Tiny Weary Derby

An uninspiring renewal of the Newcastle - Sunderland rivalry but the Carabao Cup quarter final was good.

A Derby "Without Much Coherence"

Great technique but the wrong goal
Photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images

Thus spake Champion.  One team didn't play like it was a derby.  That would be Newcastle.  The stats tell us how moribund this was - shots were 6/5, shots on target 2/1 and xG was .25/.28.  Never have two teams labored to produce so little offense.  The only tally was a Voldemort own goal, the best header of the day.  Everything about this says it should have been a 0-0 draw.  Except, you have to give Sunderland credit as they played defense with intensity and worked hard enough to deserve the win.  They did seem pretty happy about the whole thing at the end.

I expected there to be some criticism of what I thought was a pretty conservative game plan from Eddie Howe and indeed there was some (see here).  I wonder how much they missed Joe L Linton for this match.  They could have used some of his attitude and it might have been worth him getting the obligatory first half yellow to wake the side up.  There was some feistiness late but that was borne of frustration.

The derby issue asides, this was a true six pointer that could have put Newcastle ahead of Sunderland in the table but now they are four points behind their close rivals and are stuck in 12th.  

Conversation That Definitely Took Place 

Steve: We must have had an expected goals of .1 in the first half.

Dennis: A bit optimistic there. It was .02.

What's In A Derby?

Dennis raised a great point in advance of the Newcastle - Sunderland clash.  "What I don't understand is how the players are so feisty on these derbies. How many players are actually from the region?  I get that the fans hate each other."  Seems like a fair question.  Certainly some of the players are "home-grown" but rarely is a significant portion of a roster drawn from the region.  Maybe they feed off the fans.  His point seemed particularly apt watching Newcastle; Magpie players certainly did not seem especially fired up.

It's Hard Out There For A Relegation Candidate

With Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Leeds all getting points, the gap for the bottom three grew again.  Burnley hung tough with Fulham for a little while but eventually came up short 2-3.  But at least theirs wasn't quite the hard luck tale of the others.  West Ham had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 against Aston Villa but a brace from a surging Morgan Rogers turned it into a 2-3 defeat.  The expected goals for that one are just weird - 1.00 to .65 favor the Hammers.  But no one out bad lucks Wolves.  Though thoroughly dominated by Arsenal, they were level at 0-0 until the 70th minute, when the Gunners got an own goal off the back of Wolves keeper Johnstone.  Miracle of miracles, Arokodare scored an equalizer at 90 minutes and visions of a point danced in their heads.  Ah, but these are Wolves so everybody should have known better.  They surrendered a second own goal (a header off Mosquera) at 90+4 which ended that dream.  Not that a point would make much of a dent in their deficit but it might have been something to build on.

Jesus Returns

Mosquera got credit for the goal but Jesus made the miracle happen
Photo:David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Wrong season and all but Jesus made his long-awaited return after a year's absence due to injury.  He came on as a late sub for Arsenal in their match against Wolves and arguably had an almost immediate impact.  Though he didn't get credit for the game winner, his challenge for the header was at least partly responsible for the own goal.

Other Stuff

Man City kept pace at the top with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.  Chelsea and Liverpool moved in the right direction with 2-0 wins over Everton and Brighton.  Spurs on the other hand fell 3-0 at Nottingham Forest and the stats say this was not a fluke; shots were 15/5, shots on target were 6/1 and xG was 2.29/.35.  Michael B was livid.  Hope you saw the Monday matinee 4-4 goalfest between Man United and Bournemouth.  No napping during that one.

What's Up With Expected Goals?

A very strange week for xG vis-a-vis results.  See the chart below from xgscore.io.

The first two make sense (and maybe Arsenal -Wolves) but after that?  The xG suggests a different result for every other match.  Draws for Sunderland - Newcastle, Burnley-Fulham, Liverpool - Brighton and maybe West Ham - Aston Villa.  Then wins for Leeds, Man United, and Crystal Palace.  I don't remember a week with so many results contrary to expected goals.

Three Quarters of a Quarter Final

Maybe it was harder than it should have been but Newcastle did grind out a 2-1 win over Fulham to advance to the Carabao Cup semi-finals.  The Cottagers did look the better side out of the gate and Wissa's goal at 9 minutes was definitely against the run of play.  Fulham got the equalizer shortly thereafter and really it was no less than they deserved.  Fortunately, slowly but surely the Magpies started to take the game back.  Unfortunately, it didn't pay off until second half stoppage time when Lewis Miley headed in a Tonali corner.  We make this fan's eye view of the play this week's YouTubeableMoment. Also:

On balance, it seemed like the right result. Plus Howe got in some line up rotation in advance of the Chelsea weekend clash.    

The Chelsea - Cardiff fixture produced a nap-worthy 3-1 match; actually the Welsh side did put up a good fight but it wasn't enough to keep me awake the whole time.  I saw the first half of Man City vs Brentford and the 2-0 win for the Citizens was probably well-deserved.

Arsenal and Crystal Palace still have to face off next week.  The winner of that match will play Chelsea while Newcastle will take on Man City.  The semi-finals are two legged ties and will take place the weeks of January 12th and February 2nd.

A Shockingly Quiet Week

Just Matchweek 17 for the EPL.

We get to rise at 7:30 for Newcastle - Chelsea.  Despite being at St. James' Park, this looks like trouble to me. Surprisingly, Opta has Newcastle at 41% to 32% over Chelsea but that seems "optamistic" to me.  Four at 10 am.  I'd go with Brighton - Sunderland as we see whether the Black Cats can continue to surprise; Opta says no but I'm not buying it.  You could go with Wolves - Brentford to see what bad luck might befall Wolves this week.  Sort of the same for Burnley as they travel to face Bournemouth. Man City is unlikely to be pressed by West Ham.  The feature 12:30 match reads like a true feature fixture except that Spurs and Liverpool have been enigmatic all season.  The special 3 pm feature match must be a hit because there are two of them this week.  You could go with Leeds - Crystal Palace or Everton - Arsenal; probably the latter for me.

Just a single Sunday match but it's a good one with Aston Villa hosting Man United at 11:30.  Opta has Villa at 58% to 21% there and I hope they are correct.  There's another Monday matinee - Fulham vs Nottingham Forest - at 3 pm; all signs point to a competitive match there.

Enjoy the mid-week off because starting next Friday, there are fixtures nearly every day until January 8th.   

Company at the Top

EPL results conspired to make things much tighter at the top of the table.

Making Do

For the "Two Goal Lead Is the Most Dangerous" crowd, I will concede that a two goal lead is only one goal away from squeaky bum time regardless of how late in the game it is.  I will also suggest that squeaky bum time is a phrase that should not come up in a report about Newcastle facing Burnley at St. James' Park.  But there it is.

Things started out poorly, with Burnley having the run of play.  The Magpies found their game and started to take over.  Then, Guimaraes scored directly on a corner; here's the video of Bruno's Olimpico.  Add a Burnley red card for DOGSO and things are looking better.  Gordon slots a PK at 45+8 for a 2-0 halftime lead and this should be over right?  Alas, they never put in the third goal and although Burnley never really threatened the goal, this was not done and dusted.  The only way the Clarets were ever going to score was a foul in the box.  So of course Jacob Ramsey complied, handling the ball in second half stoppage time.  The PK was converted, leaving us with added stoppage time to fret over.  The match ended with an incredibly dangerous cross floating through the Newcastle box.  So much for coasting to victory.

Most of the stats say Newcastle dominated (exception is xG that was 1.82-1.58) but this one was always a dumb play away from being too close.  Fortunately that dumb play came late in stoppage time. Of course, there were positives to take away from this 2-1 win but all I can remember now is that we got the three points.

Conversation That Didn't Take Place and Probably Good That It Never Did

Dennis: Did you say you were disappointed in a cooking show you were watching?

Steve: No, I said the Gordon-Ramsey connection simply did not work for Newcastle.

Non-NBA Game of the Week (and Best of the Season?)

Cash Is Money: Matty gives Villa a 1-0 lead

Aston Villa - Arsenal was worth watching from minute one through second half stoppage time.  As we hoped, the Villans proved once again they can play with anyone and their 2-1 win was a thing of beauty for all except Gunners fans.  Matty Cash's 36th minute goal was matched by Trossard at 52 minutes.  Don't let the lack of scoring fool you, this was good back and forth football.  The game winner came from Buendia after a chaotic scramble inside the Arsenal penalty area.  I would have called it scruffy but Dennis would have responded "Who's scruffy looking?"  Anyway, you can see it here as this week's YouTubeableMoment.  While the stats don't say that Aston Villa stole this one, they do reflect that it was a tight match.  The win put Villa into third and by beating Arsenal, made the top of the table more competitive.

NBA Game of the Week

The first half of Brighton -West Ham was awful.  The second half was a little better but even then, you could have waited until about 70 minutes to start watching.  Bowen got the Hammers on the board at the 73rd minute.  Brighton woke up and the final 20+ were exciting.  The Seagulls got the equalizer at 90+1.

Liverpuzzlians

What is up with Liverpool?  The chaos - on and off the pitch - grows.  First, they blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 on the way to a 3-3 draw with Leeds.  Afterwards, Mo Salah, an unused substitute in that match, gave an interview that every media outlet labeled "explosive." (Think I'm kidding? Google Salah explosive interview.  Wait, the NYT called it "incendiary.")  Details can be had here.  The interview was littered with phrases like "It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus" and "Now we [Slot and Salah] don't have any relationship."  

The draw, along with Everton's win over Nottingham Forest, means that right now, Liverpool are the second best club on Merseyside.  

Travelogue

They let anybody in these days: Michael B and 
 Simon cheer Spurs on to 2-0 win over Brentford

Michael B was off to England to see Spurs in action at home.  Under the brilliant and generous guidance of frequent host Simon, Michael snuck in trips to various pubs and the Royal Albert Hall.  The football was good too.  On Saturday, Spurs were never threatened in a 2-0 win over Brentford; they allowed just one shot on target and an xG of just .38.  Tuesday was just as good with Spurs handling Slavia Praha 3-0 in Champions League league phase.

Elsewhere

Chelsea, still maybe reeling from midweek loss to Leeds, could only manage a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.  Sunderland had no magic or luck to cope with Man City in a 3-0 loss.  We won't read much into that for the Black Cats since most teams lose to City anyway.  The win put City just two points behind Arsenal.  Crystal Palace climbed into the top four with a 2-1 win over Fulham.  Wolves lost but you knew that; they did score in the 1-4 loss to Man United.  

The View from Europe

Newcastle played well enough and got a 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.  They were probably lucky that Malick Thiaw didn't get a red card for DOGSO.  But they were unlucky that Leverkusen got an own goal of off Bruno's butt and that both Gordon and Murphy had shots slam off the inside of the post.  Arsenal smashed Club Brugge to stay in first, while Man City got a big 2-1 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.  Liverpool put a temporary hold on their chaos with a 1-0 win at Inter.  Chelsea weren't so fortunate, falling to Atalanta 2-1.  

In Europa Cup action, Unai Emery comes off looking like a genius, trotting out a heavily rotated line up but still leaving with a 2-1 win over Basel.  The Villans are third in the league phase and have enough points to guarantee that they will at least be in the top 24 with a shot at the knockout rounds.

Groups of Death and the Like

At first, the US World Cup draw seemed very favorable.  They are grouped with Australia, Paraguay and the winner of UEFA Playoff C (likely Turkiye?).  Doesn't sound too scary does it? But, on further review, and thinking about what a Group of Death is, I don't like the US chances so much. Spoiler alert: wonkiness ahead.

For me, the issue is how hard is it to advance out of one's group, not how hard it will be to win it.  Also, the average ranking of a group doesn't seem like the best way to assess the competitiveness of a group.  It's more about how close the rankings are inside the group.  Thinking of extremes, a group of 1, 2, 37 and 40 would be easier to advance out of than a group of 23, 24, 25 and 26, even though the average ranking is weaker in the latter group.   So let's look a little more closely.  First, here's the raw data, with each group's composition and their world ranking.  

Note that I have assumed that the highest ranking side will advance out of the various playoffs.  Even before crunching the numbers, there are warning signs.  Group D has the second best ranked "3rd seed" and the highest ranked "4th seed" of any group.  They also have the tightest spread between first and fourth.

In the next table, I've calculated the "strength of schedule" for each team and the spread between those schedules within the group. 

Group D has the tightest spread across all four teams.  Only Group F is close.  I looked at the spread from 1 to 3 as well because the first two in each group automatically advance.  Group D is the second tightest there as well.  The spread from 2 to 3 is there because only the second place team is guaranteed to move on; Group D is tightest there.  Lastly, because in the expanded format, 8 of the 12 third place teams will advance, I looked at the 3 to 4 spread.  Group D is only fourth tightest there.  I'd say it's between Group D and Group F for the rightful label of Group of Death.  

As for the Group of Lollipops and Cotton Candy, I'd give that designation to Group H.  Spain and Uruguay look like locks to advance.  Germany (and probably Ecuador) should come out of Group E pretty easily.  There was initial buzz that England got screwed with its draw but that group looks middle of the road difficulty to me; call it the Group of 24 Hour Stomach Bug.  

In Case I Missed It

Oh darn, I forgot to watch the MLS Cup Final.  Hmm, the match featured 45 fouls and 10 yellow cards.  Was there any time for football?  Miami jumped to a quick lead in the 8th minute on an own goal.  Vancouver leveld in the 66th minute.  Miami retook the lead at 71 minutes and added another late in stoppage.  Stats are pretty close with shots at 8/11, shots on target at 4/4 and xG at 1.6/1.7.  So it was probably a decent match but I'm still not feeling like I missed something important.  I happily support the Union but MLS has done a crappy job of creating a larger product.

League and Cup

Saturday's schedule is very light.  Mixed feelings about the two choices at 10.  Opta says Chelsea should take care of Everton and Liverpool should beat Brighton.  Given the shaky form of both home sides there, I wouldn't write off either match.  Burnley - Fulham doesn't exactly sound like a fixture for the 12:30 feature match on NBC, nor does the semi-regular 3:30 match featuring Arsenal - Wolves.

Sunday at 9 on USA is the renewal of the Tyne-Wear Derby; though Newcastle did face Sunderland in an FA Cup match in 2024, this is the first EPL meeting of the two since March 2016. A little surprised that Opta has the Magpies at 50% to win and 24% to draw, especially away from home.  I'm biased but I still think it's your best choice for the 9 am matches.  However, some may prefer 2nd vs 4th in the form of Crystal Palace - Man City; Opta has that one at 40-36 favor of City with a 24% chance of a draw.  The other choices are Nottingham Forest - Spurs (playing without Michael B there in person), and West Ham - Aston Villa.  Sunday closes out with Brentford - Leeds.

Man United get another Monday assignment, this time taking on Bournemouth at home at 3 pm.

Mid-week we have Carabao Cup quarter finals.  Tuesday sees Cardiff City host Chelsea at 3 pm.  Two matches on Wednesday with Man City taking on Brentford (at 2:30) and Newcastle facing Fulham at St. James' Park (3:15).  Wait, where's the fourth quarter?  It's actually a week later on Tuesday 12/23 when Arsenal take on Crystal Palace.  That one had to be pushed back a week because Palace have Europa Conference League play on Thursday 12/18.  

A quieter week for most, except those in the Carabao Cup.

The Dog Days of December

A pile of results.  You know what that means...mostly random observations.  Get ready for the holiday fixture congestion as the EPL will cram in six more match weeks between this weekend and January 3/4.  If you're in a European competition add one more match and if you're still in the Carabao Cup, add another.  In total, Newcastle will play nine matches between 12/2/25 and 1/4/26.

Not Deja vu All Over Again

Already winning over fans with his defense,
 Thiaw got a brace versus Everton

After watching Malick Thiaw score in the first minute, then seeing Everton slowly take over the game, I was thinking I'd seen this movie before.  Newcastle wouldn't score again and would eventually cough up two goals for another 2-1 loss on the road.  Fortunately, the script had been sent back for a rewrite.

The Magpies survived their 20 minute power outage without surrendering a goal and started to take back the game.  I won't say they dominated but Lewis Miley's goal at 25 minutes was not against the run of play.  Not wanting to be greedy, I just hoped that Newcastle would get to the locker room with that 2-0 lead.  Better than that, Voldemorte's cheeky chip at 45 minutes made it 3-0 at the half.  Thiaw added another at 58 minutes to end any thought of an Everton comeback.  A late consolation goal from Dewsbury-Hall made the final 4-1.

I thought Aaron Ramsdale's appearance in goal was a tactical choice by Eddie Howe based on some sketchy work by Nick Pope recently but turns out Pope sustained a groin injury in practice.  We'll be interested to see what Howe does when Pope is healthy.  We were glad to see Dan Burn return to his day job as center back rather than continue to "moonlight" as a left fullback.  He's not awful out wide but can occasionally find himself outpaced.  Lewis Hall is the better option.

Newcastle did bring back parts of the old script for their Tuesday afternoon contest at home to Spurs.  At least the part about coughing up the lead.  They thoroughly dominated their guests but didn't score until the 71st minute.  Romero answered with an equalizer at 78 minutes and thoughts of a 1-2 loss swirled.  Deviating from the old script, Newcastle retook the lead after a foul in the box by Bentancur that was smartly converted by Gordon.  Opinion varies on whether Bentancur actually fouled Burn; at first glance it looked like it was mutual entanglement but the VAR sent Tom Bramall to the monitor where he decided that Bentancur was the guilty party.  Of course, that 86th minute tally did not seal the victory, as Newcastle conceded another equalizer at 90+5 on the most unlikely of bicycle kicks from of all people Romero.  Grr.  Reluctantly, we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Spurs managed only two shots on target but managed to score on both.  

Seven points from the last three is an improvement for sure and the Magpies have climbed to 12th in the table.  But the lost points continue to mount up; they have dropped 11 points from winning positions.  This is not the path to the Champions League.

NBA Game of the Week

You know the adage, save yourself the time and just tune into the final minutes of NBA games because the first 40+ minutes don't matter.  Brentford and Burnley did that this week.  You could have skipped the first 80 minutes and still caught the keys plays, uncluding four goals in the last 10+ minutes.  The Newcastle - Spurs fixture got honorable mention in this category.

Playing to the Level of Your Opponent

Three Brighton defender were unable to stop Watkins
Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images

Aston Villla came away with six points over the two matchweeks.  They dominated an outmanned Wolves at home and barely came away with the 1-0 win.  On Wednesday, they quickly fell behind Brighton 2-0 at Amex Stadium, then roared (snuck) back to take a 4-2 lead.  Surrending a late goal meant an exciting finish but they held on for a 4-3 win.  Perhaps the best news there is that Ollie Watkins broke out of his slump for two the goals.  The Villans are now third in the table.  According to xgscore.io, Villa have the biggest positive difference between "expected" and actual points.  Based on expected goals scored and allowed, they figure Aston Villa should have 16.3 points compared to the 27 they do have.  Sunderland at 15.2/23 have the second biggest differential.  Whether this means Villa have been extraordinarily lucky, more clinical in the attack, stronger in defense or all of the above, we don't know but that's a differential that bears watching.

Non-NBA Game of the Week

The aforementioned Brighton - Aston Villa classic was the opposite of an NBA game.  You needed to tune in on time and watch the whole thing.  Fulham - Man City gets honorable mention in this category.  City had leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-1 before hanging on for the 5-4 win.

The Report of Sunderland's Death Was An Exaggeration

As Bournemouth jumped out to an 0-2 lead against Sunderland the Stadium of Light, last week's discussion about the how the Black Cats luck might be running out seemed apt.  Wrong.  Helped by a penalty, Sunderland leveled things by the 46th minute, then found the game winner from Brobby (at least the second late game winner for him that I know of).  The xG of 1.26/1.81 compared to the 3-2 final suggests their luck is still going strong.

Sunderland followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.  I didn't see the match but the stats say this was more luck for the Black Cats.  Possession was 66/34, shots 22/9, shots on target 6/5 and xG 1.39/.55, all in favor of Liverpool.  See the last line of the Villa report.

Sean Dyche Is Livid

Dyche was not happy with the VAR 
Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images

I would be too if VAR took over five minutes to rule out a goal for offside.  You can see the play here. Granted, this was a judgment call - not whether Ndoye was in an offside position but whether he interfered with the keeper.  Still, if the threshold is a clear and obvious error, taking five minutes to decide means it wasn't.  In this case though, I would argue that it was clear and obvious that Ndoye blocked the keeper's view so this should have taken about a minute at most.  Part of me wonders whether part of the review was whether to call a foul on the Wolves defender who can been seen wrestling a Forest attacker to the ground.  In the end, Nottingham Forest eventually did get a goal to win 1-0 anyway but not a good look for VAR.

Stuff at the "Top"

Arsenal  could only manage a 1-1 draw with Chelsea despite playing up a man for over 60 minutes.  Watching the game, it seemed like the Blues had the man advantage.  Also, massive amounts of shithousery included 26 fouls, seven yellows, the red card to Caicedo and endless histrionics.  The Gunners did get a 2-0 midweek win over Brentford.  Man City had narrow wins over Leeds and Fulham to close the gap with Arsenal to five points.  Chelsea probably not too upset with the draw to Arsenal but the home loss to Leeds will not go over well.  Five dropped points leave them in fourth, nine back of Arsenal.

Stuff at the "Bottom"

Wolves continued their potential record breaking season with two more shutout losses.  They are a 0-2-12 with seven goals scored in those 14 matches; they haven't scored since before Halloween.  Looking at xgscore.io, we can see that Wolves are the opposite of Aston Villa and Sunderland.  Based on expected goals, that site calculates Wolves should have 14.1 points instead of just two.  Burnley also came away with nothing in these two match weeks to remain in 19th.  A surprise point for West Ham in a 1-1 draw against Man United wasn't enough to move them out of 18th, since both Nottingham Forest and Leeds picked up wins.

Conversation That Didn't Take Place But Might Have

Dennis: Did you say that Arsenal fans are becoming more religious?

Steve: No, I said they are looking forward to the return of Jesus.

Messi vs Muller

I tuned in briefly to the two conference finals on Saturday and found I was overcome with feelings of "I don't give a crap."  That Miami and Vancouver were already up 2-0 on their opponents definitely contributed to that feeling.  Also, the 6 pm start time for Miami - NYCFC didn't help.  To quote Arlo Guthrie "there was a third possibility."  I don't follow the MLS, just the Philadelphia Union and when they are done, so am I.  Not proud of that but it may be a fact.

So the US pro league championship will be a battle between an aging German star (Thomas Muller) and an aging Argentine star (Lionel Messi), which Michael B points out is a replay of the 2014 World Cup Final.  Obviously there will be 20 other players out on the pitch but expect the prematch punditry to focus on those two (see right).  The match is 2:30 on Saturday on Fox and Apple.  Too bad it doesn't overlap the Eagles game; that would give us an excuse to avoid watching another excruciating performance from the Birds.

World Cup Draw on Friday

Tomorrow is the draw for World Cup Finals in whiche we find out who will play whom in the group stage.  Details can be had here.  You can watch live on Fox starting at noon.  The best thing about the draw is that it will begin months of speculation as to which of the 12 is the most difficult, the Group of Death as they call it.  As opposed to the Group of Flesh Wound, Group of Lingering Sinus Infection, Group of Athlete's Foot, etc.  

Busy Again

With Matchweek 15 running from Saturday to Monday and European stuff Tuesday to Thursday, we will have plenty to watch.

We will roust ourselves to get up for Aston Villa -Arsenal at 7:30 on Saturday.  Villa usually play to the level of their opponent so we're going to expect a good contest.  The 10 am slot is crowded (unnecessarily?) with five fixtures.  We will take in Newcastle - Burnley and hope the Magpies take care of business there; anything less than the full three points is a loss.  Other choices include Everton - Nottingham Forest, Man City - Sunderland, Tottenham - Brentford (London derby), and Bournemouth -Chelsea.  Maybe Everton - Forest is the best choice for the neutral as Sean Dyche returns to Merseyside.  We'll see how Sunderland's luck holds out against Man City.  The feature 12:30 match is Leeds - Liverpool.

Just two matches on Sunday (hence our question about why pack the 10 am time slot) with Brighton - West Ham at 9 and Fulham - Crystal Palace (another London derby) at 11:30.  The week concludes wtih Wolves - Man United at 3 on Monday.

Newcastle's opponent for Matchweek 6 of Champions League is Leverkusen away at 3 pm on Wednesday.  Not an issue for me but I suspect more will want to see Real Madrid vs Man City at the same time.  Arsenal get Club Brugge away, also at the same time.  Tuesday has Chelsea traveling to Atalanta, Liverpool away to Inter, and Spurs hosting Slavia Praha.  

Aston Villa travel to Switzerland to face Basal Basil Basel, which looks like another opponent ripe for the taking; probably another 1-0 win knowing Villa.