Laurie Whitwell November 11 marks a year since Ruben Amorim touched down in England and headed to Carrington for his first day as Manchester United head coach. It has been a tumultuous 12 months since, with several lows, some highs, and a recent glimmer of hope, but then again the atmosphere at the club he […]
Anantaajith Raghuraman Welcome to the 11th edition of The Alternative Premier League Table, where each Thursday, Anantaajith Raghuraman analyses the entire division through a specific lens. After looking at goal contributions from new faces for each club last week, this edition’s focus is on expected goals against (xGA). As usual, the article that follows is […]
The Athletic UK Staff After Chelsea’s win over Spurs at the weekend, Robert Sanchez called his team-mate Moises Caicedo “the best player on the planet in his position”. That comment began a discussion about whether it is Caicedo or Arsenal’s Declan Rice who is the Premier League’s foremost midfielder at present, with a poll of […]
Oliver Kay This is football heritage. A four-word sentence that became a meme after Jose Mourinho said it seven times in a single press conference. This was the opposite of “I prefer not to speak”. It was March 2018 and Manchester United had been beaten at Old Trafford by Sevilla in the Champions League’s first […]
Thom Harris The coin toss: performative pre-match bureaucracy, or a chance to land an early psychological blow? For most football fans, the 60 seconds leading up to kick-off is a vague time of excitement and contemplation only interrupted by two things; the referee’s whistle or the dreaded, for the match-goer, sight of the goalkeeper picking […]
The Athletic UK Staff As the Premier League gets bigger and bigger, so – it seems – do the stadiums that play host to it. The vast majority of clubs in the top flight have either drawn up plans to expand their grounds to service the overwhelming demand or are poised to open gleaming new […]
The Athletic UK Staff However, Douglas Luiz is Villa’s catalyst in midfield, with five goals and constant dependency and he is the player who binds together Emery’s principles, with and without the ball. He has reached a point where he is among the Premier League’s most complete midfielders. Jacob Tanswell Douglas Luiz is developing into […]