In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Headlines 📌

• What 2 Look 4 👀 

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Hot Takes

• Off Island 🏝️ - Tell Me If You’ve Heard This One

• Best Bets 💰

Headlines 📌

• Pencil This One In. Newcastle v Man United Saturday 2pm cst on USA. The Magpies have come out of the international break looking like they did to start the season and getting a contending team at home seems to bring out the best of this team and their fans. United looked in top form against Everton last week and again for most of their match in the Champions League. Will be a tough one for United and any points would be welcome.

• 5. 5. Weekend. 5 Saturday, 5 Sunday.

• How NOT To Keep a CleanSheet. Will just leave this here. (1m X). This happened in the final minute of a 0-0 match in League One between Barnsley and Wycombe.

• 7 Match Weeks in December. Lots of PL matches as we head into December, starting next week with Match Week 15 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

  • Match Week 15 - December 5, 6, 7

  • Match Week 16 - December 9,10

  • European Competitions - December 12, 13, 12

  • Match Week 17 - December 15, 16, 17

  • Match Week 18 - December 21, 22, 23, 24

  • Match Week 19 - December 26, 27, 28

  • Match Week 20 - December 30, 31, January 1, 2

• 2023 FIFA Club World Cup. Wiki. What happens when FIFA wants to make more $? Well, you set up a tournament with each of the teams who won their “confederations” championship last year. There are 7 confederations - aligned to the World Cup.

  • UEFA - Man City represents Europe after winning the Champions League last year.

  • CONMEBOL - South America. Fluminense from Brazil.

  • AFC - Asia. Urawa Red Diamonds from Tokyo, Japan.

  • CAF - Africa. Al Ahly, Cairo, Egypt;

  • CONCACAF - North America. Leon, Mexico.

  • OCF - Oceana. Auckland City, New Zealand.

  • HOST CLUB - this year Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad.

  • Man City and Fluminense have byes into the Semi Finals based on world rankings. Semi-finals begin 12/18 with the Final on 12/22.

• Season Schedule. Check out the overall schedule here - The PL Calendar incl Europe, Intl Breaks & how to watch | CleanSheetEPL (beehiiv.com).

• USA. USA. USA. The USA is set to host 3 major men’s international soccer competitions over the next three years. Copa America in 2024, FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 and the World Cup in 2026. Stay tuned to the CleanSheet, and share it, for the basic content you’ve come accustomed to.

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 14

THREE - Top of Table Contenders.

• Newcastle v Man United (Sat) - See Above.

• Man City v Tottenham (Sun) - Not the place you want to be headed if you are Spurs. Injured and on a 3 game losing streak expect City to control possession and let the aggressive approach Spurs take create opportunities on the back line.

• Chelsea v BHA (Sun) - The Seagulls continue to find ways to pull games out. The Blues are a little all over the board but if they stay disciplined, they have a chance to roll here.

THREE - Relegation Contenders.

• Burnley v Sheffield United (Sat) - Will say it this way - if the Clarets have any chance at staying up, they need to win here.

• Forest v Everton (Sat) - Pretty evenly matched on paper. Everton needs a response after the 10-point deduction. Forest is in matches but doesn't seem to have the home magic they are used to. Can they find it this weekend?

• Brentford v Luton Town (Sat) - The Hatters are big underdogs, but they have been pretty sticky so far this season. Brentford went into the break on a 3-game win streak but have not lost in a row out of it.

Four - Looking To Hold Serve.

• Arsenal v Wolves (Sat) - Gooners rolled in the CL and hope to do the same to a Wolves team feeling snake bit by injuries and VAR. Arsenal expects all 3 points.

• Liverpool v Fulham (Sun) - Klopp's side is the biggest favorite of the weekend and have a lot of momentum. FFC pulled one out against Wolves last week but unimpressively. Will the Reds be up for this one. Liverpool expects all 3 points.

• West Ham v Palace (Sun) - Interesting matchup. West Ham like to counterattack while Palace has only 13 goals on the season (3 teams have fewer). Expect a lot of midfield play here with Palace dominating the shots taken, but West Ham dominating the shots on target. West Ham expect all 3 points at home.

• Bournemouth v Villa (Sun) - Villa has been dominating at home but came up with a great away win at Spurs last week. The Cherries have won 3 of 4 after going winless the first 9 weeks. Villa expects all 3 points, but Bournemouth’s form may push this match to the end.

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

“Hot Takes”

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.

5 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

• Tell me if you’ve heard this one. VAR screwed up again costing another team a win in a key situation. This time Newcastle was up 1-0 in Paris over PSG in the 8^th minute of extra time and got called for a hand ball that UEFA officials apologized for after the fact and then suspended the VAR officials. Mbappe converted for the draw 1-1.

  • The Play (15s X).

  • EUFA’s response (X).

  • VAR team replaced (30s X).

  • Huge impact to the Group table, with 1 match remaining.

    • Dortmund 10 points

    • PSG 7 points

    • Newcastle 5 points

    • AC Milan 3 points.

• Man United led on several occasions but just couldn’t hold on in Turkey and drew 3-3 with Galatasaray. Many are placing some of the blame on Goal Keeper Onana who has now conceded 14 CL goals, the most of any keeper. Should he have saved this? (15s X).

• Man City gets the comeback win at home, down 0-2 at half scored 3 goals in 2H to beat Leipzig.

• Arsenal roll at home 6-0 over Lens.

Europa League

• West Ham beat FK TSC Backa Topola 1-0 with a late goal in Serbia. The Hammers and Freiburg are tied at the top of the Group, and both teams have advanced to the knockout round. West Ham host Freiburg on 12/14 in the final match of the Group.

• Liverpool beat LASK at Anfield 4-0. The Reds wi their Group and advance to the knockout round.

• BHA beat AEK Athens in Greece 1-0 to secure a spot in the knockout stage. A big win on the road for BHA who now host Marseille on 12/14 to determine who wins the Group.

Europa Conference

• Aston Villa beat Legia at Villa Park 2-1. Villa advance to the knockout round.

Best Bets 💰

Guest Picker - No picker this week.

CleanSheet Picker Standings

CleanSheet Season Gains/Losses: Starting Balance $1000. Current Standing $909.

Liverpool to Win v Fulham -375. $75.

Brentford to Win v Luton Town -220. $44.

West Ham to Win v Palace +100. $20.

Arsenal to Win v Wolves -320. $64.

Newcastle to Win v Man United -105. $20.

Newcastle Man United O2.5 -130. $26.

Chelsea BHA O3.5 +135. $20.