GM football fans. It’s Monday, Dec. 29 - The Premier League and EFL will hold talks to end the 3 PM blackout in the UK, India’s top flight crisis gets worse as City Group divests, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
EFL Championship (Dec 29): Coventry City vs. Ipswich Town, 18:00 GMT / 13:00 ET. The hosts are eight points clear of second-placed Middlesbrough at the top of the Championship table, while Ipswich sit third, 12 points off the summit. Middlesbrough vs. Hull City, 19:45 GMT / 14:45 ET. Middlesbrough have picked up 24 points from their 11 home Championship matches this season, but Hull have been solid away from home, claiming 15 points from their 11 league games in 2025-26. Wrexham vs. Preston North End, 19:45 GMT / 14:45 ET. Preston North End will end the year in the Championship's top six if they beat hosts Wrexham. Meanwhile, 13th-placed Wrexham are winless in their last six league games against Preston. See every EFL Championship fixture here.
Results…
Premier League: Forest 1-2 Man City | Arsenal 2-1 Brighton | Brentford 4-1 Bournemouth | Burnley 0-0 Everton | Liverpool 2-1 Wolves | West Ham 0-1 Fulham | Chelsea 1-2 Aston Villa | Palace 0-1 Spurs | Sunderland 1-1 Leeds (Table)
Serie A: AC Milan 3-0 Verona | Cremonese 0-2 Napoli | Bologna 1-1 Sassuolo | Atalanta 0-1 Inter (Table)
AFCON (Results)
TOP TALKING POINTS
3 PM Blackout Talks
The Premier League and EFL will hold talks in early 2026 about removing the Saturday 3pm blackout, which prevents matches from being shown live in the UK. The UK is the last country in Europe to apply the blackout. Dive deeper into the history of the 3 PM blackout here.
The main motivation is to increase revenue by selling the rights to more matches amid flatlining media rights values across domestic European markets. The Premier League secured a record £6.7bn broadcast deal in its last cycle, but the league extended the contract by an extra year and increased the number of games sold from 215 to 270 per season. In real terms, the value of the agreement has fallen by around 20–25% compared to the 2022–25 cycle. While the Premier League and EFL contracts do not expire until the end of the 2028-29 season, they’re both expected to go to market in 2027.
The FA has shown it is willing to drop the blackout. Last season, the association discussed making the Women’s Super League exempt, but the Premier League and EFL raised concerns on legal grounds. The principle has already been tested, with the EFL televising all of its opening-weekend fixtures before the Premier League season began, when the blackout was not in force.
Indian Football Crisis
The City Football Group (CFG), which owns Manchester City, has divested its majority (65%) stake in Indian Super League (ISL) club Mumbai City. The move comes as uncertainty grows over whether the ISL, India’s top-flight league, will continue operations.
The 2025–26 ISL season, initially expected to kick off in September, has been placed on hold following the breakdown of negotiations between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the league’s commercial partner for the past decade. The Supreme Court allowed the AIFF to seek new bidders to operate the league, but the tender process failed to attract a single bid. ISL clubs proposed taking over league operations, but the AIFF rejected the plan and instead set up a review committee.
CFG began its partnership with Mumbai City in November 2019, and the move was hailed as a transformative moment for Indian football, signalling growing confidence in the country’s top-flight league. During that time, Mumbai City won two ISL League Shields, awarded to the team finishing top of the league phase, and lifted the ISL Cup on two occasions.
Premier League Projections
Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League have fallen from 69% to 65%, according to Opta’s prediction model, as Manchester City and Aston Villa gain.
Manchester City, who are two points behind Arsenal, are given a 26.4% chance of winning the title, up from 24.8%. Pep Guardiola’s side have won their last six league games, scoring 13 goals and conceding once. Meanwhile, Aston Villa have now equalled their 111-year-old all-time club record of 11 consecutive victories following a 2-1 win against Chelsea, and sit just three points behind Arsenal. Unai Emery’s side are projected a 7.2% chance of winning the Premier League, up from 5% last week.
Wolves, who are on 2 points after 18 matches, are almost guaranteed (99.91%) to be relegated to the Championship. The West Midlands side are on track to finish the season below Derby County’s record-low tally of 11 points from 2007–08. See the lowest points totals in Premier League history here.
POLL
Do you think the Premier League title is a genuine three-team race this season?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts dropped points in a 3-2 loss to Hibernian, meaning Celtic are three points behind with a game spare (More)
> Former Premier League striker Andy Carroll could face a prison sentence for breaching a non-molestation order, a court injunction to stop an individual from contacting another person (More)
> La Liga’s Referees’ Technical Committee has admitted to 10 mistakes by VAR in 51 games, with Atletico Madrid proving to be the most affected team (More)
Americas
> Charlotte FC is set to sign USMNT midfielder Luca de la Torre, who played a key role in San Diego FC being first in the Western Conference during a loan spell (More)
> Sporting Club Jacksonville has announced the first player signings in club history for its USL Championship team with defender Dida Armstrong and attacking midfielder Luc Granitur (More)
Rest of the World
> Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Al Nassr beat Al Okhdood 3-0 to become the first team in Saudi Pro League history to win their opening 10 matches (More); Ronaldo is now on 956 career goals (Goal Tracker)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Wednesday’s Poll: Should VAR be used to determine if the ball went out of play before a goal was scored?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (73%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (24%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 Y.A: “VAR is slow, but technology will only get better. So, for a truly accurate game, should we have VAR in this case? Yes, as we should in any case, because accuracy equals fairness.”
👍 B.B & W.B: “If it proves out to improve fairness, then it is good for the game. The natural vision of unassisted technical support has been a stalwart of the game's rules forever. But with technology, we can tighten the play and keep fairness to a 100% level.”
🙅♂️ A.M: “There has to be a point when we leave the decision to people. For me, we've reached that point. Football is a game played by and officiated by people. If we keep expanding the use of VAR, we could eventually eliminate officials and have AI review every possible foul, illegal throw-in, diving, etc. Players make mistakes, officials make mistakes, and it's worked for over a century and a half. It will continue to work in the future.”
✍️ M.A: “VAR should only be used for out-of-bounds decisions if it is automated and instant. Out-of-play calls are black and white, similar to goal-line technology, and should not require a lengthy review process. Traditional VAR works better for subjective situations like fouls, offsides, and red cards, where interpretation is needed. For simple out-of-play decisions, an automated alert system similar to goal-line technology or tennis Hawkeye would protect match flow and avoid unnecessary stoppages. This would reduce time wasting and keep the rhythm of the game intact while still improving accuracy.”
EXTRA TIME
Guardiola’s hilarious cameraman interaction.
The best teams in Europe right now–ranked.
Why fans are paying $200 to watch sports in a planetarium.
The standout kits from the 21st century.
How much is every Premier League club worth?
There’s nothing like post-match interviews at Afcon.
The best wonderkids outside the big five leagues.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Who are the five players named ‘Jesus’ who have appeared in the Premier League? (First name and surname included)
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
If they bully you, bully them back. If they kick you, kick them back.
Answer
Gabriel Jesus (Brazil), Igor Jesus (Brazil), Jesus Navas (Spain), Jesus Gamez (Spain), and Jesus Vallejo (Spain).
Correction from a previous edition: We incorrectly described the moment as a Boxing Day hat-trick, rather than a winning goal. Javier Hernandez scored the winner for Manchester United against Newcastle in 2012, not a hat-trick. Thank you to the readers who flagged the error.
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