The final weekend of action before the holidays gave us plenty to talk about and sustain us, even as several top European leagues — including Spain’s LaLiga and the German Bundesliga — are now on winter break. In the Premier League, Liverpool bested Tottenham, who dropped to nine men before full time thanks to two red cards, though Reds boss Arne Slot has a lot to still figure out from defense to attack despite their three-game win streak.

And Man United’s latest defeat — coupled with losing Bruno Fernandes to injury — gives them a chance to recalibrate over the holidays. Is Ruben Amorim up to the task?

Barcelona defied logic (as they often do) to get a win at Villarreal despite a slew of injury absences and star playing in unfamiliar positions. (Credit Hansi Flick for finding a way to get it done.) We also got talking points galore for Bayern Munich (who’ve had an amazing 2025), Paris Saint-Germain (who claimed the Intercontinental Cup this weekend), Newcastle (who let another 2-0 slip and had to settle for a draw vs. Chelsea), Juventus, Atlético Madrid and much more.

It’s Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let’s get into it.

– Dawson: Man United’s issues exposed as Villa enter title race
– Ogden: Arsenal are ‘Christmas champions,’ but may count for nothing
– Lindop, Olley: Liverpool win marred by Isak injury; pressure on Frank

Three big points for Liverpool, but still plenty to do

It’s now three wins on the spin for Slot and Liverpool after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Tottenham, but more telling is the fact that before Xavi Simons‘ first-half red card, at 11 vs. 11, Virgil van Dijk‘s header was the only shot they could muster. How did they do with a man advantage? A little better: seven shots for an xG of 0.52. Still worse than Tottenham‘s — that’s Spurs, not Barcelona — 10 shots for 0.57 xG.

It’s a sign of how much work Slot has to do. Packing the team with midfielders does give you more control, but it can also rob you of service to the frontman. He tried to address it by sending on Alexander Isak at halftime, and he did score the opening goal, only to get injured in the process. (Initial reports don’t look good, either.) That’s a stroke of bad luck beyond anyone’s control, but without him on the pitch (and with Cody Gakpo injured and Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations), Slot had no choice but to send on fullback Jeremie Frimpong in hope of finding some width.

In other words, Liverpool’s balance still isn’t there, and this setup isn’t viable in the long term because there are no midfield options off the bench. And with Isak presumably out for a while, the two-striker plus diamond setup doesn’t seem like it won’t be an option until the new year, when Gakpo — and possibly Salah, who apologized to his teammates after his outburst — return. And for all the talk of midfield and attack, it’s still the back four that needs the most work: witness the goal given up to Richarlison.

For all the road bumps, Liverpool are fourth in the table and level on points with Chelsea. Maybe they’re out of the title race, but there’s still plenty of room for a strong finish.

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Laurens: Thomas Frank is the main problem at Tottenham

Julien Laurens explains why he believes Tottenham manager Thomas Frank is responsible for the team’s poor run of results.

Across the way, Thomas Frank continues to insist he’s “comfortable and confident.” To be fair to him, Tottenham got a bit unlucky with Hugo Ekitike‘s goal — how VAR missed him putting both hands on the defender’s back is beyond me — and, more importantly, they showed plenty of fight when a man down.

That’s sort of all they showed, however, and that’s a problem for Frank. Once Simons went off, there was little creativity beyond Mohammed Kudus running into blind alleys, and Randal Kolo Muani on his own up front doesn’t feel like a viable option. The spirit is there, the identity less so, and the ability to score by anything other than set pieces or north-south runs even lesser still.

It’s not that Frank’s Spurs team haven’t adopted his Brentford values; it’s that too often, they resemble Brentford on a really bad day.

Barcelona’s flaws are evident, but still they rise

Same stuff, different week. Barcelona simply defy gravity and logic, with critics like me ending up with even more egg on our faces. They went away to Villarreal and won 2-0, something no LaLiga team had managed to do in nine months. They did it without Pedri, with Gerard Martín impersonating a central defender, Eric García impersonating a holding midfielder and Ferran Torres impersonating a center forward.

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Who has the edge in the LaLiga title race?

The ‘ESPN FC’ crew react to Barcelona beating Villarreal 2-0 in LaLiga.

Did they get a little lucky? Sure. Villarreal also happened to be missing a bunch of regulars (Santiago Mouriño, Juan Foyth, Pape Gueye, Gerard Moreno, Thomas Partey). Barça’s usual defensive foibles gifted them two clear-cut early chances. Renato Veiga‘s prison-worthy tackle from behind on Lamine Yamal after 38 minutes was needless and gave Flick’s crew a man advantage, though Barça’s first half saw them manage just four shots from open play.

However, Barça are maddeningly resilient and even on a day when Flick conceded they were “tired,” they know how to pick their spots and make the individual quality count, whether it’s Raphinha in transition or Joan García between the sticks. They end 2025 four points clear at the top of LaLiga, defying the critics. Flick, for now, is vindicated.

Aston Villa roll on, while Bruno’s injury is an opportunity for Man United

Aston Villa were in the relegation zone less than three months ago and now, after 12 wins in 13 league games — and 10 on the spin in all competition — they’re third, three points behind table-topping Arsenal. Sorcery and witchcraft? Possibly. Or maybe it’s just that Unai Emery can squeeze the best out of players, both individually and collectively, better than most.

Against an injury-hit Manchester United, Villa suffered a bit against the press early, found the “out ball” to Morgan Rogers to take the lead, absorbed the body blow of conceding the equalizer on a craven individual error just before the half, took the lead again with Rogers, and then shut the door, Emery-style, limiting United to low quality chances and hit-and-hopes (except for one Matheus Cunha shot). Fine margins, sure, but it’s the little man in black who again ends up on top, usually by outcoaching the opposition.

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Dawson: Man Utd won’t cope if Bruno Fernandes is injured

Janusz Michallik and Rob Dawson speak after Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier League.

As for United, Amorim had seven players unavailable (including four first-team regulars) and lost Bruno Fernandes at halftime, so yes, there are plenty of mitigating factors. Chasing the game with a midfield partnership of Lisandro Martínez (a center back returning from injury) and Jack Fletcher (a debutant) isn’t easy, and Bruno’s absence in the coming games won’t help.

However, it’s also a chance for Amorim to experiment. Not with systems — he’s not going to do that — but with personnel and approaches. And maybe he can give some of his players the chance to seize the opportunity and step up, something that isn’t easy to do when Bruno is on the pitch.

Quick hits

10. Paris Saint-Germain celebrate “other” world title by cruising in the cup: It was always going to be a foregone conclusion against fifth-tier Fontenay Foot — who are separated from PSG by some 132 teams in the French pyramid — so the 4-0 French Cup win on Saturday isn’t particularly noteworthy. More interesting, I think, is the fallout from their victory over Flamengo on penalties in the Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday.

In case you lost track, this is the competition previously known as the Club World Cup (but also, originally, called the Intercontinental Cup way back when) that pits continental winners from the six FIFA confederations. It was renamed to avoid confusion with the 32-team Club World Cup held in the U.S. last summer. That tournament ended with PSG losing 3-0 to Chelsea in the final.

Some will scoff at the notion that the Intercontinental Cup makes up for it — and yes, any trophy you win by winning a single game is somewhat off-brand — but for PSG, it’s actually a big deal. You increasingly get the sense that silverware and international exposure, at least for the club’s business model, is just as important as success in Ligue 1. If not more.

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Kane ‘extremely proud’ to break Bundesliga record with 100th goal contribution

Harry Kane speaks after becoming the fastest player to reach 100 Bundesliga goal contributions.

9. Bayern crush Heidenheim to end 2025 in style: What can you say about a team that has played 25 games and dropped points on just three occasions? It’s scary good? And it’s even scarier now that Alphonso Davies is back (turning in a half-hour cameo after his three minutes in the Champions League the week before) and Jamal Musiala is on his way?

Whatever suggestion they were taking their foot off the gas heading into the holiday break after the 2-2 draw with Mainz last weekend was wiped away. With a makeshift midfield (Raphaël Guerreiro and Leon Goretzka), with 17-year-old Lennart Karl in a starring role and with nine players missing, it was still the usual one-way traffic. Oh, and Harry Kane is on pace to score 48 league goals, which would pulverize Robert Lewandowski‘s mark of 41.

8. Lucky — but deserving — Arsenal roll on: Yes, both things can be true. Arsenal deserved all three points away to Everton because they limited the opposition to 0.20 xG and created the better chances, while also hitting the post via Leandro Trossard. They were also lucky that Jake O’Brien had a massive brain fart and conceded a penalty, defending a header like an NBA center contesting a driving layup. And they were lucky that the William Saliba/Thierno Barry tussle didn’t go the other way: Saliba kicks Barry’s foot and pulls his shirt; Barry yanks Saliba by the wrist. It was the classic case where a ref might call a penalty just as easily as he may opt for a non-call.

That said, Mikel Arteta will be pleased. This is the grind part of the season, when it’s far too easy to drop points on the road, when regulars start to flag and when, despite the deep bench, you’re not sure if and when to rotate. Navigating this time with Manchester City on their heels is a huge test.

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Burley & Nicol slam missed penalty call for Everton vs. Arsenal

Craig Burley and Steve Nicol can’t believe Everton weren’t awarded a penalty in Arsenal’s 2-1 win.

7. Juventus outclass AS Roma with Luciano Spalletti righting the ship: That Tommaso Baldanzi goal with 15 minutes to go to make it 2-1 could have created a panic, but Juventus were extremely grown up as they made it six wins in seven games across all competitions. The front three — this version featuring Francisco Conceição, Kenan Yildiz and Loïs Openda — created chances with help from the wing backs, Andrea Cambiaso and Weston McKennie. Let’s not get carried away: Juve haven’t turned into Flick’s Barcelona, but there’s no denying this is much more of a front-foot team than it was.

Roma did have a bunch of absentees, but the way Juve approached the game, especially in the first half, showed courage and quality — two things that were lacking prior to Spalletti’s arrival. I’m not fully sold on this trio of forwards — Conceição seems one-dimensional, Openda on his own seems a stretch — but they were impressive on Saturday and ideal foils for the budding genius of Yildiz. Don’t expect this front three to be set in stone (Jonathan David and Edon Zhegrova are in the mix too), because it’s Spalletti after all. But confidence is definitely growing.

6. Man City impress, but contrarian Pep Guardiola demands improvement: Maybe we ought to be used to it by now. Maybe it’s some sort Jordan-esque demand for perfection. Maybe he’s just messing with us. But you certainly didn’t expect the City boss to complain after the 3-0 win over West Ham United (their seventh in a row) that they “need to improve,” “create more chances,” and “be brave.” Not in a game that saw them 2-0 up at halftime, with Opta recording five “big chances” before the break and West Ham managing zero shots of any kind.

City are by no means flawless — though this was better than some of their recent minimalist wins — but if there’s an issue it’s likely at the back, where things can get a little ropey (indeed, Gianluigi Donnarumma had to make a couple big saves) and sometimes in midfield, where the much-missed Rodri has effectively been replaced by two guys (Nico González alongside Bernardo Silva). Still, you’re not going to argue with Pep’s record. Whatever buttons he needs to push, he’ll push, and he’ll often be proved right.

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Have Man City gained momentum in the title race?

Steve Nicol assesses Manchester City’s Premier League title prospects after they move top of the table with a win over West Ham.

5. What year is it exactly at Atletico Madrid? OK, that’s a bit unkind. But when Koke opens the scoring with a wonder goal, Jan Oblak makes two huge saves and Antoine Griezmann scores to make it 3-0 away at Girona, you kind of wonder. Because all three were key men for Atleti a decade ago under Diego Simeone who, of course, is still there too. All three are doing it again now (Griezmann albeit in a cameo role, though eight goals by Christmas is not insignificant).

This was supposed to be the season Koke and Griezmann got phased out (not Oblak, he’s eternal) and instead, they’re carving out important roles for themselves.

4. Newcastle United are kicking themselves … again: No team in the Premier League has dropped more points from leading positions than Newcastle, and few things are more frustrating to a coach. You can look at this game and conclude that manager Eddie Howe should blame the officiating: Alejandro Garnacho and Reece James both could have been sent off, and Anthony Gordon should have had a penalty when Trevoh Chalobah bundled into him. Or you can look at it and rue the individual errors, whether the numerous chances Nick Woltemade squandered (in addition to the two goals he scored) or Malick Thiaw getting entirely turned around on Chelsea’s equalizer.

Just as big a concern, I think, was Newcastle’s passivity in the second half. With that crowd behind you and playing as well as they did in the first half, it’s hard to explain.

3. Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca happier with results than performance: But at least he’s not talking about the “unhappiest 48 hours” and a “lack of support.” Does it mean everything is fixed? Probably not. But he’s a professional, he has a contract through 2029, and it’s in nobody’s interest to change managers now. You just hope the people he was talking about got the message.

Beyond that, he said after Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle that there were areas of improvement, but he’s happy with the results of the past week and believes his team is “moving in the right direction.” I’m not going to argue there. Chelsea arguably haven’t delivered a consistent 11 vs. 11 performance over 90 minutes in more than a month. And while the comeback against Newcastle showed resilience and spirit, you get the sense it’s still a long, long journey.

2. A win, but still issues for Real Madrid as Kylian Mbappé matches Cristiano Ronaldo (not really): The last thing Xabi Alonso needed was two weeks of speculation over his future. However, three wins on the bounce — including Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sevilla — ought to do the trick … at least for now. Because the performance still isn’t there, just as it wasn’t against Alaves and against Talavera(!) in the cup. Real Madrid are winning because of moments from brilliant players (and they have more than most) while still looking wobbly at the back.

One of those brilliant players, of course, is Mbappé and in the endless search for snappy stats, you might have read that he scored his 59th goal of the calendar year, equaling Ronaldo’s total for 2013. These sorts of records are frankly silly, largely because you don’t need them to tell you how huge Mbappé has been for Real Madrid. But to provide a bit of context — and appease the Cristianoholics out there — Mbappé did it in 59 games, Ronaldo in 50. Oh, and 13 of Mbappé’s goals came from the penalty spot compared to just nine for Ronaldo.

1. Italian Supercoppa in Saudi Arabia is a dud for (almost) all involved: I say “almost” because the losing semifinalists, AC Milan and Internazionale, will earn €2.4 million each while Bologna and Napoli, who meet in the final Monday night, will split €16.2 million. So yeah, there’s that. But when you consider that last month’s Milan vs. Inter derby pulled in €8.6 million at the box office, maybe the €4.8 million the two Milan clubs are splitting isn’t all that much. Sure, the €8.6 million is revenue, not profit, but still.

The Italian Supercoppa in Saudi was sold as a way to reach new audiences. Well, neither semifinal sold out a stadium that holds less than 25,000. (And let’s not even get started on the spectacle of Milan coach Max Allegri losing his rag — not for the first time — with the Napoli bench.). And before you ask, I seriously doubt it moves the needle at all for Saudi fans, who have their own star-studded league.

Would winning be a deal for Bologna or Napoli? Sure, a trophy would be great. But it would obviously be a pittance compared to what got them there: Bologna’s Coppa Italia triumph last season and Napoli’s Scudetto. Is this all really worth it?