GM football fans. This is Route One, the only football newsletter that gives you more thumbs-up than Thiago.

Today’s briefing is a ~4 min read:

1. Matchweek 22 key talking points 🗣️

2. Brentford vs Man City… tonight’s fixture analysed 🤩

3. Extra time: Diego Simeone’s nutmeg 😉

MATCHWEEK 22 TALKING POINTS 🗣️

1/ Poch out?

Chelsea are 11th after their 4-2 loss to Wolves… at home.

Not great. Poch admits his job isn’t safe.

But do you know what makes it worse? When you’re player’s (Thiago Silva) wife also takes digs at you…

2/ “It Felt Bigger For Arsenal” - Jamie Carragher After Arsenal vs Liverpool:

Jamie’s right… Arsenal were dominant in their win last night, and the stats support the eye test:

• Arsenal finished with 3.52 expected goals (xG) vs Liverpool’s 0.41.

• Arsenal had seven shots on target vs Liverpool’s one…

• … the Gunners won the ball back eight times in Liverpool’s half vs Liverpool’s one attacking third recovery.

But in Liverpool’s defence, they had some big names missing:

🚫 Mo Salah.

🚫 Dominik Szoboszlai.

🤕 Trent Alexander-Arnold (subbed after 60 mins).

Liverpool remain top by two points (City have two games in hand) but they will need their stars back ASAP to compete in the first three-horse title race we’ve had in years.

• Quick hit 💉: Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against Liverpool.

3/ Spurs Break A Record.

Spurs have now conceded eight goals in the 90th minute this season…

• Their most in a single Premier League campaign and

• The most of any side in the division so far.

… oh mate.

In fairness, it’s hard to tell if the 94th-minute Everton equaliser was because of Spurs’ wrong-doing or Everton’s making.

A silver lining for Spurs is their former Evertonian, Richarlison…. he now has nine goals in the Premier League in eight games. 🔥

• Quick hit 💉: Richarlison became the first player to score home and away against Everton in a single Premier League season having previously played for the Toffees.

4/ 22 Games Played And Luton Is Not In The Bottom Three.

17th in the league… little Luton Town are loving the big stage.

And when we say little Luton Town, we mean their pitch is 500 square meters smaller than the standard Premier League rules pitch.

So most pundits are putting down their survival-worthy form to an awkward pitch and play style, leading to:

• Smashing Birghton 4-0.

• Drawing with Liverpool 1-1.

• Giving Arsenal a run for their money in a tight 4-3 loss.

But their latest result was at St James’ Park.

They led Newcastle 4-2 after coming back twice before drawing the game 4-4.

Scoring four goals against Newcastle away from home is a big deal…

Only four sides have managed to do that in the past eight Premier League seasons:

• Manchester City (twice).

• Manchester United.

• West Ham.

• Luton Town.

🐝 BRENTFORD vs MAN CITY ⛵️

Tonight @ 8 pm UK

Where’s the Brentford of last season gone?

You know… the side that beat treble-winners Man City not once, but twice (!!) in the league last season:

• 2 - 1 at the Etihad.

• 1 - 0 at the Gtech.

What’s more… Erling Haaland is yet to score against Brentford. Yet, the Norwegian Robot has scored against all the other 20 Premier League sides he has faced.

But things have changed a little:

• Thomas Frank’s side have lost eight of their last 10 in the competition.

• They haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 11 league games.

• Worst of all (for Brentford) Man City have assembled like the Avengers with De Bruyne and Haaland both back.

So, though the Bees stung City last season, they won’t feel confident going into this fixture.

• Quick hit 💉: If Brentford cause an upset, it’ll be the first time Guardiola has lost three consecutive top-flight games against an opponent.

EXTRA-TIME ⏱️

From becoming assistant manager of Preston North End’s under-14 team to beating Monaco in Ligue 1. It’s impressive - but nothing beats Will Still’s language switching in his post-match de-brief.

“You’ve won a game… get down the tunnel” - Jamie Carragher doesn’t appreciate Martin Ødegaard’s photo-taking skills.

Harry Kane continues to break records in the Bundesliga. On Saturday, he scored his 24th of the season to match Luca Toni for the most in a Bundesliga debut campaign.

Everyone knows that Diego Simeone is a showman as a manager. Did you know he was the same as a player? He nutmegs his opponent twice and then claps in his face… some things never change.

MEME 😆

R1 REFERRAL