Premier League Nuggets 2023/24

 2 February MW 22 QUICK OFF THE MARK On Tuesday night two of the fastest goals scored in the Premier League followed one another. Luton’s Elijah Adebayo set the ball rolling at Kenilworth Road within 18 seconds and Ben Brereton-Diaz wasn’t too far behind with the opener for Sheffield United at Selhurst Park that wasContinue reading “Premier League Nuggets 2023/24”

Premier League Nuggets 2023/24

26 January MW21 Part 2 SYMMETRY The five matches over the weekend yielded 18 goals with Saturday’s games involving five goals each, Sunday’s four each and Monday’s none. Arsenal’s 5-0 thrashing of Palace match not as evenly distributed as Brentford’s 3-2 victory over Forest. Substitute Gabriel Martinelli’s late brace came in added time with theContinue reading “Premier League Nuggets 2023/24”

Premier League Nuggets 2023/24

19 January MW21 EMERY’S FIRST BLANK Unai Emery’s proud/odd record of never having overseen a goalless draw in his Premier League career with either Arsenal or Villa, came to a stultifying halt at Goodison Park in his 97th match. It was the Spaniard’s 21st draw so you might say it was coming. Villa’s relatively poorContinue reading “Premier League Nuggets 2023/24”

2023/24 Premier League Nuggets

5 December MW20 GOALLESS IN STRATFORD  As has been pointed out here many times, this season has seen a glut of goals. In the first nine games of MW20 there had already been 35 including the usual slugfest that is Liverpool Newcastle which ended 4-2 (not quite one of the 4-3 classics from 1996 andContinue reading “2023/24 Premier League Nuggets”

Premier League Nuggets 2023/24

24 November MW12 During the international break attention shifted towards off the pitch issues. MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND STUCK As we near the end of November there is yet to be a managerial departure during the season (Julien Lopetegui left Wolves in the week prior to the beginning of the season). This is a rarity in theContinue reading “Premier League Nuggets 2023/24”

Premier League Nuggets 2023/24 – MW 5

22 September Week 5  TO THE BITTER END Both Tottenham and Aston Villa scored twice after the 96th minute of their matches, the latest in an increasingly long line of goals scored in 2nd half added time. There have been 18 goals scored this season after 90 minutes, 12% of overall total. Tottenham’s second goalContinue reading “Premier League Nuggets 2023/24 – MW 5”

Palace’s FA Cup semi-final : a chance to celebrate

As a Palace supporter I find it difficult to contain the thrill of going to Wembley this weekend for the club’s fifth appearance in an FA Cup semi-final. While for the fans of our opponents Chelsea and the other semi-finalists, Liverpool and Manchester City, this is much more routine. It is all part and parcelContinue reading “Palace’s FA Cup semi-final : a chance to celebrate”

Grenfell Athletic: How a football club brought hope to a devastated community.

Images c/o Sebastian Barros Instagram @sebbarros The Middlesex County Football League is one of the fifty leagues operating at Step 11 in the pyramid of English football with almost 1,000 clubs represented. Every Sunday morning,  hundreds of matches dotted around the country are contested but there is one club, that stands out from the crowd.Continue reading “Grenfell Athletic: How a football club brought hope to a devastated community.”

Celebrating Panini’s 60th anniversary

There are countless sticker collections gathering dust in lofts across the country. Panini albums have been avidly compiled by millions of people across many generations, dating back to the first that was launched in the UK for the 1970 World Cup. The sticking phenomenon was so popular, it even had its own language — ‘swapsies’,Continue reading “Celebrating Panini’s 60th anniversary”

Queens Park Book Festival with Pat Nevin and Ricky Hill

At last weekend’s Queens Park Book Festival I had the pleasure of hosting a football panel with Pat Nevin and Ricky Hill, who both had books published earlier this year. A common theme that unites the two former internationals is that, for different reasons, both were considered as outsiders within the football world, for exampleContinue reading “Queens Park Book Festival with Pat Nevin and Ricky Hill”