Route One Newsletter
Posts
🤩 Matchweek 25 preview

🤩 Matchweek 25 preview

Plus: the state of global sport according to social media

February 16, 2024

GM football fans. Route One here, your Friday cheat day, every day.

Have a lovely Friday and weekend you absolute beauty of a person.

📢 Good news announcement: from next week, we’re releasing more original content and a slight change in structure to the newsletter that should make it even better. Drop us an email with any feedback/changes you’d like to see!

🎉 REFERRAL SHOUTOUTS 🎉

Sarah H (Tyneside), Callum F (Salford), Stefan S (London)

Today’s briefing is a ~4 min read:

All you need to know about Matchweek 25 🤩
The state of global sport, according to social media ❤️
Extra time: Mesut Ozil or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

MATCHWEEK 25 PREVIEW 🤩

Brentford vs Liverpool

The opening fixture of the weekend.

Liverpool have the chance to move five points clear at the top of the table.

And it’s a good time to as Brentford have lost four of their last six.

But…

Liverpool aren’t bulletproof in this fixture.
The Reds have won just two of their past eight away Premier League games in London.
Brentford won this exact fixture 3-1 last season.

To be honest, we’re watching this one to see who Maupay targets in this one. Some words of advice, Neal… we wouldn't go for van Dijk.

💉 Quick hit: Diogo Jota is one goal away from hitting double figures in the Premier League.

—

Man City vs Chelsea

The early evening fixture is the best of the weekend.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has something to play for…

If he beats Guardiola’s side, then Pock will be only one of two managers to have won against him with four different clubs - Espanyol, Tottenham - twice - and Paris Saint-Germain. Any guesses on the other manager?

More important than the three points? Ok… maybe not.

Anyway, it’s a tough ask…

City have won six of their last eight home league games against the Blues.
City are on the longest ongoing scoring run on home soil in Premier League history, netting in each of their last 44 games.
City have won their last six games in a row.

And with KDB and The Robot back fully fit, we’re not so sure there’s much Chelsea can do away from home.

But, if you remember the reverse 4-4 fixture in November, you’ll know this isn’t one to miss…

💉 Quick hit: Should Chelsea score twice on Saturday, they would make a piece of history, becoming the first team to ever net six league goals against a side managed by Guardiola in a single campaign.

Everton vs Crystal Palace

Both teams are flirting with relegation this season as Everton sits in 18th whilst Palace is in 15th.

But the table doesn’t tell the full story…

Everton would be high-flying in 12th without their 10-point deduction.
Palace’s manager Roy Hodgson is in hospital after being taken ill mid-week.
It was rumoured Hodgson was about to be sacked before his hospital admission… we don’t envy the person tasked with telling him the news now.
Palace’s best players Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze are both still out with hamstring injuries.

It’s not looking too perky for the boys from South London.

💉 Quick hit: Roy Hodgson has never won a top-flight match at Goodison Park in 10 attempts. 11th time lucky…

The state of global sport, according to social media

There has been a lot of talk about the Super Bowl this year. The American Football event always boasts the attendance of “A-list” celebrities with huge followings - and this year was no exception:

Justin Bieber: 595.9M followers
Taylor Swift: 482.0M followers
Kim Kardashian: 476.8M followers
Ariana Grande: 457.2M followers
Kendall Jenner: 343.3M followers

Simple logic, then: The fact that it attracts so many celebrities means that it should, in theory, have the most attention. Right?

Woah. Not so fast…

The Super Bowl is actually far down the list…

… according to data from Football Benchmark that looked at the sports competitions that attract the most social media followers.

When you compare the Champions League (279.6 million followers) to other heavyweight sports competitions, there simply isn’t any competition - pardon the pun.

The only one that comes remotely close is the NBA with 257 million followers. But, even the most followed NBA team wouldn’t crack the top 10 in global football followings.

Ouch.

Football = Superstars

Global icons are dominating in football too. The two most followed people - not just footballers - on all major platforms are Cristiano Ronaldo (909.2 million) and Lionel Messi (626 million).

Most impressively, nine footballers break the 100 million followers barrier - and only three in other major sports can boast the same numbers: Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, and NBA legends LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

It’s true. Social media following isn’t everything, but the viewing numbers are pretty definitive…

Super Bowl LVIII = 123 million average viewers
Champions League Final 2023 = 450 million average viewers
World Cup Final 2022 = 1.5 billion average viewers

There’s no denying that the Super Bowl is a major event. But, when you put it shoulder to shoulder with European football, it doesn’t stand a chance - let alone the World Cup…