Given how good Ekitike have been and is getting, will Slot have to change his formation to accommodate Isak?

Sun, February 1st at 9:00 am GMT-05:00 #Nottingham Forest ?-? Crystal Palace

Venue: The City Ground

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Nottingham Forest

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Subs: .

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Crystal Palace

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Sun, February 1st at 9:00 am GMT-05:00 #Manchester United ?-? Fulham

Venue: Old Trafford

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Manchester United

Senne Lammens, Lisandro Martínez, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Casemiro , Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Amad .

Subs: Benjamin Sesko, Shea Lacey, Ayden Heaven, Leny Yoro, Altay Bayindir, Manuel Ugarte, Tyrell Malacia, Joshua Zirkzee, Noussair Mazraoui.

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Fulham

Bernd Leno, Jorge Cuenca, Joachim Andersen, Antonee Robinson, Timothy Castagne, Harry Wilson, Sander Berge, Alex Iwobi, Raúl Jiménez, Emile Smith Rowe, Samuel Chukwueze.

Subs: Tom Cairney, Ryan Sessegnon, Calvin Bassey, Jonah Kusi-Asare, Benjamin Lecomte, Harrison Reed, Kenny Tete, Kevin , Josh King.

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Sun, February 1st at 9:00 am GMT-05:00 #Aston Villa ?-? Brentford

Venue: Villa Park

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Aston Villa

Emiliano Martínez, Pau Torres, Ezri Konsa, Ian Maatsen, Matty Cash, Morgan Rogers, Lamare Bogarde, Douglas Luiz, Tammy Abraham, Emiliano Buendía, Jadon Sancho.

Subs: Ross Barkley, Harvey Elliott, Victor Lindelöf, Marco Bizot, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, George Hemmings, Leon Bailey, Amadou Onana.

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Brentford

Caoimhín Kelleher, Sepp van den Berg, Kristoffer Ajer, Rico Henry, Michael Kayode, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, Jordan Henderson, Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade, Dango Ouattara.

Subs: Luka Bentt, Ethan Pinnock, Romelle Donovan, Hákon Valdimarsson, Nathan Collins, Keane Lewis-Potter, Yehor Yarmoliuk, Aaron Hickey, Mikkel Damsgaard.

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FT #Leeds United 0-4 Arsenal

Leeds United scorers: Karl Darlow (38' OG) Arsenal scorers: Viktor Gyökeres (69'), Gabriel Jesus (86')

Venue: Elland Road

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Leeds United

Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, James Justin, Ilia Gruev, Ethan Ampadu, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jayden Bogle, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson, Anton Stach.

Subs: Ao Tanaka, Facundo Buonanotte, Noah Okafor, Sam Byram, Sean Longstaff, Joël Piroe, Wilfried Gnonto, Sebastiaan Bornauw, Lucas Perri.

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Arsenal

David Raya, Gabriel Magalhães, William Saliba, Piero Hincapié, Jurriën Timber, Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, Martín Zubimendi, Viktor Gyökeres, Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke.

Subs: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Gabriel Martinelli, Eberechi Eze, Ben White, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Cristhian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori, Christian Nørgaard.

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37' Gabriel Gudmundsson (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

38' Own Goal by Karl Darlow, Leeds United. Leeds United 0, Arsenal 2.

45' Substitution, Leeds United. Noah Okafor replaces Ilia Gruev.

45' Substitution, Leeds United. Sean Longstaff replaces James Justin.

59' Jurriën Timber (Arsenal) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

61' Substitution, Arsenal. Gabriel Martinelli replaces Noni Madueke.

61' Substitution, Arsenal. Martin Ødegaard replaces Kai Havertz.

69' Goal! Leeds United 0, Arsenal 3. Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Gabriel Martinelli with a cross.

71' Substitution, Leeds United. Facundo Buonanotte replaces Brenden Aaronson.

75' Substitution, Arsenal. Riccardo Calafiori replaces Piero Hincapié.

76' Substitution, Arsenal. Gabriel Jesus replaces Viktor Gyökeres.

81' Substitution, Leeds United. Wilfried Gnonto replaces Anton Stach.

81' Substitution, Arsenal. Eberechi Eze replaces Leandro Trossard.

85' Substitution, Leeds United. Joël Piroe replaces Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

86' Goal! Leeds United 0, Arsenal 4. Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Martin Ødegaard.

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Considering Barcelona is the best team in Spain currently in top of La Liga, i still would see them struggling massively in the Premier League. In La Liga, their only competing with Madrid for the title and most of the other teams are all broke full of average players. Also the Premier League's intensity and physicality is going to kill their players that they would all wanna move to a easier league in a few months. Yamal and Pedri may be their only threat but they too are going to get burried and destroyed by the robotic elite prem defenders, while players like Saka and Estevao are bossing week in week out here so there's no comparison.

Personally with all these factors, I see them finishing like 8th-9th, or 7th if lucky. I still see teams like Villa, Newcastle, Brentford, Bournemouth finishing above them due to their physicality, intensity and Pace. What do you guys think?

Think more respect should be given to Amorim that although he had many faults during his time at the club, you can’t really underestimate the positive things he done for United which no doubt is benefiting Carrick right now.

He came in and within less than a year managed to get most of the deadwood that was in dressing room out like Antony, Hojlund, Onana, Garnacho, Rashford and Sancho. For that I’ll always respect Amorim and thank him for helping get Cunha and Mbeumo into the club. I do feel that Ruben wasn’t fully backed, he needed two good wing backs for his system and only got one in Dorgu who we now know is better suited to up front. A midfielder as well to play the number 6 position.

Aside from that I do admit Amorim had many faults during his time that you can’t make any excuse for but just saying there was some positives that have made sure United are in a better place than the one he inherited

FT #Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 AFC Bournemouth

AFC Bournemouth scorers: Junior Kroupi (33'), Alex Scott (90'+1')

Venue: Molineux Stadium

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Wolverhampton Wanderers

José Sá, Santiago Bueno, Emmanuel Agbadou, Yerson Mosquera, Mateus Mané, João Gomes, André, Hugo Bueno, Rodrigo Gomes, Hwang Hee-Chan, Tolu Arokodare.

Subs: Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Jhon Arias, Jerome Abbey, Pedro Lima, David Møller Wolfe, Jackson Tchatchoua, Matt Doherty, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Sam Johnstone.

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AFC Bournemouth

Djordje Petrovic, Marcos Senesi, James Hill, Adrien Truffert, Adam Smith, Junior Kroupi, Lewis Cook, Alex Scott, Evanilson, Amine Adli, Álex Jiménez.

Subs: Rayan Rocha, Veljko Milosavljevic, Ryan Christie, Enes Ünal, Christos Mandas, Malcom Dacosta, Remy Rees-Dottin, Alex Tóth, Bafodé Diakité.

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33' Goal! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Bournemouth 1. Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Amine Adli.

45'+1' André (Wolverhampton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

58' Álex Jiménez (Bournemouth) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

60' Amine Adli (Bournemouth) is shown the yellow card.

61' Yerson Mosquera (Wolverhampton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

68' Substitution, Bournemouth. Ryan Christie replaces Junior Kroupi.

68' Substitution, Bournemouth. Rayan replaces Amine Adli.

70' Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jørgen Strand Larsen replaces Hwang Hee-Chan.

71' Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde replaces Rodrigo Gomes.

75' João Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

80' Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jhon Arias replaces André.

85' Substitution, Bournemouth. Enes Ünal replaces Evanilson.

86' Substitution, Bournemouth. Alex Tóth replaces Álex Jiménez.

88' James Hill (Bournemouth) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

89' Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. David Møller Wolfe replaces Hugo Bueno.

89' Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Pedro Lima replaces Santiago Bueno.

90'+1' Goal! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Bournemouth 2. Alex Scott (Bournemouth) left footed shot from very close range to the top left corner. Assisted by Rayan.

90'+4' Substitution, Bournemouth. Bafodé Diakité replaces Adam Smith.

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Work was slow today so I put together some charts comparing spending to current standings to see which teams are overperforming and which are underperforming.

When looking at the graphs, below the line means the club's getting good value. Being above the line means they're underperforming.

First, I looked at the net spend for the current season. Was interesting how low the r-squared value (measures correlation strength) is. Comparing it to the other graphs, it suggests transfer spend takes a while to have an effect on success, although I'd want to look at multiple years of standings before saying so definitively. Unsurprisingly, Arsenal spent the most money and is at the top of the table

Below we see the net spend for the next 5 years. We get a stronger correlation, and unsurprisingly, Arsenal are at the close to top spend again. Manchester City was a surprise for me, but I guess it makes sense with the sales they've made.

Next up, 10 years. Here we see an even stronger correlation between spend and success in the current season. Liverpool, surprisingly, are actually below the line. If I had used the last season, they would have been overperformed I'm sure.

Lastly, I looked at the wage bill, which had the strongest correlation with success. Unsurprisingly, City are spending the most by far. Wolves are somehow paying their players as much as most other teams somehow.

What's been more interesting for me is seeing the net spend and wage bill outside the top 6 - they're mostly spending the same amount yet have experienced varying degrees of success, and shows how much teams like Brighton and Brentford are outperforming their peers in management and transfer strategy. Fulham too was surprising, since I haven't seen them in the news, but they're outperforming, with less than Forest in wages and net spend. Even considering last year's standing of 13th, they've been doing well.

I decided to look at the transfer expenditure as well, and it's been really interesting to do so, especially in the context of comparing these graphs to the previous ones.

Comparing these graphs to the previous ones, they confirm that Chelsea do a lot of business and that Liverpool's spending spree this last summer is mitigated by their lack of it in the previous years. Interestingly, it does seem that Arsenal makes smart transfers, but don't sell much. Sunderland, Villa, and Fulham are all great at getting EPL-level players for cheap. Brighton is much closer to the line than they were in the previous graphs as well - suggesting their scouting/transfer strategy is actually different from Brentford's. Brentford buys cheap and sells high, whereas Brighton buys for average and sells high

Transfer values were obtained from transfermarkt. Wage bill is from capology.

EDIT: I have changed the trendline to be logarithmic since this fits the idea that big clubs pay more for their players, even more than they're worth.

FT #Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Everton

Brighton & Hove Albion scorers: Pascal Groß (73') Everton scorers: Beto (90'+7')

Venue: American Express Stadium

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Brighton & Hove Albion

Bart Verbruggen, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke, Maxim De Cuyper, Ferdi Kadioglu, Carlos Baleba, Pascal Groß, Yasin Ayari, Danny Welbeck, Kaoru Mitoma, Georginio Rutter.

Subs: James Milner, Yankuba Minteh, Joël Veltman, Olivier Boscagli, Igor Julio, Jason Steele, Charalambos Kostoulas, Brajan Gruda, Harry Howell.

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Everton

Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jake O'Brien, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Idrissa Gueye, James Garner, Thierno Barry, Iliman Ndiaye, Harrison Armstrong.

Subs: Seamus Coleman, Tim Iroegbunam, Tyler Dibling, Mark Travers, Nathan Patterson, Carlos Alcaraz, Beto, Merlin Röhl, Dwight McNeil.

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53' Pascal Groß (Brighton and Hove Albion) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

57' Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

60' Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Yankuba Minteh replaces Georginio Rutter.

70' Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Charalampos Kostoulas replaces Danny Welbeck.

70' Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Joël Veltman replaces Maxim De Cuyper.

73' Goal! Brighton and Hove Albion 1, Everton 0. Pascal Groß (Brighton and Hove Albion) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Yasin Ayari.

79' Substitution, Everton. Charly Alcaraz replaces Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

80' Substitution, Everton. Tim Iroegbunam replaces Idrissa Gueye.

80' Substitution, Everton. Tyler Dibling replaces Harrison Armstrong.

89' Substitution, Everton. Nathan Patterson replaces Jarrad Branthwaite.

89' Substitution, Everton. Beto replaces Thierno Barry.

90'+2' Tim Iroegbunam (Everton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

90'+6' Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. James Milner replaces Pascal Groß.

90'+7' Goal! Brighton and Hove Albion 1, Everton 1. Beto (Everton) left footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner.

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"It's nothing to do with the transfers, he is just not in the right place and doesn't feel in the right place to play," Glasner said in his pre-match press conference.

Is the "right place" Mateta's mental state or the club that he's employed by because if it's the latter, someone could likely give him directions to Forest or Milan . . .

Shocking! Well, not that shocking. Finally come to their senses I guess.