In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Headlines 📌

• What 2 Look 4 👀 

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Financial Fair Play & Everton

• Off Island 🏝️ - Champions League

• Best Bets 💰

Headlines 📌

• Pencil This One In. Bournemouth v Burnley Saturday 9am cst on Peacock. Huh? Must watch these two? Early season matchup that could have a big impact on the relegation battle. A Cherries loss could be the end of manager Antoni Iraola. Both need points.

• 1. 4. 5. Weekend. 1 game Friday, 4 Saturday, 5 Sunday.

• Manchester Derby. United host City Sunday, 1030am cst.

  • City are pretty big favorites on the road -150 to Win, +290 to Draw. United is +390 to WIN.

  • By their standards and expectations - both sides are struggling this year, United more than City. Old Trafford has not been a home field advantage, MU have lost 2 of 5 at home and looked unimpressive in their wins 1-0, 3-2 and 2-1.

  • Separated by 4 miles, the size and success of both clubs brings on this heated rivalry each year.

  • Maybe you remember this Commercial - “Born Into It” (60s YT)

  • With all the success lately for City, they still are behind United in the win column. In 190 matches, United has 78W 59L 53D.

  • Most recently, Man U lost to City 1-2 to win the FA Cup Final in 2023.

  • 1962 - the last time a player was transferred from one club to the other.

  • Just 4.5 miles separate Old Trafford and the Etihad.

• COYS (Come On You Spurs). Tottenham kick off the weekend on Friday at the top of the table. This will be a good indicator of their ability to contend this year. A solid middle of the table team in Palace that defends well at home. Contenders get points in this situation; true title contenders get 3 points in most of these matches.

Great to see subscribers of the CleanSheet out and about watching last weekend’s matches!

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 10

The ¼ Pole of the season.

Derby’s - One bigger than the other.

• Man United v Man City (Sun) - See Above.

• Chelsea v Brentford (Sat) - West London Derby. 5 miles separate the two stadiums in one of London’s “higher society” areas. Since Brentford and Chelsea have not been in the same league for most of their existence, only 18 matches have been played with Chelsea leading the way 9W 6L 3D. This match is much bigger for Chelsea as they try to keep the momentum moving forward on the season and need to hold serve at home.

Home Upset Alert? Why do the bookmakers have these home clubs with such a short line?

• Bournemouth +116 v Burnley +230 (Sat) - See Above.

• West Ham +104 v Everton +245 (Sun) - West Ham is coming off a tough Europa League loss Thursday while Everton have been dealing with uncertainty around Financial Fair Play accusations. Will the weeks rest help the Toffee’s, the line seems to be giving them a better chance than many might think.

• BHA -200 v Fulham +475 (Sun) - The Seagulls got off to a hot start but have just 1 win in their last 6 matches. It will take a complete effort on the south coast to handle FFC who have found ways to take points on the road this year.

Road Upset Alert?

• Wolves +350 v Newcastle -130 (Sat) - The Magpies are coming off a disappointing home loss to Dortmund Wednesday and now they need to head down to the west midlands to take on a confident Wolverhampton.

• Palace +325 v Tottenham -130 (Fri) - Spurs are still undefeated after 9 matches, and a road W at South London side would be a nice boost after international break. Palace does what palace does, sit middle of the pack. 3W 3D 3L, 12 points and tied for 10^th. Can Palace D up and find the net?

Significant Favorites.

• Arsenal +2000 v Sheffield United (Sat) - This is a mismatch. Anything can happen (see Minnesota Vikings over SF from MNF), but this feels like Vanderbilt taking SF.

• Liverpool +950 v Forest (Sun) - The Tricky Trees have found ways to stay in matches this year. 8 of their 9 matches have been within a goal or a draw, with the only multi goal game being a 0-2 loss at City. The Reds played Thursday, however sat many starters and should be fresh for the match.

• Villa +1100 v Luton Town (Sun) - Villa have been goal scoring machines, especially at home. The Hatters snuck out a draw at Forest but Villa Park may be a different experience.

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

Financial Fair Play & Everton - Potentially a big - 12 point- Issue

For the basics of FFP see:  Hot Topic Section of Match Week 2 Preview).

Background

In June of 2023 the Premier League governing body (3 min ready) started investigating Everton for violating Financial Fair Play rules. (3 min read on BBC). This week the PLGB recommended a record breaking 12 Point deduction for Everton (3 min read on 90min.com) . As you would expect, Everton “contests the findings” and are seeking an Independent review of the situation from a third party. This review is expected to complete this calendar year and a decision to come before January 2024.

The Claim

In short, Clubs are not allowed to incur over $130M in losses over a rolling 3-year period. It is believed Everton have lost close to $450M the last 3 years, that's over 3x. Everton has claimed that the losses are due to an issue with Taxes around securing loans for the construction of their new stadium at Branley-Moore Dock (expected to be completed in 2024). In addition, Everton claim the pandemic contributed to some losses and there have been exceptions given to other clubs for similar scenarios. This comes down to accounting, exceptions and the intention of Everton's spending.

The Impact

12 Points is a lot. Typically, to avoid relegation clubs target 40 points or more, as historically that is the safety line. It feels this year may be below that number given the start for Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Burnley and Luton Town. But even so, it will be a big ask for Everton to overcome an additional 12 points. Toffee fans will be nervously awaiting the results of the review.

In addition, there has been a takeover bid for the club (1 min read on talkSPORT) this year by 777 Partners, a US based investment company.

Is this infraction worthy of 12 points and a strong possibility of relegation? Only time will tell how it stacks up to other Football Investigations.

Off Island 🏝️

Champions League. Europa League. Europa Conference. Check out the Off Island section of the match week 4 preview clean sheet for more on The Champions League.

3 of 6 Matches Complete in the Group Stage. For more detail, here is a link to EUFA Champions League coverage, Europa League, and Europa Conference.

Champions League Matches Mid-Week

• Man United beat Copenhagen 1-0, late on a Harry Maguire Header (15s X) and giving the Red Devils hope to jump over Galatasaray for second in the remaining 3 matches.

• Arsenal beat Sevilla 2-1, hanging on late and moving them to top of the Group B.

• Man City beat Young Boys 3-1 in Austria. City are firmly in control of Group G.

• Newcastle lose at home to Dortmund . Big W for the German side, who won for the first time in England in 10 matches. Group F is up for grabs.

• Also in Group F, PSG beat AC Milan 3-0 in Paris.

Standings through 3 of 6 matches.

Europa League

• West Ham lose to Olympiacos 1-2 and remain tied top of the Group but that breaks their 17-game unbeaten streak in European competitions.

• Liverpool dominates Toulouse 5-1 at Anfield and lead the Group.

• BHA beat Ajax at the Amex 2-0 and Group B is up for grabs.

Europa Conference

• Aston Villa dominate AZ Alkmaar and win 4-1 and sit top of the Group.

Best Bets 💰

Adding a New Segment - Guest Picker

If you would like to be a guest picker reply to this email and we will get you on the list!

CleanSheet Season Gains/Losses: Starting Balance $1000. Current Standing $682.

West Ham to WIN +104 v Everton. $20.

Villa to WIN -400 v Luton Town. $200

Wolves +340 to WIN v Newcastle. $10.

Wolves +300 to DRAW v Newcastle. $10.

BHA Fulham to DRAW +330. $20.

Man City -150 to WIN at Man United. $30

Tottenham to WIN the League +1000. $20

• It's still early, but Spurs have shown enough to be in the discussion for top 4 of the league. Getting +1000 to win it all is a bet CS is willing to make.