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25/26 Match Week 3 Recap
Fleetwood, Too Young & Spaceship
nick lochner
August 26, 2025
In partnership with
Congrats to Liverpool native and Everton Fan Tommy Fleetwood on his first PGA Tour Title and on winning the Tour Championship - not a bad weekend earning the $10M prize - on the same day Everton open their new stadium Hill Dickinson Stadium.
For those not following along, Fleetwood had been in so many matches but didn’t close the deal. Recently, Fleetwood was quoted as saying “With every disappointment I truly know I’m closer and closer and even more determined than ever that I will get this done.” Great Perseverance, Grit. Toffee. 164 starts, 1 win.
In Today’s CleanSheet:
Results 🏟️
Current Situation📈📉
Quick Kicks ⚽
Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Tackles - who lead NFL
Off Island 🏝️ - Drone Footage
Best Bets 💰
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Results 🏟️
Match of the Match Week.
It’s always tough heading north to St James’ Park and Liverpool found that out for the first 35 minutes as Newcastle controlled play and had chance after chance. Yet, it was Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch to score a goal before HT. To top it off, Anthony Gordan played out of control and picked up a Red Card for Newcastle right before the half. The match seemed over when Hugo Ekitike scored for the Red’s right out of HT to take a 2-0 lead. Yet, just like MW1, the Red’s took their foot off the gas and let Newcastle back in it with a Bruno Guimaraes goal at 57’. From then on, it was all Newcastle with chance after chance. And, at 88’ William Osula equalized for Newcastle. And again, just like MW1 for Liverpool, after giving up their 2-goal lead they found the net in extra time to take all three points when 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha scored at 90+10’. Rio is the 4th youngest player to score in the PL behind James Vaughan, James Milner, and Wayne Rooney. Tough one for Newcastle to end on, deserving at least a point.
 🟥 = red card impacted the match Watch all the action in this 2 min highlight OR you can watch each separate highlight below. | Newcastle control play, yet Liverpool strike first at 35’. Ryan Gravenberch goal. Newcastle down to 10 men at 45+3’. Anthony Gordon with the Red Card. Terrible decision by Gordon. Just 22 seconds into the half. Hugo Ekitike makes it 2-0 Reds just 22 seconds into the 2H. Newcastle play out of their mind down a man and Liverpool are off balance. Liverpool steal all three points at 100’. Rio Ngumoha (16 year old wearing #73) calmly finishes at 90+10’ on a great cross and then step over by Szoboszlai to give the Red’s all three points. Rio came on the pitch at 90+6’. |
Well Earned 3 Points.
 🟥 = red card impacted the match | Not as close as the score suggests. Marcus Tavernier scored at 4’, The Cherries controlled the stat sheet yet needed to play out the full time as Wolves kept it close. The final 40’ Wolves were down a man as Toti Gomes took a red car right out of the half. |
 | Promoted Duel. Big win for Burnley over another Promoted side. The Black Cats seemed to have the more consistent play in the 1H at Turf Moor, yet just 1 shot on goal to the Claret’s zero. The 2H was all Burnley, as captain Josh Cullen scored at 47’ right out of half and Anthony put it away at 88’. |
Surprise!
 | Frank does it again. Spurs manager has had more success than any other manager against Pep and that continued as he brought his new side, Spurs, into Etihad. Both sides won convincingly in MW1 but it was Spurs who went into Etihad and controlled the play deserving all three points. Brennan Johnson put Spurs up at 35’. Then James Trafford, City’s new young goalie who dominated for Burnley last season showed he has some work to do to be at the PL level. Trafford turnover led to Spurs second at 45+2’. |
 | Not what we are used to seeing. Villa are off to a slow start, looking sluggish and not creating chances. Against Bee’s, Villa went down 1 at 12’ when Brentford’s Dango Ouattara showed some great speed and then took advantage of a little luck. The Bee’s then set back playing a countering game allowing Villa to own possession at 64%, but in 17 shots Villa only had 2 on target. A nice home debut win for Keith Andrews |
Drilled.
 | All Gunners. 2-0 at HT, 65% possession and allowing just 3 shots to Leeds. What’s being talked about after the match are (1) Arsenal seem more geared towards a title run this season than seasons past and (2) Injuries, as Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both left the field injured for Arsenal. Good think Arsenal signed Eze. |
 | Trouble. The Hammers are in trouble. They don’t look ready for the season. A promising start at home saw them up 1-0 at 6’ and then what looked to be a second shortly after. But that goal was called offside by VAR and that’s when Chelsea took over scoring three 1H goals on their way to a route. |
Man United Watch.
 | From an MU perspective, it’s a point and MUCH better play than last season, yet not a win. From a FFC perspective, it’s another draw from a side that is looking pretty good. A wild part of the game - obvious penalties in the box probably should’ve been “offsetting” yet VAR decides Penalty - then Bruno Fernandez misses. Man United is playing better than last season. Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports on X) breaks it down a “fair result” pitchside. |
Added Drama.
Palace Manager Oliver Glasner has The Eagles in Europe, winning cups and winning in the PL, yet there is frustration in the club’s desire/inability to bring in players and add depth - highlighted by Eze leaving the club for Arsenal this week. Add to it the fact Palace was moved from the Europa League down to the UEFA Conference League in Europe because of multi-club ownership rules before the season - and replace by Nottingham Forest in the EL - and that sets the stage for the behind-the-scenes storyline of this matchup.
 | Reinforcements Needed. Drama aside, Palace took the lead at 37’ when Ismaila Sarr scored, yet the match was pretty even. Palace seem to struggle with their depth as they prepare for another mid-week match and that meant a very young lineup. And in the 2H, Forest equalized at 57’ when Callum Hudson-Odoi converted a great pass from Ndoye. A fair result for both sharing the points. Palace have yet to beat Forest in 11 PL matches with 7D and 4L. |
They Swapped A Museum For A Spaceship.
Energy was high in Liverpool as Everton opened Hill Dickinson Stadium, at Bramley-Moore Dock. Looking forward to hearing how all the logistics went as the stadium sits right on the water with very little developed space all around the park. Expectations are high this season for the Toffee’s and from the pictures/coverage the stadium and fans did not disappoint. And for the record books - Iliman Ndiaye scores the first goal at HDS on a great assist from Jack Grealish.
 They swapped a museum for a spaceship Everton Fans - Here is the intro of the coverage of “moving in day”. They swapped a museum for a spaceship. | History before our eyes. A win for Everton over another top 10 contender this year in BHA. After Ndiaye scored the first ever goal at HDS James Garner added a second at 52’ and Jordan Pickford saved a PK on Denny Welbeck (a pretty poor effort) to preserve a clean sheet and all three points. BHA had more shots in the match and may feel like they should have 4-6 points on the season as opposed to the 1 they have. |
Current Situation 📈📉
Standings
Current Table 
| Season Clean Sheets by Team  |
Goals & Clean Sheets
How does the current 25/26 season compare to EPL averages for goals and clean sheets.
Goals 28 Match Week 2 26.0 25/26 Season Average (G/MW)
| Clean Sheets 6 Match Week 2 7.5 25/26 Season Average (G/MW)
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Goal Scorers
This season, CS is hoping to give a little more insight into specific players - we will start with goal scorers. There is way more to the game than who scores the goal, but we’ll start here.
1 Goal Scorers (players season goals if more than 1)
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2 Goals
| 3+ Goals
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Quick Kicks ⚽
Too Young? Two young new players showed up this MW and some pundits are asking if 15 years old, even if skilled enough, is too young to be playing in the League. The CS answer is, yes, but who is going to stop them.
We discussed 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha above.
15 Years 235 Days. Max Dowman came on for Arsenal against Leeds and became the second youngest player to ever play in the PL at 15 years 235 days old. Number one on the list? Ethan Nwaneri at 15 years 181 days, Dowman’s teammate on Arsenal who set the record in 2002.
Just 2 Weeks. It took until October for all 3 promoted sides to get a win last season. This season all three promoted sides, Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland have all won already, in August. It’s still early, but it does seem like all three promoted sides could make a run to stay up.
Balance. Just 2 teams have zero points, Wolves and West Ham. Just 5 teams have 4+ points. 13 teams have 1-3 points.
Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥
Tackles
Not the offensive lineman 2 men over from Center.  Joe Thomas | Not the form tackle in American football  Jadeveon Clowney |
We are talking about a soccer tackle - officially defined as: when a player connects with the ball in a legal, ground level challenge and successfully takes the ball away from the opposition player. The tackled player must be in controlled possession of the ball to be tackled by the opposition player. The play is risk/reward. If you miss a tackle and kick/hit/take down the player, you are at risk of a penalty/yellow card/red card. |  |
Why are we talking tacking? Joao Palhinha.
Joao Maria Lobo Alves Palhares Costa Palhinha Goncalves, Joao Palhinha, is a Portuguese national who’s first EPL experience came with Fulham from 2022-2024. The 30-year-old then spent a season at Bayern Munich before Tottenham Hotspur signed him during this summer transfer window.
Joao has played in both of Spurs matches this season, scoring in their match against Man City. Yet, it’s this stat they signed him.
Joao has more tackles/match in the EPL than any other player over the last 3 seasons - and has the third most total tackles - and he’s only played in the EPL 2 of those 3 seasons.
CS Data
Tackles leader over last 3 seasons in the EPL
Joao Palhinha (spurs) - 300 tackles, 68 matches = 4.41 t/m
Idrissa Gana Gueye (everton) - 303 tackles, 87 matches = 3.48 t/m
Joao Gomes (wolves) - 273 tackles, 81 matches = 3.37 t/m
Moises Caicedo (chelsea) - 305 tackles, 103 matches = 2.96 t/m
Off Island 🏝️
Drone Footage.
Get a feel for each team’s stadium from this cool aerial footage - above the ground drone footage counts as “off island”.
20 TEAMS. 20 STADIUMS. Enjoy an aerial view of every Premier League ground for the 2025/26 season. 🎥
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer)
5:51 PM • Aug 15, 2025
Best Bets 💰
Season - Up $169
Match Week 2 Results
UP $183
W $20 - Bournemouth to Win v Wolves -126. $25
W $20 - Chelsea to win at West Ham -149. $30
W $22 - Palace Forest to draw +220. $20
W $26 - Burnley to Win v Sunderland +129. $20
W $20 - Arsenal to Win by -1.5 goals v Leeds -137. $27
L ($20) - Man City v Spurs Over 3.5 goals +110. $20
W $22 - Chelsea, Arsenal, Bournemouth to Win +220. $10
W $73 - Chelsea, Arsenal, Bournemouth, Burnley to Win +730. $10
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