Sports
Manchester City vs Arsenal: Handling Haaland, set-piece threat – and does Arteta need the three points?
Heading into this Premier League weekend, Manchester City were top of the table and Arsenal were in second place.
It all feels extremely familiar.
In 2022-23, Arsenal lost home and away to City, and finished five points behind them. Last season, Arsenal beat City in London but drew with them in Manchester and ended up two points adrift of them in the final standings. When the margins separating the winners and losers in title races are tiny, winning away to your rivals for the trophy is important. But does the fact we are so early into the new season mean another stalemate at the Etihad Stadium today (Sunday) would suit Mikel Arteta’s visitors?
Both sides recorded goalless draws in their Champions League openers in midweek, but Pep Guardiola’s side head into this game with an extra 24 hours of rest in their legs and with Erling Haaland one away from becoming the first player to reach double figures for goals in his first five appearances of a Premier League season. However, he’s facing a defence who have conceded just three times in nine Premier League away games across the calendar year so far.
We asked our City writer (Sam Lee), one of our Arsenal writers (Art de Roche) and one of our data and tactics experts (Thom Harris) to ponder some key questions ahead of the fixture.
Will Arsenal’s mindset be that winning is essential this time?
That would definitely have been the case if they had not won at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, but that result changes things ever so slightly. Three points today would see Arsenal leapfrog City, but returning to north London with a draw shouldn’t be catastrophic. While many assumed they settled for a point on their last visit to City, Arsenal’s approach was similar to their two previous wins over them and that north London derby win last weekend. Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard squandering chances was the difference. This time, they will look to be just as competitive but will need to be more clinical in those key offensive moments.
Art de Roche
(Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
I agree with Art — while it might not feel like it at the moment, City will drop points somewhere along the line, and it’s surely advisable to focus on staying within touching distance rather than going all out for a victory here and risk falling five points behind and having to play catch-up at this early stage. A point would be a precious one, and if Arsenal can keep it as tight as they did against Tottenham, they may well get a chance or two to nick all three anyway.
Thom Harris
Will City be able to cope with Arsenal’s set-piece threat?
Obviously, Arsenal are strong in that department but it is not as if City are particularly weak. Of the six first-team defenders likely to be selected, only 5ft 6in (169cm) Rico Lewis is small for a defender. The rest are Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol. Height is not the only determining factor, of course, and City are pretty tenacious when challenging for balls into the box, and it should not be underestimated that they know a thing or two about screening themselves; they have even benefited from NBA tactics via the Boston Celtics. City can be caught out from set pieces at times — who doesn’t? — but because they know that many teams visiting the Etihad will be focused on nicking an advantage from dead balls, they have to put in at least equal amounts of work to stop that from happening.
Sam Lee
Set plays are highly situational; a lapse in concentration, a lost individual duel or a particularly good cross can undo hours of hard work during the week. Still, the general dead-ball trends are revealing — while Arsenal have been extremely dangerous when it comes to attacking set-pieces since the start of last season, City have been by far and away the best at defending them. The below scatter chart tells us that Guardiola’s side have conceded just 1.6 goals per 100 set pieces, not including penalties — that equates to three in the last 186 they’ve faced – the best defensive rate among the 17 Premier League ever-presents in that time.
Records are there to be broken, though, and City haven’t looked completely infallible; Ethan Pinnock alone had three chances from corners at the Etihad last weekend, while fellow Brentford defender Nathan Collins was only denied by an instinctive Ederson save early in the first half. Having said that, the cautious, data-led suggestion would be that these two teams cancel each other out once again.
Thom Harris
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Is Haaland vs Arsenal’s centre-backs the key battle?
It will be one of a few key battles. Arsenal shut out Haaland in all three meetings last season (including the Community Shield), with the striker failing to even have a shot on target in any of those matches. Key to that was how William Saliba and fellow centre-back Gabriel took turns in getting tight and physical with him. They did not allow him to get any momentum, whether it was when running in behind or simply in getting a feel for the game. Replicating that will be important, as will how Arsenal decide to approach defending certain spaces. Their wingers were essential to keeping Spurs quiet last Sunday, and similar work could help in Manchester.
Art de Roche
Haaland is obviously City’s main scoring threat, but while we have all focused on his nine league goals in four games, including those back-to-back hat-tricks, it has probably gone unnoticed that there are not many goals coming from their other players. In that sense, if he cannot get service, or if he does but misses his chances, it severely impacts City’s chances of winning. On the other hand, we know he often goes through games without having many touches, and that this is largely by design — so he can pin centre-backs and create space in midfield for City’s other forwards.
(Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
In that sense, it is possible that he could win the battle by getting four touches and doing nothing of note all afternoon, as long as he keeps Saliba and Gabriel occupied and lets his colleagues get on with it. Whether Haaland scores or not will have a big say in the actual result, but it is just one aspect of this game — City will have to be good enough to get through the Arsenal press to try to create chances for him anyway.
Sam Lee
I very much agree with Sam here; the two centre-backs could nullify Haaland for 99 per cent of the game, only to be undone by a moment of quality — much like they were in City’s 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium in February 2023, when he scored with virtually his first sight of goal with less than 10 minutes of the 90 to go.
Unstoppable 💪
Erling Haaland scored his 26th Premier League goal of the season against Arsenal 🤯#PLonPrime pic.twitter.com/uy2aXK91Lm
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) February 16, 2023
The signs are encouraging for Arsenal, though — that is Haaland’s only goal in 359 minutes against the Saliba and Gabriel partnership across all competitions, racking up just 0.58 xG in close to four full games. His only truly dominant performance against Arteta’s side came when Rob Holding stepped in for an injured Saliba later that same season. I’ll continue to sit on the fence — keeping Haaland quiet is probably necessary for an Arsenal win, but it won’t guarantee one either.
Thom Harris
Should we expect a classic between the league’s best two teams?
While it would be nice, I am not expecting an all-timer of a game. After the three matches between the sides last season, and Arsenal’s recent matches against Spurs and Atalanta, it feels like another 90 minutes of tension is on the horizon. Arteta tried to go blow-for-blow against City in his first title challenge in 2022-23, but individual mistakes crept in and allowed Guardiola’s side to run away with the match. His switch to more of a ‘Plan B’ for bigger games was a welcome change last season and has kept Arsenal in these encounters. If the Spaniard had the midfield three he envisaged in the summer (Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino) available then things may have been different, but he doesn’t — so expect more of the same.
Art de Roche
I remember one thing very clearly from after the goalless draw at the Etihad in March: I did not want the two clubs to meet again in the Champions League semi-finals, which was possible at the time. I had been expecting a good game before kick-off that Sunday, because most of City’s recent title deciders, home or away, had been pretty dramatic, with excellent football on show — and we obviously got nowhere near that. It may just be that was what Jurgen Klopp brought to the party when his Liverpool team were City’s main challengers, and Arteta has a different way of facing these big games.
That said, it is not like Guardiola never chooses a defensive approach. City’s game plan at the Emirates last year was to escape with a 0-0, given he was concerned about the absence of a suspended Rodri from his midfield. And City were not at their best in the return game, either. It is not controversial to say that if Arteta wants his team to dig in, then it is harder to imagine a classic, just by the nature of the encounter. It could still be a good game if both teams take their chances, of course, but who says Arsenal are going to go with the same game plan anyway?
Sam Lee
Very happy to be wrong on this one, but I feel like an early-ish goal is the only thing that will relieve us from another tense battle of attrition.
Thom Harris
This fixture ended 6-3 in 2013 but today’s game is unlikely to have nine goals (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Who will be the bigger miss, Kevin De Bruyne (if he doesn’t recover) or Odegaard?
Although De Bruyne is one of the Premier League’s best-ever midfielders, City’s strength in depth makes his absences easier to deal with. Arsenal have lacked any real tempo without Odegaard, as he is instrumental to what they do on the ball in all thirds of the pitch. Considering there has been such a stark stylistic difference without him in the side, it does not feel too rogue to suggest that Arsenal’s captain would be the bigger miss. Aside from goal contributions, Odegaard is almost always the player who sets the tone for Arsenal with and without the ball, and he will be a massive miss during this ongoing injury lay-off.
For an example of how influential he is, last season he was one of just two Arsenal players to be involved in at least two actions that were either build-up, chance creation or a shot per 90 minutes. The other was Bukayo Saka, with Odegaard understandably registering higher numbers in build-up and chance creation.
Art de Roche
I agree with Art. City have proved they can get by without De Bruyne basically every time he has been injured, going back years. Given his quality, that is quite an achievement. He missed a lot of 2018-19, quite a bit of 2020-21 and half of last season, and City won the title in all three years anyway. They have always had the players, or tactical tweaks, that mean they can more than make up for De Bruyne’s absence. In 2018-19, it was Bernardo Silva operating from the middle, two years later they embraced the false-nine system which involved Bernardo and Ilkay Gundogan pinging the ball around for fun, and last year they just kind of got by in a variety of ways, with no particular stand-out replacement. On the other hand, Odegaard is one of Arsenal’s (and the Premier League’s) best players, and they do not have equivalent squad depth.
Sam Lee
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
I’ll play devil’s advocate. City have scored 17 goals against Arteta’s Arsenal in the Premier League; De Bruyne has had a hand in six of them, despite playing around 54 per cent of the total minutes. His impact on this often title-tilting fixture is unparalleled, and City will clearly miss his clinical edge in games such as this. He has started the season in dominant form too, second only to Dwight McNeil of Everton for chances created, while his 162 passes in the attacking third puts him 65 clear of any other player in the division.
The argument that City are more equipped to deal with De Bruyne’s absence is fair, but there is nobody quite like the Belgian for blowing games like this wide open, and given Arsenal’s recent solidity, the defending champions could miss that spark.
Thom Harris
(Top photos: Getty Images)
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
Sports
Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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