Early title race shift

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering a change in title predictions, Man United’s stadium survey and much more.

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TONIGHT’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE STATS

Inter Milan vs Arsenal (20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET). Arsenal don’t have a great record in Italy, having failed to score in their last four UCL games in the country (D1 L3). PSG vs Atletico (20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET). While these sides haven’t met before, the coaches – Luis Enrique and Diego Simeone – have met 14 times, with the former posting nine wins to three for the latter. Club Brugge vs Aston Villa (17:45 GMT / 12:45 ET). Aston Villa are one of only two teams that have picked up nine points in the League Stage, and Unai Emery’s men have yet to concede a goal.

Plus…

• Champions League results: Real Madrid 1 — 3 AC Milan | Sporting 4 — 1 Man City | Liverpool 4 — 0 Leverkusen | Celtic 3 — 1 Leipzig (Full results here)

• Match officials for Premier League Matchweek 11 (More)

• Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard back in full training (More)

• BBC’s Premier League team of the week (More)

• Gary Lineker casts more doubt on Match of the Day role (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE

Liverpool's chances double to win the Premier League, Opta’s new data suggests

Liverpool’s likelihood of winning the Premier League title has doubled, according to Opta’s latest predictions. The data has risen their chances from 17.9% to 34.2%. It comes after Arne Slots's side recorded Liverpool’s best-ever start to a Premier League season — winning eight games in their first ten. The Reds had a 5.1% chance to win a record-equaling 20th top-flight league title at the start of the season.

Holders Manchester City’s title chances dropped by 14 percentage points following their 2 – 1 loss to Bournemouth. Despite this, City remain heavy favourites with a 61.1% chance of making it five titles in a row.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are third favourites to win the league. But Mikel Arteta's men have lost two of their past three matches and drawn the other. They had only lost one of their first 25 league games in 2024.

POLL

HEAD START

☀️ Plans to hold Barcelona-Atletico Madrid in Miami put on hold. Last month, reports suggested that the Spanish league were looking to hold the Barcelona versus Atletico Madrid league game in Miami. It’s thought that these plans have been put on hold. La Liga needs approval from various bodies. One is the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which has no permanent president until December. This has been the major roadblock in realising a never-done-before feat.

🐷 Pig head thrown onto field by Corinthians supporters. Fans threw a pig's head onto the pitch (viewer discretion advised) during one of Brazil’s biggest derby matches between Corinthians and Palmeiras. Goalscorer Yuri Alberto ran to kick it off the pitch before play continued. “I almost broke my foot, I thought it was a cushion,” Alberto told O Globo’s SportTV. It’s reminiscent of when Barcelona fans threw a pig's head onto the pitch when their former midfielder Luis Figo returned to the Nou Camp playing for Real Madrid in 2002.

💉Hull player breaches anti-doping rules. Hull City confirm that the South American Football Confederation has suspended Oscar Zambrano for breaching anti-doping rules. The club statement says that Zambrano will use his right to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Hull currently sit 17th in the Championship and are winless in their last five.

NEW TRAFFORD DELAYED

Majority of Manchester United fans back new stadium over Old Trafford redevelopment, survey finds

The majority of Manchester United fans are in favour of building a new stadium at Old Trafford over a redevelopment, a club survey has found. Of the 50,000 fans surveyed, 52 per cent voted in favour of a new stadium, while 31 per cent preferred a redevelopment of the existing stadium. Either way, the club have pushed the deadline (paywall) for a decision until next summer, not the end of this year.

The data showed the strongest support for a new stadium among current season ticket holders. Support for a new stadium (first images of new stadium designs) increased with the age of a season ticket holder. Younger fans lean more towards redeveloping Old Trafford.

The biggest question mark is how the club will fund the new stadium. If they go ahead with a new 100,000-seater stadium, it’s estimated to cost £2bn or more. Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has floated the idea of using public funds to fund the project. In an R1 poll, 79% of Routers opposed the idea of taxpayer money going toward stadium developments.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

Top Five European Leagues

> Fifa have outlined new regulations for the Club World Cup; clubs must field their strongest possible teams and risk a fine of £445,000 for pulling out of the tournament (More)

> Deco has started negotiations to bring Viktor Gyokeres to Barcelona. The player has an agreement with Sporting to let him leave the club for around €60m to €70m (More)

Rest of the World

> Mario Ballotelli, former Manchester City striker, made his first Serie A appearance in four years for Genoa. He was booked within the first five minutes (More)

> Players at Chilean club Colo Colo, including former Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal, are being investigated for alleged assault (More)

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Do you think scrapping the FA Cup replays is justified to help ease fixture congestion?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 😤 Nope, it impacts lower-league teams unfairly... (63%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 📅 Yes, the schedule is too congested... (36%)

⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (1%)

Your punditry takes:

• 😤 R.S: “Wealthier club managers not caring about the pyramid, just purely selfish agendas. If you are not happy with the fixture list, go and manage in another league. The FA will bow to the Premier League purely because of the finances.”

• 😤 S.M, Brighton fan: “It’s taking some of the magic out of the FA Cup for the lower league clubs and their fans, just to please those bigger clubs in Europe who have massive squads anyway. Bring back the replays.”

• 📅 J.M: “No need for a replay, just go to penalties if it ends in a draw. Causes too much fixture congestion otherwise.”

EXTRA TIME

Lionel Messi on how he wants to be remembered.

Understanding Ruben Amorim’s tactics and playing style.

Aston Villa to become Adidas Elite Team.

Scottish fan is the only Ataltana fan to attend after Napoli banned anyone with a Lombardy postcode. / via X

Which Premier League coach will be fired next? / ranked

The longest sequence of palindromic results.

Are late Premier League winners becoming more common?

GAME FACE ON

Question: Can you name every Ballon d’Or winner between 2000 and 2010?

Clue: Portugal, England, Brazil, Czechia, Ukraine, Brazil, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Argentina.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Champions League

• Club Brugge vs Aston Villa (17:45)

• Shakhtar D vs Young Boys (17:45)

• Bayern Munich vs Benfica (20:00)

• Feyenoord vs RB Salzburg (20:00)

• Inter Milan vs Arsenal (20:00)

• PSG vs Atletico (20:00)

• Red Star vs Barcelona (20:00)

• Sparta Prague vs Brest (20:00)

• Stuttgart vs Atalanta (20:00)

Europa League

• Besiktas vs Malmo (15:30)

Championship

• Blackburn vs Stoke (19:45)

• Coventry vs Derby (19:45)

• Millwall vs Leeds (19:45)

• Luton vs Cardiff (20:00)

• Preston vs Sunderland (20:00)

*All time in UK. EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer

• 2000 - Luis Figo

• 2001 - Michael Owen

• 2002 - Ronaldo

• 2003 - Pavel Nedved

• 2004 - Andriy Shevchenko

• 2005 - Ronaldinho

• 2006 - Fabio Cannavaro

• 2007 - Kaka

• 2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2009 - Lionel Messi

• 2010 - Lionel Messi

Goal of the Day

Today’s Goal of the Day is: Emre Can’s bicycle kick vs Watford. Thanks to L.H for the suggestion.

L.H’s favourite goal can be seen here. Submit your entry for Goal of the Day here.