Association Football 2020/21

[JGibson]

Arsenal lost to Man City 1-nil. At least they didn't get pasted 3-nil or worse like in the past.

Mikel Arteta has made strides, but is still a work in progress.

[JGibson]

Embarrassing 1-0 loss for Tottenham Hotspur today against Royal Antwerp FC in Europa League action.

Arsenal won 3-0 against Dundalk and Sp*rs losing 1-nil to Antwerp = sweet day for this Arsenal fan.

[JGibson]

Good win for Arsenal today - amazingly the first time in almost 6 years we’ve beaten a ‘Big Six’ club away, and 16 years since we beat Man Utd at Old Trafford. I remain cautiously optimistic about the direction of the club.

Preach. Getting Partey and Gabriel M. has been a big help for our club.

[JGibson]

Arsenal shat the bed, as they lost 3-nil at home to Aston Villa.

[JGibson]

God has given Mikel Arteta a bloody Christmas miracle.

As a Gunners fan, I am very pleased Arsenal got a big 3-1 win over Chelsea today. That was a vital three points for us in the table. AlexandreLacazette, Granit Xhaka, and Bukayo Saka scored goals for us. Leno stopped a late penalty from Jorginho (last year's villain who should've been sent off only to tie the game up 1-1) to keep it 3-1.  Please keep the 4-2-3-1 as our formation!

[JGibson]

Bundesliga: Schalke 04 finally won a game, as they thrashed Hoffenheim 4-nil yesterday.

[JGibson]

Mesut Özil's Arsenal tenure is all but done and dusted, as he is set to terminate his Arsenal contract. He will be headed to Turkish Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.

Sky Sports:

Arsenal and Mesut Ozil are close to finalising an early termination of the midfielder's contract, after which he is expected to join Fenerbahce as a free agent on a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 32-year-old, who is Arsenal's highest earner, has not played for the Gunners since March after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.

[JGibson]

Fat Sam parking the bus against freaking Sheff Utd, lol. Arsenal also very unlucky with that outrageous penalty and red card. Pepe's goal was a contender for goal of the season so far, imo.

Yeah, I’m not usually one to blame my team’s loss on refereeing decisions, but Craig Pawson’s performance was a travesty. It wasn’t a penalty (in fact the Wolves player accidentally kicked Luiz), and even if it was, it was a never red card under the double jeopardy rules, as Luiz clearly did not intentionally foul his opponent. As for Leno’s red card, I don’t think it was a denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity, and this is the only grounds for sending a player off for handball. A real shame, because we played very well in the first half. This is one of the rare occasions when the defeat is in no way on the players or manager, but solely due to an officiating nightmare.

Agreed. Luiz's red card was a farce, while Leno's red was merited. Pawson is a wanker.

[JGibson]

What a big comeback win for the Arsenal today in the Europa, as we came back from a 2-1 (3-2 aggregate) hole to win 3-2 (4-3 aggregate) over Benfica.

[JGibson]

So happy Arsenal came back from 1-nil down to win 2-1 over the lilywhite scum of North London. #FOYS #COYG

[JGibson]

The UCL Final 4:
Real Madrid v. Chelsea
PSG v. Manchester City

[JGibson]

The UEL Final Four:
Manchester United v. Roma
Villarreal v. Arsenal [Emery v. Arteta]

[JGibson]

Premier League Promotion/Relegation Notes:
- Sheffield United clinched relegation down to the Championship next year with their 1-nil loss to Wolverhampton.
- Norwich City return to the Premier League.

The other auto-promoted place and the playoff places are still unsettled in the Championship and the other two relegation spots in the Premier League are officially unresolved (although West Brom is all-but relegated, while Fulham most likely goes down).

[JGibson]

The European Super League idea is an abomination of the timeless values of competition integrity in footy and God's teachings! I am an Arsenal fan and I am livid about this insult to competitive integrity!


Every single owner (especially Stan Kroenke) agreed to this travesty should be caned by dommes on international TV!!!
#NoToSuperLeague #NoEuropeanSuperLeague #NoSuperLeague

[JGibson]

Watford are the 2nd team to be promoted to the Premier League. The final promotion place will be solved in the playoffs.

[JGibson]

The UCL Final matchup is set: It's an all-England affair for the 2nd time in 3 seasons, as Chelsea and Manchester City will contest for the UCL crown.



The UEL Final could also be an all-England affair, as Manchester United seems likely to go to the UEL Final, and maybe Arsenal gets firing on all cylinders. 

[JGibson]

The Europa League Final is set: Manchester United and Villarreal will be contesting for a potential place in next season's UCL.  


Manchester United lost to Roma 3-2, but won 8-5 on aggregate to advance. 


Arsenal drew 0-0 to Villarreal and lose 2-1 on aggregate to send them home, likely without any European football for the first time since the 1995-96 season.   

[JGibson]

Norwich City and Watford are promoted to the Premier League for next season, but the playoffs to determine the final promotion place will be coming soon.


EFL Championship Promotion Playoffs Matchup:

Brentford [#3] v. Bournemouth [#6] and Swansea City [#4] v. Barnsley [#5]

[JGibson]

Manchester City have clinched the 2020-21 Premier League title, thanks to Leicester City's 2-1 win over Manchester United. This also helps Leicester City's UCL chances.

[JGibson]

LaLiga news: ESPN is expected to snatch the league's English and Spanish language broadcast packages from beIN Sports, effective next year. Most of the games will be on ESPN+, with some on ESPN/ESPN2/ABC. This could be the death knell for beIN Sports.

WorldSoccerTalk:

ESPN is expected to announce later this week that it has acquired the English-language and Spanish-language media rights to Spain’s LaLiga, multiple sources have confirmed to World Soccer Talk.

Expectations are that an official announcement will be made on Thursday with confirmation that ESPN’s coverage of LaLiga will begin in August 2021, according to our sources.

World Soccer Talk reached out to both LaLiga and ESPN for comment. Spokespeople for both organizations declined to comment.

As first reported by World Soccer Talk in January, ESPN has been in talks to acquire LaLiga rights for the U.S. market for several months. beIN SPORTS had the exclusive rights in the United States through 2024 in a global deal between TV broadcaster and the league. However, carriage issues have plagued beIN SPORTS since 2019, and have prevented LaLiga from being a more popular league in the United States due to the limited distribution of its games.

[JGibson]

Arsenal just might have a chance at European footy next year, if everything breaks right.

[JGibson]

Arsenal dramatically keeping our European hopes (and more importantly, the prospect of a St. Totteringham’s Day) alive with a late win over Crystal Palace.

It was of course also Roy Hodgson’s last ever home game after 45 years as a manager. A remarkable career in so many ways, but, in my opinion, his finest achievement will always be taking Fulham to the Europa League final.

Sunday will be a big feast day for Premier League football, as Arsenal, Everton, and Sp*rs (and mathematically longshot Leeds) are bunched together for the right to claim the 7th (and UECL) spot. West Ham is in 6th, but could slip to 7th.

Key fixtures:
ARS v. BHA
LEI v. TOT
MCI v. EVE
LEE v. WBA
WHU v. SOU

Table:
WHU: 62 [+12]
TOT: 59 [+21]
EVE: 59 [+4]
ARS: 58 [+14]
LEE: 56 [+6]

As for the final 2 UCL places, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Leicester City are all separated by a point.

Key Fixtures:
LEI v. TOT
AVL v. CHE
LIV v. CRY

Table:
CHE: 67 [+23]
LIV: 66 [+24]
LEI: 66 [+20]

The title and relegation spots are already decided.

[JGibson]

The final day of the PL season brought out excitement and disappointment.

For Arsenal (despite winning 2-0 over Brighton), Everton, and Leicester City, it was a day to forget.
For Tottenham, West Ham, and Liverpool, it was triumph.

For the first time since the 1995-96 season, thanks to Sp*rs' come from behind 4-2 win over Leicester City, Arsenal will not be in any European competitions to end a disappointing season. Also, due to Tottenham's comeback win, St. Totteringham's Day is on hold for another year.  :rage: :cry:

[JGibson]

With Villarreal's Europa League win, they also get a Champions League group stage place.

[JGibson]

Brentford got promoted to the Premier League, as they beat Swansea City 2-nil in the Championship Playoff Final to determine who would get the final promotion place.

This is their first trip to top-flight football since WWII and their first-ever Premier League appearance.