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GM football fans. It’s Monday, Jan. 26 - A round-up of key European league title races, a first-of-its-kind cross-border league, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURE
Premier League MD23: Everton vs. Leeds United, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. Leeds are looking to complete their first Premier League double over Everton, having won 1-0 at home on Matchday 1. Meanwhile, while Leeds have gone without a victory in any of their last eight top-flight fixtures on the road, Everton have picked up just seven points from their last seven Premier League home games, with their best performances coming away from home this season. See the Premier League table here.
Results…
Premier League: Arsenal 2-3 Man United | Newcastle 0-2 Villa | Palace 1-3 Chelsea | Brentford 0-2 Forest | Bournemouth 3-2 Liverpool | Man City 2-0 Wolves | Fulham 2-1 Brighton | Burnley 2-2 Spurs | West Ham 3-1 Sunderland
La Liga: Barcelona 3-0 Real Oviedo | Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid (Table)
Serie A: Inter 6-2 Pisa | Como 6-0 Torino | Juventus 3-0 Napoli | Roma 1-1 AC Milan (Table)
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 1-2 Augsburg | Union Berlin 0-3 Borussia Dortmund (Table)
Ligue 1: Auxerre 0-1 PSG | Marseille 3-1 Lens (Table)
TOP TALKING POINTS
European Title-Race Round-up
Arsenal's lead now stands at four points at the top of the Premier League after a three-game winless run, capped by their 3-2 home loss to Manchester United on Sunday. It was Arsenal’s first loss at home this season—read the match report here. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Aston Villa trail the leaders on 46 points, while Man United are fourth with 38 points.
In Serie A, Inter Milan now have a five-point lead after coming from two goals down to beat relegation-battling Pisa 6-2. Second-place AC Milan and third-place Roma dropped points in their 1-1 draw, while fourth-placed Napoli lost 3-0 to fifth-placed Juventus.
In Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain returned to the top position as Lens lost 3-1 away at Marseille. Following PSG’s 1-0 win over Auxerre, manager Luis Enrique became manager with the third-highest average win rate in the history of the French top flight, behind Unai Emery and Thomas Tuchel.
In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich lost their first Bundesliga game of the season after a 2-1 defeat to Augsburg. Augsburg, only three points from the relegation zone before the match, hadn't won a game since early December. Bayern are eight points ahead of second-place Borussia Dortmund.
New Cross-Border League
Eight clubs from seven Oceania nations kicked off the OFC Professional League with a spot at Fifa’s global club tournaments on the line. It is the first purpose-built, cross-border professional league in football, created from scratch across multiple nations rather than clubs joining a neighbour’s system–like Welsh clubs in England or Canadian clubs in MLS. See a map of the countries taking part in the league here.
As many of these nations are too small to sustain strong professional leagues on their own, this cross-border structure gives clubs a full season, raises standards, and aims to produce a more competitive Oceania representative at Fifa events. The winner qualifies for the Fifa Intercontinental Cup and the 2029 Club World Cup.
The project, which has been publicly supported by Fifa president Gianni Infantino for several years, is being viewed as a live test case for similar cross-border league ideas in Ireland, the Baltics, Belgium/Netherlands, Africa, and even a potential US–Mexico league. If successful, it could provide a blueprint for how smaller nations combine leagues without dissolving their domestic systems.
First VAR Overturn
Farai Hallam, who made his Premier League refereeing debut in Manchester City’s 2–0 win over Wolves this weekend, upheld his original call after a VAR review. He is the first referee this season to stick with his on-field decision in the English top-flight and not award a penalty following VAR intervention. The 32-year-old referee is a former professional footballer.
Man City were leading 1-0 in the first half when Omar Marmoush was convinced the hosts should be awarded a penalty after a Wolves defender appeared to handle the ball inside the penalty box—watch here. VAR requested Hallam be sent to the pitchside monitor, but the debutant referee stuck to his on-field decision. Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann said it was "without doubt the correct decision".
It’s very rare for a referee to stick to their original decision once they’re advised to go to the monitor. Data from the 2023-24 Premier League season, as of January 2024, showed that referees were advised to go to the monitor 55 times, and they only stuck with their original decision once.
POLL
Do you think a three-back formation can work in the modern game?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Kylian Mbappe scored a brace in Real Madrid’s 2-0 La Liga away win over fourth-placed Villarreal (More) | Real Madrid is set to stand trial over their stadium’s noise pollution which has resulted in no concerts being held at the venue for over a year (More)
> Manchester City Women go nine points clear of the WSL table as they beat London City Lionesses 2-1 (More); see the WSL table (More)
> Hearts rescued a point against Celtic with a late goal as they remain top of the Scottish Premiership and Celtic move to third (Match Report); see the Scottish Premiership table (More)
> Hollywood-backed Wrexham moved into the Championship promotion play-off places when they scored twice in stoppage time to beat QPR 3-2 (More); watch the long-range winner and incredible commentary (Watch/sound warning)
Americas
> Trinity Rodman scored a goal in her first cap with the U.S. national team in nine months as the Americans beat Paraguay in a 6-0 rout (More)
> Lionel Messi played 63 minutes as Inter Miami opened its preseason with a 3-0 loss to Alianza Lima in the Peruvian capital (More)
> NWSL’s North Carolina Courage announced the hiring of Mak Lind as the third head coach in club history (More)
Rest of the World
> Nani and Victor Moses, former Manchester United and Chelsea wingers, have completed surprise moves to separate clubs in Kazakhstan (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Friday’s Poll: Are 'big' clubs hiring managers with too little top-level experience?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (57%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (40%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 T.M: “The level of top managers is decreasing. Top managers are retiring. Clubs have to invest in sometimes an unknown and untried new manager.”
🙅♂️ J.M: “I do not think top level experience is essential for managers at big clubs to have. Kompany at Bayern, for example, has been a huge success, and he came straight from a relegated Burnley. The important thing is finding the right manager, with the right qualities and then supporting them in the role.”
✍️ J.L: “It seems like the ‘big’ clubs either recycle the same names with top-level experience, who do not always resonate with today’s players or fit the way the game is evolving, or they take a chance on coaches/managers who have done very well at ‘smaller’ clubs, including within the EPL, who often struggle when the pressure and expectations increase. I’m not sure what the answer to this dilemma is, but interested to see what others have to say.”
EXTRA TIME
How much time is being lost by throw-ins in the Prem?
Club reveals former manager used ChatGPT for tactics.
Yamal scores a bicycle kick. (US link)
One foot of snow doesn’t stop match going ahead.
NWSL release fashion-forward kits.
How many points will it take to win the Scottish Premiership?
Wenger and Ferguson discuss their first clash.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Can you name the two Nigerian players who have scored a hat-trick in the men’s Uefa Champions League?
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.
My Panenka penalty was for Brahim Diaz.
Answer
Yakubu (Maccabi Haifa 3-0 Olympiacos) and Victor Osimhen (Ajax 0-3 Galatasaray).
