For 82 minutes against Chelsea on Sunday, Arsenal put forth a performance of rare shape, commitment and defensive solidity on manager Mikel Arteta’s home debut. But then Mason Mount’s innocuous free kick fluttered over the despairing arm of Bernd Leno and the excrement hit the air-conditioning again inside the Emirates.
After doing CONCACAF proud with a third place finish at the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar, Monterrey finally returned home to contest the first leg of the Liga MX Apertura final on Thursday night. Coming off four games in ten days in Qatar, it was always going to be a test of Rayados’ fortitude against a Club América side that hadn’t played a match in over two and a half weeks.
A meeting between first and second in the Premier League was more one-sided than anyone could’ve predicted as Liverpool ran riot at the home of Leicester City on Thursday evening, winning 4-0 with a masterclass in both attack and defense.
Manchester United punished Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday thanks to a devastating performance from the front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood. Newcastle’s Matty Longstaff scored the game’s opening goal in the 17th minute, but the Red Devils replied with four unanswered (three of which were down to Newcastle errors) to climb to seventh in the table.
Crystal Palace defeated West Ham 2-1 on Thursday thanks to an incredible solo effort from Jordan Ayew at the death. Ayew had provided the assist on Cheikhou Kouyaté’s equalizer for Palace in the 68th minute, but he saved his ultimate contribution for last.
Tottenham’s top four aspirations were lifted Thursday following a 2-1 win over Brighton at Spurs’ Stadium. Brighton took a first half lead through Adam Webster, but Tottenham roared back with second half strikes from Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
Alli’s classy winner in the 72nd minute was a continuation of the Englishman’s fine form under manager José Mourinho: since the Portuguese’s appointment, Alli has scored five goals and provided three assists in eight games.
Last season’s Champions League semifinals were a romantic’s dream. Such was the scale of the attacking ambitions of the last four clubs remaining that almost all of the tournament’s top providers were on display: With five assists each, Ajax’s Dušan Tadić and the Barcelona duo of Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba finished as joint-leaders (along with Manchester City’s Leroy Sané). Just behind them with four assists was Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Bayern Munich enters the German winter break on the backend of a chaotic start to the season, one which cost manager Niko Kovač his job at the beginning of November. However, despite starting the month of December sitting seventh in the Bundesliga, Bayern has now won three straight by an aggregate scoreline of 11-2 to climb back to third in the table, just four points behind leaders RB Leipzig.
On Friday, Kylian Mbappé celebrated his 21st birthday. On Saturday, it was Mbappé who was providing the gifts with two glorious goals during PSG’s 4-1 win over Amiens SC and a signed book for a young pitch-invader.
Bored with dominating Ligue 1 with his natural hair color, Mbappé debuted a new color against Amiens while Neymar went with a clip-on Padawan braid. It was Neymar who provided the assist on Mbappé’s opener, and the Brazilian would add a goal of his own to double PSG’s advantage. Mbappé would make it three in the 65th minute by smashing one in at the near post.
If he continues like this, Martin Ødegaard will be playing for Real Madrid next season. It’s been nearly five years since he made his first and only LaLiga appearance for Los Blancos at the age of 16 years and 157 days, but now aged 21, Ødegaard is finally shining in Spain’s top division while on loan at high-flying Real Sociedad.