In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Headlines 📌

• What 2 Look 4 👀 - this weeks match-ups

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Sacked!

• Off Island 🏝️ - Peaky Blinders

• Best Bets 💰

Headlines 📌

• Pencil This One In. Tottenham host Liverpool Saturday 9am. Winner declares their title intentions. More Postecoglou magic? Can Klopp’s side start faster? Both teams must be very happy with their start to the season. Liverpool is favored on the road.

• Another Top 6 Battle. Villa host BHA. Saturday 630am. Villa is a slight favorite and both teams are hoping to stake an early claim in the fight for a top 4 finish.

• West London Derby (wiki overview). 4 teams are part of the West London Derby - Chelsea, Brentford, Fulham and Queen Park Rangers.

  • Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge is within 1.8 miles of Fulham’s Craven Cottage.

  • Fulham’s record versus Chelsea - 81 Matches, 8W 42L 23D

• 8 Match Saturday. All matches but 2 are on Saturday. Forest host Brentford on Sunday and Fulham host Chelsea on Monday.

• Bonus game Tuesday October 3. Luton Town host Burnley in a make-up game from week 2 when LT’s stadium was not ready for PL play.

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 5

Battle for the Top. Top 6 matchups

• Tottenham v Liverpool (Sat) - See Above.

• Villa v BHA (Sat) - See Above.

Home Dogs. 🌭🌭

• Forest v Brentford (Sun) - Winner could jump into top 10. Forest seem to have more momentum than Brentford who lost at home to Everton last weekend.

• Fulham v Chelsea (Mon) - Is this when Chelsea starts to turn their season around? On paper this one should not be close.

Big Lines. Listed in order of biggest favorite to least.

• Newcastle -335 v Burnley +900 (Sat) - Been a brutal starting schedule for The Clarets and a trip to St James Park doesn’t help the cause.

• Wolves +850 v City -310 (Sat) - Tough loss for Wolves to Ipswich Town (a Championship - Level 2 team) mid-week in the English FL tournament and it gets no easier with City up next.

• West Ham -225 v Sheffield United +575 (Sat) - How will The Blades bounce back after the 8-0 pounding last week? Can The Hammers get up for this match?

• Bournemouth +480 v Arsenal -200 (Sat) - Road let down for the Gunners after a high energy North London Derby last week?

• Man United -180 v Palace+470 (Sat) - Palace is stumbling, can't find the back of the net, just what Man United needs to continue to right the ship.

• Everton -170 v Luton Town +490 (Sat) - Can Everton get 2 in a row? A Hatters win would put Everton right back towards the bottom and be a big boost for LT.

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

Sacked!

The pressure is always on in the Premier League and Managers are never too far away from a potential sacking. The 2022/23 season saw 16 PL managers sacked, the most ever in one season. The second most sackings of 10 happened in three seasons (2022, 18, 14).

We are now well over 40 days into the season and no managers have been sacked. Expect that to change over the coming month.

• Last season, 2 managers were sacked within the first 40 days.

• Historically, 19 managers have been sacked within the first 40 days of the season, 9 in the first 20 days.

Here are the current odds for the first manager to leave this season.

• 1/4 - Paul Heckingbottom, Sheff Utd

• 12/1 - Sean Dyche, Everton

• 12/1 - Gary O’Neil, Wolves

• 14/1 - Rob Edwards, Luton Town

• 16/1 - Erik ten Hag, Man United

• 16/1 - Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea

• 20/1 - Marco Silva, Fulham

• 20/1 - Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth

• 20/1 - Steve Cooper, Forest

• 25/1 - David Moyes, West Ham

• 33/1 - Roy Hodgson, Palace

• 33/1 - Eddie Howe, Newcastle

• 16/1 - Vincent Kompany, Burnley

A reminder of how short the tenures are in the Premier League. The average is 13 months. For comparison, the NFL tenure is 3.2 years,

Here is more on the history of Premier League sacking.

Off Island 🏝️

Peaky Blinders. Any peaky Blinders fans out there?

Peaky Blinders (link to wiki) is a British crime drama set in the city of Birmingham, England. Set after World War I, the series is based on a true story that follows the Shelby crime family. The Peaky Blinders gang did exist, not specifically the Shelby’s. GREAT series (6 seasons) on Netflix, and make sure to watch with Closed Caption on! Here is a 3 min read on the “real” Peaky Blinders.

While the sport the Peaky Blinders were into was horse racing, there have also been connections to English soccer.

Last year, Tom Brady’s Club Birmingham City, (1 min read) temporarily went back to their original name, Small Heath Alliance, to honor the series (3 min read on what they did) which is set in Small Heath, Birmingham.

Arsenal’s Unai Emery also talked about (1 min read) the series to help improve his English skills, which is ironic because you need closed captioning at times to understand the thick accents.

Best Bets 💰

Season Gains/Losses -$208.

Its a long season - 32 more weeks to catch fire.

Tottenham Liverpool to DRAW +290 - $20. - Liverpool has the edge but Spurs continue to find ways to score and find quality.

Forest +175 to WIN v Brentford. $20. Forest plays differently at home and The Bees are struggling.

West Ham to WIN by 2+ +350 v Sheffield United. $20. Were the Blades exposed last week? Can SU turn that negative energy into an inspired effort? With the Hammers also coming off a loss I expect them take care of business 3 or 4 to1.

Arsenal to WIN -200 at Bournemouth. $40. Gunners realize the importance of this road match leading up to a showdown with City in a week. There will be no overlooking The Cherries.

City to WIN -310 at Wolves. $93. This is a Pep special, he finds ways to get his players up when others might think they are looking ahead. Pep will shift the players and the way they play and find ways challenge them. Maybe it's close early, but it won’t be late.

NOTE: I think the line has caught up to Chelsea - until they show they can score there does not seem to be value to play for or against The Blues.