In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Headlines 📌

• What 2 Look 4 👀 

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- FIFA

• Off Island 🏝️ - USMNT, Uruguay and Argentina

• Best Bets 💰

WELCOME BACK. CleanSheet just returned from a short vacation during the International Break. Looking forward to a great slate of matches this weekend!

Headlines 📌

• Pencil This One In. Chelsea v Arsenal Saturday 1130am cst on NBC. OK - yes, this does run into the 11am window of NCAA Football and you may need to have 2 TVs running to catch Penn St/Ohio St. It feels like Chelsea figured something out before the break winning back-to-back matches while Arsenal is coming off their biggest win of the season over City. A win by either team may be a springboard to better things.

• 8. 1. 1. Weekend. Eight games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday, 1 on Monday. CS would prefer the PL would spread these out more, too many overlaps.

• Merseyside Derby. Liverpool hosts Everton to kick off the weekend 630am on USA.

  • Liverpool fans outweigh Everton fans more than 2 to 1.

  • The longest running top-flight derby in England, a match has been played every year since 1962.

  • In 242 Matches Liverpool has 98W 67L 77D.

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

  • For more on LIVERPOOL or EVERTON and the Merseyside Derby, click the respective links.

• What’s Gone Wrong. You know it’s been a rough International Break when all the headlines for two weeks surrounding your club are centered on “What’s Wrong With…” or “How to Fix…”

  For Bournemouth and Brentford, the media has been pretty nice….

  • Bournemouth (short read) - All things may not be lost for Bournemouth as their “numbers” are better this year than last, and their schedule has been weighted significantly to the top of the table.

  • Brentford (short read) - Like Bournemouth, The Bee’s “numbers” are better than their results this year. They have scored 3.18 goals below their Expected Goals (xG) and conceded 2.15 goals more than their Expected Goals Against (xGA). This was very noticeable in the match against MU just before the break, a 1-2 loss at Old Trafford conceding both goals in the final 3 minutes of extra time.

  For Man United, it's a different story…..

  • Man United - Six pundits have their say on what’s going wrong for Man United. If you prefer not to read the article, let me summarize in one word, SOFT.

    • Maybe Ryan Day would like to pull a Ted Lasso and take over MU - he says his team is NOT SOFT! (20s on X). We have exclusive footage (20s on X) of an example of what Erik ten Hag might have done according to a friend of a friend of a source in Manchester after reading this article.

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 9

Relegation Positioning.

• Forest v Luton Town (Sat) - 4 game winless streak for Forest, 3 draws kept the damage to a minimum. The Tricky Trees have lost only 2 PL matches in 18 at home. The Hatters showed some signs of life getting 4 points in back-to-back matches, but then lost back-to-back heading into the break. Away points are the goal for LT.

• Bournemouth v Wolves (Sat) - Welcome back Gary O’Neil, the manager who kept The Cherries up last year, then was sacked over the summer, and returns as Wolves manager. Wolves have looked better than expected this year with O’Neil at the helm and a win at Vitality Stadium may have Bournemouth questioning their decision.

• Brentford v Burnley (Sat) - Zero wins in 6 matches for the Bee’s. 6 Losses for The Clarets in the first 8 this season, and they really have looked overmatched. Brentford have scored in 7 of 8 and all 4 matches at home yet have only 1 win for the effort. Who do you trust, Thomas Frank at home for The Bee’s or Vincent Kompany on the road for The Clarets?

• Sheffield United v Man United (Sat) - Ok, so maybe Man U is in 10th and not really a relegation candidate, however, they have 4 wins and 6 losses in their last 10 matches. SU has 7 losses in their last 8. Until MU takes care of business, they deserve to be discussed here.

Top of Table Positioning.

• Man City v BHA (Sat) - City on a 2-match PL losing streak. Haven’t been able to say that in a long time. 2016 is the last time they lost 3 in a row. BHA have been winless in their last 4. City had 1 shot on target against Arsenal last time out, the first time a Pep team has done that in over 10 years. City have won the last 9 by a combined score of 24-3. No CleanSheets for BHA this season, will be a tough test for them against the “backed into a corner” champions.

• Villa v West Ham (Sun) - Another great matchup between two teams hoping to contend for a top 4 finish and keep their momentum going. A Hammers win moves them ahead of Villa in the table. Villa have been solid at home having won their last 10 matches in the PL and conceding only 4 goals in that stretch.

• Chelsea v Arsenal (Sat) - See Above.

Big Home Favorites.

• Newcastle v Palace (Sat) - Home cooking. The Magpies love playing in the far north of England and while they may be looking ahead to a big matchup with Borussia Dortmund mid-week, the home crowd will not let them down. Palace has been better than expected defensively this year and have not allowed a goal in their last 3 matches.

• Liverpool v Everton (Sat) - See Above.

• Tottenham v Fulham (Mon) - If Arsenal wins Saturday Spurs will fall out of the top of the table, but a win against West London rival FFC would see them regain that positioning. Manager Ange Postecoglou was more than happy to get more coaching time with his team during the break, can they keep the momentum going? Fulham have beaten the teams they should but have struggled against the top teams.

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

FIFA (Link)

Since we are on International Break the CleanSheet wanted to direct you to FIFA. It’s a big organization with an interesting complex organization that runs competitions (World Cups and Qualifiers), coordinates with Leagues all over the world, and manages through global politics. There are many opinions on FIFA, it’s good to take a look at the organization and understand the fundamentals.

No commentary in this newsletter, just a link to start, and the current National Team Rankings.

Current FIFA International Rankings. Full Rankings.

Off Island 🏝️

International Break meant different things to different countries. Here were some highlights.

• CONMEBOL - South America - 2026 World Cup Qualifying.

  • Brazil struggled unexpectedly, drawing with Venezuela and losing to Uruguay.

  • Uruguay was the story as former Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa led them to their first win over Brazil since 2001 and handing Brazil their first loss in 37 WCQ matches. Good view of the pizza celebration (X). And this story (X) of Bielsa’s famous “bucket” he used as a manager at Leeds, brought to him by fans for the match.

  • Argentina continues to roll, along with Messi, as he became the all-time leading scorer for WCQ with 31 goals. Messi’s Goal.

• EURO2024 - European Championship.

  • England beat Italy 2-1 to secure their place in EURO2024. Who else but Harry Kane - Strength, Speed, Touch, Strength, Finish (30s on X).

  • Here is a link to the Group Standings. 9 of 23 teams have qualified.

• Friendlies.

  • In North America, the break was used for training matches.

  • The USMNT lost to Germany (who has already qualified for EURO2024 as hosts) 1-3 and beat Ghana 4-0.

    • Pulisic - Great Goal by Pulisic v Germany

    • Goal 1 v Ghana - Gio Reyna

    • Goal 2 - Pulisic

    • Goal 3 - Florian Balogun

    • Goal 4 - Gio Reyna

    • CleanSheet - Matt Turner Save

    • 4 min of highlights

    

    GEODIS Park Nashville TN USA 4 - 0 Ghana

Best Bets 💰

Season Gains/Losses -$569.

Forest -150 to WIN v Luton Town $15

Forest to WIN 2-0 +515 $10

Brentford -130 to WIN v Burnley $13

Brentford to WIN 2-0 +648 $10

Newcastle -220 to WIN v Palace $22

Newcastle to WIN 2-0 +490 $10

Villa-111 to WIN v West Ham $11

Villa to WIN 2-0 +874 $10

Chelsea Arsenal to DRAW +235 $20

City BHA OVER 3.5 goals -105 $21