Gm football fans. Route One here, the only way to start the week.

Today’s briefing is a ~5 min read:

• 4 minutes, 3 offences, 2 bad decisions and 1 one rant… the story of Newcastle vs Arsenal 🚨

• Tottenham vs Chelsea: what do the stats say? 📊

• Doku’s #1 strikes big 🥇

GAMEWEEK 11 RESULTS

Tonight on Sky Sports…

• Manchester City is in full swing again with a 6-1 win over Bournemouth. Jeremy Doku scored one and assisted four.

• Liverpool secured a point versus Luton with a last-minute Luis Diaz header to make it 1-1. Luton at home is proving a tough fixture even for the best teams in the league.

• Arsenal lost 1-0 to Newcastle after a controversial four-minute VAR call. It’s the Gunners’ first loss of the season. More on this story below.

• Aston Villa lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest. Harry Toffolo secured Man of the Match with two assists.

Tottenham host Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight at 8:00 pm. Route One analysis is below.

🗞️ Morning Brief

4 MINUTES, 3 OFFENCES, 2 BAD DECISIONS, 1 RANT 🚨

That was the story of Newcastle vs Arsenal this weekend.

Let’s recap on what happened in the game:

• Kai Havertz should’ve been red-carded.

• Bruno Guimaraes should’ve been red-carded.

• VAR took four minutes to check three different offences to award Anthony Gordon’s goal.

• Arteta cried in his press conference (not literally, but he might as well have).

There’s no denying it, VAR hasn’t been helping anyone much this season.

Managers, players, referees and fans are being left more confused after a VAR intervention, than before it.

Arteta voiced his anger after the game following VAR’s decision to award Anthony Gordon’s goal:

“I feel sick. I feel sick to be part of this. It is not good enough and we cannot accept that.”

But, hold up.

Arteta’s tune has changed, hasn’t he?

He was more understanding with VAR when it came to Liverpool’s controversial defeat to Tottenham back in September.

Who remembers this press conference…?

Look, how and if VAR should be used is a question for another time.

That’s for journalists at The Athletic to write dissertations on. Thrilling stuff.

Here at Route One, we just ask for one thing: consistency.

Consistency from VAR and the managers. 

Sure, Arteta has a right to be annoyed. But bring the same understanding even when the decision is for or against your side.

⚪️ TOTTENHAM vs CHELSEA 🔵 

Tonight @ 20:00 on Sky Sports

There’s huge pressure on Spurs to deliver at home against Chelsea tonight.

They have a lot to lose…

• They are the only team that remains unbeaten in the league (sorry Arsenal fans).

• Postecoglou’s records on the line… he could become just the third manager to go unbeaten through his first 11 games as a Premier League boss.

We’ve already seen the pressure mount at the top of the table. Now it’s Spur’s chance to prove they have Premier League title conviction.

Son could be the difference. He has now scored in three successive Premier League London derbies.

They also face a weakened Chelsea side.

Since Graham Potter’s departure, Chelsea have returned just 18 points. This is fewer than all ever-present Premier League sides except Bournemouth.

But, don’t count the Blues out just yet. Chelsea have:

• Picked up more points away (seven) than they have at Stamford Bridge (five) this season.

• Reece James available again.

• Won 14 away Premier League games against Tottenham, a tally only bettered by Manchester United (15).

• Scored 51 away goals against Spurs. The most in the history of the Premier League.

Tottenham is in red-hot form at the moment but Chelsea is their kryptonite. Tonight will tell if they’re able to overcome this hurdle.

• 💉 Quick hit: Tottenham’s home form sits 11th in the league when ranked by expected points.

DOKU’S #1 FAN STRIKES BIG 🥇

At the time of writing this, Jeremy Doku’s biggest fan has the most FPL points in this gameweek.

How do we know he’s Doku’s #1 fan?

• His FPL name is “Count Doku”.

• He triple-captained Doku.

Read that again. He triple-captained Doku.

How on earth did he triple captain Doku on the gameweek when he scores a goal and gets four assists?

But, don’t feel too bad. Count Doku is ranked around six millionth overall.

Surprisingly, backing Doku every week isn’t the meta strategy.

EXTRA-TIME ⏱️

Abu Dhabi have their very own Gary Neville. Sport 1’s version of Neville hasn’t won any Premier League titles, but we’re told he had more pace than United’s former right-back.

Harry Kane is on fire. The former Spurs captain bags a back-to-back hattrick for Bayern Munich. He has now scored fifteen goals in ten games, breaking the German record for most goals in the first ten games of a season.

Ever been so frustrated with VAR that you’ve wanted it gone? Well, Iago Aspas took it to the next level after throwing the VAR monitor to the ground. We’re with you, Iago.

Safe to say, Richard Keys and Andy Gray don’t give a sh*t anymore. The duo stood for 30 seconds in silence without a clue what to say or do.

Ravel Morrison was once dubbed England’s best upcoming talent. And we think this goal from England U21s training is probably why.

MEME 😂