Ticket price protests

GM football fans. It’s Friday, Nov. 29, and we’re covering protests on ticket prices, Champions League projections and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.

PREMIER LEAGUE MW14 STATS

Liverpool vs Manchester City (Sun 1, 16:00 GMT / 11:00 ET). With six wins in 22 meetings with Liverpool, it’s Pep Guardiola’s lowest win rate against any side he’s faced more than five times. And City have won just one of their last 21 league matches at Anfield. Chelsea vs Aston Villa (Sun 1, 13:30 GMT / 8:30 ET). Villa have won on their last two trips to Stamford Bridge, but they will be up against a creative force in Cole Palmer, who has set up a league-high 28 chances from open play this season. West Ham vs Arsenal (Sat 30, 17:30 GMT / 12:30 ET). Arsenal have lost only two of 26 London derbies since the start of 2022/23, though one was to the Hammers. Full list of Premier League fixtures here.

Plus…

• Europa League results: Man Utd 3 - 2 Bodo/Glimt | Tottenham 2 - 2 Roma | Nice 1 - 4 Rangers (Full results)

• Conference League results: Heidenheim 0 - 2 Chelsea | Fiorentina 3 - 2 Pafos (Full results)

• Premier League table (More)

• Five areas that could decide Liverpool vs Man City (More)

• Suitcase reveals secrets of England World Cup win (More)

• Conor Bradley left out of UCL Team of the Week (More)

• Real Madrid’s bus was involved in a crash on the M40 (More)

TICKET PRICE PROTESTS

Four fan bases join forces to protest ticket prices

Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City supporters will join forces this weekend to protest against rising Premier League ticket prices. Fans from each club will display ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’ banners.

The protests come after the news that Man United will raise matchday ticket prices this season to £66 for adults, children and seniors. Those tickets previously started at £40 for adults and £25 for children. Meanwhile, Liverpool have increased ticket prices by 2% for this season, while City raised their season ticket prices by an average of 5%.

In 2022, Premier League clubs voted to freeze the £30 cap on ticket prices for away matches for three seasons. That limit will be reviewed next year. Supporters are concerned that some clubs are pushing to increase the cap, despite Premier League broadcast and commercial revenue rising 17 per cent for 2025 to 2028.

POLL

HEAD START

> Lampard appointed Coventry manager. Frank Lampard, 46, has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract as the new head coach of Coventry City. The Championship side are currently 17th in the table, two points above the relegation places. The former England midfielder has experience in the Championship, having almost guided Derby to promotion in his first season, only to lose 2-1 to Aston Villa in the play-off final in 2019. It’s Lampard’s fifth job in management, following spells at Derby Country, Everton and two stints with Chelsea.

> Everton owner agrees to convert his loan into equity if the club isn’t sold soon. Farhad Moshiri will convert his £451mn loan to Everton into shares if the club hasn’t been sold by the time the league’s regulations on shareholder loans come into force. From 11 January, shareholder loans will become subject to a fair market value test. In September, the Friedkin Group reached an agreement to buy Moshiri’s majority 94 per cent stake in Everton. The timeline for the completion of the takeover is unknown.

> England Women to host USWNT at Wembley. England women will host the United States at Wembley on Saturday in a friendly. The Lionesses have won their most recent meeting with the USA in October 2022 but they haven’t beaten the Stars and Stripes in back-to-back matches since 1985 and 1988. USA are unbeaten in their last 19 friendly matches, keeping a clean sheet in 15 of those. This match is the first of two friendlies in Europe to round off the calendar year for Emma Haye’s USA side, with the second against the Netherlands next Tuesday.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROJECTIONS

Real Madrid predicted narrow qualification, PSG knock-out, as per Opta

Fifteen-time winners Real Madrid are projected to finish 24th – the last qualifying spot – in the Champions League league phase, according to Opta. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain are predicted to be knocked out during the league phase.

Finishing in the top eight ensures immediate qualification for the last 16, while the teams between ninth and 24th will go through a play-off round. As it stands, Bayern Munich are 13th, Atletico Madrid are 15th, AC Milan are 16th, and Manchester City are 17th. Aston Villa are level on points with Arsenal, Leverkusen and Monaco, but currently sit in the play-off zone on goal difference. See the league phase table here.

Given this is the first edition of the new format, it is unclear how many points achieve a top-eight finish. Opta predicts that 16 points in eight games gives a 98% chance of finishing in the top eight. Liverpool, the only team with a perfect record in five games, are on 15 points.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

Top Five European Leagues

> Fiorentina will face Inter Milan on Sunday, with both teams one point from league leaders Napoli, who take on Torina earlier in the day (More)

> Bayern Munich have apologised to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi after the German club’s fans displayed a banner that attacked him for being “plutocratic” (More)

> Ligue 1 sides Olympique Lyonnais and Nice have been hit with partial stadium closures for one match each over crowd behaviour (More)

Rest of the World

> Women’s football in Mexico has rocketed in popularity this season, and more than 50,000 fans attended the women’s league final this week to watch Monterrey beat Tigres in a penalty shootout (More)

> FIFA has updated its men’s world ranking; Argentina still top the list; Niger are the biggest climbers, moving up 9 places; Nigeria are the biggest fallers, dropping 8 places to 44th (More)

> PSV’s head coach Peter Bosz did not react after USMNT’s Pepi scored in the 96th minute to complete a comeback from 0-2 to 3-2 in just eight minutes (More)

FEEDBACK POLL

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Based on the League Stage, who do you think will win the Champions League?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🔝 Liverpool (65%)

⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🔵 Inter Milan (7%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🛡️ Barcelona (15%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (12%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🔝 M.P: “Under Slot and the confidence flowing throughout the whole club they look unbeatable even when they fall behind. They just seem to have a togetherness, it’s awesome. Salah missed a pen last night, the reaction of the players and fans was unbelievable.”

• 🔵 D.McD: “[Inter] don’t concede goals.”

• ✍️ S.P: “Aston Villa… would you bet against us?”

• ✍️ K.V: “It’s hard to ignore Arsenal after their performance. And with Liverpool running away with the league, Arteta might just focus efforts on the UCL.”

EXTRA TIME

Madrid 25-26 away kit to pay tribute to Bernabeu Stadium. (w/photos)

Ronaldinho’s free-kick goal for Barcelona legends.

Celebrity ownership in football, a game-changer or passing trend?

Bellingham makes sure to get Trent’s shirt after defeat. (via X)

Jamie Carragher’s been getting stick in the Liverpool dressing room this week. (via X)

Getafe’s weird tactics explained. (w/analysis)

Dortmund warm up in the hotel lobby. (via X)

What the stats say about Salah vs Haaland.

Ricky Gervais on Stick to Football. (podcast)

GAME FACE ON

Question: Who Am I…

• I made my debut for Leeds United in 2002 aged 16.

• I’ve made 637 appearances in the Premier League, winning three league titles, two FA Cups, one Champions League title.

• I won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2009/10.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League

• Brighton vs Southampton (20:00)

Championship

• Sheffield United vs Sunderland (20:00)

La Liga

• Mallorca vs Valencia (20:00)

Bundesliga 

• St. Pauli vs Holstein (19:30)

Serie A

• Cagliari vs Verona (19:45)

Ligue 1

• Reims vs Lens (19:45)

*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.

Answer

James Milner.