Peep!! And that’s the full-time whistle for today’s blog. Thanks for reading everyone!
Aston Villa v Liverpool: match preview
Norwich boss Daniel Farke says his side will not become obsessed by league position as they look to climb the table with victory at Brighton this weekend. The Canaries have slipped to second bottom after four defeats in the last five although they did manage a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth in their last away game. “We can’t doubt ourselves. We have to be self-critical but believe in our principles. We have to stick together,” parped Farke. “Our supporters know we face a tough time, but the players try everything. We’re not addicted to looking at the table. We want to win games and let it take care of itself. That’s the approach we had last season and we had a brilliant finish.”
As for team news, goalkeeper Tim Krul is fit again after being injured against Manchester United but Onel Hernandez could be an absentee as his partner awaits the birth of their child. Mario Vrancic misses out through illness, while Todd Cantwell (hamstring) and Ibrahim Amadou (knee) are doubts.
Ready for The Fiver? Your fifth-favourite tea-timely football email asks if you can spare a thought for Nathan Jones, his hopes of becoming “the world’s best manager” temporarily dashed after being given the boot by Stoke.
Watford v Chelsea: match preview
Sheffield United v Burnley: match preview
If Aston Villa want to upset leaders Liverpool on Saturday, having Jack Grealish available would be a big help. The midfielder suffered a calf injury at Manchester City last weekend and missed the Carabao Cup win against Wolves. But Villa boss Dean Smith is hopeful he can return. “Jack has been out there training today. He’s still a little bit sore but he is in contention to start and he wants to start,” said Smith. “I said earlier in the week that when there’s contact injuries on soft tissues then you’re going to get a small bleed in there, which he’s got. But it’s not going to do too much harm to him going out there, once adrenaline kicks in you feel very little anyway. There’s no long term issue with that type of injury, the decision I have to make is whether he is fit enough to start because we are up against the current champions of Europe and you need all 11 players to be physically right to go and produce on that day. My only call is whether he can go and produce the standards that we expect of him.”
Let’s cross to Spain to check in on Eden Hazard. Just over a year ago, then Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri was suggesting that the Belgian could score 40 goals that season. He didn’t, managing 21 instead. For Real Madrid this term he’s managed just one in eight. This is what boss Zinedine Zidane makes of it: “Hazard? We can all see he’s playing better. Perhaps he could score a bit more often but we’re not concerned. We’re happy with what he’s doing on the pitch and he’s getting better every day. Players of Hazard’s quality can see things that others simply aren’t capable of seeing. I don’t think he’s been timid, quite the opposite. Everyone wants to see him get better and I think he’s improving every day. We’ll all be happy with him but we have to take it easy.” Fair enough, but who would have predicted that we’d reach November and find that Tammy Abraham has scored eight times as many goals as the cover star of FIFA 20?
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Liverpool have temporarily suspended the fan responsible for the offensive Divock Origi banner spotted during the Reds’ Champions League game at Genk last week. The PA news agency reports that the supporter has been informed by letter/e-mail and must reply within 14 days. In the meantime, he has been denied access to any Liverpool matches after a meeting of the club’s Sanctions Panel. Final punishments range from a full ban, a ban and education, education on its own or other minor sanctions. Liverpool condemned the Photoshopped banner of the striker for “perpetuating a racial stereotype”.
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Some fulsome praise from Brendan Rodgers for midfielder Wilfred Ndidi. “He is an incredible player. The offensive players get the credit but he does the dirty work,” cooed Rodgers. “He has this brain for the game, where he can smell danger and always finds himself there. The timing of his challenge is very good and he’s up there with the top players at winning the ball back. When you play a pressing game you need someone like Wilf. His passing is good too, he’s always smiling.” Good to know he smiles a lot but the stats also confirm what his boss says. Ndidi has made more interceptions (32) than anyone in the Premier League this season and ranks second for tackles (45).
Brendan Rodgers hasn’t been sat in his underpants at home, rewinding the goals in Leicester’s 9-0 win at Southampton whilst chewing through a bag of Haribo Fantasy Mix. Oh, no. The Foxes boss has resisted any such temptations to bask. “No, we’ve already had a game (3-1 Carabao Cup win at Burton). We’ve already reflected on the performance, you have got to take the real positives from it. There were other areas where we could have scored more, there was a period between the 58th minute and the 84th minute where we didn’t score. Throughout the game our pressing, our intensity, was very good and it shows the players have learned.”
Manchester City v Southampton: match preview
Some news from Scotland now, where Celtic are preparing to take on Hibs in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Saturday. It looks as if they’ll have to do so without skipper Scott Brown, who is struggling with a thigh strain. Then again, there’s a fair chance they’ll cope having won the last nine domestic trophies on offer in Scotland. Lennon isn’t resting on his laurels, though, and wants to extend that run into double figures and beyond: “It is part of the domestic trophy haul we have kept hold of for the last three years. The players are highly motivated to defend the trophy, they are in great form, so there is a lot of incentive there for us.”
Let me be Frank with you - to quote cult comedian Frankie Tan. Anyway, here are some bog-standard ‘respect the opposition’ quotes from Frank Lampard, uttered in complete sincerity despite his rampant young Chelsea bucks being ruthless on the road (four straight Premier League away wins; 16 goals scored in the process) and ready to create more havoc at winless Watford: “We saw what they did last year, getting big results and regularly being a very strong team and making the FA Cup final. We cannot underestimate the team that will be hurting because they haven’t won for a while and will have every ambition to try and win this game, so I certainly have even more focus on what we need to do.”
Thanks Ben. I’ll open with some Everton teams news. Marco Silva will make a late call on defender Yerry Mina ahead of the home game against Spurs on Sunday. The Colombian was forced off with a knee problem in the first half of the Toffees’ 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Watford on Tuesday. “He worked with the team this morning. It was nothing serious, what he has in his knee at this moment. It’s just a matter of him having the conditions to support the pain he has in this moment,” said Silva. “If he can do that, he can train and possibly he can play as well. Today he did in the morning all the session, let’s see how he will react tomorrow and after we will take the decisions. We hope it’s nothing really special and it looks nothing special.”
There was certainly nothing special about Everton’s performance in this fixture last season as Tottenham ran riot to win 6-2.
Righto, David Tindall will guide you through the rest of the goings-on in the Premier League and beyond. Brendan Rodgers and Marco Silva are still to come.
Granit Xhaka may not be signed up for the Wolves game but it’s not all bad news for Arsenal: after two assists in midweek, Unai Emery says Mesut Özil and Gabriel Martinelli are ready to “help” on Saturday. “We are playing a lot of matches and for them it is a challenge each match to show how they are and how they can help us,” Emery said. “The performance on Wednesday in Liverpool was positive. I am thinking how they can help us tomorrow.”
Brighton v Norwich: match preview
Bournemouth v Manchester United: match preview
Arsenal v Wolves: match preview
West Ham v Newcastle: match preview
Zing!
There would be a few solutions possible but there was not one day where Fifa, Uefa, the Premier League, the Football League and the other leagues sit at a table and think about the players and not about their wallet.
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Pep Guardiola has sent Eddie Jones his best wishes, with the Manchester City manager wishing the England rugby union coach good luck in the World Cup final against South Africa on Saturday. Jones has previously studied Guardiola’s coaching techniques. “Good luck,” Guardiola said. “It’s an honour for England to be in the final. For Eddie Jones, for his staff, for his players. All the best. It’s an incredible event.”
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There has been speculation this week that the Premier League may be set to ban under-12 players at academies from heading the ball, following a landmark report studying dementia in former players. Bournemouth have already acted to stop heading at their academy and Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was asked about the proposal during his press conference ahead of the away trip to Everton.
It is a sensitive subject and we need to stay open to help the people that can provide us the better information and advice. We need to be open and try to provide the best to our kids because they are the future of football, the country, life and world. It is a sensitive thing that we need to listen to people that have the knowledge.”
Emery looks pretty weary and seems unsure how best to cope with the storm surrounding Xhaka. He leans forward and says he does not plan to involve Xhaka against Wolves at the Emirates and it is difficult to envisage that changing. After being jeered off against Crystal Palace, the Swiss midfielder said he “reached boiling point” as a result of threats to his wife and daughter. Xhaka has started all but one of Arsenal’s league games this season:
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More from Unai Emery on Xhaka-gate:
He is training. He didn’t play in Liverpool for me he is continuing, above all [we are] focusing on tomorrow. The human, like everyone, feels. Xhaka’s issues last week is one issue that needs time. He needs time to recover the normality in him. He said sorry, he gave the apology to the supporters and to everybody. Now is the focus on the match. We were waiting on [until] Monday and Tuesday [to sort out the captaincy]. Now we need to be focussed 100 per cent only on the match. We are going to do the training today but at the moment it is not in my mind. I want to speak about the players who are going to play.”
Pochettino says Dele Alli needs support, and not stick:
We need to remember that he’s so young and the pressure is massive. He’s English and everybody expects big things from him but he’s still 23 years old. He was fantastic then he dropped a bit in his performance but we must back him. We have to pay attention, to focus and try to improve in the way that everyone expects.”
Roma are keen on making Chris Smalling a permanent addition:
Chelsea team news: Frank Lampard says Antonio Rüdiger is not fit and that the defender has an appointment with a consultant on Monday, with a view to sussing out a pelvic problem. N’Golo Kanté is closing on a return but this weekend comes too early for the France midfielder. “Ross Barkley is still not quite right, he’s not far away. Andreas Christensen is pretty much fit as well, so it’s the finishing touches for a few of these ones. There is a difference between fit and match-fit.”
Give this a whirl:
Pep Guardiola says he sympathises with Jürgen Klopp, who has said elite players are simply playing too much football. “I’m completely with Jurgen when he makes these statements, it’s too much,” he says. “If we have bigger squads, how do we pay them? We need less fixtures, less competitions, more recovery. But I have been in meetings and it’s always the same. We just talk about it. I had to prioritise Ilkay Gündogan for the last game – no Kevin de Bruyne, no David Silva. Other clubs do the same.”
Xhaka will not be involved in Arsenal v Wolves
Unai Emery says his club captain will not play a part.
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Mauricio Pochettino is not a happy bunny. The Tottenham manager says he is “not happy” with Argentina calling up of Giovani Lo Celso, who has only just returned to the Spurs fold after picking up a muscle injury on international duty in September. Meanwhile, Jan Vertonghen is a doubt for Sunday’s game at Everton with a hamstring injury. Érik Lamela remains injured after missing the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool, while Danny Rose will miss out through suspension.
Hodgson says Andros Townsend is unlikely to be fit for Sunday after sustaining a muscle strain against Arsenal. “Leicester are coming in off the back of two good results – last weekend and the Carabao Cup,” Hodgson said. “We hope they don’t play like they did against Southampton.” You can say that again Roy ...
Roy Hodgson is in talks over extending his Crystal Palace stay, with a contract that will take him beyond his 73rd birthday. Hodgson, who turned 72 in August, is out of contract next summer but the club are keen to hand him a new deal following Palace’s good start to the season. Palace, who host high-flying Leicester on Sunday, are sixth after the opening 10 Premier League matches. “I heard today that Donald Trump who is a bit older than me is planning to stay on as President of the USA for another five years,” Hodgson said. “It’s an important job, but not quite as important as being the leader of the free world.”
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Manchester United are offering free flights to fans for their Europa League game at Khazakstan’s Astana in late November, following Thomas Cook’s insolvency. A spokesperson said: “We have been working through a range of contingency plans to minimise the impact of the Thomas Cook situation for our supporters. We are pleased to be able to confirm that Manchester United will be operating a complimentary trip to the forthcoming match against FC Astana in Kazakhstan for those who were impacted by the insolvency of Thomas Cook.”
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It sounds as though Fabinho could be given a breather by Klopp this weekend, with the Brazilian a booking away from suspension. Much could hinge on Naby Keïta – a doubt for Saturday – overcoming an injury sustained during the second half against Arsenal in midweek but taking Fabinho out of the firing line is the only way to guarantee the midfielder will be available face Manchester City on 10 November. Klopp has Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana, while he could always turn to his raft of youngsters, with Curtis Jones, Pedro Chirivella and Herbie Kane alternative midfield options, if need be. “It’s not possible playing against Villa to play without [making] challenges,” Klopp said. “The player knows this, I know this. Maybe he has to deal with it on the pitch or I have to deal with it with the line-up. I didn’t make a final decision yet so we will see.”
Klopp has told the game’s bigwigs to think “about the players and maybe not their wallet” when it comes to fixture congestion. The German said he does not want to be drawn over whether clubs simply play too many games ... and then ends up flowing into a mild-mannered and passionate rant of sorts:
The discussion is obvious, that it is too much. Everyone involved in the game knows. Nobody wants to touch it, nobody really discusses about it. Then Uefa decides to make the Nations League, give the successful players a couple of more intense games. People then say you need a bigger squad. The game is not made for bigger squads. At the moment there is a imbalance between the number of players in the squad, the competitions you play and a big gap between the breaks the boys need. They have two weeks off a year, in a physically demanding game. The solutions, I think there are a few possible, but the leagues have to sit and really discuss and think about the players and maybe not their wallet. We discuss it always on the back of the money we earn. Somebody has to think about how many games.”
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Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to make his 100th Liverpool appearance against Aston Villa on Saturday and Klopp has been effusive in his praise of the England defender, who turned 21 last month. Klopp says it’s a pleasure to work with him:
He’s so young and already so experienced. It’s a wonderful story for different reasons. I know that in Liverpool everyone was desperate to have a ‘scouse’ hero making his way into the first team. When he made his first appearance he said ‘great, but it’s not about having one game, it’s about having 100’. Now we can talk about that, and there was not a lot of bad games in that 100. I wish for him to stay healthy and fit, and then the future’s bright for him and for us. He’s a great role model. He’s relaxed about that but feels responsible as well.”
Right, let’s get a load of Jürgen Klopp. The Liverpool boss says Naby Keïta is a doubt to face Aston Villa, while the defender Joël Matip is still a few weeks away from returning to action. On the subject of fixture congestion in December, Klopp says the club is yet to find a solution and could send select different squads for the Carabao Cup and Club World Cup games, if need be:
We have discussed it already and we have to because there’s not much time to make that decision. If we do play [the Carabao Cup] while we are in Qatar, that will be two different teams. But we cannot leave any players at home for the Carabao Cup. We have two games in a busy period and it’s not like we can go there [Qatar] with 11 players. It doesn’t work like this. We have to make a decision but not yet.”
Where did it all go wrong for Nathan Jones? We haven’t got all day, but here are a few pointers to get the ball rolling. After 14 games, only Barnsley’s inferior goal difference prevented the most expensively assembled squad in the Championship – at more than £143m – from sitting bottom of the pile. There are more than £50m-worth of players out on loan, including the club’s £18.3m record signing, Giannelli Imbula, and Kevin Wimmer, for whom they paid £18m, indicators of where this malaise began.
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Stoke confirm sacking of Nathan Jones
There will be a slew of press conferences to get stuck into shortly but first: confirmation that Stoke have indeed sacked Nathan Jones. Stoke say they will make a new managerial appointment “as swiftly as possible” but, until then, Rory Delap, Kevin Russell and Andy Quy will take caretaker charge. “I would like to thank John and Peter Coates, firstly for the opportunity to manage this football club and then for the continued support and patience throughout my time here,” Jones said in a statement. “I would also like to thank the supporters for their fantastic support. Finally, I wish the club the very best for the future.”
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Jürgen Klopp will be chewing the fat shortly. The Liverpool manager will likely be waxing lyrical about the several youngsters that shone, and kept their cool, in the penalty shootout victory over Arsenal on Wednesday. It was a memorable occasion for Curtis Jones, Neco Williams and Harvey Elliott and Sepp van den Berg, while the 20-year-old goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was arguably the hero on the night. Rhian Brewster was also involved. Whether any youngsters feature at Villa Park on Saturday remains to be seen – it feels unlikely – but all enhanced their reputations.
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Stoke set to confirm Jones sacking
A bit of breaking news in the Championship ... Stoke are understood to have sacked Nathan Jones, with the club set to confirm his dismissal shortly. Stoke are second bottom in the division having lost 10 of their 14 games this season, including their past two matches at Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall. Stoke take on league leaders West Brom on Monday. After victory over Swansea last month, Jones, who has won just six of his 38 matches in charge, said: “I’ve done a lot of thinking and soul searching over the last week and I’m a passionate guy, [and] that’s got me the career I’ve had. I’ve had to work my socks off to get where I am because I was never blessed with any ability. I never had four-year contracts where I could chill out, relax and get a cigar out. I had to fight for every part of my career and it’s the same as a manager.”
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What more could you want?
[Thierry] Henry tells me to shut up, this time with a lot of swear words included. And in hindsight it is good advice. But I am not taking it on. I shout back that he is the one who should shut up. He runs in my direction, confronts me, yells into my face, says all kinds of things. He totally ignores the fact that the game is going on around us. Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell get involved: ‘Carry on, Nicklas, keep on running and shut your mouth.’ And I do. I become unusually calm. That is what happens if one of the best forwards in the world stands there and shouts at you.”
How high can Leicester go this season? The sense seems to be that it will again be a two-horse race for the title, with Liverpool out in front, closely followed by Manchester City but Brendan Rodgers’s side, and indeed Chelsea, are not so far behind. As Dean Smith said before Aston Villa were swept aside last weekend, City are not infallible and Liverpool, too, are not flawless. When Rodgers was asked about odds on his side winning the league shortening to around 50/1 following their 9-0 demolition of Southampton, he smiled and said: “We just want to finish as high as possible and I’d never put any limits on that.” Leicester travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday in search of a fourth straight win.
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Jürgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery will be chatting a little later but, until then, a quick glance at the Championship. Bottom club Barnsley host Bristol City at Oakwell in Friday only’s game, before a bumper Saturday, with Derby taking on Middlesbrough and Leeds entertaining QPR. Then second-placed Preston travel to Charlton on Sunday. Amazingly, Preston’s entire starting XI last time out cost a grand total of ... £1.6m:
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How about these for grand plans? Crystal Palace are determined to tap into the hotbed of south London talent by building a £20m academy centre. In today’s Rumour Mill, Palace are credited with an interest in Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster but, down the line, maybe they will develop their own striking prodigy:
Solskjær has heralded the October international break as a key factor in easing Manchester United back to form. The Norwegian says it was a much-needed breather before earning a draw against Premier League pacesetters Liverpool and picking up wins at Partizan Belgrade, Norwich and Chelsea.
[It] came at a great time for us. We did some work, prepared for the Liverpool game, and when you get a decent performance and result against the league leaders it gives you more energy and from then on the boys have been happy with the work we’ve done. Maybe the change of system has helped and the coaches have done a great job.”
A dab more from Solskjær. There is no chance of Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe or Nemanja Matic facing Bournemouth. “They’re not ready for tomorrow, that’s the update,” he said. “Probably after the international break [they’ll be back]. It is always a risk if you push them back too early, but if we have the two extra weeks after the international break they should all be ready for then.”
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Rashford and Maguire doubts for Bournemouth trip
Solskjær says Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf are indeed injury doubts. The Manchester United manager said the trio are touch-and-go to face Bournemouth.
Hopefully we can get them back on the pitch tomorrow. They had some treatment yesterday, a little more today, [they took part in] a light session and hopefully they’re ready. Since Anthony Martial came back then Marcus has blossomed as well. He’s probably happier facing goal, being direct and taking players on, rather than that target man with his back to goal. Marcus wants to master all the skills.”
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Steve Bruce has been bigging up Newcastle’s chances of rocketing up the Premier League. His side take on West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday having won one of their past eight matches. As for team news, Andy Carroll could feature against his former club, while Fabian Schär and Matt Ritchie will miss out. Schär, Bruce says, could return against Bournemouth next weekend.
Man United are seventh and they’ve won three games. Two or three points separate a vast amount of teams. If you put back-to-back wins together, you shoot up the table, and that has to be our aim. We’re quietly confident we can go to West Ham and get a result. I think we all feel as though we’re not far off. We’ve had a couple of magic moments by beating Spurs and Man United. The consistency looks to have arrived defensively. The front three are still settling in. We’re aware of it, we have to improve, but I think we’ll get there. The players enjoy coming in – there’s a good spirit among the group and around the training ground.”
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Ole Gunnar Solskjær will be previewing Manchester United’s trip to Bournemouth shortly, with the manager likely to give an update on the fitness of Victor Lindelöf, Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire, who all picked up niggles at Stamford Bridge in midweek. Paul Pogba is sidelined until December but, by next summer, United get their hands on a new prized possession:
“Is Batshuayi going to get a chance again after that goal against Manchester United, or will he be back on the bench?” asks Machine2481 below the line. It was a goal that will only enhance Batshuayi’s chances of game-time but, more than anything, it will probably just cement his place as Tammy Abraham’s deputy for the time being, with Olivier Giroud not given a minute of action off the bench. Giroud has scored in three of his past four appearances for France but has barely had a sniff for Chelsea. “They [Chelsea fans] love Tammy, but the outstanding moment of the game from our point of view was Michy in terms of finish and strength,” Lampard said. “It’s not easy when another striker’s scoring and you’re not getting involved much, but he has shown something in training.”
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Whet the appetite for the weekend:
Eddie Howe is an early bird. The Bournemouth manager has been previewing Manchester United’s visit on Saturday lunchtime. “They have played very well recently, they have quality players and a manager that’s given them real stability. We have to show more than our last home game [0-0 against Norwich] and get the supporters on our side.” Dan Gosling, who underwent surgery in the summer, could make his first appearance of the season.
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Preamble
After some riveting cup action, back into the thick of it. First thing’s first, and as scarcely believable as it may seem, Manchester United could win a fourth successive game on Saturday, if they pick up three points at not so sunny Bournemouth. Then there’s Granit Xhaka v The Emirates part II, as Arsenal host Wolves and the small fry of Liverpool going to Villa Park. Plus, there is a 6-1 shellacking to look forward to, with Southampton determined to avoid another pasting at Manchester City. We’ll be hearing from managers and hoovering up nuggets from across the Premier League and beyond.
Saturday
Bournemouth v Manchester United 12.30pm (GMT)
Arsenal v Wolves
Aston Villa v Liverpool
Brighton v Norwich
Manchester City v Southampton
Sheffield United v Burnley
West Ham v Newcastle
Watford v Chelsea 5.30pm
Sunday
Crystal Palace v Leicester 2pm
Everton v Tottenham 4.30pm
*all 3pm kick-offs unless specified
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