GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Nov. 20 - Premier League fixture difficulties for the next five matches have been released, the World Cup draw pots have been determined, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
UEFA Women’s Champions League (20 Nov): Chelsea vs. Barcelona, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. Barcelona, who have taken maximum points this campaign, pulled off 4-1 victories in both legs of last season’s semi-final tie against Chelsea. The Blues have taken seven points from their opening three league phase matches, dropping points in their first match with a 1-1 draw against Twente. Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. PSG progressed past in all three seasons in which they qualified under the competition's previous format, but are still without a point this campaign. Meanwhile, Bayern have won two and lost one in their opening three matches. OHL vs. Roma, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. OHL, in their debut European campaign, have been inconsistent with a win, a draw, and a loss. However, Roma's home loss to Vålerenga the night before leaves them still without a point. See the Women’s Champions League league phase standings here.
Results…
Women’s Champions League: Juventus 3-3 Lyonnes | Wolfsburg 5-2 Man Utd | Arsenal 2-1 Real Madrid | Paris FC 2-0 Benfica | Valerenga 2-2 St. Polten
TOP TALKING POINTS
Premier League Fixture Difficulty
Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City have the easiest next five fixtures in the Premier League, according to Opta’s fixture difficulty rating. Extending this to each team’s next eight matches, taking the league to its halfway point, Liverpool still have the most favourable run, again followed by City.
In theory, league leaders Arsenal are in mid-table when it comes to upcoming fixture difficulty. Amongst their next five fixtures, they face Tottenham (H), Chelsea (A), who are third, Aston Villa (A), who recently beat City, Brentford (H), who recently beat Liverpool, and Wolves (H). Data from Opta suggests Arsenal ‘deserve’ to be in first place at this stage due to their underlying statistics–read more here.
Sunderland, who sit fourth in the table, have the second-least favourable upcoming five fixtures, behind Leeds United. The newly promoted side will face Liverpool and Man City away from home, as well as Fulham, Bournemouth, and Newcastle. Meanwhile, winless Wolves have the third-toughest set of fixtures across the next five matches, facing Crystal Palace (H), Aston Villa (A), Forest (H), Man United (H), and Arsenal (A).
See all the upcoming Premier League matches here.
World Cup Pots Confirmed
The top-seeded teams in Pot 1 for the Dec. 5 World Cup draw were confirmed when Fifa released its updated nation rankings, published the day after the four continents finished qualifying. The nine highest-ranked qualified teams will join hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States in Pot 1, ensuring none of them face each other in the group stage.
The host nations will be joined by Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in Pot 1. Pot 2 includes several established tournament sides such as Croatia, Uruguay, Japan, and Switzerland.
The updated rankings also determine the seeding for Thursday’s (Nov 20) play-off draw, which will set the brackets for March’s intercontinental and European play-offs. These will decide the final six teams in the expanded World Cup. A total of 22 nations will take part across the various play-off paths, including 16 European teams competing for four places. Italy, ranked 12th, headline the European section as they attempt to avoid a third straight World Cup elimination in the play-offs. Dive deeper into how the play-off draw works here.
UEFA Vetos Club Fund
UEFA’s decision to withdraw a planned rescue fund following the Covid-19 pandemic is costing football clubs as much as €200m a year, according to an estimate by consultancy firm McKinsey. The proposal was vetoed by several member associations, who questioned the project’s complexity and whether Uefa should expand into a quasi-financial role.
Uefa had been developing a plan to allow clubs to borrow up to $7bn at far cheaper rates than what they could secure independently. The governing body would have raised capital at around 1% interest by borrowing against future Champions League and Europa League broadcast revenues, then lent that money to clubs at lower-than-market rates. The aim was to reduce clubs’ dependence on high-interest commercial lenders.
Clubs across Europe are becoming increasingly reliant on private capital to fund day-to-day operations, with interest rates much higher than what Uefa was planning on offering. Nottingham Forest recently agreed an 8.75% rate for an £80m loan from Apollo Global Management. However, debt backed by prestigious club assets like Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, for example, can still carry a relatively low interest rate.
POLL
Was this the best international break in recent memory?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Barcelona will host their Champions League match against Eintracht Frankfurt on December 9 at the renovated Camp Nou following Uefa approval (More)
> Arsenal will end their controversial sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda in June 2026 after eight seasons (More) | Defender Gabriel will be out for at least a month, missing games against Tottenham and Chelsea (More)
> Micro shinpads have been banned by the non-league English side Ilfracombe Town after their forward suffered a horrendous leg injury (More)
Americas
> Cristiano Ronaldo was at the White House on Tuesday as President Donald Trump hosted a dinner to honour Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (More) | Sir David Beckham signed a multi-year partnership with Bank of America ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup in North America (More)
> Curacao have become the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup after holding Jamaica to a goalless draw away (More) | Haiti have beaten Nicaragua 2-0 to qualify for just their second ever World Cup, despite their manager having never been to the Caribbean island (More)
> Haley Carter, the Orlando Pride’s vice president of football operations and sporting director, is stepping down to pursue other career opportunities (More)
> Steve McClaren has quit as the manager of Jamaica following their failure to qualify for the World Cup (More)
Rest of the World
> The Australian Championship will trial Fifa’s new Football Video Support (FVS), a slimmed-down version of VAR, during its play-offs over the next few weeks (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: If Arsenal's Gabriel is sidelined for 1-2 months (story in On the Ball), does that shift the title race?
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ 🔄 Yes (47%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (50%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
🔄 V.P: “Gabriel has probably been Arsenal’s most important player this season. Arsenal’s aerial threat (something they’ve heavily relied on) will be neutralised dramatically with his absence. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I genuinely think he’ll be a major missing piece to Arteta’s delicate puzzle.”
🙅♂️ J.M: “Arsenal have enough quality depth in defence to cover his absence for a month or two. Gabi is arguably the best CB in the world, so no one can really replace him outright, but Hincapie, Mosquera, and Calafiori are all high-quality back-ups who can fill in without too much of a drop in quality.”
✍️ J.A.C: “Big Gabi is an undeniably major loss, but Arsenal spent the summer filling the squad with reliable depth pieces to cover in a situation like this. Perhaps their set piece threat diminishes, but Arsenal have plenty of players who can fill in at CB: Mosquera, Calafiori, Timber, White, and Hincapie can all put a proper shift in.”
EXTRA TIME
Hong Kong medic celebrates Singapore player’s injury.
Check out your EPL club’s fan report card.
The realities of being a lawyer in football.
How many teams have qualified for the World Cup with a perfect record?
… and the best stories from the week of World Cup qualifiers.
Real Madrid’s website is the most visited in club football.
Why are England called the Three Lions?
Barcelona release fourth kit inspired by 2005 Clasico win.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Thomas Tuchel has won nine of his 10 games in charge of England. Who is the only other Three Lions manager to pick up as many as nine wins in his first 10 matches?
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.
I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today. We spoke so much about the World Cup.
Answer
Glenn Hoddle in 1996-1997.
