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Well, unfortunately it looks like West Ham are going to spoil the laughing at Spurs party. They're cooked.
I blame Villa, for not turning up 2 weeks ago
Peak Spurs would be them contriving to get relegated, somehow.
Somehow? I reckon Peak Spursy would surely be for it to come down to the last game of the season, for them to score two against Everton in the first half, then end up losing 4-2 to go down? 😂
The complete inconsistency in the handball rule this season is bonkers
The complete inconsistency of the officiating every season is bonkers.
VAR bod: ‘ere Mike, take a quick butchers at the monitor would you, I think you’ll find it’s handball’.
Michael Sailisbury: ‘Under rule 16000b/92 subsection 4137, I can do whatever I want and there’s knob-all you can do about it . . . GOAL’
I reckon we will drop points to Burnley tonight. Just an Arsenal hunch.
I reckon we will drop points to Burnley tonight. Just an Arsenal hunch.
Grrr, I hope you're wrong. I'm dedicating me day to hitting refresh on the Ticket Exchange trying to pick up some last minute returns.
Bayern just won their 11th title in a row. What an uncompetitive league for a major footballing nation. At least 4 clubs in England have won in 11 years.
A couple of one offs, aside from the City processions?
I was thinking about this the other day in the context of Hearts hopefully upsetting the old firm dominance. In some other major leagues it’s the same, la liga is always Real or Barca with the odd Athletico win. France usually PSG now. Germany Bayern dominate. England Man City. The outlier seems to be serie a, there’s been a few different winners since Juventus won several on the trot.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c0k28522472o Didn’t Leverkeusen win the title a couple of years ago in Germany?
Anyway, BBC reporting that Pep is off and Mareska in at City! That’s properly an end of an era…
Studs up, high, and nowhere near the ball? Just a malicious, dangerous challenge. That’s as clear a straight red as you’ll ever see. He should be walking!
Clearly the ref and the VAR both want Arsenal to win the league and don’t mind what they get away with
Same old Arsenal…
A season built on playing for corners to turn into rugby scrums and endless shithousery. I’d rather see the scousers win it than this lot. At least they play football, not this bollocks
Heres hoping Burnley can get something in the last ten minutes
If it was nervous tonight v Burnley at home Palace away is a bit of an ask! Assuming City don’t bottle it tomorrow night.
An oddly unpredictable score for The Arsenal.
I've (been unfortunate) to watch a fair few Arsenal games this season as my brother and brother-in-law are Arsenal fans and last nights game seems to be the way most of them have gone. On the whole (apart from the 2 weird wallopings they gave Leeds) the games I've seen have felt nervous. The repeated clips from last nights game of fans stood in silence, some staring at phone screens seems to sum it all up...
Peps off then. Before the verdict is returned on the outstanding charges. Hmmmmmm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd0pkk1xy23o
Double post
At least Pep's got a good enough lookalike so they won't have to change all those photos - it'll save a bit of money.
Squeaky bum time in East Manchester.
Blimey Southampton kicked out of the play off final.
Noel Gallagher just left Bournemouth. That's it
Anyway Arsenal have won it.
It feels very wrong to be pleased that Arsenal have won the Premier League. But until all the 115 charges against City have been properly concluded through due process their successes over the last ten years will be tainted.
This Sunday I'll mostly be supporting West Ham and Everton to hopefully see Spurs get relegated.
I don't really like West Ham, and would usually be happy to see them go down, but all the Spurs fans who got what they wanted when their chairman stepped down will realise that perhaps it wasn't as badly run as they thought.
I'm waiting for the appearance of @stcolin to admit that his relentless Arsenal pessimism was a full-on reverse psychology job.
But until all the 115 charges against City have been properly concluded through due process their successes over the last ten years will be tainted.
Agreed. IF they are found guilty I really hope points are docked retroactively in the relevant seasons.
As ever with West Ham, it's the hope that kills you. This will likely be the fifth relegation in my lifetime, I suppose 15 years in the Prem has been a pretty good run.
I'm pleased for Arsenal in an "anyone but City again" kind of way.
Having to choose between Spurs and West Ham is like having to choose whether to save Trump or Farage from a burning building. On balance, I'd like to see the Spurs fans travelling to a wet Tuesday night at Sincil Bank.
I'm waiting for the appearance of @stcolin to admit that his relentless Arsenal pessimism was a full-on reverse psychology job
You rang?
Still can't quite believe it tbh. When Citeh equalized I thought they might go on to win it.
On a personal note, my dad is the reason I'm an Arsenal fan, replaying that win at Anfield in '89 on VHS, the first modern double with Adams and co, the invincibles, and now this. He passed at the end of 2024 and in his last moments, we were watching Final Score on the TV in the hospital, just like we always did. Would have been nice to call him last night to celebrate.
As ever with West Ham, it's the hope that kills you. This will likely be the fifth relegation in my lifetime, I suppose 15 years in the Prem has been a pretty good run.
I wouldn't give up hope just yet @ransos. This is Spurs we're talking about here. I'm still sticking with my prediction that Spurs, being Spurs, could go two up in the first half and then ship 3 or 4 in the second half, West Aaaaam to score a fluky winner in the 97th minute, and they go down.
It has to happen as it would just be the Spursiest thing ever and I could quite possibly die laughing 🙂
Oh... and congrats @stcolin. hope you're celebrating accordingly after a season of waiting for the moment where it all goes wrong
This overly fussy referee will ruin this European final, 2 booked so far for innocuous challenges.
There were a few "tired" looking folk in Arsenal shirts this morning down in That There London.
We moan about premier league refereeing and VAR, but god spare us from European referees. They seem to be determined to make football a none contact sport.
The Villa fans are rightfully letting the French referees know what they think of decisions so far. 3 yellows now, for stuff that would just be waved away in the premier league
I never thought I’d ever say this, but COME ON VILLA!!!
I'll support any British team in a European final.
(On this day in 1981, Ipswich won the UEFA Cup, for any fans of ancient history)
2 fantastic goals from Villa.
Absolutely top draw finishes, both of them
How many times does Unai Emery have to do this before he gets to keep the trophy?
I know everyone tries to get into the UCL, but the relative strength in depth of the Euro leagues vs the EPL means that after the rest of Europe's 'elite' gets tied up in the main parts of the UCL any half decent EPL side has more than a decent crack for the Europa and Conference leagues. I wouldn't be surprised to see Palace win next week too. Money aside, I'd swap (as a Newcastle fan) a last 16 exit exit in the UCL for a night like Villa are having right now
4/10 of the last 10 years of EL and 2/4 of the Conference
Brilliant! Villa fans singing "Sweet Caroline **** the blues": for all the world to hear!
Ironic that having won the bigger vase, if Villa finish above Liverpool there will be one fewer English team in the Champions League next season.
Whilst its great that an English team has won the cup (and Palace have a great chance next week of winning another - Arsenal, maybe less chance), the fact that Freiburg looked like a mid table championship side who offered a grand total of nothing for 90 minutes (and who the referee decided to put out their misery with 60 seconds of added time at the end), for me, takes the shine off what should be a big deal. Its the bloated nature of the champions league thats done it - potentially over a quarter of this seasons premiership could be playing in the "champions" league next year FFS.
IIRC some champions league teams used to drop into the two Europa competitions, not sure that happens now?
Its the bloated nature of the champions league thats done it
Talking of bloated, the World Cup starts in 3 weeks
I hate international football anyway, but this month-long borefest will be particularly farcical. Apparently there are loads of unsold tickets. No shit? I wonder why.
Apparently there are loads of unsold tickets.
The grounds will end up being filled with Rentacrowds to make them look busy – the atmosphere is going to be just like a series of Chelsea home games.
They'll get a whole bunch of rednecks that usually watch (eat lots) college football with stadium-wide call-and-response chants. Maybe even as bad as the dreadful Vuvuzelas.
stadium-wide call-and-response chants.
DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!
IIRC some champions league teams used to drop into the two Europa competitions, not sure that happens now?
They still do.
The UCL is daftly convoluted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_UEFA_Champions_League
If my adding up is right there's 80 teams total that 'enter' the UCL, 51 enter and are whittled down to 9 through qualifying rounds and then there's 29 big guns that enter at the Swiss league stage, making the 36 in that stage. That's what I meant further up, that 36 contains the elite of the big associations, so the leftovers and those that didn't even make the original 80 and go into the EL or EC directly are relatively weak compared to the depth of the English and less so the GER/ITA/ESP leagues.
Of that 36, the top 8 after the Swiss league and then another 8 from the 9-24 playoffs make up the 16 that then go into knockouts.
32 of those knocked out in the pre-last 16/24 bit go into the Europa League alongside (again, adding up) I think 48 teams directly added...and so on. But the knockout losers don't by then go into the EL, as it's too late in the season (Newcastle were a R16 loser, but that was March 18th by then) so you have to be among the shitter of the UCL teams to make the EL through that route, and technically you're still better than the teams in the EL as of right 😉
