Hail GFOP!

Rog writes: Let the first newsletter of 2026 resound! A World Cup year is upon us. Arsenal are top and defying the haters and the doubters. Wolves fans, your joy is my joy. Everton are having the worst year ever, but Harrison Reed, thank you, thank you. I turned over to watch Liverpool just in time to see them think they had stolen the game in the 94th minute. Reed’s 97th-minute stunner saved me. What is the point of football if I can’t even hate-watch anymore? 🚀

ii. This was Arsenal’s best weekend ever. Manchester City reminded us that football is amazing, and by amazing, I mean hilarious. They crapped the bed at the death against post-Maresca Chelsea with Enzo’s sucker-punch goal at the last leaving City six points back from the league leaders. Expect City to put in a $100 million bid for Harrison Reed in 3… 2… 1… (A word on Enzo Maresca’s exit, which is still being decoded in the court of press briefings and counter-briefings. The truth is, two things can be true: Maresca overreached and Chelsea are a chaos culture with a day-trading approach to talent acquisition who will buzz-saw managers.) 🙃

iii. The true joy of the weekend was watching Arsenal outlast Bournemouth. A game that was like Exhibit A for Premier League scriptwriters actually existing. A Gabriel cock up leads to Gabriel redemption. Then Declan Rice rebounding from injury to score a pair of daggers – the second of which, involving the transcendent-again Ødegaard and Saka, reminded me of the old Johan Cruyff quote, "Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.” Arsenal have fought, set-pieced, and own-goaled their way to a perfect 12 points out of 12 over the holidays. Lovely stat from the BBC: Arsenal have two more points and have scored four more goals at this stage of the season than the Invincibles in 03/04. 📈

iv. The top goal you might’ve missed from the weekend: Feast your eyes on this overhead winner from England’s seventh tier. 😱

v. Finally, it was incredible to see so many GFOPs in Phoenix last Friday. We stormed in for less than 24 hours to shoot some World Cup content with the mighty Steve Nash which I can’t wait for you to see. So many of you sent in incredible food recommendations. We only had time to go to the quite excellent Pizzeria Bianco late-night and the rather wonderful Matt’s Big Breakfast. It is incredible to travel this nation with you all, you GFOPs never let us down. 👏

PS - I am having a colonoscopy today. That was meant to be the worst part of my week, but the way Everton played, I am actually looking forward to it. 💙

PPS - Witness the only other contender for weekend MVP besides Fulham’s Harrison Reed. 🔥

Courage,
Rog

📬 Enjoying The Raven? Check out our other MiB newsletters:

☀️ The Women’s Game: Everything you need to know about women’s football, sent straight to your inbox each week.

🔍 The Correspondent: Rory Smith’s thoughts on the world of soccer, culture, food, and how they all connect – every Thursday.

🇺🇸 USMNT Only: Your regular update on the most important topics in the U.S. men’s game, all leading up to this year’s World Cup.

Chelsea Steal a Point at the Death at the Etihad 🫨

By Max Bonem

Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea

After a wild week at Stamford Bridge which saw the departure of Enzo Maresca, the Blues came out completely flat in the first half against Manchester City. Pep’s side looked increasingly threatening, but waited until just before halftime when Tijjani Reijnders drew first blood with a venomous strike that felt like an omen for the manager-less visitors. But Chelsea made some changes and came out much stronger in the second 45, as City attempted to sleepwalk their way to a win. In what felt like a theme yesterday, the West Londoners waited until the 94th minute to strike back as the sole Enzo left, Enzo Fernandez, barely squeaked in an equalizer past Gianluigi Donnarumma’s massive paw before jumping into the crowd of traveling supporters. A draw that felt like a win for Chelsea, a loss for City and a step towards the title for first-placed Arsenal.

They’re Calum McFarlane’s Team Now 💙

With Maresca becoming the 20th manager to leave Chelsea since 2000, the team needed someone to step in before making their next appointment. Enter: Under-21s coach, Calum McFarlane. Five years ago, he was an eighth-tier assistant manager preparing to coach Man City’s under-15s. And now, he’ll be remembered by Chelsea (and Arsenal) fans for not only making some good in-game decisions that led to one of the team’s biggest results of the season, but also for doing just enough to guide the team through a moment of pure organizational chaos. All signs point to Strasbourg coach Liam Rosenior taking the mantle at Stamford Bridge as soon as this week, but at least McFarlane will always remember the night the away fans sang his name out after a huge result at the Etihad.

City’s Massive Slip Up 📉

Facing a severely uneven and inexperienced Chelsea side with a caretaker manager at the helm for his first senior game, this was City’s game to lose. And while a draw with a team just three spots below them in the table doesn’t sound that bad, the result leaves them six points behind Arsenal and even with third-placed Aston Villa. While Pep’s side continued their seven-match unbeaten run, this will be one that they not only should’ve won, but really had to in order to keep pace with the Gunners.

Arsenal Go Six Points Clear at the Top 📈 

Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal

Winless in their last 10 league games and on the verge of losing their biggest offensive threat in Antoine Semenyo, this was not the ideal time for Bournemouth to welcome league-leaders Arsenal to the south coast. And yet, the Premier League scriptwriters appeared to smile upon the War Cherries just 10 minutes in when Gabriel’s massive gaff gifted the home side the opening goal. However, these are not the Gunners of yore, and the giant Brazilian who giveth then taketh away as Arsenal’s star centre-back evened the score just six minutes later. From there, Declan Rice took over with two rare goals from open play that all but sealed the deal for the North Londoners. Arteta’s side only have one loss since Sept. 13 in all comps, meaning they’re not just the hottest team in England at the moment, but potentially the world. Whisper it, Gunners fans: This could be the year.

Fulham 2-2 Liverpool

While there were earlier goals from Fulham’s Harry Wilson, who really seems to enjoy scoring against his former team, and an equalizer from Florian Wirtz, this fixture came alive in stoppage time. Cody Gakpo, who’d both hit the post and had a finish called off for offside earlier on, knocked in the go-ahead goal in the 94th minute. But let this be Gakpo’s reminder to never go full Richarlison again by taking off your shirt for what you think is the game-winner when there’s still time to play, as Harrison Reed stepped up in the 97th minute with the most erotic strike of the year. It was his first goal since April 2023 and so unexpectedly beautiful that his own teammate was seen asking him “What the f*ck was that?!” at full time. Liverpool now sit eight points back of City and Villa and will need to lick their wounds quickly with a massive game against Arsenal looming on Thursday.

Leeds 1-1 Manchester United

Well, that certainly isn’t how Ruben Amorim wanted to go out. After a game which saw a beautiful goal from Medford, N.J.'s very own Brenden Aaronson, a Matheus Cunha equalizer immediately after and not much else, the Portuguese manager took to the podium and burned it all down in a press conference, capping things off with, “Every department needs to do their job, I will do mine for 18 months, and then we move on.” Unfortunately, he won’t be given that chance as he’s now the 10th United manager to be shown the door in the 13 years following Sir Alex Ferguson after a tumultuous 14 months in charge. Interestingly, he’s also the 19th football manager in the last 34 seasons to be sacked immediately after playing Leeds. Hopefully Eddie Howe fares a bit better when Newcastle host them on Wednesday.

More: Amorim sacked by Manchester United after losing power struggle over transfers.

And Now, Rog’s Super Chill Thoughts on WTF Happened to Everton this Weekend 💙

Everton 2-4 Brentford

Rog writes: I don't like to be hyperbolic, but I hate 2026. One minute, I was so elated to be tuning in on a relaxing Sunday with my kids – blessed to watch Everton charge up the table and the Bears clinch second place. So, of course we crapped the bed. Gifting a first goal, via a Tarkowski mistake, then conceding at will as Brentford, so well drilled, frustrated us, then preyed on the errors which ensued. Igor Thiago had a hat-trick and is behind only Haaland in the scoring charts – an unfathomable achievement athletically and “recruitingly.” Tiny, relegation-predicted Brentford are in seventh place.  

James Baldwin once said, "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them." Swap out Everton for history and that is how I feel right now. Sucks that we can’t play Sean Dyche-managed teams every week.

More: Your ultimate Everton sad stat.

Elsewhere in the Premier League: Aston Villa 3-1 Nottingham Forest, Brighton 2-0 Burnley, Wolves 3-0 West Ham, Newcastle 2-0 Crystal Palace, Tottenham 1-1 Sunderland

On the Continent 🇪🇺

🇮🇹 Serie A: Italy’s top flight remains the tightest title race around as its three top teams — Inter, AC Milan and Napoli, who are only separated by two total points — all won, while Juventus kept pace in fourth by drawing 1-1 with Lecce thanks to a clinical finish from the USMNT’s Weston McKennie.

🇪🇸 La Liga: While Real Madrid came very hot out of the 2026 gates by smashing Real Betis 5-1, including a hat-trick from academy lad Gonzalo García, Barcelona won their ninth league game in a row by at least two goals, after besting local rivals Espanyol 2-0, which leaves Barca top of La Liga by four points. Adding insult to injury, the Man of the Match was former Espanyol goalkeeper, Joan García, who became the first player to cross city lines in 31 years when he switched clubs last summer. Watch as he shoves his own defender down to block a shot while simultaneously introducing the tush push to the Spanish top flight.

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: No updates from Europe’s laziest league as the Bundesliga is off until next weekend. Bayern are still top with a nine-point lead, having won 13 of their 15 league matches, while drawing the other two. We hope the 17 German clubs chasing them have spent the last few weeks thinking of ways to change that.

The So-Fars: Our 25/26 Mid-Season Premier League Awards 🏆

Tradition has to start somewhere, and although this is the first edition of the “So-Fars,” think of this now as your irreverent toe-dip into the beckoning and overwhelming pool that is awards season. In true MiB fashion, we’ve blended conventional footballing wonder like goals and saves, with our favorite terrace songs and shock results to give you a full perspective of the beautiful game’s true tapestry. How many of these will still be standing strong at the end of the Premier League season? Well, you’ll have to wait and find out.

Mid-Week Matches Worth Faking a Meeting for 📺

Manchester City vs. Brighton (Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. ET, Peacock)

City will have little time to rebound from their crumbling finish against Chelsea with the very 10th-placed Brighton coming to the Etihad on Wednesday. With six points now separating them and Arsenal, and Villa even with them on points, what seemed like a chill matchup for Pep’s side before an upcoming set of FA and Carabao Cup games has now become a must-win.

Fulham vs. Chelsea (Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. ET, Peacock)

The two sides who stole points in their very dramatic draws yesterday will meet this week as Chelsea make the roughly 1.5-mile trip west to visit Fulham. The Blues appear ready to appoint Strasbourg head coach, and existing BlueCo employee, Liam Rosenior, as their next manager this week, so Fulham will need to watch out for that new manager bounce as Chelsea attempt to break a four-game winless streak at Craven Cottage.

Arsenal vs. Liverpool (Thursday, 3 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock)

With all due respect to the other nine Premier League games this week, this is the one that has potential to truly crackle. Liverpool are still unbeaten in their last seven league games, while Arsenal have won their last seven across all comps. There are eight big points separating Arne Slot’s side from the top three and hopefully they will have fully recovered from Harrison Reed’s atomic blast yesterday when they visit North London on Thursday.

Some Non-Football to Start the Week Off 📖

• Something that many of us could’ve used a few days ago: The world’s best hangover cure.

• Re-read books that matter, and 30 Other Rules for Becoming a Better Reader this year.

• Why Is Everyone Getting Their Tattoos Removed? Well, everyone except Richarlison.

• ‘Marty Supreme’ Is Based on a True Story. It's Also Insane. Not seeing any mention of “vampires” though…

• How We’ll Eat in 2026: More Caution, More Crunch, and hopefully more Terry’s Chocolate Oranges.

• The year of the horse organ is upon us: The Organists Improvising Soundtracks to Silent Films.

It’s MiB Trivia Time 🤔

This week’s question: How many times have Arsenal won the Premier League title after being top of the table on Christmas Day?

Email us with your answer for a chance to win a much-coveted MiB patch!

Our previous question: Back on Dec. 15, we asked which team had won the most Tyne-Wear derbies between Sunderland and Newcastle. Coincidentally, they’ve both won 54. We didn’t receive any correct answers this time around, but better luck to everyone this week.