Football's boiling point

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering Sterling’s public statement, chaos in the Turkish league, and much more.

STATS

Leicester City vs Tottenham (Today at 20:00 BST)

→ Of all Premier League fixtures to have been played at least 30 times, Leicester against Tottenham has the highest goals-per-game average. In the last five games, there have been 28 goals scored between the sides - 5.6 per game.

→ While Leicester beat Tottenham 4-1 in their last Premier League meeting in February 2023, the north London side won in the previous four league encounters.

Premier League MD1 results:

Man Utd 1 - 0 Fulham | Ipswich 0 - 2 Liverpool | Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolves | Everton 0 - 3 Brighton | Newcastle 1 - 0 Southampton | Nott’m Forest 1 - 1 Bournemouth | West Ham 1 - 2 Aston Villa

Brentford 2 - 1 Crystal Palace | Chelsea 0 - 2 Man City

Plus…

• Mo Salah breaks the Premier League record for most goals (9) scored in the opening day of a season, surpassing Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer (More)

• Tottenham have accepted a bid from Leicester for midfielder Oliver Skipp in excess of £20mn (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE

Drama before Chelsea vs City kick-off as Sterling releases statement

Manchester City opened their title defence with a 2-0 win over Chelsea yesterday. Despite Rodri’s absence, it was a comfortable performance from Pep Guardiola’s side and it means that:

• City have now won their last 10 Premier League matches, scoring at least two goals in each victory - they now have more 10-game win streaks than other side with seven.

• Erling Haaland has been directly involved in 106 goals in 100 appearances for City.

But the drama started before the first whistle was blown.

One hour before kick-off

Just before kick-off, Raheem Sterling’s representatives released a statement saying they would seek “clarity” from Chelsea on why the 29-year-old was left out of the squad. This was the first time Sterling hadn’t started the first game of the Premier League season since 2012-13.

During Chelsea’s pre-season tour, boss Enzo Maresca said that Sterling was one of the “most important players” in the squad - and insists the decision to drop the winger was “just a technical decision”. 

Clearing things up: Sterling’s statement was partly a way to dispel transfer rumours in light of the winger’s links with Juventus in Italian papers. In the statement, Sterling’s ‘representatives’ highlighted his desire “to [deliver] at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans.” 

The jury’s still out: Pundit Jamie Carragher wrote on X (Twitter) that the “statement is ridiculous” and wasn’t impressed with Sterling’s timing of the release.

Pundits on Sky also voiced their concern, with Micah Richards claiming that Sterling let his team down with the untimely statement.

POLL

HEAD START

⛔️ Real Madrid held to a draw in their opener. A 1-1 draw to Mallorca - a team that finished 15th last season - is not the start that Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappé would’ve wanted in their opening game of the La Liga season. Rodrygo’s opener in the 13th minute was met with an equaliser by Muriqi in the second half. Ferland Mendy was red-carded in the 96th minute after a reckless challenge on the Mallorca goalscorer.

🤔 Toney’s departure “not close” despite absence. Brentford manager Thomas Frank has said that Ivan Toney is not close to leaving Brentford despite his decision to leave the striker out of the squad for their Premier League opener. Toney has entered the final year of his contract and made no secret of his desire to leave Brentford, with Arsenal, Chelsea and the Saudi Pro League side al-Ahli having all been linked with him this summer.

🤕 Danilo vows to be back soon after a shock injury. The Nottingham Forest midfielder broke his ankle just seven minutes into the new Premier League season. He fell awkwardly after an early aerial challenge with Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo. The 23-year-old has now been discharged from hospital and the length of his absence is yet to be confirmed.

TURKISH SUPER LIG

Jose Mourinho in firing line as Turkish football reaches boiling point

After Fenerbahce drew their second league game to Goztepe - giving up a 2-0 lead - fans and analysts are questioning Jose Mourinho’s appointment, per Turkiye Today.

A well-known sports commentator, Serdar Ali Celikler, didn’t hold back on his criticism of Mourinho: “If we need a coach for an Anatolian team, we don’t have to pay 10.5 million euros. Get someone for 500,000 euros and save the money”.

Mourinho’s not the only one in the firing line: Fenerbahce’s president Ali Koc was struck by a bottle and pushed to the ground after his team’s draw on Saturday.

Tensions reach new heights

This isn’t the first time there have been concerns for the safety of players, officials and fans in Turkish football. Over the last 12 years, the Turkish top flight has seen issues over crowd trouble, but physical attacks in stadiums have reached a boiling point in recent years:

• Last season, a referee was punched by Ankaragucu’s president after the final whistle. The president later apologised, saying he only meant to spit in the man’s face.

• In 2022, a Besiktas fan was banned for life after throwing a flare onto the pitch, narrowly missing the opposing goalkeeper.

• Earlier this year, in March, Trabzonspor fans stormed the pitch and attempted to attack Fenerbahce’s players.

Conspiracy theories fuelling hate

According to experts, fans in Turkey have a tendency to overanalyse decisions, searching for something deeper or some kind of conspiracy. Put it this way, if VAR’s decision-making is the topic of the day in the Premier League, then referee decisions are the topic of the minute in the Turkish Super Lig.

Mistrust over institutions that are supposed to safeguard fairness in Turkish football, plus the highly concentrated finances among the ‘Big Three’ in the league, lies at the heart of the crisis in Turkish football.

Big picture: Fandom is the beating heart of football but when mistrust, financial disparity and conspiracy theories take over, it can damage the beautiful game.

Mourinho’s no rookie when it comes to criticism. But the Turkish football landscape is much less forgiving - so he shouldn’t expect the politically correct punditry made on Monday Night Football or Match of the Day.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

🇸🇦 Saudi Super Cup: After Al-Nassr’s 4-1 defeat to Al-Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup final, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t collect his runners-up medal and walked out of the stadium (More)

🇪🇸 La Liga: Ilkay Gündogan has reportedly asked to leave Barcelona before the end of the transfer window (More) / in Spanish

🇵🇹 Primeria Liga: Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyökeres has three goals and three assists in three league games this season; He’s still on Arsenal's radar (More)

🇩🇪 DFL Supercup: Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen beat Stuttgart on penalties to add the DFL-Supercup to their trophy cabinet; Patrik Schick's goal in the 88th minute levelled it for Leverkusen's 10 players (More)

🇺🇸 NWSL: Landon Donovan is San Diego Wave FC’s new interim head coach through the remainder of the 2024 season (More)

LOWER LEAGUE LOUNGE

Championship

Burnley beat Cardiff 5–0 from an Expected Goals (xG) of just 0.76, making The Clarets the most clinical team of the weekend across the entire EFL. Sunderland thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 with all four goals coming in the first half. Their second win from two puts the Black Cats on level points with Watford and promotion favourites Burnley. Bristol City won 4-3 at Ashton Gate in a seven-goal thriller. After going 2-0 up, City had to come back from 2-3 down to win in the 88th minute. 

League One

Stockport’s 3-0 win over Blackpool makes it two wins from two as the Hatters lead the table with a +5 goal difference. Wrexham and Bolton Wanderers played out a hard-fought 0-0 draw as both teams stay unbeaten in the league. Huddersfield Town, Crawley Town and Charlton Athletic all have two wins from two, trailing behind Stockport’s goal difference.

League Two

Walsall, Gillingham and Bromley all maintain a perfect start to the season on matchday two. Morecambe, MK Dons and Crewe Alexandra all remain pointless with Crewe being put to the sword 5-0 by Chesterfield who put on an excellent performance to secure their first win since returning to League Two.

Every Monday expect a Lower League Lounge replacing the Off The Pitch section so we can cover all the action from the weekend…

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Amadou Onana. The 22-year-old midfielder, who joined Aston Villa from Everton for £50mn this summer, wasted no time in proving his worth by scoring just four minutes into his first game against West Ham. Onana’s debut was one to remember:

• ⚽️ 1 goal

• 💪 9 duels won

• ⛔️ 3 clearances

• ♻️ 6 ball recoveries

• 🔗 97% passing accuracy

• 💫 100% successful dribbles

• 🎯 100% accurate long balls

Does it get much better than that?

ROUTER’S VOICE

On Friday, we asked you: Do you think the Premier League's rule changes have gone far enough?

Routers voted that the Premier League hasn’t gone far enough with the rule changes.

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ✅ Yes, I wouldn't change a thing... (42%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👎 Nope, the Premier League needs to... (58%)

Your punditry takes:

• 👎 G J Britto voted ‘Nope’: “Football needs a complete overhaul. Too many professional fouls are encouraged by not sanctioning them. They become the norm. Wasting time is a typical example. Now it’s been decided to reduce added time. Thus encouraging time wasting.”

• ✅ Wiktor voted ‘Yes’: “I believe the changes made for the upcoming season are on point - for example, seeing VAR only in slow motion irritated me a little, knowing that not only the fact of contact but also the impact of it counts. I am also more than happy that mic'd up refs idea was blocked.”

• ✍️ Matthew voted ‘Other’: “After refusing to adequately train and commit to a proper implementation of VAR, the Powers that Be have arrived at their pre-determined "time to give up." To risk a sacrilegious paraphrase of G.K. Chesterton, "[VAR in the Premier League] has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." In other words, these changes go much, much too far. Here comes all the CONCACAF-style time-wasting, diving and other dark arts. So much for the Premier League being the standard of what football should be.”

EXTRA TIME

Nine Premier League records that could be broken in 2024-25.

Ticket price rises far outstrip the cost of a pint of milk.

Premier League scoreboards have been upgraded this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo tells his teammates they’re sleeping.

One of the best non-professional goals we’ve ever seen.

A goal after seven header volleys.

Average weekly wage in the Premier League since it started. 

Was this La Liga in its prime?

Interview: Michele Kang ‘I’ll prove that women’s sports is good business’.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Who am I… 

• I began my career at Barcelona's 'La Masia' academy.

• I made eight appearances for Watford on loan in the 2013-14 season.

• I have won the FA Cup twice with Arsenal.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

FOOTBALL

Premier League

• Leicester vs Tottenham (20:00 BST)

La Liga

• Valladolid vs Espanyol (18:00 BST)

• Villarreal vs Atlético Madrid (20:30 BST)

Serie A

• Lecce vs Atalanta (17:30 BST)

• Juventus vs Como (19:45 BST)

*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer

Hector Bellerin.