Another day another coach fired. Chelsea and Man U completed their new years resolutions quickly this year and sacked their coaches before they could even take down their Christmas lights.

It was hard to watch for everyone, but just like when you watched little bro get yelled at for tracking mud in the house, all you can do is breath a sigh of relief that it wasn’t you…then get back to watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and eating cereal.

-Gabe

In this edition

• Fixtures

• Extra Slice

Matchweek 21 Fixtures

Tuesday

⚒️ West Ham vs 🌲 Nottingham Forest — 12:00 PM
Relegation?!? We’re talking about relegation??
The second half of the season is here and with it comes the fear of the drop. Two teams on either side of the drop meet in a match that may very well have end of season ramifications. West Ham, winless in nine league games and fresh off a humbling defeat to Wolves, look to have “confidence issues”. Their 41 goals conceded, (the league’s worst) hasn’t helped anything either.

Forest arrive on a four-game losing streak of their own and have a long list of injured/AFCON absentees.

Wednesday

🍒 Bournemouth vs 🐓 Tottenham — 11:30 AM

🐝 Brentford vs 🐈‍⬛ Sunderland — 11:30 AM

🦅 Crystal Palace vs ⭕ Aston Villa — 11:30 AM

🟦 Everton vs 🐺 Wolves — 11:30 AM

🏠 Fulham vs 🦁 Chelsea — 11:30 AM
💐Ah smells like a West London derby
Just days after pulling off a last second, morale-boosting draw against Manchester City, the Blues make the short trip to Craven Cottage led by a new coach!

Liam Rosenior, 41 years old, former Fulham player, coach of Strasbourg, and to quote my wife: “looks like the nerdy girl who takes off her glasses and is beautiful.”

Rosenior has been called patient, and having a trust in youth players to perform. He will have his work cutout for him, managing an extremely expensive group of inconsistent, underperforming, but extremely talented individuals. (You can read more about Rosenior here)

Fulham will offer a cold welcome, as they are in form and firing on all cylinders. Undefeated in their last five matches (3W, 2 D), they have not so secret weapon Harry Wilson, who’s been one of the league’s most productive attackers since November. Only Erling Haaland has more Premier League goal involvements over that stretch.

There are positives for the Blues. Enzo Fernández is in his best scoring run in English football (6), while the return of Moisés Caicedo will bring that little edge needed to win those close games.

Get ready for a fast paced, blow for blow match.

🌙 Manchester City vs 🐧 Brighton — 11:30 AM
Manchester City’s margin for error is officially gone, and Wednesday night at the Etihad feels less like routine business and more like a must-respond moment. Back-to-back league draws; a flat 0–0 at Sunderland followed by a stoppage-time gut punch against Chelsea, have left Pep Guardiola’s side six points adrift of Arsenal. It’s only the second time this season City have failed to win consecutive league matches, and Guardiola has done three straight league draws just twice in his entire managerial career.

If there’s ever been a fixture built for a correction, it’s this one. City have never lost a home league game to Brighton in 15 attempts, winning 12 of them, and they’ve scored in every single Premier League meeting between the sides. Add in the fun fact that City have won 31 of their last 33 league games played on a Wednesday, including 22 straight Wednesday home wins. Oh and don’t forget Erling Haaland, who’s gone three league games without a goal for the first time in England but has never gone four. Conveniently, he’s scored in each of his last four league appearances against Brighton.

Brighton arrive with some relief and belief after ending a six-game winless run by beating Burnley, but the road to Manchester hasn’t been kind. They’ve conceded at least two goals in each of their last three away league matches, and no club has waited longer for a first away win at a single opponent than Brighton have at City. Even so, Fabian Hürzeler’s side have quietly avoided defeat in three straight league meetings with City, including a shock win earlier this season.

City won’t have forgotten and as the saying goes: “Hell hath no fury like a Pep team scorned.”

🟣 Burnley vs 🟥 Manchester United — 12:15 PM

⚫️ Newcastle vs 🦉 Leeds — 12:15 PM

Thursday

🔫 Arsenal vs 🔴 Liverpool — 12:00 PM
Arsenal vs Liverpool remains one of the Premier League’s most lopsided heavyweight rivalries on paper. The Gunners have lost more league matches to Liverpool than any other opponent (26, level with Manchester United), while the Reds are chasing a record-extending eighth Premier League double over Arsenal, (something no club has done more often against them). Defensive has been a bit of a struggle for Arsenal in this fixture, conceding in each of their last 20 league meetings with Liverpool, their longest such run against a current Premier League side. Adding another wrinkle, this marks the first ever Premier League clash between the two on a Thursday, with Liverpool becoming just the second opponent Arsenal have faced on every day of the week in the competition, just another fun fact in what should be a fun match.

^{Times are in Pacific Standard Time and channels are based in the U.S.
Stats are supplied by Opta Analyst.}

Extra Slice 

Another one bites the dust…

The image that will linger from Ruben Amorim’s short, combustible spell at Manchester United isn’t a stirring win or tactical masterstroke, it’s him sunk into the dugout at Grimsby, watching a fourth-tier side knock United out of the Carabao Cup. Now to be clear Amorim’s is a great coach, having lead sporting to their first league title in 19 years. When he came to United, he spoke brilliantly, owned every microphone put in front of him, and projected certainty, but the quality and consistency on the pitch never quite followed.

At the heart of the collapse was Amorim’s semming refusal to bend. His devotion to the 3-4-3 became a hill he was willing to die on, even as results faltered and internal pressure mounted. He brushed off criticism, insisted the media knew less than he did, and doubled down when flexibility was quietly encouraged from above. When he briefly reverted to a back four, only to immediately abandon it days later, alarm bells rang inside Old Trafford.

Behind the scenes, the cracks widened. His blunt handling of academy players, public criticism of senior figures, and the exile of big-name assets raised eyebrows, while recruitment misfires and mismatched signings left United stuck between philosophies. Amorim wanted autonomy; the club wanted alignment. By the time he insisted he “would not quit,” the decision had effectively been made for him. Sixth place in the table couldn’t mask the sense that this was heading nowhere fast. Another coach gone, another rebuild, another chapter closed with the same familiar conclusion: at Manchester United, you either win or you get out, and once again, another one bites the dust.