Gabriele MarcottiDec 15, 2025, 07:08 AM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Follow on X
play2:07Hislop: Salah played well in Liverpool’s win vs. BrightonShaka Hislop reacts to Mohamed Salah’s performance in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brighton.
play1:11Marcotti: Real Madrid’s win won’t ease the pressure on AlonsoGab Marcotti says Real Madrid’s win over Alaves in LaLiga won’t have made Xabi Alonso feel any more secure in his job.
play1:04Onuoha: Man City are ready to push Arsenal in the title raceNedum Onuoha believes Manchester City could take the title race to the wire as they close the gap to two points.
play1:28Leboeuf: Aston Villa can win the Premier LeagueFrank Leboeuf backs Aston Villa to cause an upset and win the Premier League over Arsenal or Manchester City.
play1:42Burley: Arsenal got lucky in 2-1 win vs. WolvesCraig Burley reacts to Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Wolves in the Premier League.
play2:23García: Barcelona’s win vs. Osasuna has put pressure on Real MadridLuis García reacts to Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Osasuna in LaLiga.
play1:34Hislop full of praise for Palmer on his return to Chelsea’s starting XI vs. EvertonShaka Hislop praises Cole Palmer after Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Everton in the Premier League.
play2:11Should Thomas Frank be blamed for Tottenham’s form this season?Mark Ogden and Steve Nicol react to Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Laurens: Salah should leave Liverpool if he doesn’t want to be benched (1:55)Gab & Juls discuss Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool ahead of the January transfer window. (1:55)
Hislop: Salah played well in Liverpool’s win vs. BrightonShaka Hislop reacts to Mohamed Salah’s performance in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brighton.
Marcotti: Real Madrid’s win won’t ease the pressure on AlonsoGab Marcotti says Real Madrid’s win over Alaves in LaLiga won’t have made Xabi Alonso feel any more secure in his job.
Gab Marcotti says Real Madrid’s win over Alaves in LaLiga won’t have made Xabi Alonso feel any more secure in his job.
Onuoha: Man City are ready to push Arsenal in the title raceNedum Onuoha believes Manchester City could take the title race to the wire as they close the gap to two points.
Nedum Onuoha believes Manchester City could take the title race to the wire as they close the gap to two points.
Leboeuf: Aston Villa can win the Premier LeagueFrank Leboeuf backs Aston Villa to cause an upset and win the Premier League over Arsenal or Manchester City.
Frank Leboeuf backs Aston Villa to cause an upset and win the Premier League over Arsenal or Manchester City.
Burley: Arsenal got lucky in 2-1 win vs. WolvesCraig Burley reacts to Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Wolves in the Premier League.
García: Barcelona’s win vs. Osasuna has put pressure on Real MadridLuis García reacts to Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Osasuna in LaLiga.
Hislop full of praise for Palmer on his return to Chelsea’s starting XI vs. EvertonShaka Hislop praises Cole Palmer after Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Everton in the Premier League.
Should Thomas Frank be blamed for Tottenham’s form this season?Mark Ogden and Steve Nicol react to Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Mark Ogden and Steve Nicol react to Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Maybe this wasn’t the last of Mohamed Salah in a Liverpool shirt?
Real Madrid get three points, but they’re still not where they should be
Minimalist Manchester City keep piling on the pressure
Luciano Spalletti hails ‘most important’ Juventus win as club takeover gets turned down
– Lindop: If this was goodbye, Salah delivered a nice ending – VAR Review: Should Arsenal, Liverpool have faced 10 men? – Olley: Arsenal must handle the pressure better in title race
It was pretty striking how the narrative was so neatly laid out ahead of Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Brighton. After speaking out of turn — and being left out of the Champions League trip to face Inter Milan last midweek — Salah was done at Anfield. He’d get to say goodbye, and then he’d be off with Egypt to the Africa Cup of Nations, and then likely chase some Saudi coin and, other than YouTube highlights, most of the world wouldn’t see him again until the World Cup.
That can still happen, of course, and maybe it will. Liverpool boss Arne Slot said he wants Salah to stay, but perhaps he was just being polite. His actions were eloquent, though. Up 1-0 against a pesky Brighton side thanks to a first-minute goal from Hugo Ekitike, when right back Joe Gomez got injured after 26 minutes, he turned to Salah, reshuffling the side and moving Dominik Szoboszlai to right back.
Sending on Salah that early on the game did not feel like the actions of someone who didn’t believe he’d never coach again. And Salah responded with an assist for the second Ekitike goal, as well as a couple other opportunities that showed he’s not a spent force.
Hislop: Salah played well in Liverpool’s win vs. Brighton
Shaka Hislop reacts to Mohamed Salah’s performance in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brighton.
If someone shows up with a big bag of cash and it’s enough to entice Salah — enjoy the warm gulf weather and get yourself fit and firing for the World Cup — sure, Liverpool will pull the trigger. But you sort of feel that if someone was going to do that, they would have done it last spring — Salah only signed his contract on April 11, remember? — and saved themselves a transfer fee.
Marcotti: Real Madrid’s win won’t ease the pressure on Alonso
Take the Erling Haaland penalty in garbage time out of the mix — it came on a counter with Crystal Palace streaming forward — and Manchester City managed just 0.41 expected goals and six shots against Palace. That’s possibly why Oliver Glasner, who saw his side cobble together an xG of 1.88 off 16 shots, said Palace played better on Sunday than they did in the FA Cup final last May (when they beat City).
I’m not sure I’d quite go that far, but there’s no question that, especially in the first half — when City managed 0.20 xG off two total shots despite 70% possession — Pep Guardiola’s game plan was truly neutered. Except for the large Norwegian, of course, whose header gave City the lead. He’s a good avatar for what they’re doing right now: just three touches in the box, two of them goals.
Onuoha: Man City are ready to push Arsenal in the title race
The Guardiola of old, the one who preached “control” and “creativity,” might not recognize this team. There wasn’t much in the way of “control” because Nico González had one of those turnstile games in midfield and creativity only appeared in flashes, courtesy of Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden.
You can look at this and write them off, or you can note that this team can get better… a lot better. (Rodri’s return if — when? — it comes, should help tremendously.) And if they do get a lot better, then we have a legit title race on our hands.
This time, he’s right. Bologna away — coming after two lacklustre performances against Napoli and Pafos — was a trap game, and Spalletti got Juve to play with courage, organisation and intensity. The one-nil win (courtesy of a second-half Juan Cabal header) was not a case of Juve merely sitting and making a more attacking opponent pay. They limited the opposition’s chances, created their own regularly and out-performed them.
The curious thing here is that, reportedly, Tether — a stablecoin outfit based in El Salvador — did not give advance warning of their bid, which valued the club at around €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). That’s a bit hard to swallow, and that’s why some are speculating that maybe, just maybe, this was a move to rally the troops.
9. Lautaro Martínez powers Inter back to the top of Serie A: Oh, and he’s now the league’s top scorer too. Few center forwards play with his intensity, and it was evident on both goals in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Genoa. His lung-bursting sprint kept the ball from going out of play, enabling him to set up Yann Bisseck’s opener, and he bullied his way to create space and unleash a venomous shot for the second. Seeing your best player bust his backside like that will give any side a lift.
8. Désiré Doué’s return is Paris Saint-Germain’s value-add: Last spring, Doue’s monster run in the Champions League propelled him to super-stardom and comparisons with Lamine Yamal. In some ways, this was kinda funny because he only really became a starter for PSG midway through the year and some, including yours truly, probably wouldn’t have him in Luis Enrique’s Best XI. Which is fine: lest we forget, the guy doesn’t turn 21 until June.
Craig Burley reacts to Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Wolves in the Premier League.
7. (Gabriel) Jesus saves Arsenal as Gunners gain two huge points: Yeah, I couldn’t resist. It’s the holidays, after all, and you don’t need to be an Arsenal fan to delight in seeing him make his first league appearance in 11 months and rescue the three points for Arsenal against Wolves. I know that technically it was Yerson Mosquera’s own goal, but without Gabriel Jesus there, he wouldn’t have deflected it into his own net four minutes into injury time.
The bottom line? Titles are often won and lost in games like these. And while we’re not even at the half-way mark, count this as another (small) brick in the wall.
5. Barcelona are still flimsy, but they were still victorious this weekend: Hansi Flick continues to do things his way, with Gerard Martín at center back, Eric García in midfield, and Ferran Torres instead of Robert Lewandowski against an opponent that parks the bus, but hey, results continue to prove him right. Even if, frankly, Barcelona don’t look particularly good.
You make your own luck and Barca made enough of it to win 2-0 and take all three points, but you wonder how long this can last.
García: Barcelona’s win vs. Osasuna has put pressure on Real Madrid
Luis García reacts to Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Osasuna in LaLiga.
3. Memo to Enzo Maresca, and everyone else in the media eye, to not make people guess: Chelsea bounced back from the disappointing performance away to Atalanta with a very solid 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday. It’s the sort of riposte that showed they could win without Moisés Caicedo (who was suspended), while Malo Gusto scoring and assisting was a vindication for Maresca’s belief that there’s more to his game than being an off-the-shelf fullback.