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‘Fragile’ City collapse, Arsenal’s 5-star display, OGs take Baller League global

Manchester City throw away three-goal lead, Arsenal make a statement against Sporting and influencers get behind six-a-side competition

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Manchester City’s Jack Grealish cut a dejected figure after the final whistle at the Etihad Stadium. Photo: DPA

I went down a little bit of a hip-hop/American funk rabbit hole this morning – think Skee-Lo, A Tribe Called Quest, and Sly and the Family Stone – all sparked by the news that the Baller League is going international.

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Some OGs are going to be involved too, with Gary Lineker and Luis Figo among those agreeing to manage teams in the UK and the US. And because nothing new these days is complete without influencers, KSI, IShowSpeed and Chunkz are also involved.

See, not just a newsletter, we try and keep it cultural too. Anyway, we’ll get back to that later, but first some proper football, and things are going from bad to worse at the Etihad.

Not so noisy now

The wheels are well and truly falling off the Manchester City bandwagon. Without a win in six games, Pep Guardiola’s side threw away a three-goal lead at home to Feyenoord overnight, drawing 3-3 in the Champions League.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring his side’s fourth. Photo: Reuters
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring his side’s fourth. Photo: Reuters

Erling Haaland scored twice in nine minutes either side of half-time and a Ilkay Gundogan strike meant the home side were cruising. Then some comical defending from Josko Gvardiol opened the door to Anis Hadj Moussa to pull one back.

The Croatian was a fault too when Santiago Gimenez added a second, and David Hancko snatched a vital point, as Feyenoord scored three times in the final 15 minutes.

Fun fact: City have conceded two or more goals in six successive matches in all competitions for the first time since May 1963 – during a season in which they were relegated from the top-flight.

Making a statement

Mikel Arteta had asked his Arsenal side to make a point in their game against Sporting, and boy did they. A 5-1 thrashing of the Portuguese side was their biggest away win in the Champions League since beating Inter Milan by the same score in 2003.
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