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Loved Brian Moore. The best commentator. Always fair and enthusiastic. Re-runs of The Big Match are a joy, especially for letters read out verbatim including viewers’ addresses. Always remember Channon saying “Linacre. Did I say it right there Brian?” “No Mick, no you didn’t.” 🤣

City face multiple counts of certain charges, but I entirely expect their basis to be undermined legally to leave them with either no punishment or limited damage. If anyone’s hoping for a bonanza of mass relegations and titles stripped, I suspect you may be rather disappointed.

Draper gave every effort and more against Sinner. Rarely have I seen a player so ill on court yet still pushing every point. His tennis has been shockingly good in this US Open and he’s proven this summer that he’s stepped up to become a serious contender. He’ll get used to it.

Sabalenka keeping her power in check is key to tonight’s US Open Final. If she can, she’ll overpower Pegula. Pegula needs to rattle Sabs into overhitting shots. Once Sabs loses her range she overdoes the power: it’s a vicious cycle. She loses her way, her emotions and the match.

National anthems: some are long, glorious & sung proudly by players, fans & neutrals. Italy, wow. Some are short slow dirges, mumbled awkwardly. Most glorify nations, security & success. Ours does via supporting a monarch not everyone supports and is used for England, UK & GB. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Pegula fought back well against Sabalenka but left it too late. She was far too passive 1st set, Sabs won it too easily. Once Pegula stepped forward, Sabs began to soul-search and lose range but Pegula didn’t capitalise. Window gone. So that’s 3 of last 4 Aus/US Opens for Sabs.

I expect Sinner to beat Fritz in straight sets tonight. That rarely tells the story and set scores may suggest it’s close, but Sinner will do what’s needed to fend off Fritz. I expect each set to become increasingly less tight. Maybe 7-5/7-6, followed by a 6-4/6-3, then 6-3/6-2.

6-3 6-4 7-5: I was on the right lines. Fritz like Pegula was too timid. You have to unsettle a strong force of nature: force Sabalenka to overhit. Fritz kept hitting shots back to Sinner, rather than switching sides or going down the line. Why? He’ll make less mistakes than you.

Club & country football rarely mixes well. Clubs pay huge fees & wages. Countries play tournaments between seasons but need warm-ups during seasons. Nations League is meant to give friendlies meaning. As if. It’s all so awkward. Yet players can get injured anywhere at any time!

I enjoy post-season international tournaments like World Cups and Euros. The relentless pressure on Arsenal to win every game is draining: England is a free hit for me. Internationals during seasons are different. They ruin the flow of a season and add needless extra injury risk.

Internationals aren’t just risks through extra games. There’s the training and travelling too. For 2 extra games. Some players travel the world twice between league games. It’s nuts. And tiring. The risk is huge. Yet players also get injured dropping stuff on their feet 🤷🏻‍♂️.

I always feel Arsenal lack squad depth for key attackers. Odegaard is stunning + our captain + starts all our moves: deputise that! The only benefit to our absences vs Spurs is that we have time to prepare without Rice & Odegaard. Others must step up and show their qualities.

I hate these awful matches. We’re good but what happens is what matters. We’ve played 3 games but get these next 2 wrong and we’d be 8 points behind City after 5 games. Unreal and insurmountable. Can we possibly win both? Barely feels fair to need it. Sterling the wildcard today.

Really doesn’t help us not to play in red. I hope we’ll cope and assert our quality, but I fear we’ll buckle and lose 2 or 3-0. Solanke may be ‘the new Kane’ by 4pm 🚮. We’ll have to be absolutely on it to do well. No fear Arsenal, be awake! Use our set-pieces!

We need Raheem on at the right time to rampage their yellow cards. Spurs pretending that everything is a terrible foul: but Timber and Porro both got their studs on the ball. A red seems inevitable somewhere here. Keep your heads and focus Arsenal.

To think we weren’t allowed to wear red as ooooh the white will clash with their kit but our black kit clashes with their dark shorts and sleeves!

Romerror: leaves Gabriel at the vital moment 👏. Great win, strong attitudes, beautiful beefy performance from Timber. That will give us so much validation for the weeks to come. Saks looks like a muscle tweak. Raya so assured these days, Seamanesque. 👏

Winning at Spurs is huge for us. It’s such an ordeal I can barely face it or feel too confident, the risk of something wild wrecking us makes me feel ill. I hate these games. But we play them so well now. Spurs are spent. They rode the Kane wave but he’s gone and Son is 32. 👋

Ange is good value. He sticks to what brought him past success including being spiky with reporters. But that guarantees nothing if you join Spurs. Conte & Mourinho have been there. They’ve failed in that graveyard. Spurs are intrinsically Spurs. They’re an adjective: Spursy.