⚽️ Arsenal Salvages Draw with Chelsea, Stays in Title Race

Good morning. You never quite know what you’re going to get from the Premier League on the return from an international break. Players come back with nagging injuries, jet lag, sometimes both. This time, though, the league delivered a lot of quality performances, and there are plenty of engaging story lines to get to.

The Scores:

• Chelsea (H) 2, Arsenal 2: The Gunners looked dead to the world for three quarters of this match until Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard scored seven minutes apart to give Arsenal a crucial point.

• Manchester City (H) 2, Brighton & Hove Albion 1: City were cruising to an easy win until Ansu Fati scored for Brighton in the 73rd minute. From that point, City looked nervy and just about held on.

• Liverpool (H) 2, Everton 0: This installment of the Merseyside Derby lost any hope of being competitive when the Toffees’ Ashley Young was sent off in the 37th minute.

• Aston Villa (H) 4, West Ham 1: Villa were even more dominant than the score line suggests. The Hammers’ only goal came from a fluke deflection.

• Newcastle United (H) 4, Crystal Palace 0: The Magpies are rolling after a slow start to the Premier League season, having won four and drawn one in their last five league matches.

• Sheffield United (H) 1, Manchester United 2: United seem to be leading the league in unconvincing wins, this match being a prime example.

• Brentford (H) 3, Burnley 0: All due credit to Brentford, but the real story here is that Burnley seems nailed on for relegation nine matches into the season.

• Nottingham Forest (H) 2, Luton Town 2: The Hatters scored two minutes into second half added time to earn a draw that pulled them out of the relegation places.

• Bournemouth (H) 1, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2: The Cherries were their own worst enemies. Wolves scored the winner against 10 men as Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook had been sent off in the 54th minute.

Top of the Table: [from Google]

In the email today:

One of the big knocks on Arsenal in the past, oh, decade or so is that they usually play below the level of their talent. That’s just a nice way of saying that they have lacked the edge, the want-to needed to grind out points when things aren’t easy. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was brought in at least in part to instill some of that spirit into this Arsenal iteration. It is working.

• Arsenal managed to recover from a two-goal deficit to secure a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, maintaining their unbeaten Premier League record away to Chelsea since 2018.

• Chelsea’s lead came from a first-half penalty from Cole Palmer and a surprising cross/shot by Mykhailo Mudryk that caught Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya off guard.

• Declan Rice capitalized on a mistake by Robert Sánchez to score, while Leandro Trossard's volley completed the comeback.

• Arteta praised his team's mental strength and character, highlighting their determination to fight until the end.

• Despite missing the chance to move to the top of the league, Arsenal sits in second place, level on points with champions Manchester City.

Our take: Depending on who you ask, Arsenal either blew an eight-point lead in the table last season to give Manchester City the title or City just ran them down. It was probably a little of both. In any event, last season’s Arsenal almost certainly would have packed it in down 2-0 on the road. Arteta really does have the Gunners believing that they can take this title race to the finish line.

2) 📈 Buy or Sell?

It was a big weekend for the stars. Conversely, there were some players who brought the wrong sort of attention on themselves.

• 🟢 Mohamed Salah, Liverpool: We picked Salah to score and Liverpool to win at even money on Friday. Well, they won and he scored twice.

• 🔴 Ashley Young, Everton: Young has had a great career. Against Liverpool, though, it was clear that the game is a little too fast for him any more. Father Time is unbeaten and untied.

• 🟢 Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa: We picked Watkins to score against West Ham at +110, and score he did. Watkins is on fire.

• 🔴 James Milner, Brighton & Hove Albion: While Young was being sent off against Liverpool, Milner was being abused by Man City’s Jeremy Doku and replaced at the interval. Father Time, again.

• 🟢 Kieran Trippier, Newcastle United: Trippier doesn’t score a whole lot, but he’s an assist machine and a plus defender for a team stretched by its European campaign.

• 🔴 Sheffield United: We’ve bagged on Bournemouth and Burnley already, but the Blades are even worse. Eight losses and a draw in nine matches and a -17 goal difference is a recipe for relegation.

Our take: Honorable mention: Erling Haaland/Julian Alvarez, Manchester City. Dishonorable mention: David Raya, Arsenal.

3) ❌ of the Day: Fortress Etihad

And they’re tied third with another streak that ended less than a year ago.

4) 🗳️ Poll: For Your Last $100, Which Plus Money Bet Would You Take on This Spurs/Fulham Match?

Have additional thoughts? Reply directly to this email to comment, and see if we include your response tomorrow.

5) 🔗 Links Roundup:

• 😢 Manchester United legend and England World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton died at age 86.

• 🏌️‍♂️ Rory McIlroy is open to the idea of buying a piece of Manchester United.

• 💷 The long-rumored windfall the Premier League anticipated in a new TV rights deal might not materialize.

• 👎️ Some Manchester City fans disgraced themselves and their club with “offensive” chants related to Charlton’s passing.

• 🔴 Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to steer Manchester United away from its habit of spending, in his words, “dumb money.”

The newsletter today was written by Phil Keidel. Follow Phil @philkeidel on X.

Thanks for reading!