Archive November 6, 2025

If ever a four-day period summed up Newcastle United’s curious season.

On Sunday, Eddie Howe’s team suffered a bruising 3-1 defeat against struggling West Ham at London Stadium.

It was a result that left travel-sick Newcastle languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

To think this side went on to leapfrog Real Madrid into sixth place in the Champions League standings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James’ Park a few days later.

It was their fifth consecutive home victory, but that was not cause for celebration for Howe.

Sunday’s trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle look to finally address their away-day woes after failing to win on the road in the league since April.

“It’s hugely frustrating because I think we have a style of play and a method of play that works, that’s really effective,” the Newcastle head coach said.

“For whatever reason we have not been winning the games away from home that we should have.

Newcastle’s players were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.

There was no place for the squad to hide as they were subjected to what defender Dan Burn described as a “very painful” analysis session in the days after the West Ham defeat.

“We saw how far off we were from what we expect from ourselves,” Burn said. “But that’s the best way to learn.

“You have got to have some uncomfortable conversations sometimes and the manager is quite good at doing that. He is always very honest with what he says.”

Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a bullet header, always knew that Newcastle would respond against Athletic.

The hosts hardly needed any added motivation to contest a Champions League fixture under the lights at St James’.

In his programme notes, ahead of the game, captain Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a “safe place for us where we know we play our best football”.

And results certainly back those words up.

Newcastle have defeated Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an aggregate scoreline of 11-1 on home soil in the last month alone.

They have a 70% win rate at St James’ this season. That record should be even better – late concessions proved costly against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these respective title challengers and Barcelona are the only teams to have beaten Howe’s side on Tyneside.

Yet it has been a very different story away from home.

Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.

Howe’s side have scored a quarter as many goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy’s opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.

Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe’s team have had 30 fewer touches in the opposition box (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which highlights the difficulties they have faced breaking teams down.

Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following shutouts against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.

But the visitors have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won possession back on eight fewer occasions (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to “be a bit more ugly”, referencing how his side were “well-known a few years ago for something-housery”.

Howe recognised his side “possibly need a bit of that” ahead of Sunday’s trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the “quality, delivery and, most importantly, the mindset”.

“It’s about playing a game of football and delivering a good performance – regardless of where we are playing,” he said.

Phil Foden enjoyed a night to remember at the Etihad as he sent Manchester City and England fans a timely reminder of his star qualities.

Both he and the club suffered a disappointing campaign last term – City failed to win a major trophy for the first time in eight years, while the midfielder revealed struggles with off-field issues and injury.

But Foden appears to have put those problems behind him, impressing his manager, supporters and pundits with performances that signal he may be returning to his best.

With classy displays and four goals and three assists in 13 games, the 25-year-old will have a close eye on Friday’s England squad announcement for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania on 13 and 16 November.

A starring role in Wednesday’s 4-1 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund – taking the attention away from Erling Haaland for once this term – will no doubt have improved his chances of a recall.

“I’m loving it,” Foden told TNT Sports. “I just need to play with a smile on my face, which I’m doing. Last year was tough, not just for myself but for everyone.

While Norwegian Haaland’s remarkable scoring feats in this campaign – 27 now for club and country – have hogged the headlines, Foden is a key part of that “talent up front”.

Having been left out of the past two England squads – and not making himself available for the camp before that – he faces a tough task of getting back into Thomas Tuchel’s set-up.

Jude Bellingham – also hoping for a return after a shoulder injury – and Morgan Rogers are rivals for the number 10 role – the position where boss Pep Guardiola feels Foden feels happiest.

For City, he has stepped out of the shadow of Kevin de Bruyne, who departed the club in the summer as a legend, while injuries to Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki at the start of this campaign allowed him to make the spot his own.

After a poor start, Guardiola’s men have lost only one of their last 13 games in all competitions and Foden has featured in 12 of those, having put his hand up to play – “a sign he is ready” according to his manager.

Asked whether Foden deserved to be back in the England reckoning – especially with next summer’s World Cup on the horizon – Guardiola said: “Thomas is so smart and wise and knows exactly what the national team needs – and I think Thomas knows Phil perfectly.

“There is no person in this country, no-one around the world, that doesn’t know his quality and ability, but England are so lucky to have an amount of good players in this position, there are a lot.

“That is why Phil has to push himself to be better and better, because when he is going to be called up, [he will] say, ‘OK, I’m going to show how good I am’.”

The sight of Foden in full flow, creative and scoring delightful goals like the two against Dortmund, has delighted Guardiola and the City faithful, who adore their local hero.

He has admitted trying to get himself “mentally right” after the difficulties of last season.

In the previous 2023-24 campaign, Foden netted 27 goals in all competitions, including 19 in the Premier League as City won an unprecedented fourth title in a row.

It earned him the Player of the Season and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards, as well as being named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Foden started all seven games too as he helped England reach the final of the European Championship in July 2024, where they were edged out by Spain 2-1.

But if he is left out by Tuchel again, it will lead to concern about adding to his 45 caps and playing in football’s showpiece international tournament.

Former City and Tottenham midfielder Michael Brown has no doubt as he told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think we have got to look at Foden for England – the full Foden in form, who can be the difference.

“Someone who is mature, who wants it and cool in tight situations. I think he is now at the level to go back into the squad and to push for the manager. He will take on that challenge.

“He is like a big kid when it comes to football, he wants to play and have a ball at his feet. As a manager it was about supporting him and getting on to the pitch in the right position and he has now found it.

Foden endured a slow start to the campaign after an ankle injury, featuring in only 15 minutes of action before the September international break.

Despite a fear of being on the sidelines again, he scored in the 3-0 derby win over Manchester United and provided a delightful pass for Haaland’s goal in a Champions League victory over a Napoli side featuring De Bruyne on his return to the Etihad.

Foden then played a starring role in the Carabao Cup third round success at League One Huddersfield, but it was the dazzling display against Dortmund that has put him back in the spotlight.

His prowess from outside the area with his double was evident again, having now scored 11 goals from such positions since the start of the 2023-24 campaign – more than any other Premier League player during that period.

“I would say he is already there [back to his best form],” boss Guardiola told TNT Sports. “He does not need to get closer. He is already there. It is true we have missed goals and he got two incredible goals.

Former Everton and England midfielder Leon Osman told MOTD: Uefa Champions League: “Dortmund allowed City to pass into the pocket of space in front of their defence all night, and Foden was the player who profited the most from it.

“In the first half, City rotated the player getting on the end of that pass quite well, and it was either Foden or [Tijjani] Reijnders getting forward and coming into those spaces, like Foden did for their first goal, or Haaland coming deep.

“It’s how City want to play, because you know where they want to get on the ball… and Dortmund let them do it. That could have been because City have got two wingers so high up, Dortmund were keeping five defenders back to deal with them and Haaland, and leaving space for Foden and Reijnders to arrive into.

English clubs appear to be bossing things in Europe as, for the second time in this season’s Champions League, five sides from the Premier League won in a single round of fixtures.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham all won their games this week, with the first four of those sides now sitting inside the top eight – the positions they need to be in to qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Only Chelsea failed to take all three points as they were held to a surprising 2-2 draw by Qarabag on Wednesday, but they are still handily placed at the halfway stage of the group stage as they sit 12th.

Before this season the Champions League had never seen five teams from one country all win in a single round of matches. Now teams from England have managed it twice.

“In five years’ time we will look at this period of the next five years as the domination of England, I don’t see it any other way,” Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague told BBC Sport.

“Bayern are doing really, really well and they can disrupt that. PSG will have their moments, I think Barcelona and Real Madrid are lagging behind, but there is nobody else.”

Arsenal are hoping to win the Champions League for the first time and, while it is still early days, they have made a hugely encouraging start.

Themselves, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan are the only sides with a perfect record so far in the league phase, sitting joint top with 12 points from a possible 12.

As well as keeping a clean sheet in each of their four games so far they have also scored 11 goals – a scoring record bettered only by Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain (both 14), Borussia Dortmund (13) and Barcelona (12).

Collectively, English teams are outperforming those from other countries, winning 17 of their 24 games, scoring a total of 56 goals – 14 more than any others – and conceding just 17, a record only bettered by teams from France, who have three clubs in the competition compared to six from England.

So why are English teams doing so well?

A significant factor is the financial muscle they are able to flex compared to teams from the rest of Europe, enabling them to spend more on transfer fees and wages to attract the best talent.

This summer, Premier League clubs outlaid more than ever before in the transfer window as spending surpassed £3bn.

To highlight just how much financial power Premier League clubs have over elsewhere in Europe, the total spent this year was more than was spent by Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A clubs combined.

More money means clubs can invest in bigger squads, with Arsenal seeing the benefits of spending big this summer to increase their strength in depth as they lead the way in the Premier League and sit joint-top of the league standings in the Champions League.

“Obviously in a knockout competition anything can happen but in terms of money, talent, coaching, facilities and even the talent in the offices, England are the super league of Europe,” Balague added.

This is the first Champions League season to feature six clubs from one nation and history will be made if all six of England’s representatives go through.

Back in 2017, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all progressed, making England the first country to have five teams in the knockouts of the competition.

However just two of those sides – Liverpool and Manchester City – got beyond the last 16, while the Reds went all the way to final after knocking City out in the quarter-finals.

In the final, Liverpool were beaten by Real Madrid.

According to Opta’s predictions, Arsenal have a 99.8% chance of progressing to the knockouts, with Manchester City on 97.4% and Liverpool on 95.5%.

However, the predictions model is a little less confident over the automatic progress of the other three sides with Newcastle on 82%, Chelsea on 80.8% and Tottenham on 72%.

Former Liverpool midfielder Stephen Warnock told BBC Sport: “I’d say at the moment it is [significant what English teams are doing], but it doesn’t matter what goes on at the moment because we saw what happened last year, when Liverpool were dominating and finished top of the league stage – and then they were suddenly knocked out by PSG who had been rubbish up until then.

Bayern Munich, led by the in-form Harry Kane, boast a perfect record so far in the league phase.

No team has scored more than their 14 goals so far – with Kane accounting for five of those – while they have conceded just three.

It is currently mostly the usual suspects occupying the top eight slots – the positions sides need to finish to qualify automatically for the knockouts – with Inter Milan, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid joining Bayern and the four English sides in those positions.

Taking last season – the first to utilise the league phase format – as a barometer for what is needed to finish in the top eight, then around 16 points from the eight games should be sufficient.

It means teams are likely going to need to win five of their eight games, which this season’s Premier League sides are on course to achieve.

There is a lot more leeway to secure a play-off place, which goes to the sides who finish between ninth and 24th.

It is still early days but Arsenal’s superb start has them rated as the most likely to go all the way and win the competition.

Opta predictions give them a 23.4% chance of winning the Champions League, while Manchester City are predicted to be the second most-likely English team to reach the final at 12.5%. Liverpool are third favourites from England with 11.3%.

But former Everton midfielder Leon Osman believes the true test of the Premier League teams’ capabilities will come in the knockouts.

He said: “It is great [what English teams are currently doing], but it is only when you then get to the knockout stages, where it is literally one team through and one going home, that is the true test and that is when the big-hitters turn up.”

But Osman added that while it is early days, there could be signs that Premier League teams are now getting the balance right between being able to be competitive at home and abroad.

“We have probably expected this [dominance] for years, but it hasn’t quite materialised before,” he said.

Of the 31 seasons of at least one English side in the Champions League, 16 of those campaigns have seen every Premier League representative progress beyond the group stage or first group stage.

Of those 16 occasions there have been 11 appearances in the final from English sides, with 2007-08, 2018-19 and 2020-21 having all-English finals.

Are Chelsea rotating too much?

The Blues have made multiple line-up changes in all their recent matches and have tweaked the starting XI more than any other Premier League side this season.

But, after they narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat at Champions League minnows Qarabag, there were those questioning whether they might be overdoing the changes.

On Wednesday, substitute Alejandro Garnacho saved Chelsea by equalising early in the second half, in a chaotic, open 2-2 draw at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku.

Estevao Willian had opened the scoring but mistakes from defender Jorrel Hato saw Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic put Qarabag ahead – a shock lead given they are a team worth just £22m, which is less than £1m per squad player.

The Blues, with a squad worth well over £1bn, were particularly poor in the first half, especially compared to the dominant 1-0 win away at Tottenham on Saturday. However, this was a very different starting 11.

Just goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, full-backs Reece James and Marc Cucurella, and forward Joao Pedro started in North London.

It was the fifth-consecutive match across all competitions where manager Enzo Maresca has made at least seven changes to his starting 11. No Premier League club has made more than Chelsea’s 85 changes in 16 matches across all competitions this season.

The constant changing has left Maresca open to criticisms of being too much of a ‘tinkerman’, an unwanted nickname once given to his compatriot Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea.

Defending his approach, Maresca said: “When we make changes it is because we think the plan with the players that start is the correct one.

“I think today, we start in the right way, we score the goal and then, again, we concede two goals that we can avoid. [Also] in their box, for the amount of times that we are there, probably we can be more clinical.

Both literally and figuratively, you never know which Chelsea is going to turn up.

Chelsea have lurched from negative to positive throughout this campaign, playing well against bigger teams but often not as well against so-called lesser opposition.

In big games, the likes of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, and Garnacho usually start.

However, Maresca is managing the fitness of all three of those players , as he also is with returning striker Liam Delap. In addition, key players like Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill are injured.

There are further mitigating factors behind the extreme nature of Maresca’s rotation, given Chelsea endured a 13-month season last year, due to winning the Club World Cup in July, which also shortened pre-season to less than two weeks.

The Italian added: “We have players, the intention tonight was to rest Enzo [Fernandez], to rest Moises [Caicedo], to rest Malo [Gusto], to rest more players, because they are not able to play every three days.

“They need recovery from last season, as you say, the Club World Cup affects a lot. We try to rotate when you win, no-one mentioned all that.

“I know that when we don’t win, everyone is focused on that and now I think it’s important to recover energy for Saturday and go again.”

Yet rivals like Spurs and Arsenal have done fewer rotations in the last few weeks, in back-to-back matches, which is surely designed to help build cohesion and consistency despite the differing recent fortunes of the two North London clubs.

Maresca is not helped by the underwhelming performances by some of those coming in.

Alongside Hato, forwards Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George struggled, as did midfielder Andrey Santos, all of them aged 21 or younger, against a brave Qarabag side proving themselves to be Europe’s giant-killers this season having already beaten Benfica and Copenhagen

Midfielder Romeo Lavia also started but pulled up after just four minutes, leaving Chelsea briefllywith 10 men before he was substituted off.

There have to be real concerns about the long-term fitness of the Belgian international signed from Southampton for £53m in 2023.

European football expert Julien Laurens, who analysed the game for Champions League Match of the Day, said: “All the changes worked for them last season but I think tonight showed they can’t expect to do it when they are in the Champions League.

“Doing it and competing in a Champions League and Premier League combo is very different to doing it in a season where you are playing in the Conference League, when you can easily win with your B team.

“Before they won at Spurs on Sunday, they were ninth in the table and not doing that great in the Champions League with two wins and a defeat, but tonight is a bit of a step back, I think.

“With young players like Hato – and Gittens a bit too -even if they have both had some Champions League experience before, you can see that with a lot of young players the Champions League level is a little bit too high.

“You end up with a result like this where you drop points. In the grand scheme of things they will still qualify, we cannot be worried about Chelsea not getting through, but still it does not look good.

“Going forward, I think it will be difficult to manage the two competitions this way. That’s why even [Manchester City manager] Pep Guardiola doesn’t make so many changes, or [Arsenal manager] Mikel Arteta either, even with a much deeper and more experienced squad.

“I think it explains Chelsea’s inconsistency this season.

“That’s one of the reservations I’ve got a bit about Maresca in the way he deals with and manages his whole squad.

“It is a big squad so I understand he wants to keep people fresh, especially after the Club World Cup. I can understand the load management, sure. But making so many changes all the time, we can see it does not help them.

“Today they had to bring on Caicedo for Lavia because of injury but then at half-time, three [key] players have to come on because they are behind.