi Martinez was lucky to only concede two in the 45 minutes he spent on the pitch. This season, Villa have the fourth-worst post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed in the Premier League, a metric that measures how effective a goalkeeper is. Shot-stopping aside, Martinez inexplicably picked up a clear backpass from Pau Torres and passed the ball across goal straight to Jackson, who was so surprised by its arrival that he failed to convert. Little wonder Villa have just one clean sheet in 18 Premier League games.
Martinez’s injury and Robin Olsen’s enforced deputisation may be a blessing in disguise if Villa want to get back into the Champions League. All is not lost yet, they are only four points adrift. By James Gray
Bournemouth
Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert celebrates his hat-trick of penalties against Wolves (Photo: Getty)
A genuinely landmark Premier League moment with Justin Kluivert scoring a hat-trick of penalties for the first time in the competition’s history and Evanilson winning three penalties for the first time too.
The former is one of those nuggets that you feel should have happened more often. Five different players have taken three penalties in a Premier League game, but Kluivert was the first to actually score all three. The others who missed at least one: Craig Burley, Darren Bent, Steven Gerrard and Sergio Aguero. You may remember Gerrard missing his third against Manchester United.
In fact, Kluivert’s record goes back a lot further. He was the first player to score a hatt-rick of penalties in England’s top flight since Ken Barnes for Manchester City against Everton in December 1957.
West Ham
A telltale sign when things aren’t working out for a manager is when their team starts conceding goals in clusters.
During his short time at West Ham, Julen Lopetegui has seen his side let in two goals during a 20-minute spell against Manchester City; two in 14 minutes against Chelsea, which became three in 45; four in 25 minutes against Spurs; two in 13 minutes against Nottingham Forest after already trailing by one; and now five in 40 minutes against Arsenal.
West Ham are both brittle and far too easy to score against. Five of their six league losses under the Spaniard have been by a margin of two or more goals.
Heads dropped far too quickly after Gabriel had used his to net Arsenal’s first. Quickfire strikes from their two full-backs gave West Ham some brief hope of an extraordinary comeback, but within 10 minutes that had also been extinguished after the concession of a self-inflicted fifth.
The first 35 minutes was as bad as it gets, the type of performance that encourages irate fans to call up radio phone-ins and have a rant. There was an improvement from that point onwards but at 4-0 down it hardly mattered.
An ugly scuffle on the concourse towards the end of the first-half, seemingly between West Ham fans and Arsenal supporters who had been sat in the home end, summed up a miserable day.
A West Ham spokesperson said: “The club is aware of the incident and will be working to identify the offender[s]. In line with our zero-tolerance approach, anyone identified will have their details passed to the police and will be given an indefinite ban and therefore be unable to enter London Stadium and travel with the club. There is no place for this kind of behaviour at our stadium.” By Oliver Young-Myles
Everton
For those still after definitive evidence of why many Everton supporters do not want Sean Dyche to stay in this job for long once the Friedkin takeover is completed, watch back Manchester United’s third goal at Old Trafford on Sunday.
It came shortly after half-time, during which Dyche presumably gave instructions to his team after a first period that started well but was pockmarked by individual defensive errors and disorganisation. We would see what difference those words made.
The goal started with Jordan Pickford knocking the ball long, as is the general rule from Everton. No player even challenges for the resulting header, United comfortably winning possession without pressure. In midfield, there is then a challenge which Idrissa Gueye arrives slightly late to and then seems to pull out of, allowing Bruno Fernandes to knock the ball over his head.
Further up the pitch, United are able to play two quick passes without anyone bothering to spot the counter attack. Amad Diallo is then set free on the right because nobody has tracked him. To complete the set, Marcus Rashford then makes a run in behind that no centre-back tracks. He scores.
Over those eight seconds, it is as if Everton’s players are operating on a two-second delay, unable to either plan for what is coming next nor react quickly enough to what has just happened. Defensive organisation is supposed to be Dyche’s staple. He’s not even managing that at the moment.
The good news is that Ruud van Nistelrooy isn’t going to underestimate the size of his challenge. Those Leicester City supporters who believed that Steve Cooper set up his team far too defensively may just have realised Cooper’s logic. Against Brentford, they were collectively and individually open in and out of possession. It was far, far too easy.
But I wanted to talk about social media abuse. James Justin is a 26-year-old defender who has been through a fair bit, including serious injury. Justin also has a senior England cap, evidence of his proven ability. Right now, he’s seemingly suffering from reduced confidence and reduced form. The two tend to exacerbate each other.
Now go and look at the social media posts from Leicester City’s official accounts after each Brentford goal on Saturday. Without fail, the replies are abusing Justin. He should never play again, apparently. Or go to hell. Or be punished by the club. Or be made to apologise to supporters personally.
Social media may not be reflective of humanity as a whole (it’s closer than you’d like to think, mind), but that’s not really the point. If you’re a supporter of Leicester City, in the truest sense, you are a supporter of each player who is giving their all. How do you think it makes him feel? Justin has close friends in that dressing room – what will they make of it?
If the end goal here is for your club to get the best performances it can, maybe grow up a bit and stop targeting individual players with abuse just to make yourself feel a tiny bit better by relieving some anger.
Crystal Palace
It was mesmerising to watch. If luck has any place in football then certainly there wasn’t any on Crystal Palace’s side.
Not only did Newcastle lead without recording a shot on target, but Crystal Palace’s repeated attempts to ripple the net themselves left you wondering if they’d ever score another this season.
Fifteen shots came and went, only four hitting the target, with Daniel Munoz guilty of being the wrong man in the right place in the first half, firing wide with the goal at his mercy.
Remarkably, though, the right-back then made amends with his first Palace goal in the 94th minute to earn them a point their endeavour deserved.
The late equaliser sent Oliver Glasner sprinting down the touchline in celebration, earning him a booking he went on to rate as his second favourite of his career, and like his first favourite at Eintracht Frankfurt – when he kicked the ball into the stands in frustration, and says it was a moment that helped his side go on to win the Europa League in 2022 – he hopes this could be a momentum changer at Palace too.
Glasner was also acutely aware that it could, should, have been better, with their current performances defying their position in the relegation zone.
“We deserved more today,” Glasner said. “When you score an equaliser you have to be happy, but the feeling is not that it’s a lucky point, more that we lost two points.”
Failure to convert these displays into three points may yet come back to haunt Palace, but they are at least buying Glasner time, and you cannot fault his players in that regard. They are playing for their manager, they are creating chances, and may just have had the moment this season needed.
“If we will continue playing like this, we will get the points,” Glasner added, defiantly, and with Ipswich away on Tuesday, that will be the ideal place to show they are really a cut above their relegation rivals. By Michael Hincks
Wolves
It might not be known to those outside of Wolverhampton, but Molineux can be a toxic ground if things aren’t going well. I remember being there for England’s home defeat to Hungary in the Nations League. It was the most bitter and angry I can ever remember a home crowd, with supporters trying to climb over the hoardings to get to Gareth Southgate and screaming for him to lose his job.
Gary O’Neil might not have quite got to that stage yet, but on Saturday the toxicity was certainly there. Goalkeeper Jose Sa was involved in an altercation with a home supporter on the half-time whistle, with the fan subsequently removed by security. If O’Neil bought himself some time with victory at Fulham last week, he lost it all here. We’ve said it before, but winning just enough games to hoodwink yourselves into thinking that you aren’t in serious trouble is a recipe for relegation.
You can understand why Wolves supporters may be allowing anger to bubble over. Their team has played 16 home league games in 2024 so far. They have won four of those matches (Southampton, Sheffield United, Luton, Fulham) and lost 11. They have conceded two or more goals in 11 of those 16 matches, a truly pathetic home defensive record. On the evidence of Sunday, it’s only getting worse.
Ipswich
I think Kieran McKenna might have a possession problem, with Saturday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest providing strong evidence. Ipswich had 55 per cent of the ball at the City Ground, registered 0.6 xG and failed to score. More worrying still: less than half of that xG came when 1-0 down, when Forest allowed them even more of the ball.
Since their opening two league games (which were against Liverpool and Manchester City), Ipswich have taken five points from the four matches in which they have had 40 per cent of the ball or less. They have taken four points from the seven matches in which they have had more than 40 per cent possession.
The list of opponents doesn’t make for any better reading. The five games in which Ipswich have recorded their highest possession: Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Everton, West Ham, Southampton. Everton have taken two points from those fixtures and three of those opponents have struggled badly in the first third of this season.
Without the ball, Ipswich can certainly trouble opponents – see draws against Aston Villa and Manchester United and the win over Tottenham for details. But the valid question is whether that is a sustainable means of earning enough points to survive when they have dropped so many points against supposed strugglers: Southampton, Leicester, West Ham, Everton.
Southampton
Flynn Downes may have scored the goal that earned Southampton a point at Brighton, but it was Tyler Dibling who, again, pulled the game in their favour. At 18, Dibling has become the leader of Southampton’s attacking endeavour and may be their best hope of staying up.
The numbers are getting a bit ridiculous. Dibling has played 750 of a possible 1,170 league minutes. He has recorded 3.96 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes, which is 1.2 per 90 minutes ahead of any other regular Southampton starter. He comfortably leads those same teammates for carries into the final third and the penalty area, pretty much the only one capable of creating from out wide consistently.
That carrying ability is the thing that stands out as soon as you watch Dibling, very much like Jack Grealish during his formative years at Aston Villa. He demands the ball, whether it’s 60 yards or 30 yards from the opposition goal. He slows the game down and quickens it up according to his preference.
And Dibling loves taking on an opponent with that fearlessness of youth.
Despite playing fewer minutes than most of those around him, on Friday night Dibling went fourth in the Premier League for the number of times a player has attempted to dribble past a player.
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