London is Red and Manchester is Haaland

2 Minute Drill: Edition 7: 10/7/2022

Welcome to the next edition of 2 minute drill where readers get a recap of the biggest stories in European football, mostly tied to the English Premier League, Spanish League and the Champions League.

This Weekend at a Glance:

• Manchester stays Blue

• Arsenal too strong for Spurs

• Barca go top of LaLiga

• Champions League round-up

• Favorite Stats

Manchester stays Blue

Manchester City 6 - 3 Manchester United

I’m running out of words to describe what’s happening with Haaland at the moment. 3 goals and 2 assists in this derby and 3 consecutive hat-tricks now - we’ve just never seen this type of consistent dominance, especially for someone who’s been in the league for 2 months. It does help that his supporting cast has also been immense - especially Kevin De Bryune (10 assists on the year) and Phil Foden, who also scored a hat-trick in this game. After a string of positive results, United just didn’t show up here. It’s also bizarre that Ronaldo was not brought on in the second half. After the game, Ten Hag mentioned that he didn’t bring Ronaldo on as a sign of respect. Still, when you have your top scorer from last year on the bench, and you’re down 4-0, you just have to bring him on and give it a shot - you were getting battered anyways! Either way, Manchester is very Blue, and it’s not turning Red anytime soon…

Arsenal too strong for Spurs

Arsenal 3 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Arsenal stay top of the Premier League with yet another dominant display - this time against their bitter rivals. There was a lot of hype in the lead-up to this North London derby, given it was 1st vs. 3rd place, but it was extremely one-sided. Except for a minor blip at the back to give Spurs a penalty, it was a flawless performance from the Gunners. They were aided by a Hugo Lloris mistake and a soft red card for Emerson, but I don’t think it would’ve affected the result. Conte’s pragmatic and “play on the counter” approach will keep Spurs in the top 4 race, but they’re not going to compete for the title with this brand of football - a shame, really, especially when you have Kane, Son, and Kulusevski in your line up. For Arsenal, they can make a real statement with a win against Liverpool this upcoming weekend - I can’t wait.

Barca go top of LaLiga

Mallorca 0 - 1 Barcelona, Real Madrid 1 - 1 Osasuna

Barca go top of La Liga on goal difference after an ugly win against Mallorca, while Real Madrid surprisingly dropped points at home against Osasuna. Barca put in a very average display with their depleted side. The international break was not kind to Barca in terms of injuries, especially in defense - Kounde and De Jong are out for the next few weeks, while Araujo is out for the next 2 months. However, they do have Robert Lewandowski, who continues his incredible start to the year, scoring the only goal of the game with a stunning finish. Real Madrid, on the other hand, were unlucky not to come away with 3 points. Osasuna’s keeper Herrera came up with great saves in the second half, including saving a Karim Benzema penalty 10 minutes from time. Real Madrid’s perfect record comes to an end, but they still look like the best team in Spain.

Champions League Roundup

Spanish teams are struggling

As things stand, Real Madrid will be the only Spanish team in the Round of 16. Barca’s 1-0 loss to Inter, Atletico’s 2-0 loss to Club Brugge, and Sevilla’s 4-1 loss to Dortmund have put the 3 teams in a precarious position halfway through the group stage. They play the same opponents next week, and if not for wins in those games, it could be curtains for them.

Important wins for Liverpool and Chelsea

Liverpool and Chelsea got their shaky Champions League campaigns back on track with convincing home wins. Both sides made light work of Rangers and Milan, respectively, led by their right backs! Trent Alexander Arnold and Reece James put in great performances on the night, including getting on the scoresheet. Next week’s away games against the same opponents should make for much tighter affairs.

Club Brugge and Napoli stay flying

Club Brugge continues to be the shock of the year so far with a convincing 2-0 win against Atletico Madrid, making it 3 wins out of 3. Napoli, on the other hand, annihilated 10-man Ajax 6-1 away from home! Napoli are crushing it this year - top of their Champions league group and top of the Italian league, not something we expected at the start of the year.

Favorite Stats

• Saliba has won possession more times (71) than any other defender in the Premier League this season. Backbone for the league leaders.

• Erling Haaland is the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games in the competition. It get’s crazier. He has already scored as many EPL hat-tricks in just eight games as...RONALDO, Son, Vardy, Drogba, Anelka, Solskjær and Lukaku. Ridiculous.

• Xavi has not lost any of his 18 LaLiga away games as Barcelona manager (13 wins, 5 draws), the best unbeaten start away from home by a manager in LaLiga history. Zidane held the record previously with Real Madrid in 2016 with 17 (13 wins, 4 draws)

• Bayern Munich have now broken Real Madrid's record for the longest unbeaten run ever in the UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Consistency.

  31 games Bayern Munich (2017-2022)

  30 games -Real Madrid (2012-2017)

• Lionel Messi is first player to score against 40 different teams in the UEFA Champions League. Longevity.

See you next week!

Dylan