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This week we heard Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson join the legion of players who are taking the opportunity to speak out against the crowded schedule.
With an expanded Champions League tournament and increasingly more national tournaments and competitions, players are finding themselves stretched to the limit.
Players head into this Premier League weekend after a round of European competition, then will jet off around the world for another round of international games next week.
Bodies tired, minds stretched, airports and buses at the ready — it’s the teams that navigate these stresses who find success.
One team that may reap the benefits is Aston Villa. The Villans aren’t stuffed with the amount of international players that some of the other top squads are and they’re coming off a sparkling home win against European giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a win that saw Villa Park buzzing more than it has since they most recently won the competition in 1982.
The momentum provided by such a result can only buoy them as they prepare to play a beleaguered Manchester United in the Fubo Game of the Week.
They also are facing a United team who were humiliated on their home turf last week losing by three to Spurs and a team that had to play a Europa League match in Portugal on Thursday.
While Villa has lost at home this season, 2-0 to Arsenal, manager Unai Emery has made Villa Park a fortress during his reign. It lost there just three times last season and it won’t be a happy hunting ground for United.
Villa got the winner against Bayern via another spectacular effort from Colombian Jhon Duran, his first Champions League goal and fifth overall on the season. He’s the kind of signing United would dream of these days.
Duran has scored three of his four Premier League goals as a sub. United as a team have five goals total on the season.
If Villa is to continue competing on both European and domestic fronts, it’s going to need to be tighter at the back. The nine goals conceded are the worst of all teams in the top 11.
You might think it offers a sliver of hope for United, but for a team that has been so anemic in front of goal, you wonder if it will matter.
The only team in the whole league which has scored fewer goals than United is 19th-place Southampton with just three.
There’s no wiggle room for Erik Ten Hag
While a trip to Aston Villa is a far more daunting one today than anytime during Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure, this is a puzzle manager Erik Ten Hag simply must solve.
Yes, his team has had its share of bad luck. There was no chance captain Bruno Fernandes’ red card in the first half against Spurs should have been allowed to stand. In real time it looked bad, but how VAR didn’t reverse it seeing Fernandes slip and barely make contact with James Madison remains a travesty.
However, they were already trailing 1-0 at that point.
The card has been rescinded so Fernandes can play this weekend.
With players fleeing Manchester for the international break after the match on Sunday, it’s the perfect time to install a new manager. Give them two weeks to get things organized and have a bit of breathing room.
There has been talk if United’s ownership acts and axes Ten Hag, new assistant and former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will be the man to step into the interim hot seat.
The Red Devils already are six points out of the top four and eight off the top spot. A loss this weekend sees them lose even more ground.
There are rebuilding seasons and there are embarrassments — this season is drifting towards the latter.
Since the legendary Ferguson left 11 years ago, United has run through eight managers and haven’t come close to getting it right. Unless Ten Hag has a severe reversal of form, it looks like it’s on to nine.
Expect Manchester City to bounce back
Newcastle is a decent side, so a draw with the Magpies is hardly a huge slip.
Fulham this week provides an easier test on paper, yet the stats still say City is nowhere near as fearsome when Rodri — lost for the season to a knee injury — is not roaming the City midfield. Now the number stands at five for games they haven’t won when he has been absent.
This whole season will be one of cat and mouse. Four points dropped in two weeks, even against top-end opposition like Arsenal and Newcastle, is understandable for most teams.
But City isn’t most teams. It never is phased being the chasers. It has reeled in Arsenal and Liverpool multiple times over the past few years.
Typically you could expect the Sky Blues to give Fulham a thumping this weekend.
The wild card of this season is the outstanding 115 charges of financial misconduct. The case is ongoing in private.
Everton was docked six points last season for two charges. Nottingham Forest were hit with a four-point penalty for one charge. What will 115 charges bring? And when will it happen?
That’s going to be the question mark hanging over every team flirting with the top of the table until a decision comes down.
Chelsea have figured it out
Last week’s crazy match of the week saw Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2. Most of the action came in the first half with all the goals scored, including all four by Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who saw a further two goals disallowed in the second half.
While criticisms flew at manager Enzo Maresca’s harsh treatment of Chelsa’s bloated 42-man squad, it clearly has worked.
The Blues haven’t lost since the opening day of the season, a competitive 2-0 loss to Manchester City. They sit in fourth, two points behind Liverpool.
Should Chelsea beat Forest and Liverpool beat Crystal Palace, it sets up a massive early season clash between the Blues and Reds following the International break.
This weekend’s slate
Saturday: Crystal Palace v. Liverpool; Arsenal v. Southampton; Brentford v. Wolves; Leicester v. Bournemouth; Manchester City v. Fulham; West Ham v. Ipswich; Everton v. Newcastle.
Sunday: Aston Villa v. Manchester United; Chelsea v. Nottingham Forest; Brighton v. Tottenham.