Tag: Manchester City

Ranking the 10 best players of the 2026/27 Premier League season heading into Matchday 6
8Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Ranking the 10 best players of the 2026/27 Premier League season heading into Matchday 6

Matchday 6 of the 2026/27 Premier League season is upon us after a lengthy international break. Let's take a reset and rank the top 10 players of the season so far. 10. Liverpool LW Cody Gakpo Cody Gakpo is having a phenomenal start to the season under Andoni Iraola, and hopefully the Liverpool forward does not miss much time with injury. He is one of the best creators in the league and can also finish off his chances. 9. Manchester United AM Bruno Fernandes The reigning Premier League Player of the Season can be too one-dimensional, but with 3 goals and 2.6 key passes per game, Bruno Fernandes is once again carrying a pretty subpar Man United team that is sitting in the bottom half of the table. 8.  Leeds CB Tarik Muharemovic Tarik Muharemovic looks even better than advertised at Sa...
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Ranking the 10 best goalkeepers of the 2026/27 Premier League season so far
8Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Ranking the 10 best goalkeepers of the 2026/27 Premier League season so far

The Premier League returns this weekend after an even longer international break than usual. So let's hype up the games being back by giving some love to the goalkeepers, using analytics to rank the best 10 keepers using only the first five games of the season. 10. Emiliano Martinez, Chelsea The save percentage does not fully capture how well Emiliano Martinez has been playing. He's not an elite Premier League goalkeeper anymore, but he is still excellent and a definite upgrade on Robert Sanchez for Chelsea. And honestly, his defense isn't making him look any better. 9. Bart Verbruggen, Brighton Bart Verbruggen needs to get more love as one of the world's top goalkeepers, and there's a reason why so many club have tried to steal him from Brighton. The Seagulls are getting a lot of pres...
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Projecting the Premier League top 5 heading into Matchday 6
6Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Projecting the Premier League top 5 heading into Matchday 6

It's time to start thinking about the Premier League again now that the September/October international break is wrapping up. After 5 Matchdays, it's time to project the teams that will make it to the Champions League from the English top flight next season by finishing in the top 5. And with the way the season has gone thus far and how poorly a few of the big clubs have been, it's not easy to predict who is Champions League bound for the 2027/28 campaign. 5. Manchester United Why they could be this high: We can't forget that Manchester United finished third in the Premier League last season and showed real improvement in terms of how they created chances and played with the ball under Michael Carrick, who was a great midfielder himself. When everyone is healthy, Man United are above ave...
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Premier League Grades for every Big 6 club heading into October after the international break
5Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Premier League Grades for every Big 6 club heading into October after the international break

The 2026/27 Premier League season is back in action after the September/October international break, and now that the cobwebs are clearing and our minds are getting integrated back into thinking about club football, it's time to take a step back and grade how all the Big Six clubs have been doing so far this season. Arsenal Honestly, even though Arsenal are not in first place right now. I have been blown away by the job Mikel Arteta has done thus far, and I really like how the attack looks with Greek star Christos Tzolis out on the left as compared to Gabriel Martinelli. On paper, Tzolis is less dynamic, but I don't really think Martinelli was doing enough to take players on and stretch the pitch anyway. So that small drawback is nothing compared to the huge benefit of having a player wh...
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FPL Start or Sit for Matchday 6: Danny Welbeck and Senne Lammens get hot
5Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

FPL Start or Sit for Matchday 6: Danny Welbeck and Senne Lammens get hot

Matchday 6 of the 2026/27 Premier League season is upon us as the September/October international break comes to a close. Fantasy Premier League managers are already keeping one eye open on the week ahead. Here are players worth starting and a few that need to sit. Goalkeeper Start: Senne Lammens, Manchester United Manchester United are going up against a Tottenham Hotspur team that almost never scores, shoots a lot, and takes a lot of poor-quality shots. This is a personnel problem, not a tactical one, and so it's not going to change magically just because there was a break in club football. That makes Senne Lammens a must-start for FPL owners this week. Start: Caoimhin Kelleher, Brentford Caoimhin Kelleher looked like a real star for Liverpool when he was a young keeper backing up A...
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Premier League Matchday 6 Bold Predictions: Evanilson shreds Chelsea; Anthony Elanga has the game of the week
4Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Premier League Matchday 6 Bold Predictions: Evanilson shreds Chelsea; Anthony Elanga has the game of the week

The 2026/27 Premier League season will return next weekend after the international break with Matchday 6 as Manchester City and Arsenal continue to jockey at the top of the table while Tottenham Hotspur look for their first win of the campaign at the very bottom. Before the action begins next weekend with Arsenal and Leeds, let's look at seven bold predictions for the upcoming matches. Evanilson will own Chelsea Bournemouth finished in the top six last season, and while they are in the bottom four without Andoni Iraola, they will still pose a threat to a Chelsea side that also look far away from European football themselves. Xabi Alonso has not brought the Blues forwards thus far, and their suspect back line is going to continue to struggle with a manager who has never really been able t...
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A star on every Premier League Big 6 club who would be better somewhere else
3Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

A star on every Premier League Big 6 club who would be better somewhere else

Sometimes, a player just doesn't fit a club. Even if they are a world-class footballer, they just might not fit the DNA, playing style, or manager. They may not even fit the league at all, or things have just become so corrosive over time that a change of scenery is what is needed to right the course. Here is every Premier League Big Six club's star player who would be better served playing somewhere else. Arsenal Honestly, I just don't think Viktor Gyokeres is a good fit for the Premier League. There's just not enough space for him to play in transition, which is where he was killing people at Sporting CP, and he's just not quick enough in tight spaces to get shooting opportunities off. That's a real killer for a striker who is supposed to be a real sharpshooter in the box, but he's mor...
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The biggest takeaway for each Premier League Big 6 club before 2026/27 season resumes in October
2Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

The biggest takeaway for each Premier League Big 6 club before 2026/27 season resumes in October

For the most part, where the Premier League Big Six clubs land in the 2026/27 table after five Matchdays is pretty similar to where they were last year, with the exception that Manchester United find themselves in the bottom half of the standings right now after looking resurgent last season. Tottenham Hotspur are somehow ranked lower despite playing better, Chelsea still stink, Arsenal and Manchester City are still at the top, and Liverpool are somehow falling behind the likes of Leeds. Before the Premier League returns this October following a lengthy international break, it's time to dissect the biggest takeaway from each of the Big Six clubs after five matches played in 2026/27. Arsenal I think Arsenal's biggest takeaway is that they have to be feeling pretty good about themselves...
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Every Premier League Big Six club’s best candidate to sell in the January 2027 transfer window
2Oct By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Every Premier League Big Six club’s best candidate to sell in the January 2027 transfer window

It's been five Matchdays into the 2026/27 Premier League season, and the leading candidates to win the league are the same as they were last season and in most of the previous five seasons: Arsenal and Manchester City, with a touch of Liverpool. But the rest of the Big Six isn't even in the top six, as underdogs Brighton, Brentford, and Leeds have been flying high whereas Tottenham Hotspur are in the relegation zone again and both Chelsea and Manchester United are shaping up to be disappointments once more. Even the top teams, though, have players they might be interested in getting rid of this winter transfer window. Starting with the worst team, Spurs, and ending with league leaders Manchester City, let's take a look at the best candidate from every club to sell when the next transfer...
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Pep Guardiola’s legacy has been shattered by the Manchester City verdict
29Sep By Frank G. BarnesNo Comments
Analysis

Pep Guardiola’s legacy has been shattered by the Manchester City verdict

Pep Guardiola will always be looked at as one of the greatest managers of all time, and even if you can't stand the guy, I think it's impossible to take at least that from him. Because Guardiola not only won too much consistently throughout his career to be anything less than a great manager, but he really did change the game in terms of how teams approach possession, movement off the ball, and dominance. In a lot of ways, he set the stage for how clubs in Spain, Germany, and now England play, especially the biggest clubs in the world like Bayern Munich. At the same time, Guardiola's legacy always came with a bit of an asterisk. See, unlike the coaches he often gets compared to in debates about the greatest modern manager, namely Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp, he never actually built a...
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