The gap between the two Manchester clubs appears to be growing but that may be more down to City having a clear plan for the future rather than who is in the dugoutIf it is the Manchester derby on Sunday then it must be time to wheel out the arguments about which is the better squad, who would get into a composite team of the city and so on, except as there are several excellent players at the Etihad finding it hard to get into the Manchester City first XI that particular exercise may turn out a little one-sided.In its place comes a debate about the differing qualities and approaches of the two old rivals managing the Manchester squads. Would...
Liverpool to reveal how good Arsenal really are, Lukaku to be on the bench again and Hart has a point to prove at West HamAfter the Unai Emery era opened with defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea, it was hard not to wonder if Arsenal were going to endure another uncertain season. Yet a kind run of fixtures has allowed confidence to grow and Arsenal’s players are gaining a strong understanding of Emery’s demands. They are unbeaten in all competitions since losing to Chelsea on 18 August and find themselves four points off the top of the table, with optimism flowing thanks to the goals of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lucas Torreira’s snappy contributions in midfield. But just...
The pitch looked terrible and the match was patchy but the Manchester City forward showed what a top performer he isRaheem Sterling spent a fair amount of his childhood dodging potholes and wrong‑footing passers-by as he kicked a ball around Wembley. So no real change there on a strange night when Manchester City eked out a brittle, angsty 1-0 win against a brittle, angsty Tottenham team in front of a brittle, angsty Tottenham crowd.It is hard to think of many stranger Premier League fixtures than this, though this 1-0 victory for the champions was strange in an understated, slightly dreamy kind of way. For most of the first half it was almost impossible to look past the wretched spectacle of...
Tottenham came unstuck when they pressed high at the Etihad last season but it was preferable to their timid performance against Manchester City at WembleyTottenham would press them, push high up the pitch, even from goal-kicks. They’d be aggressive and adventurous. They’d stop Manchester City playing out from the back. This would be a proper test of Pep Guardiola’s side. Related: The Pep commandments: how lessons learned at Bayern stymied Liverpool | Jonathan Wilson Related: Pep Guardiola admits he was wrong to call Spurs the ‘Harry Kane team’ Continue reading...
Paris St-Germain’s squad looks too unbalanced to make an impact in this season’s competition while Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic found a new way to defend a low free-kickÁngel Di María rescued a point for Paris St-Germain at home against Napoli with his stunning late equaliser but there is no glossing over the fact that Thomas Tuchel is having to work with an extremely unbalanced squad. The front three of Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Edinson Cavani are potent enough but the midfield and defence are simply not equipped to win the Champions League. Adrien Rabiot looked like his defensive duties were optional against Napoli while there were loads of space for Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne to exploit behind PSG’s back four....