Matchday 31 Gamethread

SoxFanInCali

has the rich, deep voice of a god
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Looks like it took a game for TAA to get his free kick touch back, but there's no keeper in the world saving that one.
 

candylandriots

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That gets called 98 times out of 100. Didn't have position and barreled into him.
It looked like Ayew didn’t even touch him and then VVD rolled to the ground grabbing his leg. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, and I clearly have a bias, but it looked super soft to me.
 

SoxFanInCali

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It looked like Ayew didn’t even touch him and then VVD rolled to the ground grabbing his leg. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, and I clearly have a bias, but it looked super soft to me.
Clearly I have a bias as well, but I thought Ayew threw a hip check right into VVD's thigh.
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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I’m just catching up to the first goal, but that’s why you don’t put your shortest guy at the end of the wall. That was fucking stupid.

I disagree that’s a foul 98/100 times. That’s a foul 100/100 times.
 

candylandriots

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Wow. That was really good by Fabinho. This game is over. It’s amazing how good Palace looked on the weekend compared to this, though I guess Liverpool is a little better than Bournemouth :)
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Old Wayne is probably lucky he didn’t get a hand on that one. He’d have ended up in the back of the goal with it.
 

SoxFanInCali

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With 5 subs available the rest of the way, Klopp might be able to get a couple of the kids up to the 5 appearances they would need for a winner's medal.
 

SoxFanInCali

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Apparently Palace didn't have a single touch in Liverpool's penalty area the whole game. It's the first time that's happened since at least 2008, when they started keeping stats on it.
 

Tuff Ghost

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It appears that Arteta may be going with more of a 4-3-3 for the second straight match, judging by the team selection. It seems like a decent way to address the lack of a productive No 10 (Ozil) and get Saka out there in the mid-field. (the Athletic discussed this today, see quote at bottom). Also, he goes with Nketiah over Lacazette for the 2nd time out of 3 return matches. It seems as if they may be in a rotation.

Martinez
Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney
Xhaka, Ceballos, Saka
Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang

Xhaka is back quicker than I expected, too. Too bad NBC Sports is not showing the match. Well, it's time to go down into my Premier League-free bunker and ignore any news/scores before I can watch the match on the Arsenal official site this weekend. (Not going in for NBC Sports Gold Pass... yet. Mid-table Arsenal may force my hand if NBC stops showing their matches.)

Under Arteta, Arsenal had used a variation on the 4-2-3-1 in every game, until the match against Brighton in which he deployed a new-look 4-3-3, which replicated some of the patterns of play Arteta’s mentor Pep Guardiola uses at Manchester City. Arguably, the absence of Ozil was a key factor in enabling him to make that switch.

It’s too early to say whether this will be a permanent switch but it does suggest Arteta may have decided the best way to replace Ozil is to not directly replace him at all
- The Athletic
 

Cellar-Door

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My name is OCST and I have a problem

I'm watching Burnley-Watford
Interesting Burnley rumors this morning. Dyche may be on his way out, so we could see Burnley lose both it's place as the most overachieving side in the league, and the most boring.
 

Kliq

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Really nice finish by Rodriguez. Burnley going to do what Burnley are going to do.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Just cannot get used to these City away kits. I understand that the need to stay away from both your own main color and your rival's main color means that your away kit is usually something wierd, but this is like watching a bunch of Italian ices run around.
 

coremiller

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This game is a lot more even-tempered than the Battle of the Bridge was in similar circumstances.
 

coremiller

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Chelsea could be scary good for the next several years with a front 3 of Pulisic, Abraham, Werner.