I want to open by saying that this was a weekend in which football felt so small, against the agony and loss of life in our nation. We want to send our love to all those in Minnesota. I cannot imagine what you are experiencing right now. We have been to the incredible Twin Cities many, many times and reveled in your distinctive football culture. We know it to be a place of incredible creativity, passion, and wonder. I offer up my love and the line of Philip Larkin’s that has been on the bottom of every newsletter we have ever put out, “We should be careful / Of each other, we should be kind / While there is still time.” 🫶

ii. To all those impacted by the storm, we send our love. We had 12 inches by us. Enough to swallow my dog Martin Scorsese when I took him out for a walk. Perfect weather to not need an excuse to sit on the couch for 48 hours and watch football, sweet football. 

It was an incredible weekend, and not just because Everton do not play until today so they could not ruin my life. From a top-of-the-league POV, the intrigue floweth over. Arsenal blinking, being downed by a rejuvenated Manchester United. Just two points now from their last six, a lead cut to four points, and Manchester City away still to come. The “mentality question” will now be back in the crucible. From a United perspective, Michael Carrick has had the best week ever. Shocking City, then outscoring Arsenal by fielding his players in their best positions, not forcing a fundamentalist formation onto a squad that did not fit it, and helping the players swagger their way to glory again. Let the “How big should his statue be?” conversation resound across the land. ♥️

Also: We have Ben White coming on this week. Send us your questions for him…

iii. Huge love to Golden War Cherry Nation. Bournemouth were phenomenal. Even with the thinnest squad, Andoni Iraola can conjure a fighting mentality that is so admirable. For Arne Slot, Xabi Alonso will now loom so large. It is incredible how quickly a 10-game unbeaten run tilts into “five games without a win” and just four points won from the last 15. Slot’s tenure continues to confound. Man won a title, unexpectedly. Now is having a damp squib of a season, also unexpectedly. “He came. He conquered. He flatlined…” 🫠

iv. The best goal you might’ve missed this weekend: Feast your eyes on this perfect angle of Lamine Yamal’s preposterous overhead kick against Oviedo yesterday. The fan’s reaction in the stands is 10/10. 🤯

Not to be outdone, however, by the most gravity-defying save of recent memory. Reach out and touch faith. 🧤

v. I have spent the weekend signing bookplates to mail out to all of you incredible human beings who’ve pre-ordered my book at indie stores (Get yours here now with my love and thanks.) New this week: we have some really lovely thank yous to those of you buying a few copies – including signed posters, personalized video messages and more madness. I am so grateful to all of you for your support in this moment. Bringing a book out is mad in 2026. Thank you for meeting my madness! 📚

vi. I am off to Boston this week to plan for World Cup wonder. I love that city so much. It is proper football. I can’t wait to see all you mad Patriots fans there. ☘️

Courage,
ROG

PS - This might just be the most unnecessary pitch inspection of all time. ❄️

By Tommy Stewart

Arsenal 2-3 Manchester United 🧨

Arsenal’s early dominance was rewarded midway through the first half of yesterday’s Box Office Battle when Lisandro Martínez somehow turned an inoffensive Ødegaard waft into his own net. But shortly thereafter, the league leaders were masters of their own demise, as Martín Zubimendi succumbed to Manchester United’s press, feeding the ball into the path of Bryan Mbeumo, who rounded a stranded David Raya. Michael Carrick’s men sprung into the second half, producing their first goal of the season contender of the day via a long-range Patrick Dorgu rocket that was an emphatic full stop, shifting the game’s energy in the process. United held on until Mikel Merino inevitably scrambled the ball over the line from a trademark corner. But in their black kit, so often a historic harbinger of doom for Arsenal in this fixture, United refused to tap, and in the 87th minute, substitute Matheus Cunha turned his often unquantifiable magic into solid gold, casually curling the ball in from distance to secure one of the most dramatic wins of the season.

More: This is actual cinema.

Can Arsenal Hold On? 😰

Mikel Arteta and his players were met with a sound they’re not accustomed to hearing at full time: a chorus of boos. After City beat Wolves on Saturday, the emphasis was on the Gunners to quell whispers that United might actually be back under Carrick and stay seven points ahead of Pep’s men. It’s often said that the only team who can end Arsenal’s perpetual bridesmaid status is Arsenal, and the self-destructive nature of their first home loss of the season suggests that could be true. This was the first time the North London side have conceded three times in a Premier League game since Dec. 2023, and with club legend Patrick Vieira questioning the side’s mental strength, Arteta’s compatriots Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery have been invited back into the title race group chat. 

Manchester United’s New Carrickter ❤️

While it’s far too soon for United fans to get carried away (try telling them that), their new caretaker manager has not only beaten, but has totally out-performed and out-thought the two best teams in the Premier League in his first two matches back in charge of his former club. Between both stints, Carrick’s also beaten Arteta twice, with his side playing a cavalier style of football that makes you believe that maybe the mythical “Manchester United Way” might be tangible. With Ruben Amorim’s rigid system now seemingly a shrinking dot in the rearview mirror, and as Liverpool limp under Arne Slot, the Red Devils can now realistically dream of returning to elite European competition, where they feel they should always belong.

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🇺🇸 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.

Bournemouth 3-2 Liverpool

It was a tough start for Liverpool’s captain on the South Coast on Saturday, as Virgil Van Dijk was responsible for both of Bournemouth’s two first-half goals, including this senior moment he’ll hope to forget. But the big dutchman redeemed himself by heading his side back into the match just before half-time, and the Reds carried that momentum into the second half. Liverpool’s shining light this season, Dominik Szoboszlai, scored another special free-kick in the 80th minute to imbue his team with false hope, that after a thrilling and frenetic final 15 minutes, was extinguished by an old-school, slippery goalmouth scramble finished by the War Cherries’ Amine Adli. Before this victory, Bournemouth had only won one of their last 14 league matches, while Liverpool were in the throes of a stuttered and sad 13-game unbeaten run that was packed with draws against weak opposition. Prepare for the “Slot out, Alonso in” rumors to only grow.

Burnley 2-2 Tottenham

If Thomas Frank has any hope of hoisting himself from the cliff edge at Tottenham, he’ll need his two star defenders to keep scoring at an elite level. Micky van de Ven got on the scoresheet first with a goal fit for a striker, before captain Cristian Romero saved his side at the death with a bullet header that allowed Spurs to limp out of Turf Moor with a draw. Behind Richarlison, Spurs’ center-back tag team are their side’s joint-second top goal-scorers with four each, which is both a worry and a bonus. Despite clinching a point from the jaws of defeat days after beating German giants Dortmund 2-0, Frank’s own supporters were singing “You’re getting sacked in the morning” after the game, proving once again that football fans have very short memories.

Crystal Palace 1-3 Chelsea

Chelsea’s Estêvão was born in 2007, the year “Superbad” came out, and like McLovin, he’s so smooth that he only needs one name (“Who are you, Seal!?”). The 18-year-old lacerated Crystal Palace’s depleted defense with a first-half 40-yard run and finish, totally silencing Selhurst Park in the process. João Pedro’s left foot rubbed salt into the wound five minutes into the second half, and the home side seemed to surrender there and then. The Blues would add another from a penalty awarded by VAR, and for Eagles fans, that FA Cup final win in May feels more and more like a distant dream. Even though the USMNT’s Chris Richards scored a late consolation on his 100th Palace appearance, one of the loudest grounds in the land felt like a library by the final whistle. Liam Rosenior‘s entered Chelsea’s choppy waters at the shallow end in terms of fixtures, but with four wins in five, he might be more brick than Lego.

Elsewhere in the Premier League: Manchester City 2-0 Wolves, Newcastle 0-2 Aston Villa, West Ham 3-1 Sunderland, Fulham 2-1 Brighton, Brentford 0-2 Nottingham Forest

🇮🇹 Serie A: Inter Milan had a rude awakening on Friday night at the San Siro, going down 2-0 to Serie A’s worst side, Pisa, before sadistically unleashing hell in an emphatic 6-2 comeback. Juventus continued their resurgence under Luciano Spalletti, beating champions Napoli 3-0 at home, possibly putting paid to Conte’s side’s hopes of holding on to the title, while AC Milan could only draw 1-1 at Roma, leaving them five points behind their neighbors at the top.

🇪🇸 La Liga: Real Madrid dodged a big yellow banana skin on Saturday, ending Villarreal’s lofty title aspirations with a Kylian Mbappé brace. The French frontman now has 34 goals in all comps this season, keeping him neck and neck with Harry Kane in the race for Europe’s most potent striker. Barcelona beat down-and-out Oviedo 3-0 at the Camp Nou thanks to some acrobatic magic from Lamine Yamal, keeping the Catalonians a point above Los Blancos in this mano-a-mano title fight.

More: Just two points clear of relegation when he took over, Real Sociedad are now unbeaten through American manager Pellegrino Matarazzo’s first five games in charge. The New Jersey-born Columbia grad has guided his side to eighth in La Liga and the Copa del Rey quarter-final. Read more about him here.

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Do not adjust your screen brightness and make sure you’re sitting down, because Bayern Munich have lost a game of football. It was their first domestic defeat of the season and it all happened on Saturday in the home comforts of their Allianz Arena after a late 2-1 comeback from the Bundesliga’s 13th-placed side, Augsburg. Borussia Dortmund won 3-0 at Union Berlin putting them eight points behind the leaders and proposing the vague possibility of a title discussion.

Everton vs. Leeds (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, USA) 💙🤍

Everton can’t have nice things. Fresh off the delirious and somewhat unbelievable win at Villa last week, we find out beautiful Jack Grealish has a stress fracture in his foot and will be out for three months. I pray that he comes back sound of body and mind. Leeds did us on the first day of the campaign on the worst penalty award of the season. Can they do the double? Do bears crap in the woods?

Rogstradamus: Leeds win 3-0. DCL hat-trick gonna make me have FEELINGS. -RB

The Furon v8. Most Comfortable at Top Speed.

This week’s question: Which player has scored the most goals when Manchester United and Arsenal have played each other in the Premier League era?

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

Last week’s winner: Congratulations to Matthew Posocco, who was the first to correctly identify that Inter Milan have more league titles than Arsenal, with 20 to 13. Your patch is in the post, Matthew. 📮

🐦‍⬛ We’ll see you again on Wednesday. In the meantime, keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected].

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