Route One Daily Brief
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🤔 JURG-onna replay...?

🤔 JURG-onna replay...?

Plus: The best facts from gameweek 9

Route One
October 23, 2023

Gm football fans.

This is Route One, the football newsletter that loves you, even after you’ve tried a new barber.

Today’s briefing is a ~3 min read:

Merseyside derby controversy and Jurgen Klopp’s moral compass 🧭
Key facts from GW9: Declan Rice breaks a record for Arsenal 📊
Extra time: Ollie Watkin’s fish tank 🐟

Plus: this week’s fixtures are at the bottom of this email…

Gameweek 9 results

Saturday 21 Oct

Sunday 22 Oct

As it stands…

Man City find form again upon Rodri’s return. The reigning champions started off strong against Brighton but only narrowly beat the Seagulls 2-1 after Ansu Fati’s goal. Alvarez and Haaland both scored.
Arsenal showed fighting spirit after coming back from 2 goals down to Chelsea. Rice scored a 36.6-yard shot and Trossard scored to equalise in the 84th minute.
Liverpool’s star man Mo Salah bags a brace against Everton.
Aston Villa schooled West Ham at home 4-1 to remain fifth in the league. Douglas Luiz scored a brace and Watkins and Bailey sealed the win with two delightful finishes.
Tottenham play Fulham at home tonight. If Spurs secure three points, they will sit at the top of the league two points clear of Man City and Arsenal.

🗞️ Morning Brief

BBC Sport

Sir Bobby Charlton, the Manchester United legend who was a key figure in England’s 1966 World Cup victory, has died at the age of 86.

Teamtalk

Manchester City remain keen on a move for West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta. An £80m transfer was agreed in principle between both clubs over the summer.

Crystal Palace would accept a £60m bid from Manchester United for centre-back Marc Guehi.

Football Insider

Kevin De Bruyne may not be offered a new contract at Manchester City if his injury record worsens. A ‘well-placed’ source has told Football Insider there is “no urgency” to sit down and discuss a renewal.

Football Scotland

Graeme Souness could be returning to Rangers. Even at 70, Souness has wanted a role beyond ambassador for a while. It looks like he might have got his wish according to Jim White.

JURG-ONNA REPLAY?

Let’s be honest, we all live for the controversy in football.

And Saturday’s Merseyside derby was a whole serving of controversy pie.

Why?

Because Ibrahima Konate was not shown a second yellow card when he fouled Beto on the counter-attack.

Yet, Ashley Young had been sent off for basically the same thing.

The game was goalless at the time, and Liverpool went on to win 2-0 against the Toffee’s ten-men.

After Jurgen Klopp’s run-in with officials recently, he spared some sympathy for Everton.

But, I missed the part where Klopp demanded a replay for poor officiating.

Oh wait…

KEY FACTS FROM GAMEWEEK 9 📊

🔵 Chelsea have won just one of their last 12 home Premier League games. The last time was against Luton at the end of August.

🔴 Arsenal have now avoided defeat in an away game in which they trailed by 2+ for the first time since March 2021. They had lost each of their last eight such matches.

🤩 Declan Rice’s 36.6-yard goal versus Chelsea was the longest-range goal scored by an Arsenal player in the Premier League on record (since 2006/07)!

🚀 Mo Salah has 17 goal contributions (14 Gs, 3 As) in his last 13 Premier League appearances at Anfield.

🤠 Newcastle earned a fourth win in five Premier League matches after an impressive 4-0 win versus Crystal Palace at St James’ Park.

💪🏼 Luton remains out of the relegation zone after scoring two goals to equalise with Nottingham Forest. They have achieved five points in nine games.

👀 Klopp has now won more Premier League Merseyside derbies than any other manager (9), ahead of ex-Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez (8).

EXTRA-TIME ⏱️

It’s official… Gennaro Gattuso is the world's best foosball player. After beating Totti and Cristiano Zanetti at the same time, he went on to beat the world champion on international duty.

Maguire has had a 94% win rate since October 2022. Underrated or misleading? Hmm… probably a bit of both. But, the numbers are skewed by the level of opponent he has played against.

Dean Smith bought Ollie Watkins a fish tank. Dean Smith briefly mentioned a fish tank story whilst interviewing Watkins for Sky last night. Watkins's giggles piqued our interest, so here it is. Told by Watkins himself.

Soccer Slammers… where the beautiful game meets WWE. See Neil Warnock, Sam Aleydyce and Tonis Pulis become their WWE alter-egos. We just wish they covered up Warnock’s chest…

FIXTURES THIS WEEK 📆

Monday 22 October

Premier League

Tottenham vs Fulham @ 8 pm

Tuesday 23 October

Champions League

5.45 pm

Galatasaray vs FC Bayern Munich
Inter Milan vs Red Bull Salzburg

8.00 pm

RC Lens vs PSV
Sevilla vs Arsenal
FC Union Berlin vs Napoli
SC Braga vs Real Madrid
Benfica vs Real Sociedad
Manchester United vs FC Copenhagen

Wednesday 24 October