Following last weekend’s debacle against Tottenham Hotspur and their comedy of errors on Porto on Thursday night, Manchester United travel to the West Midlands for another testing match, this time away to in-form Aston Villa.
Manager Erik Ten Hag was clinging on to his job by his fingernails following United’s 3-0 home reversal last Sunday and their scrambled draw in Portugal. Those nails are looking increasingly shredded.
There are few more challenging places that he could be visiting this weekend than Villa Park. Aston Villa have only been beaten once in six Premier League games so far this season, and that was at home against Arsenal in August. They’ve also kick-started their return to the Champions League after an absence of 42 years with two wins, 3-0 in Bern against Young Boys, and 1-0 against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, a match won by a late goal scored by this season’s wunderkind Jhón Duran, who’s also scored four goals in their six Premier League matches so far.
Premier League goals per 90, 2024/25
If there is a glimmer of light for United fans to focus upon, it’s probably Villa’s defensive record. Their two Champions League clean sheets are the only ones they’ve kept all season. They’ve conceded in each of their League matches so far, as well as in a 2-1 win at Wycombe Wanderers in the EFL Cup. Last weekend at Ipswich, a second half Liam Delap goal cost them two points which would have put them second in the table and level on points with leaders Liverpool. Instead, they go into this weekend in fifth.
The head-to-head form book favours United. Since Villa’s return to the Premier League in 2019, they’ve only beaten them twice, and United have won each of the last four meetings between the two clubs. But Villa will surely arrive for this game riding the crest of a wave following their Bayern win, so how on earth does the United manager turn around a team whose performances last week were as bad as anything they’ve managed previously under him?
Recent H2H record
But Aston Villa will arrive at this match fresh off the back of their best European result in more than 40 years, while Manchester United will arrive their usual bag of melodramatic nerves. The Manchester United manager may need a win to keep his job, but needing one isn’t enough on its own, and Thursday night offered little consolation to fans.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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Life under Hansi Flick continues to go from strength to strength for Barcelona after an emphatic 5-0 victory over BSC Young Boys in midweek UEFA Champions League action made it seven wins from their opening ten competitive outings to start their 2024-25 season.
That latest result also did a lot to limit the damage from a 4-2 defeat to Osasuna the weekend prior, a loss that ended Barca’s winning start in the league on matchday seven, though they still sit top of the pile and three points ahead of fierce rivals Real Madrid (Madrid can close that gap when they play Saturday evening).
The German manager will be absolutely desperate to go again in the league as a result of that setback and as they travel to face Alavés in the Basque Country, history will be on their side.
There’s plenty of reasons to suggest that anyway, not least the fact that Barca are unbeaten across their last seven league visits to the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. With six of those coming as wins, the mood will be buoyant in the away changing room and that’s before you mention the fact that the Catalan giants have additionally lost just two of their last 21 league clashes with Alavés home and away.
What’s crucial to mention is that much of Barcelona’s success so far this campaign has been due to their rich vein of goalscoring, netting 25 times across their seven league fixtures combined, the most of any side across Europe’s top five leagues to this point. That return also represents the club’s best start in terms of goalscoring in LaLiga since 2016/17, a fantastic feat given the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suárez, and Neymar who formed the basis of that team.
But whatever that team could do, this new Barca side will look to replicate, headlined by 17-year-old Lamine Yamal who seemingly continues his stunning form each matchday. Through eight appearances in LaLiga in 2024/25, he’s returned four goals and five assists and given that opponents Alavés have conceded 12 goals across their first eight games, it’d take a brave person to bet against him adding to that tally even more here.
In fairness, maybe the Basque hosts will give their opposition a much tougher go of it this time around, owing to their return of ten points to date which is representative of their best Spanish top-flight start to a campaign for a number of years. But as they’ve lost three of their last four league outings, Luis García’s outfit could find it very tough to cause any kind of upset this weekend.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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Chelsea will host Nottingham Forest on Sunday at Stamford Bridge as they look to continue their impressive start, against a side who have shown they are difficult to beat this season.
Enzo Maresca has somewhat transformed this Chelsea team so far and helped them become an attacking force in the Premier League. The Blues are currently averaging 2.5 goals per game, more than any other side in the division.
Chelsea find themselves sitting in fourth place in the table, just two points off Liverpool in first. Maresca’s men are unbeaten in their last five fixtures after losing on the opening day to Manchester City.
Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer’s productivity in the final third has been a key factor in their early success this campaign. The Chelsea duo have provided a combined 17 goals and assists between them, with Maresca’s possession-based style helping them create plenty of opportunities.
The improved form of Moises Caicedo, who initially struggled to adapt at Stamford Bridge when signing from Brighton, has helped from a defensive and ball progression perspective. Winning 7.7 duels per 90 minutes and keeping them ticking over in the middle of the park, the Ecuadorian international has been a revelation under Maresca.
Caicedo defensive stats per 90, Premier League 2024/25
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have also enjoyed a strong start to the campaign after battling near the bottom of the Premier League table last season. Forest currently sit in tenth position and have only lost once so far this term.
Conceding just 0.8 goals per game, with only Liverpool managing less, Forest have become a defensive force and have made themselves incredibly difficult to beat. The defensive partnership of Murillo and Nikola Milenković has been one the best in the division, making 10 clearances per 90 between them.
Only Manchester City and Liverpool have conceded fewer expected goals in the league this season. Although Nuno will be hoping to see more from his team in an attacking sense, Forest have shown vast improvement defensively and are setting up to sit deep and hit teams in transition.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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Five consecutive games for Tottenham in all competitions, five goals for Brennan Johnson and although the Welsh international recently deactivated his social media accounts in rather acrimonious circumstances, it may just prove to be the best thing he could have done for himself.
Blocking out the digital noise, simply focusing on what matters on the field of play and with those five goals in five games also making sure of a quintet of successive wins for the North London outfit, there are reasons to be cheerful if you are a Spurs fan at the moment.
Especially after the way Spurs bulldozed past Manchester United last Sunday and although you can only beat what is put in front of you, Ange Postecoglou’s side did that, and arguably should have done it by a greater margin.
Considering Spurs’ previous form at Old Trafford, perhaps that’s a little greedy, but regardless of that, the three points that shot them up the table should be considered the most important takeaway.
This Sunday, Tottenham are on their Premier League travels for the second weekend in a row and this time it is Brighton who play the role of hosts – a Brighton side still tormented by the mauling dished out to them by Cole Palmer last weekend.
The England international scored four goals in the first 45 minutes of the Seagulls’ trip to Stamford Bridge and were it not for the woodwork or the assistant referee’s flag, Palmer’s personal goal haul could have been even greater.
That 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Blues was Brighton’s first league defeat under new boss Fabian Hürzeler and with his high-line tactics being pulled in every possible direction by Chelsea, those same high-line tactics will be placed under scrutiny back at the Amex.
The visit of Spurs will be a test of Hürzeler’s tactical ideals and how he wants his Brighton team to play. Does he stay true to his principles or does he alter them after one poor showing in the Premier League?
Tactical inflexibility is often used as a stick to beat managers with – a stick that counterpart Ange Postecoglou has felt only recently, but after sticking to his guns, it seems as if his methods are now starting to pay dividends.
Whether that continues on the South Coast remains to be seen but with both teams preferring to squeeze the space that their opponents can operate in, this could be one of the most interesting tactical clashes of the season so far.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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We’re only two months into the season, and yet, Torino are already making history. After taking 11 points from their first five matches, the Granata ascended to the top of Serie A for the first time since February 1977.
Back then, Torino were in hot pursuit of a second-straight league title and their eighth Scudetto, but they would quickly relinquish first place and finish one point behind Juventus. In the following 47 years, Juventus have won 19 league titles, while Torino have experienced more relegations to Serie B (four) than major trophies (one – the 1992/93 Coppa Italia).
You’d have to go back 33 years for the last time that Torino finished above seventh, but today, they sit fifth in the table, level on 11 points with Milan and Inter, and one behind Juventus. What’s more, they’re on pace to end the season with 63 goals, their highest tally since 2016/17, when they registered 71 thanks in large part to Andrea Belotti’s 26-goal haul. Since then, Torino have not scored over 54 goals, whilst last season’s tally of 36 was the fourth-lowest in Serie A.
When (the now Roma boss) Ivan Jurić arrived in 2021, Torino had conceded a whopping 137 goals over the previous two seasons, narrowly avoiding relegation both times. He quickly stabilized the ship – between 2021/22 and 2023/24, they finished 10th, 10th, and 9th, conceding 118 goals and scoring 124. However, his belligerent communication style eventually grew toxic as Torino tifosi continued to wait in vain for a first appearance in a UEFA competition main draw since 2014/15. After mustering just two wins from their last eight matches, the writing was on the wall for Jurić.
Enter: Paolo Vanoli. Having commenced his coaching career with Italy’s youth teams, Vanoli served as Antonio Conte’s assistant from 2016 to 2021, adding a Premier League title and a Scudetto to his résumé before accepting his first managerial role in December 2021. Vanoli needed just five months to guide Spartak Moscow to their first trophy since 2017, but he stepped down from his position just 11 days after winning the Russian Cup. It didn’t take long before he found a new gig, taking charge of a Venezia side that looked headed for a second-straight relegation.
Vanoli quickly arrested the slide with three wins from his first five, guiding them to eighth place and a spot in the promotion playoffs, where they lost to Cagliari in the first round. The following season, Venezia pulled off one of the most unlikely promotions in Serie B’s recent history by finishing third and brushing past Palermo and Cremonese en route to a top-flight berth. Rather than continue building his project in La Serenissima, Vanoli joined Torino, a team that found itself quickly growing apart from its supporters.
Between the constant middle-of-the-road finishes and having to watch crosstown rivals Juve dominate Italy, life as a Torino fan is no walk in the park. That chasm grew even more on May 4, the 75th anniversary of the Superga air disaster which saw Torino’s entire football team killed in a plane crash. As the fans poured into the stadium to pay tribute, Torino goalkeeper Luca Gemello recorded a video from the team bus and posted an Instagram story in which several players were heard disparaging their supporters: “They are the same ones who booed you,” “bye, bye pieces of s**t,” and more.
After kicking off the 2024/25 season with a 2-0 win vs. Cosenza in the cup, Torino were cruising to another 2-0 victory at the San Siro only to concede twice to Milan in the final minutes of their league opener. On the cusp of their next match vs. Atalanta, Torino supporters flooded the streets and demanded Urbano Cairo to sell the club. Cairo took the reins in 2005, when Torino’s bankruptcy prevented them from ascending to Serie A despite a second-place finish, and he will surpass Orfeo Pianelli as the longest-serving president in club history on 2 December.
“Cairo is criticized, above all, for his lack of ambition, his desire to always sell the best players, and for never having brought Torino – in 19 years – to the next level,” said Diego Fornero, a journalist for Toro News, the leading online newspaper dedicated to Torino. “He is also criticized for not having invested in the long term: a stadium that they don’t even own, very poor facilities, a youth training centre that has been under construction for several years and still hasn’t been completed.”
The mass protests came in the waning days of a summer window that saw Torino lose three key pillars of a defence that kept 18 clean sheets (second to Inter’s 21) – Ricardo Rodriguez (free), Raoul Bellanova (€20m), and Alessandro Buongiorno (€35m). Even Vanoli could not hide his displeasure following Bellanova’s departure to Atalanta: “I told Cairo to his face what I think. I don’t like mediocrity, and I want the club to have more courage and achieve their full potential.”
Despite falling behind early on, Vanoli’s men stormed back to a 2-1 victory against Atalanta before escaping with a 1-0 win at Venezia via Saúl Coco’s 86th-minute goal. They returned from the break with a goalless stalemate vs. Lecce before prevailing 3-2 at Hellas Verona – over the next two days, Juventus, Napoli and Inter all succumbed to draws, enabling Torino to ascend to the zenith of Italian football for the first time in a half-century. However, their reign on the top was short-lived after losing back-to-back home matches to Empoli in the cup and Lazio in the league.
“There are two big differences between Jurić and Vanoli: Jurić asked for a full-pitch pressing that worked well at the beginning but soon lost effectiveness, whilst Vanoli asks for a more collective and orderly game,” said Fornero. “The second is in communication: Jurić had a brazen style and often took it out on the fans or the board to hide from his own responsibilities. Vanoli has a different approach, decisive but calm, and he analyzes performances very lucidly.”
Vanoli has demonstrated his adaptability by eschewing his tried-and-tested 4-3-3 in favor of the 3-5-2 formation that has been a mainstay at Torino for the past decade. He’s been able to punch above the odds and steer them to the European places, but his biggest test will arrive on Saturday as Torino face an Inter side that has scored seven goals in their last two matches. Torino have lost nine of their last 10 meetings with Inter, whilst they haven’t beaten them at the San Siro since April 2016. Can they shock the defending champions and continue their stellar start to the campaign?
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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Arsenal and Southampton are targeting very different things this season. While the Gunners are looking to make the final step in their development to become Premier League champions, the Saints are merely aiming to stay in the division.
Saturday’s match at the Emirates Stadium will provide a stark contrast between the two teams.
Mikel Arteta’s side come into the game on the back of an impressive 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League which saw Arsenal hold the French giants at arm’s length. Indeed, PSG accumulated an Expected Goals (xG) of just 0.4 on Wednesday as the Gunners once again flexed their defensive muscle.
Russell Martin will set up Southampton to control possession at the Emirates Stadium. Only Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton are averaging a higher share of possession in the Premier League this season than the Saints who have attempted to replicate the approach that won them promotion from the Championship in the top flight.
The Gunners might be quite content for Southampton to have possession if it means they have more open space to attack into. PSG had 65% of possession on Tuesday, but it was Arsenal who posed the greater attacking threat and the likes of Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka will once again be dangerous this weekend.
While Arsenal left it late to claim three points against Leicester City last weekend, the numbers suggest a winning goal was always likely to materialise. Indeed, Arsenal had 4.6 in xG, 35 shots in total and nine Big Chances against the Foxes and it’s possible Southampton could face the same sort of attacking firepower.
Martin Ødegaard is still sidelined through injury with Jurrien Timber and Ben White carrying knocks. After an injury scare against Leicester, Riccardo Calafiori shone against PSG and is expected to keep his place at left back. Further forward, Leandro Trossard has forced his way into the attacking lineup.
Southampton will be without Jack Stephens for the trip to North London after the defender was sent off against Manchester United last weekend, but will otherwise have a close-to-full squad to pick from. Even with everyone available, though, Southampton lack cutting edge having scored fewer goals (three) than any other team in the Premier League.
Aaron Ramsdale will return to the Emirates Stadium for the first time since leaving Arsenal in the summer transfer window and the goalkeeper could be in for a difficult afternoon. The Gunners have scored two or more goals in 19 of their last 24 league games and are on a run of three straight wins in all competitions. There’s a good chance that streak will continue against Southampton.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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While Slot was justifiably unhappy with that loss to Nottingham Forest, it has otherwise been a series of successes for the Dutchman since replacing Júrgen Klopp. Victory over Bologna in the Champions League means he becomes the first Anfield coach to win eight of the first nine in charge, while his team sit joint-top in the early stages of that competition and outright top in the Premier League too. So is it a sign of what’s to come?
It could be, of course, and the underlying numbers certainly put Liverpool among the better performers across 2024/25 so far. But there have been plenty of in-match instances which suggest slight fortune or individual excellence has had to come to the rescue for the precise tally of eight early victories. Bologna was a fine example: quite possibly the Reds would have raised their game further and scored more, but the Italians should have netted at least once to pull level after defensive mishaps. Wolves similarly spurned chances last time out domestically, and conceded a needless penalty.
Still, each game is an isolated case of ‘do what you must’, and…Liverpool have.
The Reds have conceded the fewest by a distance so far, with four clean sheets in six and just two goals allowed. But aside from actually putting the ball in the net, they are not allowing too many chances either – certainly not in open play from opposition build-up. A combined xG conceded of 4.5 from six matches is impressive in its own right and the lowest in the Premier League; consider further that Wolves’ weekend goal came as a result of a defensive mix-up which resulted in a tap-in from two yards, carrying an xG value itself of almost 0.4, and it’s clear that most of the rest of the team’s defensive play has been extremely strong.
Going forward, they similarly remain one of the best around. Liverpool have a total xG for six games so far of 12.6, scoring 12. Only Tottenham beat them on xG, only Man City and Chelsea have actually netted more.
It’s also Spurs who are the only team to have created more big chances than Liverpool, 26 to 24, but while the north London side have missed 18, the Merseysiders are slightly better in that regard, missing 14. Add in third for corners, third for touches in the box and fourth for balls won in midfield – where Slot seems to set his initial pressing bank of four out of possession – and it’s clear Liverpool are a cohesive unit who are creating at a high level and reaping the rewards.
In short, they are winning and top because so far they deserve to be.
But now is the question of what comes next, and there’s no doubt that the manager’s next nine games are set to be far more difficult than the first nine.
“I don’t want to be remembered for my first nine games,” Slot said after beating Bologna. “I hope we do special things here.” These upcoming nine will now set the platform for Liverpool to show just how special his maiden campaign is capable of being – because the following two games are against Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Obviously, those could be telling in Europe and domestically.
While the hardest fixtures so far for the Anfield club – on paper of course – have probably been Manchester United and AC Milan away, they won those fixtures in absolute comfort. Neither have been anything approaching exemplary this term. Only Nottingham Forest have made life difficult for them across a full 90, and the visitors surprisingly triumphed.
In the next nine, it’s a different matter. Following on from Saturday’s early kick-off at Crystal Palace, Liverpool host an in-form and full-of-goals Chelsea, before back-to-back trips to Leipzig, Arsenal, and Brighton. No prizes for guessing which of those will be the toughest and most tension-filled, and potentially as insightful a match as the aforementioned game with Man City. While the Brighton trip is a League Cup clash, there’s a trophy on the line all the same – one the Reds are defending this year.
Then it’s Brighton again in the league, German champions Bayer Leverkusen, and top-four candidates Aston Villa. Southampton away is the only one of the next nine which could be arguably dismissed as a surefire three points, given Saints’ own propensity for defensive ricks so far.
So it’s full steam ahead, but with far more meaning, far more difficulty and far more insight to be gained across Slot’s next batch of fixtures. Liverpool have had things easy by comparison and the Dutch head coach is about to get a much more real representation of what the job entails.
And then it’s onto the small matter of the European and domestic champions.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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When Oliver Glasner took charge of Crystal Palace on 19 February 2024, they were 16th in the Premier League table, five points above the drop, and had won just twice in the previous three months. As for Liverpool, they occupied the top spot, sitting one point above Manchester City and two above Arsenal.
It didn’t take long for Glasner to breathe new life into a prosaic Palace side and reverse their fortunes: they claimed 24 points from their next 13 matches en route to a 10th-place finish, scoring 29 goals and conceding 14, and equaled their highest-ever Premier League points tally (49). After bouncing around from Patrick Vieira to Roy Hodgson in recent years, it seemed Palace had finally found the manager to guide them to the next level and challenge for European football.
In contrast, Liverpool wilted under the pressure of delivering a quadruple in Jürgen Klopp’s farewell season, finishing a distant third after dropping points in five of their last eight matches. Arne Slot was entrusted with replacing Klopp, and so far, he’s done a flawless job. Apart from a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest after the international break, Liverpool have not only won each of their eight matches under Slot, but scored 2+ goals in each game.
Liverpool managed to eke out an ugly 2-1 victory at Wolves last weekend – their sole win without a margin of victory of at least two goals – before beating Bologna 2-0 in the UEFA Champions League. The Reds climbed to first place after City’s recent 1-1 draw to Newcastle and boast a one-point advantage over City and Arsenal as well as a two-point lead ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa, and the odds are in their favor as they look to continue their winning streak at Crystal Palace.
Whilst Liverpool have enjoyed a complete 180 in their form, Palace have also produced a volte-face. They have struggled to recover from losing two key figures in Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen and occupy the relegation zone after taking three points from their first six matches. Glasner is quickly going from hero to zero at Selhurst Park, and the pressure is mounting on him to arrest their slide and avoid an early dismissal. However, masterminding another win against Liverpool may just be too tall of a task for the Austrian to handle.
The last time Liverpool visited Palace, the hosts took the lead before falling to 10 men – Mohamed Salah equalized immediately whilst Harvey Elliott completed the comeback in the 90th minute. Salah has registered 11 goal contributions in his first nine matches – two coming on Wednesday vs. Bologna – and there’s reason to believe he can exploit Palace’s leaky defense and lead Liverpool to yet another victory.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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The European giants’ 36-match undefeated run in all competitions ended at Lille in midweek, but Los Blancos are still one of the only two unbeaten clubs in LaLiga alongside their city rivals – Atlético, and Carlo Ancelotti‘s squad has not experienced defeat in Spain’s top-tier since September 2023. With that being said, it is fair to say that Real Madrid have not been displaying the most scintillating football this season, unlike their arch-rivals from Barcelona, behind whom they trail by three points in the standings.
Another tricky challenge is on the horizon for Madrid’s superstar attacking trident – Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappé, who are still finding their feet as they have not yet fully clicked together. The Frenchman missed the local derby against Los Rojiblancos due to a hamstring injury last week, but came off the bench at Stade Pierre-Mauroy and now, Mbappé is expected to return to the starting XI.
Villarreal are coming at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on the back of a couple of wins in LaLiga and the Marcelino Garcia-led squad boasts an impressive record against Madrid as of late, with two hard-earned wins, one of which was in the corresponding fixture last year, one draw, and only two defeats over their last five meetings in league and cup. Not many teams could brag about such a record and goals are almost guaranteed as their matches average a little over five (5.2) goals per game over that period, with their most recent meeting a high-scoring 4-4 draw at Estadio de la Cerámica last season.
Real Madrid possess the second-best defence in LaLiga this season with only six goals conceded, but that was before Thibaut Courtois suffered an injury to the abductor in his left leg and the Belgian goalkeeper will miss this match, with Andriy Lunin taking his place. The Whites’ defence will be severely tested by Villarreal’s frontline and especially by Ayoze Pérez, who is the second-best to Robert Lewandowski, with six goals scored in LaLiga (the Pole has seven). But the Spanish international can boast a superior goals per 90 ratio (1.31), when compared to Lewandowski (0.97).
The former Newcastle and Leicester forward left Real Betis over the summer to join Villarreal and the 31-year-old started the season on the front foot, leading the Yellow Submarine to third place in the standings at the moment, with only one point separating them from Los Blancos ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Although the in-form forward missed his team’s win against Las Palmas last week due to muscle discomfort, Marcelino hopes to welcome him back for their trip to Madrid, especially with Gerard Moreno currently out.
Furthermore, Villareal’s attack is on par with Real Madrid as they both have scored 17 league goals so far with only Barça having more (25) and even if Pérez misses out, they still have the league’s leading assist maker best assist maker in Álex Baena (5).
With so much at stake and the possibility of Villarreal leapfrogging Madrid in the table, Carlo Ancelotti’s squad will need to display a much-improved performance if they are to get back to winning ways, with Pérez & co. ready to pounce and make the most of any given opportunity at the Bernabéu.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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The search for success without Rodri continues for Manchester City as they host Fulham in the Premier League ahead of the international break, with Pep Guardiola knowing he can ill-afford to fall behind in the race at the top of the table.
City are just a point and a place off Liverpool following back-to-back domestic draws, but three draws in five across all competitions perhaps suggests they’re not in peak mode right now.
A midweek jaunt to Slovakia presented no problems for City as they picked up a 4-0 win, with Guardiola able to rotate a few names and rest a few faces ahead of the more pivotal weekend clash.
Fulham will be no pushovers either, judging by their own early season form. The Cottagers have quietly gone about their campaign and are sixth, one defeat from the opening six this year, even if some of the numbers behind their form suggest that might be slightly generous. They are 11th for xG, tenth for big chances, 14th for possession won in the final third. It’s fair to say Marco Silva’s side are maximising their opportunities – with the exception of striker Rodrigo Muniz, who ranks seventh in the league for shots per 90 (4.2) but is yet to find the back of the net.
And Manchester City certainly possess someone who can do that, of course. Erling Haaland is in absurd scoring form, ten to his name in the league from an xG of 6.3. More problematically for the visitors to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, there’s not really evidence to suggest they can keep him at bay.
Fulham have kept just one clean sheet so far, despite restricting opponents to a combined xG of 6.6 this term – the sixth lowest in the Premier League so far. Even so, conceding once a game to the rest of the league can so easily translate to conceding two to Haaland alone.
If Silva’s side show resilience to stop chances being created, the match can become a tense affair of seeing whether City can break down a defence without Rodri providing his powerful and penetrative brand of passing and movement. But allow Haaland in early on – and he already has six goals before the 20-minute mark in matches this term – and trying to keep pace with City can quickly become a slog that few enjoy, over 90 minutes as well as over an entire season.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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