Under-fire Gunners seek a confidence boost ahead of Man City showdown
The pressure is reaching an all-time high at the Emirates following Arsenal’s damning defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League and ahead of this return leg in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Mikel Arteta‘s squad were sloppy in possession and lacked both composure and the belief to inspire a comeback against the Cherries, enabling the away side to inflict a damaging defeat.
However, the fact remains that the Gunners are still in control of the title race in England and hold a hard-earned 1-0 lead from Lisbon going in to what is the most important week of their season to date, and it is up to them to rise from the setback and prove their title-winning credentials, both domestically and in Europe.
Sporting put that first leg’s stoppage-time loss to Arsenal behind them with a victory at Estrela da Amadora over the weekend, a result that keeps them in the Liga Portugal title race.
Now, the focus of the Rui Borges-led squad is on sparking a surprise in London and continuing their fairytale campaign in the Champions League, and judging by their past visits, that might not be so far-fetched.
The reigning Portuguese champions are unbeaten at the Emirates Stadium, as Sporting held the Gunners to a draw both in 2018 and 2023, respectively, before then progressing to the Europa League quarter-finals via a penalty shoot-out on the latter occasion.
Key players
David Raya is a dark horse in the race for Arsenal’s Player of the Season award, with the in-form goalkeeper’s performances becoming increasingly important in recent weeks, as their opponents enjoy more possession and thus more chances to score. The Spaniard is leading the charts for clean sheets, both in the Premier League (15) as well as the Champions League (7), and furthermore, the 30-year-old boasts the highest save percentage (90%) in Europe’s elite competition.
Key goalkeeper stats in the Champions League
The free-scoring Luis Suárez might be stealing the headlines, but Pedro Gonçalves‘s importance is as crucial to Sporting this campaign and in recent years as well.
Tasked with the mission impossible of replacing Bruno Fernandes back in 2020, the so-called ‘Pote’ is the Lions’ maestro, and apart from his injury-plagued 2024/25 season, the Portuguese international has scored at least 15 goals across all competitions in five of the past six seasons.
Additionally, the versatile playmaker is the squad’s third-highest-FotMob rated player (7.70) in the league and is ranking second in terms of goals + assists (19) and chances created (45) as well.
Arsenal’s nervous body language is becoming quite telling, and their fragile confidence has been exposed in recent weeks, resulting in both EFL Cup final defeat and exit from the FA Cup. But despite the strength of this Sporting team, I still expect the Gunners to progress to the semi-finals with a win or draw, mainly due to their outstanding defensive stability and individual quality.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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The 30th competitive meeting between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid promises to be a cracker as both sides are well in with a shout of advancing to the semi-final.
Bayern Munich’s attack has been nothing short of spectacular this season. They have already smashed the single-season scoring record in the Bundesliga with five games to spare, having taken their tally to 105 last weekend. They are also the top scorers in the Champions League this season with 34 goals in 11 matches so far.
So, the fact that they built up a two-goal lead against Real Madrid’s subpar defence in the first leg was no surprise, but their subsequent inability to tighten up the game was concerning. Los Blancos created plenty of chances, eventually halved their deficit and could easily have scored another on a different day. Either way, that kept the tie wide open for this second leg.
Key stats from the first leg
Winless streak building pressure on Real Madrid
Despite mounting a good fightback in the second half last week, Real Madrid have to be quite disappointed with their recent form and results. That defeat was their first loss to Bayern in nine matches (since 2011), and built up to what is now a three-match winless run.
Los Blancos have only picked up one point in their last two league matches, dropping nine points behind leaders Barcelona. Should they fail to win again in Munich, this will be their longest winless streak since the days of Julen Lopetegui in 2018.
Needless to say, pressure is building on Álvaro Arbeloa. The Champions League is the only competition his side can realistically win, so his job may well be on the line with this tie.
Team news
Bayern Munich significantly rotated their side on the weekend, so their stars will be fit and raring to go for this game. Their only noteworthy absences are teenage starlet Lennart Karl and back-up goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.
Real Madrid will also be without a shot-stopper, but they’ll miss their number one in Thibaut Courtois. Aurélien Tchouaméni is suspended after being booked in the first leg, while Rodrygo remains absent with a long-term injury.
Key players
Harry Kane is on the cusp of reaching the 50-goal mark across all competitions in a single club season for the first time in his career. He’ll surely cross it at some point in the coming weeks to join an exclusive list of just six other men to have achieved this feat in the 21st century.
Kylian Mbappé is among those on the list, but has a mere 39 this term. He’ll be counting on Vinícius Júnior’s support while Michael Olise will be keen to add to his tally of 42 goal involvements this term. Against such big-name attackers, centre-backs Dayot Upamecano and Dean Huijsen will have to put in big shifts for either side.
Prediction
Both teams have scored in the last seven meetings between these sides, and that run should be expected to continue here. In the end, Bayern might just have enough to get over the line.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Champions League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, physical metrics, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
Liverpool have been made to look lifeless more than a few times this season, but Paris Saint-Germain’s performance in last week’s Champions League meeting was especially suffocating. So many of the statistics – possession share, shots, Expected Goals, Big Chances created – illustrated this.
The biggest difference between the two sides, however, was in central midfield where João Neves never stopped. He was everywhere, applying pressure whenever Liverpool had the ball and moving it forward in possession phases for the defending European champions. Liverpool couldn’t get a grip of him.
Neves heat map vs. Liverpool, first leg
Of course, Neves has been a key figure for PSG ever since he joined them from Benfica in the 2024 summer transfer window. Signed for a reported €60m, the youngster had his pick of Europe’s biggest clubs, but decided Luis Enrique’s style of play would be a good fit. So it has proved over the last two seasons.
That €60m paid by PSG now represents a bargain. At just 21 years old, Neves is already one of the most accomplished midfielders anywhere in the world. He has the natural rhythm in possession of Xavi and the inherent creativity of Andres Iniesta with the tempo and intensity required for the modern game.
And yet Neves went somewhat underappreciated last season. Even as PSG won the Champions League for the first time, Vitinha was widely highlighted as their most influential player in the centre of the field. Some even pushed him forward as a candidate for the Ballon d’Or such was his level in the big matches.
Vitinha remains a critical cog of the PSG machine, having more touches of the ball than any other player on the pitch against Liverpool last week. He also registered the most passes into the final third and more than played his part in pushing the Premier League outfit deep into their own half for the majority of the match.
Neves, however, was the one collecting possession from deep and moving it forward whenever PSG needed some thrust on the ball. He was the pass before the pass, except when he provided the assist for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal to make it 2-0 to the French hosts. Neves took on the role of creator-in-chief for that moment.
Neves’ player traits compared with midfielders in Top 5 leagues
The reason PSG’s Champions League triumph last season was so ominous for the rest of European football was the age profile of their team. This is a group of players only just getting started at the elite level and nobody embodies this better than Neves who continues to get better and better.
“We did great last year with the players we signed, and João was one of them,” said Enrique when asked about Neves. “He is very young, but we didn’t have any doubts about him because of his intensity and quality on and off the ball. I think he can improve a lot of things. One of them is scoring goals. He has the energy to play at a high level. He is an amazing player and we’re very happy to have him.”
Even as PSG struggled to find their best form earlier this season, there was always a sense that they would eventually put up a strong defence of their Champions League crown. The return of Ousmane Dembélé from injury was the catalyst the defending champions had been waiting for. With Dembélé back in the attack, PSG found coherence again.
PSG have more possession of the ball than anyone else in the UCL
Of course, PSG know how to win at Anfield having already done it last season. It was an away victory over Liverpool that truly announced Enrique’s team as Champions League contenders 12 months ago, sending the French outfit on a path that culminated in a 5-0 thumping of Inter Milan in the final.
Since then, PSG have swapped goalkeepers following the departure of Gianluigi Donnarumma to Manchester City and evolved their central defensive unit through the signing of Ilya Zabarnyi from Bournemouth. Otherwise, it’s the same core of players that became European champions in Munich.
Enrique and his coaching staff are always searching for new ways to utilise those players – see how Nuno Mendes was flinging quick throws into the centre of the pitch for PSG to move forward quickly in transition against Liverpool. The French champions might be the most imaginative side in world football right now.
Neves is at the heart of that invention. He is a ball-progressing machine for the most intense team with the clearest idea of how they want to play left in this season’s Champions League. If PSG are to become European champions again, it’ll be in no small part due to the midfielder’s brilliance.
(Images from IMAGO)
You can follow every Champions League game on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage, including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
LaLiga leaders Barcelona have it all to do as they head to Atlético Madrid for the Champions League quarter-final second leg and a fixture which has already yielded 16 goals this season alone.
Another meeting of two of Spain’s big three, but this time with the stakes much higher and the context much more intriguing. Barcelona were favourites to make the Champions League final from this side of the draw prior to the first leg – but one red card and one exceptional free-kick later, that all changed. Atleti hold a 2-0 lead and home advantage and are 90 minutes from the semis.
Erratic encounters
This being the sixth encounter of the two clubs in 2025/26 already, it might be reasonable to expect a form guide of sorts to suggest an outcome – but not so. Barcelona beat Atleti 3-1 in LaLiga at home and edged the match 2-1 at the Metropolitano as well – but Atlético trounced Barca 4-0 in the Copa Del Rey first leg as well as emerging victorious in the game last week. The Catalan side hold a 3-2 advantage for the season so far after winning the Copa second leg 3-0, but lost that tie overall – a repeat performance in terms of winning the 90 minutes but going out of the competition is far from off the agenda when it comes to this latest battle.
H2H results this season
Nine and ten the crucial calls
Big decisions for Hansi Flick rest on whether to start Ferran Torres or Robert Lewandowski, and Dani Olmo or Fermín López, as the nine and ten respectively. It was a surprise to see no López in particular in the first leg XI, but in attack at least Barca do have strength in depth – whereas at the back and midfield it’s more likely a question of playing those who are fittest.
Recent form
Atlético have lost four and won one of their previous five in all competitions – but had won six in a row at home before losing to this opponent in early April. They haven’t lost at home by two this term.
It’s five wins in the last six for Barcelona – the first-leg defeat the outlier there. Away from home they’ve won two of their last five; and they’ve won by at least two goals away on four occasions since Christmas.
Barcelona have Pau Cubarsí suspended after his first-leg red card, with Raphinha still sidelined. Frenkie de Jong has just returned from a layoff so should be a bench option.
Key player
Lamine Yamal was praised for dragging his team on in the first leg. This time Barca need him to have the end product as well as the determination and the maturity in his game. He’ll well capable too – among Europe’s best attackers he’s ahead of 94% for chances created, 97% for goals, 99% for touches and 100% for shot attempts. Stop him if you can.
Prediction
Atlético to score an all-important goal at some stage and it’ll be too much damage for Barcelona to undo: Atlético 1-2 Barcelona (3-2 on aggregate).
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Champions League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
It isn’t quite mission impossible for Liverpool but the Reds have a lot to do at Anfield if they’re to knock Paris Saint-Germain out of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
The story of the season is irrelevant right now. This is a one-off game and Liverpool need to win by three clear goals to progress following their 2-0 loss in Paris last week.
It is as simple as that really.
In truth, the tie should already be a formality. PSG dominated on Wednesday, taking full advantage of Arne Slot’s decision to switch to a 5-2-3 shape. The hosts had 74% possession and racked up 18 shots to Liverpool’s three. They amassed an Expected Goals total of 2.35 and finished with four big chances to their name. With better finishing on the night, this could’ve easily been a 4-0 win for Luis Enrique’s side.
Ousmane Dembélé rattled the woodwork and spurned a glorious chance. Nuno Mendes tried to walk the ball into the net when presented with an opportunity from about eight yards out and Giorgi Mamardashvili was forced into making a number of saves.
Liverpool, by comparison, offered nothing going forward. They finished the game with an xG of 0.17 and Slot admitted in his post-match interview that his side were lucky to have lost 2-0.
The Premier League champions will need to do something completely different on Tuesday if they’re to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.
PSG have options at Anfield. They could look to kill the tie off in the first half and go for the jugular or simply bide their time, ride out the Liverpool onslaught early on and pick off their hosts after the break.
The French side have one foot in the semi-final. They don’t even have to win, they just need to manage the game.
PSG match ratings vs. Liverpool last week
Key Players
Mohamed Salah missed the first leg with Slot opting to sit him on the bench. The No. 11 needs to start on Tuesday if Liverpool are to have any chance of overturning the 2-0 deficit. He scored over the weekend as the Reds claimed a 2-0 win over Fulham and he was one of the better players. This could be his final game in the Champions League for the Merseyside club, he’ll want to make it memorable.
For PSG, their entire team could qualify for this particular preview slot. The key player for this game, however, could well be Nuno Mendes. Likely up against Salah, if he gets the better of the Egyptian King, he’ll effectively win the game for the away side.
PSG are expected to be without Fabián Ruiz and Bradley Barcola. Other than those two absentees, Enrique has a full squad to pick from.
Prediction
We’re going with a 2-1 win for the hosts but PSG will progress.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Champions League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
Ask an Australian about football and they might be likely to go on about Rugby League… or Union… or Aussie Rules than they are the beautiful game. Even after all that, the top European leagues might be on their radar before the A-League.
It’s a sport loving nation, and historically Australians have punched WELL above their weight, securing 21.68 medals per million inhabitants between 1896 and 2020, the third highest among nations with populations over 10 million.
Football isn’t always a major part of that consciousness, but that hasn’t stopped some huge names from heading down under. In the early 2010s, it was Alessandro De Piero at Sydney FC, now, Juan Mata is making waves at Melbourne Victory.
The former Chelsea and Man United playmaker didn’t start his Australian odyssey in Melbourne, though. After four months and a single appearance for Japanese side Vissel Kobe, he joined Western Sydney Wanders FC for the 2024/25 season.
Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re associated with Melbourne Victory, it didn’t work out. Mata scored just one goal and provided three assists in his 23 A League games, and at the end of the season, he once again found himself looking for a new club.
He’s clearly a fan of Australia, and it’s hard to blame him. The sun, the lifestyle, and in Melbourne, the coffee and the food, who wouldn’t want to spend the last years of their career in a place like that?
According to Victory boss Arthur Diles, it was all pretty fortuitous. “I was speaking to his agent about other players,” he told FotMob. “We were looking for the new make-up of the squad for the upcoming season and during that conversation he goes, ‘how about Juan Mata? Would you be interested in Juan?’
“And I said, well, ‘of course I’d be interested in Juan’ but at this point in time we’re not stashed with funds, and I don’t want to be in a position where we’re disrespectful to a player with such a great history, name, and reputation.”
“I made it very clear that financially we had some restraints. And when he said, ‘look, let’s not worry about that. We can always work that out’.
“We play with a traditional number 10, so I said he’d fit our system well. He goes, ‘okay, let’s arrange a Zoom with Juan and have a meeting with him and then we’ll go from there’.
“The next day, Juan and I were on the phone having a chat and he loved what he heard, I loved what I heard, and then we left it to them to make it happen and they did.”
For those of us lucky enough to have watched Mata during his time in the Premier League, his game was characterised by sharp movement, quick passing, and a deceptive burst of pace. With Eden Hazard and Oscar alongside him at Chelsea, he was almost impossible to defend against.
At 37-years-old, Mata may have lost that extra yard of pace he once had, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a creative force to be reckoned with. “He’s got natural ability of making the difficult things look easy and doing the easy things consistently well,” said Diles.
“He’s a creative player who has to take risks on the park in terms of a defence-splitting pass, but his passing percentage, for example, is so high for an attacking midfielder. That’s what I mean by he makes things look so easy when they’re not.
The numbers back that up. Mata is a high-risk passer and Melbourne Victory’s undisputed creative outlet with 13 assists, 856 successful passes at an accuracy rate of 86.9%, and 85 chances created, by far the most in the A-League.
Mata’s A-League passing stats this season
Of course, talent only gets you so far. Mata has a World Cup and a Champions League, among plenty of other trophies on his CV. He has every right to be a little egotistical, and his teammates may well have been wary of that when he first joined.
That couldn’t be further from the truth according to Diles. The secret to all of Mata’s success? Being a good bloke. “The most significant thing is how humble he is as a human being,” he said.
“He has not disrupted the changing room with an ego, with entourage, with bells and whistles. He’s fitted into the team so well. He’s so humble that the players half the time, just by rubbing shoulders with him in a changing room, wouldn’t even realise who he actually is and what he’s actually achieved.
“He trains at his maximum effort every single day, which that, for me, is the biggest eye-opener for all his teammates should see and say, wow, this guy, there’s no off day with him.”
Players with the level of experience of Mata are increasingly rare in the A-League. The financial landscape is really bleak, The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) recently decided to drastically reduce central distributions to clubs by almost $1.5 million to $530,000 due to a failed TV deal.
The A-League has an average attendance of 8,218. Clubs are not getting enough bums in seats to help make up for the TV money they’ve lost, so, naturally, they turn to merchandising, and a Melbourne Victory shirt with ‘Mata’ on the back is a big deal.
Next season, clubs will have to deal with a $3 million hard salary cap, introduced to prevent them from engaging in a “player-spend arms race.” Clubs would be allowed to sign one marquee player outside of the cap, however.
Now, there should be one big silver lining from this, and that is the production of young Australian talent. Clubs will likely have to put more reliance on their academies, and Melbourne Victory have one of the best in the country.
Whether those youngsters make the most of their time with Mata, Diles has put the impetuous on them. “He’s very valued and all the players look up to him. So how deep they want to go with him in terms of conversing and asking questions, that’s on them.
“I don’t get too involved in how close they are because I believe in respecting their space as players, but I can see just how much time he spends with every member of the squad, whether it’s a young player, whether it’s a senior player.
“I’m sure he’s very valuable in just passing on information and experiences that are helping these guys on a daily basis because a lot of my players are young. A lot of them are looking to go abroad and have better careers outside of Australia.”
Mata has long been regarded as one of football’s good guys and former teammates are still celebrating his goals. Following his stunning freekick against Sydney FC, a video of Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes reacting to it went viral.
Like it or not, we live in the social media age. Likes and views have a major influence on the everyday lives of millions. Diles recognises the value players like Mata have in terms of getting eyes not just on Melbourne Victory, but the A-League as a whole.
“I’d say over the last few years with the financial restraints we’ve had, not being able to sign big marquee players like we used to, the capacity these players have to just bring attention to Australia has been forgotten,” he said.
“It’s been really pleasing and a real injection of attention that the club needed, the league needed. There was probably a month period where the goals he was scoring in the derbies against Sydney FC and Melbourne City where you’re talking millions and millions of shares and views.
“I think we’ve forgotten about how much benefit we can have from players such as Juan and players in the past like Del Piero, what they can actually bring to our league and the noise they can create for us globally.”
Mata brings so much more than just his absurd natural ability. An experienced head, a reliable teammate, but most importantly, a good person in a world where leaders have forgotten how to be just that.
“People are seeing the true value of Juan Mata,” Diles concluded.
(Images from IMAGO)
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Major League Soccer witnessed its first managerial sacking of the season in a weekend where young players continued to shine, and Inter Miami tried to win their first game at the Nu Stadium.
Inter Miami fans may have had their Lionel Messi moment at their new stadium, as he scored a goal in their first game at the new facility, but after two games there, they have yet to witness a win for the home team.
What they did witness on Saturday, though, was another outstanding performance from one of the best young players in the league at the beginning of the 2026 season.
New York Red Bulls emerged from their trip to South Florida with a 2-2 draw, thanks to another eye-catching display from 18-year-old Julian Zakrzewski Hall.
Hall hails from Manhattan, New York City, across the Hudson River from the Red Bulls’ home in Harrison, New Jersey. He’s putting the New York in the New York Red Bulls, building on four starts and 22 appearances off the bench in MLS last season, with starts in every game so far this year under new head coach Michael Bradley.
Hall has five goals already in the opening seven games, but this weekend he added his first assists.
He set up goals for Jorge Ruvalcaba and Adri Mehmeti with some great holdup play and timing of the pass, carving out the space and drawing defenders so the goals could be scored.
These moments for Hall, as he helped create chances for others, were as encouraging as his goals in this standout start to the new season.
MLS benefiting from youth development
Zakrzewski Hall is not the only young player making waves in MLS this year. The 2026 season has opened with something of a youth revolution, the kind of which makes any league immediately more interesting to follow.
The majority of the teams putting in good performances so far this season are doing so with an accompanying narrative of impressive young players coming through their ranks.
It is looking set to be one of the best seasons MLS has seen, not only in terms of the number of young players coming through, but also in the standard of play they are producing.
Australian centre-back Lucas Herrington, 18, is a regular in the heart of the Colorado Rapids defence and has played more minutes than most players in the league so far this season. Few players in the league are more involved within games, too. Only San Diego midfielder Jeppe Tverskov has completed more passes than Herrington, who boasts a pass success of 95%.
Herrington’s player traits comparison
It will be a big year in America for the teenager, as he will also be part of the Australia squad for the 2026 World Cup. He could even be pushing to start games by the time the tournament comes around, thanks to his regular performances with the Rapids.
Elsewhere, there is a whole host of young American homegrown players coming through the ranks. Though it is probably too late for any of them to be around the US squad for the World Cup, there is a big Olympic tournament coming up on home soil in 2028, which will offer a glimpse at the future of the USMNT and give them much-needed tournament experience.
As well as Hall and Mehmeti at the Red Bulls, the likes of Zavier Gozo of Real Salt Lake, Luca Bombino at San Diego, Niko Tsakiris and Beau Leroux at San Jose Earthquakes, are among a group of young players featuring regularly for their teams and performing consistently.
Montréal sack Marco Donadel
CF Montréal were confirmed as the worst team in MLS this weekend, losing the basement battle against defending Supporters’ Shield champions Philadelphia Union, who picked up not only their first MLS win, but their first points of 2026.
Questions have been asked of Union head coach Bradley Carnell, too, given their sharp decline from league leaders in 2025 to being the last team to pick up a win in 2026, but it was Donadel’s team that lost out in this head-to-head and the Italian who ultimately lost his job.
Montréal sit bottom of the Eastern Conference and Supporter’s Shield
Montréal is one of the best and most historic soccer cities in the US and Canada, but it has not been often enough in recent years that it’s had a team to match that status.
Apart from one Wilfried Nancy-inspired season in 2022, they have had little to get excited about in MLS.
Historically known as Montreal Impact, or Impact de Montréal in the city’s primary language of French, the city lost part of that football heritage when the franchise changed its name to CF Montréal in 2020.
The impact of this soccer team has been lost along with its name, and though Donadel is the latest coach to be fired, there will be little for his replacement to work with.
Unless they can find a coach such as Nancy, who was able to instil a style of play and a mentality that meant the team overperformed, there will be little optimism that simply changing the head coach is the answer for the team that are now rooted to the bottom of the overall Supporters’ Shield standings.
Well well Wells
As Tottenham Hotspur struggle in the Premier League, with relegation now a real possibility, their former assistant manager has had a promising start to life in MLS.
In a recent interview with Backheeled, Colorado Rapids head coach Matt Wells spoke of a desire he had to make the move from assistant to head coach in order to have more control over a team and put his thoughts and observations into practice more directly.
His approach of directing certain plays from the sideline during games might seem like an extreme level of control, but it could be the kind of regular instruction a struggling team like the Rapids needed.
Indeed, they are no longer struggling, at least not so far this season. It’s the type of turnaround the aforementioned Montréal will be looking for in their next head coach, as Wells’ approach has turned the Rapids into apparent contenders in the Western Conference.
They showed this with a 6-2 win against Houston at the weekend, which featured a player of the round performance from Rafael Navarro. And with young players like Harrington and Paxten Aaronson impressing, there is cause for optimism in Commerce City.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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JOGA, the viral shinpad brand wants to restore flair to the world’s favourite sport. The way to do that is by giving kids the freedom to play as they feel, but not without safety at its heart.
If you’re starting to fall out of love with elite-level football, finding the game increasingly predictable, perhaps even boring, you’re probably not alone.
Everything is resting on finer margins. The Premier League is the most watched league in the world, reaching 189 countries and almost one billion people globally. But there has been a clear shift towards and what might be considered ‘manufactured’ football. The xG data in 2025/26 shows that teams are deliberately targeting set-pieces as a means of generating chances over other methods.
It feels like important games between big clubs are too often decided. The joy and the raw magic that drew us to the sport in the first place is being sucked out.
JOGA is trying to protect what co-founder Zack Chislett says football “used to be,” by celebrating it in its purest form. The JOGA Starz brand is aimed at giving kids, specifically, the freedom to enjoy football as it is meant to be and then keeping that expression throughout their journey in football.
“We were the people that needed JOGA, really, we wanted the small shinpads, we wanted to feel flair, you want to bring football back to its roots really,” Chislett tells FotMob.
Freedom is “100%” missing from the modern game. “That’s why this is probably the biggest catalyst for the brand. I feel like football is getting more robotic, I’m enjoying watching football less and less, because everyone just tries to be the same, and there’s not as much personality anymore.”
JOGA shinpads have taken football by storm in recent years. Chelsea forward João Pedro, Nottingham Forest winger Omari Hutchinson and Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock are signed up as brand ambassadors. But plenty of others – including WSL star Lauren James and mercurial talent Jack Grealish – have bought the shinpads off their own back. At one point, half of Manchester City’s squad was requesting the gear from the club’s equipment manager.
“[Professional players] were just gravitating towards the products, because I think they liked the mission about bringing football back to its roots and that football’s becoming boring,” Chislett, himself becoming a pro footballer in Dubai, adds. “The product is almost like a vessel to bring that mission to life. The players were really enjoying it. They were putting it on their Instagram stories.
“It’s also a testament to how we build our products that it’s really made for footballers by footballers.” His brother Ethan, the other half of the founding duo and currently signed to Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa after over 150 EFL appearances. “We know exactly what footballers want, how they want to feel, how they want to look, when they step on the pitch. We always look to make products for professional footballers, because we think that all trickles down [to grassroots].”
Ethan Chislett
Putting kids in the picture
After JOGA launched four years ago, JOGA Starz began when the Chislett brothers realised that the same kind of gear was not available for kids, the next generation of footballers. A third brother, Cruz, is nine-years-old and at Brighton’s academy, serving as their inspiration.
But the safety aspect of ensuring that children playing football are protected is crucial.
Liverpool and England legend John Barnes, a brand ambassador for JOGA Starz, was the epitome of flair in the 1980s. “In my day, shinpads were very important, because of the way tackles were. Even though now, it probably isn’t as violent as it was, you still have players getting injured by tackling,” he says. “A lot of the kids now see players take their shinpads off and wear socks around by their ankles. It’s important for kids to be aware of how necessary player safety is. Of course, now everything is all about style and what looks good, so if you can marry the two.”
Chislett continues: “Initially, to be honest, we probably got it wrong [with JOGA Starz]. We tried to just go, what we were thinking with JOGA about like the smaller shinpads, less about protection and more about the look. But as we progressed, we’ve catered more to the parents and brought our products up to where parents feel confident their kids wearing.
“We want to be everything for a footballer, from when the footballer gets their first pair of shinpads to when they play in professional leagues and the Champions League. We want to be there throughout their whole journey.
“Kids aren’t really making their own decisions at that age and those injuries could really stop their growth in the game. We wanted to move along the protection route and make sure we’re ticking all the boxes. That’s why we’re bringing out the ultra sleeve, which will be coming out this upcoming season. It’s CE certified and took us literally 12 months to get tested and created. We want to make the kids extremely happy and cool when they wear it, but on the other side, the people who are actually buying the product, the parents, that they’re happy with it as well.”
For Barnes and the older generation, uncomfortable or annoying shinpads – “If they stuck in the sock” – would only encourage players to discard them completely. “You know, you’re going to get a broken leg if you don’t wear shinpads. In the last 10 years, they don’t necessarily have those tackles all the time. But with the new JOGA-style shinpad, it’s a sleeve and you can’t take them off.”
(Image from IMAGO, all other images courtesy of SW / Will Aitchison)
For more on the JOGA Starz brand, check out the website – here.
Man United remain in a great position to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League this season, sealing a return to the Champions League in the process.
Last time out, Michael Carrick’s men could only draw 2-2 with Bournemouth and he will be looking to return to winning ways at Old Trafford against Leeds.
The reverse fixture finished 1-1 and Carrick knows that a victory will enable his team to remain in third place heading into the final six league matches of the season.
Having suffered just one defeat in his opening ten Premier League matches, another win will further bolster his chances of landing the top job on a permanent basis.
Former Man United midfielder Nicky Butt believes that the Red Devils will be far too good at home for their opponents.
“I really fancy Man United at Old Trafford at the moment. I think they’re on a roll where I just don’t see them getting beat. I think Man United in the next few games will just keep finding ways to win. It’s brilliant,” said Butt, who was speaking exclusively to Paddy Power.
“The players have stepped up to the plate. The coaches and the managers are doing a good job. I think they’ll get to third and I think they’ll continue to win.”
Leeds fighting hard to retain Premier League status
Leeds have only lost four league matches since the turn of the year and this form means they occupy 15th place in the table.
Daniel Farke has even led the club to a first FA Cup semi-final for 39 years and they will be looking to take this confidence to Old Trafford tonight.
The last time Leeds avoided defeat in either of the meetings against Man United in a top flight campaign was in 1994/95. Surely this enough incentive for Farke and his squad to seal another positive result.
Bryan Mbuemo and Benjamin Šeško have both scored ten goals each across all competitions this season. Carrick will be expecting them to continue their fine form over the next few weeks.
Across his last four Premier League games, Bruno Fernandes has registered six goal contributions and he can be United’s key man once again.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has endured somewhat of a rejuvenation this season. After scoring just 12 Premier League goals across his previous three campaigns, the Englishman is already on ten this term.
Brenden Aaronson scored in the 1-1 earlier this season and he could play another vital role for Farke at Old Trafford.
Prediction
Despite Leeds playing well in recent weeks, a trip to Old Trafford could prove to be a dauting task. Indeed, Leeds have not won at the ground since an FA Cup third round upset back in January 2010.
As such, expect the home side to deliver another three points, which will bolster their Champions League ambitions in the process.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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Spurs continue their battle to avoid sliding into the Championship with a long journey north to play a Sunderland team who are still playing for a place in Europe next season.
It’s been a busy three weeks off for crisis club Spurs
A combination of the international break and the FA Cup mean that it’s been three weeks since Spurs capitulated at home to Nottingham Forest, but that’s not to say that the club haven’t been busy in the meantime. Igor Tudor has now departed the head coach’s position and, in true Tottenham Hotspur style, have gone for a replacement who may prove divisive among the club’s fans in the form of Roberto De Zerbi.
A long trip north to Sunderland is probably the last thing that De Zerbi will have wanted. The Black Cats have been one of the surprise packages of the Premier League season, and although they’re down in 11th place in the table, they come into the match off the high of having beaten Newcastle United away from home in their last league match, while they’re still chasing a place in Europe for next season.
Sunderland haven’t beaten Spurs in a competitive match in 16 years
It’s been 16 years since Sunderland last beat Spurs in a competitive match, with that win coming by three goals to one at The Stadium of Light in April 2010. When the two clubs met earlier in the season at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium they drew 1-1, and curiously this was also the score between the two teams when they met at White Hart Lane during Spurs’ last relegation season, 1976/77. For those looking for omens for this weekend’s match, Sunderland won the return match at Roker Park 2-1.
Archie Gray has been one of the few Spurs players to emerge from this season with much credit
Few Spurs players have impressed this season, but one of those who has is midfielder Archie Gray, who’s played in several different positions over the course of this season but who is, at heart, a defensive midfielder. Gray has shown notable maturity under difficult circumstances this season, and he would be a big loss, should he decide that his development as a player would be served better elsewhere during the summer.
The £20 million that Sunderland paid Roma for the 21-year-old midfielder Enzo Le Fée is already starting to look like a bargain. Le Fée has been a consistent performer for the Black Cats in recent weeks, and he’s also their second-highest goalscorer behind Brian Brobbey in all competitions, with five, while he’s also contributed four assists in the Premier League.
Kudus setback is the latest in a long line of Spurs injuries
Spurs need strength of character from their team for a tough trip north
Reports from the training ground at Spurs have been that there’s been a positive reaction to the arrival of the new head coach, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be the quick success that the club needs if they’re to retain their Premier League status. And given his previous comments while at Marseille, his appointment has already been a deeply divisive one which has upset many supporters.
There is no manager that would get a great deal of patience at the moment, but the decision that the senior management of the club have made may get less than most. And the Brighton captain Lewis Dunk told the Telegraph in 2023 that De Zerbi’s early meetings with players were “baffling” and that his first fortnight at the Amex were “a carnage two weeks.”
Sunderland have had an excellent season, They were pre-season favourites to go down, but Régis Le Bris has done a superb job of keeping his team organised and picking enough points for relegation not to have been a major concern for the team all season. With seven games to play, they’re three points off a place in next season’s Europa Conference League, and five off a Europa League position. That’s quite an incentive to keep going until the end of the season.
Time is running out for Spurs to save their season, and with West Ham winning on Friday night, they will be sitting in the bottom three when they kick off at The Stadium of Light. The problem is that matches like this are a test of character, and they’ve shown precious little of that, this season. I’m going to say a 2-0 win for Sunderland, and any new manager bounce to be so slight as to be unnoticeable.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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