What a weekend. Arsenal 4, Headloss 0. What will Arsenal fans do when they cannot agonize about a micro-element of their team’s performance for a week? Michael Carrick’s Manchester United are potent, resilient and alive again. Footballing necromancy. Tottenham Hotspur also came back from the dead to shock Manchester City. To boo your team off at halftime and give them a standing ovation at full-time is the epitome of modern football – happened at Chelsea too.

Liverpool destroyed Newcastle via “Liberté, Égalité, Ekitike.” The football was poetic and Konaté’s tears after scoring in the wake of his father’s passing were profoundly human. Even Everton sparked joy. Beto proved once again that he is the best striker in the world whose name begins with a “B” and ends in “-eto.” 💙

ii. All in all, a strange weekend. There was a lot of burbling going in, that it lacked a true heavyweight matchup. I can’t remember loving a weekend more: the intrigue, the drama, the quality of the goals. Even the lack of an early morning 7:30 a.m. kick-off meant room to watch Wrexham win 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday and go up to sixth in the Championship, a footballing journey that is perma-sountracked by The Cranberries song, “Dreams.” Without football right now, my life would be bereft, dark, and stripped of all meaning. 🐉

iv. The most spectacular goal you might've missed from the weekend: this absolute top-shelf BANGER from down in League Two, courtesy of Tottenham loanee Yusuf Akhamrich at Bristol Rovers. Is it too soon for Spurs to recall him? 😱

Speaking of Tottenham, it’s a good thing Vicario forgot to cut his nails yesterday, or else he might not have been able to pull off this miraculous save. Much more on that game below. 🧤

iii. So many of you have written in to let me know you have pre-ordered my World Cup history, “We Are The World (Cup).” I know that to pre-order a book is counter-intuitive, but so many of you have done it to support us in this moment. I am incredibly moved and signing so many book plates and posters, along with recording videos, as thank yous for your kindness and love. 📚

v. I am off to San Francisco this week for our sold-out show. I adore the Bay Area. It’s football fandom runs so deep, and we cannot wait to celebrate it with our old friend and long-time GFOP, Andrew Luck, and Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, whom I have wanted to come on the show forever, amongst the guests. 🍻

Also: After we depart the City by the Bay, the Soccer’s Coming Home Countdown Tour will then be rocketing straight for Houston on March 4, where we’ll be joined by the one and only J.J. Watt for 99 Days Out LIVE from the gorgeous Rice University Brockman Hall for Opera. Come be with us as we preview a momentous summer in Texas. Tickets available here. 🤠

vi. Lastly, this Wolves fan moment is what football is all about. 🍗

Courage,
ROG

PS - This made me laugh so hard. It might just be the most Australian thing that’s ever Australian’d. 🪑

By Tommy Stewart

Tottenham 2-2 Manchester City 😯

Rayan Cherki’s artistic early goal abruptly turned a subdued Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into a morgue. Spurs’ insipid efforts made it feel like a charity match where resigned silence became viscous boos when Antoine Semenyo capped off a swift City move on the brink of the half. But Thomas Frank’s locker room speech must have been “Independence Day”-inspired; within eight minutes of the restart, Dominic Solanke scored via a gorgeous Xavi Simons trivela assist. And with City on the ropes, Solanke then nominated himself for the Puskás Award, scorpion-kicking past arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, Gianluigi Donnarumma, to equalize. After Spurs were booed at halftime and then applauded like war heroes at the final whistle, the “football is a game of two halves” cliché has never been more true, and for now, Frank’s pink slip remains unposted.

Pep’s Inconsistent City 📉

Every time Arsenal offer City a pathway back into the title race, they seem to slip, and after a dominant first-half performance against erratic Spurs, they psychologically folded again. Six points is by no means an insurmountable gap for a squad with such riches, especially considering the form of Semenyo, who might already be the signing of the season, but post-match interviews littered with existential complaints are an attempt at papering over their own cracks. Pep and Rodri both blamed the referee for their capitulation, with the former Ballon d’Or winner claiming that “they don’t want us to win; it’s not fair.” Guardiola has performed miracles before, but making Gunners into Spurs fans might be his most surprising trick yet, especially to his apprentice, Mikel Arteta.

Leeds 0-4 Arsenal

Whatever was said in Mikel Arteta’s “beautiful meeting” after Arsenal were undone by United last weekend clearly resonated with his players, and Martin Zubimendi helped confine that result to history, heading in from a Noni Madueke cross midway through the first half. The former Chelsea winger confounded the home side all afternoon, putting in a Player of the Match shift while also getting the second goal. Viktor Gyökeres scored his first in seven league matches in the second half, and Gabriel Jesus joined the party late on with the best goal of the afternoon. Remarkably, he’s never lost a Premier League match in the 64 he’s scored in, so although Arteta is a lover of harder data than this, perhaps the Brazilian can be a lucky charm in his team’s title charge.

Manchester United 3-2 Fulham

With every match-winning performance, Casemiro’s long farewell to Manchester United fans feels bittersweet. He headed home the opener from a Bruno Fernandes cross before going full samba with Matheus Cunha, setting up his compatriot in the second half for another surfboard celly. Fulham’s dominance of possession was eventually rewarded when Harry Maguire’s desperate tackle took down Raúl Jiménez, who scored a penalty to continue his phenomenal 12/12 conversion rate. We need to talk about Kevin, whose injury-time equalizer sent Old Trafford into darkness, but this isn’t Ruben Amorim’s United we’re talking about. Instead, substitute Benjamin Šeško left it later than late to instigate a moshpit in the Stretford End with his fourth in four games, maintaining United’s seven-match unbeaten run, which is currently the longest in the Premier League.

Chelsea 3-2 West Ham

After trudging into halftime, down by two to relegation candidates West Ham, Liam Rosenior became the palatable José Mourinho for the LinkedIn generation, flipping the game on its head with three changes, as Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and João Pedro all came on. Each sub was a masterstroke, as Fofana ran like Forrest Gump to tee up Pedro, before Sideshow Bob B-Side Cucurella dive-headed in the equalizer with 20 minutes to go. Boos became bedlam in injury time when Pedro cut back for Enzo Fernández to fire home the winner on his third anniversary at the club. On the day of WWE’s Royal Rumble, the match fittingly ended in a 22-man brawl that resulted in a red card for West Ham’s Jean-Clair Todibo for an attempted choke slam on Pedro, who also made the mistake of squaring up against absolute unit, Adama Traoré. Be glad you lived to tell the tale, João.

More: This is very funny and further proof of why you should join the MiB Discord.

Liverpool 4-1 Newcastle

It felt like it could be another one of those ominous “Slot Out” days in Liverpool when Anthony Gordon drilled in to silence Anfield. Thankfully for Liverpool’s manager, the Hugo Ekitike-shaped diamond amongst the hundreds of millions of summer-spent dollars hit back immediately with a quick-fire brace that put the Magpies flat on the canvas just before halftime. The first of those goals was assisted by the Merkel to his Macron, Florian Wirtz, who then brushed home the third midway through the second half. These French and German maestros have collaborated for six goals in all comps this season, which is more than any other Premier League duo. And with their first league win in 2026, Liverpool now sit just two points back of fourth-placed United.

Brighton 1-1 Everton

A draw in the Crisis of Confidence Clásico. Everton were abject for 96 minutes. We could barely cock a fist and were limping to defeat, lonely, self-loathing, and insipid. But then, an O’Brien low drive caused chaos, Brighton goalkeeper Verbruggen could only palm the ball back up the gut, and on his 28th birthday, Beto, Beautiful Beto, swooped in to stab home. He is such a terrible footballer, but such a bundle of wonder as a human. A reminder to savor the moments in life, and revel in them, because watching at home, my nipples temporarily felt electric. As GFOP @uncappedtyler tweeted me, “Good, Beto, Best.”

The highlight of my week in a world that needs more joy was seeing David Moyes, jig on the touchline. He was booked for it, then said “I bloody will do it again… in fact had I been a bit more mobile, I would have done a knee slide.” -RB

Elsewhere in the Premier League: Aston Villa 0-1 Brentford, Nottingham Forest 1-1 Crystal Palace, Wolves 0-2 Bournemouth

🇪🇸 La Liga: While Real Madrid beat relegation-fighting Rayo Vallecano 2-1, it took a 100th-minute Kylian Mbappé penalty against 10 men for Los Blancos to sneak a win in a bizarre match where Jude Bellingham also left the pitch in tears after a worrying looking injury. Barcelona stay top by a point after they did the job against mid-table Elche in a 3-1 win in which Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford both scored.

More: Can someone please tell us what color Barca’s away kit actually is?

🇮🇹 Serie A: For a while, Serie A’s four-team Scudetto Battle Royale was the beating heart of European football, but after a routine 2-0 win at Jamie Vardy’s Cremonese, Inter Milan are now eight points clear at the top. Third-placed Napoli defeated Fiorentina 2-1 to just about stay alive, while fourth-placed Juventus and Weston McKennie’s rejuvenation under Luciano Spalletti continued in a 4-1 win at Parma in which the Texan scored his sixth goal of the season.

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayern Munich have entered a relative flop era, because after a shock loss last weekend, they drew 2-2 with lower mid-table Hamburger SV on Saturday. Ever-dependables Harry Kane and Luis Díaz both scored, but their leaky defense has invited Borussia Dortmund back into the chat after they recovered to defeat Heidenheim 3-2. BVB are now just six points behind the Bavarian overlords, so pull up a chair because the Bundesliga just got interesting.

The new 442 v3, some things just never go out of fashion. Shop now.

Sunderland vs. Burnley (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, USA) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

If you’d told Régis Le Bris in August that Sunderland would be undefeated at home and 11th in the league at the start of February, he’d probably think you were a cruel Newcastle fan playing a twisted joke. Scott Parker’s Burnley finished 24 points above the Black Cats in the Championship but now drown in 19th, trailing them by 18 points and adding evidence to the suspicion that football is twisted and has no reasonable logic.

Bologna vs. AC Milan (Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇮🇹

After Inter’s smooth weekend victory, AC Milan must win to avoid giving passage for their younger brothers to enjoy a Scudetto title stroll. Max Allegri’s side rarely lose but they also draw too many matches, something that’s become more habitual since top goalscorer Christian Pulisic became an inconsistent pick. Although ninth-placed Bologna started the season well, they've fallen off a cliff of late, but their famous Renato Dall'Ara Stadium is always a tough place to visit.

Carabao Cup: Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Tuesday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏆

Other than the reverse of this fixture, Liam Rosenior has a 100% win record at Chelsea, whose impressive 3-2 silencing of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium last week had some cynics jolt up from their couch to become that Leonardo DiCaprio GIF. The pressure is on Mikel Arteta and his quadruple-hunting Arsenal, who are 3-2 up in the tie, but CarrickBall proved their nerves and fallibility at the Emirates.  

Carabao Cup: Man City vs. Newcastle (Wednesday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏆

While Pep Guardiola’s side are still fighting on four fronts, feeling the sweet cold grasp of the first available silverware of the season could be psychologically pivotal. Even though his side are 2-0 up in this tie, he’ll still pick a strong XI to cement a box office final against either Arsenal or Chelsea. Eddie Howe’s men are in the midst of an identity crisis after a weird week in which they stood up to PSG but folded against Liverpool; they’ll need several mini-miracles to salvage this deficit and defend their EFL Cup.

This week’s question: Who scored a brace when Arsenal beat Chelsea in the 2019 FA Cup final?

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

Last week’s winner: Congratulations to Derek Linn, who was the first to correctly identify that Wayne Rooney has the most goals (12) between Manchester United and Arsenal when they’ve played each other in the Premier League. Your patch is in the post, Derek. 📮

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

🙌 If you’re enjoying The Raven, we’d love an assist. Forward this email or share this URL with a friend, family member, or fellow football fan.

📧 First time with us? Sign up here to get the next edition sent straight to your inbox.