Aston Villa headlined a night of shock upsets in the Champions League, while Spurs’ rapid Micky van de Ven tops the pace charts in the Premier League.
EUROPEAN NIGHTS BRING BACK MEMORIES
Football fans waking up on Thursday morning might have felt they had climbed into a time capsule when looking at the previous night’s Champions League results. Winners of the 1982 European Cup Aston Villa had beaten Bayern Munich 1-0, Benfica beat Atletico Madrid 4-0, Lille upset Real Madrid 1-0, while Arsenal beat PSG 2-0.
It was a deliciously helter-skelter European week, summed up Feyenoord’s 3-2 win over Girona. That game saw a Champions League record two own goals and two missed penalties. When the dust settled, after the first two rounds of the expanded competition, only seven clubs had 100 per cent winning records.
SPURS DEFENDER QUICK OUT THE BLOCKS
Stars that are of academic interest only, but still add to the conversation that “player X has series gas” were officially released by the Premier League this week. We’re only a handful of games into the new season, but the top 10 “fastest players” – tracked by GPS – have been named.
Fastest is Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven, who clocked 36.8km when tracking back for a tackle against Man United. Last season he was also the fastest player, in a game against Brentford. The others in the top five are Anthony Elanga (Forest), Erling Haaland (Man City), Timo Werner (Tottenham) and Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal).
Micky van de Ven is RAPID! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/yhcej4646h
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 3, 2024
MARTIN A CANDIDATE TO WIN SACK RACE
As we know, a week is a long time in football and heading into the International break Erik ten Hag has shortened to odds-on favourite to be the EPL manager to win “the sack race” this season, his odds not improving after Thursday’s chaotic 3-3 European draw with Porto. Sean Dyche’s chances of being retained, for now, by Everton were improved when his side beat Crystal Palace last weekend.
Ten Hag meanwhile has the added burden of a baying media covering his every move. His days are numbered, but will he be the first EPL manager out the door for 2024/25? Russell Martin must surely be waiting for the phone call from his Southampton paymasters with the club losing five of their first six League matches.
BOURNEMOUTH FEELING THE HEAT OF VAR
Heading into this weekend’s EPL programme, here’s an update on how VAR has affected the season so far. There have been 12 VAR decisions overturned. Bournemouth have been most affected, with three goals disallowed.
Here’s how verdicts have affected clubs after goals were reviewed. Arsenal, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Man City, Newcastle (all +1 goal), Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Man United, Notts Forest (all levelled out), Ipswich and Leicester (-1) and Bournemouth (-3)
"I don't think there's anyway VAR know for a fact that it's handball."
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 25, 2024
The Super Sunday panel analyse IFAB's Laws of the Game on handling the ball during match play after Bournemouth's disallowed goal against Newcastle 👀❌ pic.twitter.com/jimq7vVGAP
ROONEY’S ‘GLUM’ PHOTO CAUSES CONCERN
In this age of clickbait, it’s easy to go down a rabbit hole, and discipline is needed to get back onto the more serious matter of football. One headline this past week was that former Newcastle star Andy Carroll, now 35, has split with his model wife after two turbulent years and is now dating a 40-year-old make-up artist who is a close friend of popstar Harry Styles.
There’s a lot to take in there. Other headlines (and photos) were of Wayne Rooney. He was caught looking glum in the stands as Man United lost 3-0 to Spurs. As one would be. An image of “Rooney” with the caption “Wayne Rooney, Plympoyth Head Coach”, was posted with one Facebook contributor saying, “What’s happened to Wayne Rooney?” It was actually a photo of his uncle.
Wayne Rooney watches on 👀 pic.twitter.com/vAcr5LxdQl
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 29, 2024
THIS WEEK’S UPDATE ON THE ‘UPSETS’ PREDICTOR
An update on a formula that throws up upsets for Superbru players looking to go against the grain. Last week we said Aston Villa wouldn’t beat Ipswich (they drew), Forest wouldn’t beat Fulham (they lost), Everton would beat Palace (they did), and Liverpool to concede against Wolves (they did).
This weekend the big surprise would be Chelsea failing to beat Forest at Stamford Bridge, while elsewhere the imperfect system says West Ham and Ipswich no draw, Man City keeping a clean sheet against Fulham and Villa not conceding against Man United.
