⚽️ Arsenal Seething After VAR Allows Newcastle Winner to Stand

Good morning. Another action-packed weekend in the Greatest League in the World. Only the Manchester City home thumping of Bournemouth was strictly what everyone expected. Elsewhere, the results ranged from mildly surprising to a little bit shocking.

The Scores:

• Fulham (H) 0, Manchester United 1: At this point, United snatching the win with a second half added time goal is just becoming the norm. As is United looking pretty poor for 90 minutes before scoring.

• Brentford (H) 3, West Ham United 2: Perhaps the most exciting game of the weekend between two evenly-matched teams, neither of which is likely to drift too far from mid-table.

• Burnley (H) 0, Crystal Palace 2: We aren’t sure at this point that Burnley is aware that you cannot win a match 0-0, which seems to be their plan every week.

• Everton (H) 1, Brighton & Hove Albion 1: Ashley Young’s 84th minute equalizer kept Everton from claiming a much-needed win.

• Manchester City (H) 6, Bournemouth 1: Jeremy Doku had a goal and four assists in his breakout game. More remarkably, City scored six and Erling Haaland didn’t figure in any of them.

• Sheffield United (H) 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1: The Blades won the match with a penalty kick in the 10th minute of second half stoppage time after Wolves had equalized in the 89th minute.

• Newcastle United (H) 1, Arsenal 0: The Gunners’ first league loss of the season was marred by VAR-based controversy.

• Nottingham Forest (H) 2, Aston Villa 0: Forest led from the fifth minute on. Villa’s Ollie Watkins missed a sitter that could have made the endgame a bit more compelling.

• Luton Town (H) 1, Liverpool 1: The Hatters’ bid for a win for the ages was taken away by Luis Diaz’s goal in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time, a goal Diaz dedicated to his still-missing father.

Top of the Table: [from Google]

In the email today:

If you feel like the only thing VAR has done is make more people unhappy about the standard of officiating than they were before, you’re not alone. Arsenal lost a very tight 1-0 match to Newcastle United on Saturday, and all the Gunners wanted to talk about afterwards was how VAR failed them.

• Arsenal has issued an unprecedented statement calling on the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) to urgently address the standard of officiating in the Premier League after a controversial loss to Newcastle.

• The controversy stemmed from Anthony Gordon's second-half goal, which was the subject of a four-minute VAR check analyzing multiple talking points, including whether the ball went out of play, a potential foul by Joelinton in the buildup, and an offside by Gordon.

• Tempers flared during the match, with Kai Havertz receiving a booking for a reckless challenge on Sean Longstaff, and Bruno Guimaraes escaping a potential red card for an off-the-ball forearm on Jorginho.

• Arsenal's manager, Mikel Arteta, labeled the awarding of the goal as a "disgrace" and "embarrassing" for the officials.

• Arsenal Football Club released a statement supporting Arteta's post-match comments, criticizing the refereeing and VAR errors, and emphasizing the need for improved officiating standards in the Premier League.

• The PGMOL chose not to comment on Arsenal's statement.

Our take: It has been a long time since Arsenal was this good, which is probably why they’re behaving this way after ending up on the wrong end of a contentious decision. The Invincibles never whined like this.

2) 📈 Buy or Sell?

Some obvious choices here, some not so obvious as we look forward to this afternoon’s match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in London.

• 🟢 Jeremy Doku, Manchester City: Doku’s pace and pass placement were way too much for Bournemouth to handle on Saturday.

• 🔴 Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, Manchester City: Pep Guardiola definitely plays favorites, and if Doku keeps playing like this, Grealish and Foden are going to be expensive benchwarmers for some time.

• 🟢 Luis Diaz, Liverpool: Luton Town held out for well over 90 minutes against the Reds, but you’d have to be pretty hardhearted to begrudge Diaz his goal given the circumstances.

• 🔴 Mikel Arteta, manager, Arsenal: Players and supporters often take their cues from the man in charge. Arteta’s complaints following the loss to Newcastle were not really what his team needed to hear.

• 🟢 Sheffield United: With their last-kick goal, the Blades became the final team this season to post their first league win.

• 🔴 Manchester United: These second half extra time wins United keep pulling out are lipstick on a pig.

Our take: Honorable Mention: Luton Town. Dishonorable Mention: Aston Villa.

3) ❌ of the Day: Erling Haaland Injury Question

Maybe it’s nothing, but if Haaland is going to miss extended time or be ineffective as he plays through a knock, the title race will get even that much tighter.

4) 🗳️ Who Wins Today?

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

5) 🔗 Links Roundup:

• 🧤 Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, recent winner of the award for the world’s best goalkeeper, had a very bad day against Nottingham Forest.

• 👎️ Newcastle United condemned racist social media abuse of both Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes following their win over Arsenal.

• 🔴 The debate on whether David Raya or Aaron Ramsdale should be starting in goal for Arsenal rages on.

• 🔵 It should be interesting to hear how the Spurs fans greet former boss Mauricio Pochettino as he brings Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

• 🌲 Nottingham Forest paid tribute to Adam Johnson, an ice hockey player who died tragically last week while playing for the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League in England.

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

Thanks for reading!