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- 25/26 Match Week 3 Recap
25/26 Match Week 3 Recap
Not So Fast My Friend
nick lochner
September 03, 2025
In partnership with
Not So Fast My Friend!
In 1987, Lee Corso left his coaching career and hired onto ESPN’s College GameDay studio program. In 1993 that show hit the road and broadcast from the stadium of the “biggest matchup” of the week. And in 1996, Corso would put his first headgear on (Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye") for his first prediction. This weekend Corso signed off of College GameDay for the final time - at Ohio State predicting a Buckeye win.
Lee Corso & Chris Fowler - GameDay 1996
3 of Lee’s best clips…..(X)
And - on his final day Lee went 6 of 6 on his picks and all of the teams he played on or coached for won.
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In Today’s CleanSheet:
Results 🏟️
Current Situation📈📉
Quick Kicks ⚽
Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- CS Hot Takes
Off Island 🏝️ - International Break
Best Bets 💰
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Results 🏟️
Top 3.
Drama and brilliance for Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea who seem to be the favorites to finish top 3 after 3 weeks into the season.
 | Advantage Liverpool. The Red’s take the first round of this one. It was a pretty blah match as the play did not live up to the hype. Arsenal seemed to play pretty conservatively. Liverpool finally got some defensively stability and took the CS. Points should’ve probably been shared, yet Liverpool found a way on BRILLIANCE from Szobolszlai (pronounced So-Bo-Sly).
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 | Chelsea closed the 1H and opened the 2H with goals to earn the 3 points. Yet, VAR overshadowed this match. It seemed FFC opened the scoring at 22’, but the goal was called off on what after the match would be called a WRONG DECISION. The VAR Referee has been suspended. Maybe Chelsea comes back to win anyway, but the game would be completely different, and the Cottagers were definitely shaken from the decision. |
SHOCKER.
 | Forest had been rolling at home and the Hammer’s looked completely lost. Yet this match was tied into the 84’ when West Ham took the lead and then added 2 more in the final five minutes to get their first win of the season and take the pressure off Graham Potter at least for the moment. |
 | No wins, no goals. What a bad start to the season for Villa. This club looks uninspired. They have the Europa League on the schedule this season and are going to need a big turnaround. Oliver Glasner, on the other hand, has Palace off to a solid start with no losses. |
 | City would go months without losing but it was two losses in a row as City went to the South coast and blew a 1 goal lead. BHA deserved all three points, they were the better side for more of the match.
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 | Bourmouth are way out-kicking their coverage. They look good and went into Tottenham and completely cooled off a side playing with great energy. The Cherries took the momentum right off the bat on a goal by Evanilson at 5’ and completely controlled the match all 90’ |
90+!
 90+6’ | Something special going on at the Stadium of Light and that is 2 wins in 2 matches at home for the Black Cats. This one was deserved but it took until 90+6’ to seal it. |
 90+7’ | United came off a mid-week loss at League 2 side Grimsby Town and were in an old-fashioned dog fight at Old Trafford to recently promoted side Burnley, and it took a tight VAR penalty call in extra time to get all three points. |
Meh.
 | Both sides struggled to create chances with just 3 shots on goal total, 2 by Newcastle. A better point for Leeds, as the promoted side need points every time they play at Elland Road. Newcastle continues to struggle out of the gate. |
Managers Matter.
 | A new season, new ownership, new manager, new stadium and new attacking players - and it seems like Everton are a brand new team. No longer just the defend at all cost approach, Everton are looking like a complete team. OR, Wovles are just not very good. Both things may be true. While this one finished tight, it felt light Everton controlled the match when their 3-1 lead was cut to 3-2 late. |
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 26 Match Week 2 26.0 25/26 Season Average (G/MW)
| Clean Sheets 7 Match Week 2 7.3 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 ⚽
Close the Window. Summer Transfer Season is over, and the biggest drama was saved for the last minute.
Alexander Isak is finally headed from Newcastle to Liverpool.
Marc Guehi was on his way to Liverpool, until Palace Manager Oliver Glasner stepped in and put an ultimatum on the table - sell Guehi and I walk. Here’s a good, detailed breakdown of the drama.
Way too many moves to comment on each one so here is a list of the 20 PL teams and their NET SPEND for the Summer.
ten Hag. Remember Erik ten Hag, the Man United manager. After getting sacked by United last season he went to Bayer Leverkusen of German Bundesliga. Well, he lasted 2 games.
Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥
CS 🔥🔥🔥Takes
2-team Title Race. Liverpool & Arsenal - both sides got much better this Summer. This may come down to one thing - do the Gunner’s have enough of a “winners’ edge”. Liverpool’s current roster has experience winning cups, and that could be the difference.
Promoted Sides. All 3 - Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland have the ability to stay up. And if they do, who are the 3 sides to drop? Wolves look like they are volunteering. Unlike the last couple years, teams can’t rely on a bad season keeping them at least 17th or better. Teams cannot afford long pointless droughts this year.
Shite. Wolves & Villa have been. No points for Wolves and no goals for Villa.
Everton will make Europe, finishing in the top 7.
Amorim will be out of United before Christmas.
Jose Mourinho, the manager, will be back in the EPL before Christmas.
VAR/Replace Sucks. How many times can you say it. VAR has lost the narrative. It has not idea how to determine what a “clear and obvious” error is. This was on full display AGAIN this weekend.
Burnley got screwed at Man United - one - hand can be off-side
Burnley got screwed at Man United - two - outside the box, should be a free kick not a pk
Fulham got screwed at Chelsea.
Ex-fan and current SXM pundit Rodney Marsh said it simply in 30s.
FFC manager Marco Silva “It’s hard enough facing a team that’s spent billions - add VAR backing and shocking officiating, and you’re not even playing football anymore.”
Off Island 🏝️
International Break.
We’ve talked about other leagues and competitions across Europe. Now, across (most of) the world, those leagues take a “break” for players to join their countries teams. Not every player makes their countries teams, so for them they get a break. This is also a time for teams to regroup, take a breath and prepare for Match Week 4 which kicks off 9/13/24.
Over 200 players will be on International Duty from the PL over the next 10 days.
This international break see’s National Teams playing 3 kinds of matches:
World Cup Qualifiers - North America, South America, Oceanic, UEFA and Africa.
Friendlies - The USMNT, Canada and Mexico are already in the World Cup as hosts and they will be playing Asia sides in friendlies.
For players on the English National Team or even other European teams, it's not a big inconvenience. For those from off island, it can be a major inconvenience.
In 2022, Christian Pulisic was playing for Chelsea and then the USMNT, here was his schedule.
3/13 Chelsea hosted Newcastle in the EPL in London
3/16 Chelsea traveled to Lille France for the Champions League match to advance in that tournament winning 2-1
3/19 Chelsea played Middlesboro in the FA Cup
3/24 Traveled to Mexico, USA played in Mexico City
3/27 Traveled to Orlando, USA played Panama
3/30 Traveled to Rica San Jose, USA played Costa Rica
4/2 Traveled back to London, Chelsea hosts Brentford in EPL
4/6 Stay in London as Chelsea hosts Real Madrid in Elite 8 of Champions League
Close to 15,000 miles traveled and 8 matches in 3 weeks.
According to Grok - Nottingham Forest have the most players playing this International Break - 17.
6 will play in the UK
6 in Europe
2 in Africa
2 in South America
1 In Oceania (New Zealand)
While every team has some players called up, there is a significant gap.
Fewest - Sunderland has 3 players.
9 clubs have 10 or more.
11 clubs have 9 or less.
Best Bets 💰
Season - Up $159
MW1 ($14)
MW2 $183
MW3 ($10)
Match Week 3 Results
DOWN $10
L ($25) - Forest to Win v West Ham -124. $25
L ($29) - Tottenham to win v Bournemouth -145. $29
W $36 - Sunderland to Win v Brentford +180. $20
W $37 - Everton to Win at Wolves +184. $20
L ($20) - Arsenal to Win at Liverpool +242. $20
W $31 - Chelsea to Win via CS v FFC +157. $20
L ($10) - Burnley to Win at Man United +701. $10
L ($10) - Chelsea, Spurs, Man City, Forest to Win +681. $10
L ($10) - Spurs, Forest, Sunderland +728. $10
L ($10) - Everton, Arsenal to Win +834. $10
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