There’s something slightly cruel about the football calendar.
We spend the entire summer waiting for the Premier League to return, endure weeks of transfer speculation masquerading as football, finally get a few weekends where the games themselves take centre stage, and then somebody pulls the plug.
Three weeks of international football awaits after this weekend.
I know plenty of people love it. I know representing your country remains the pinnacle for many players and supporters. I’m just not one of them.
International breaks have always felt like somebody changing the channel halfway through a film I’m enjoying. You’ve settled into the story, started working out which characters you like, and suddenly you’re watching something completely different.
So I’ll make the most of this weekend and then use the interruption productively. There are television shows and films I’ve been meaning to watch, family things football routinely gets in the way of, and perhaps even the occasional weekend where my life isn’t dictated by kick-off times.
Before that enforced breather, though, there’s plenty to discuss.
Todd Boehly has finally left Chelsea, although the more interesting story is what Behdad Eghbali does next, particularly with a stadium decision that could define this ownership.
Bournemouth have gone from almost disappearing completely to winning their first European match in San Sebastián, a journey worth stopping to appreciate.
Manchester United could lose one of England’s most talked about 15 year olds, JJ Gabriel, to Real Madrid, in a situation where I’m not convinced everybody around the youngster is giving him the best advice.
And finally, we’ve got ten Premier League games to predict before domestic football disappears for three weeks.
Let’s enjoy them while we can.
Chelsea’s New Era Is Really Eghbali’s Era
Todd Boehly leaving Chelsea feels significant because of what his name came to represent. In reality, the change happened long before the announcement.
Boehly was the public face of Chelsea’s post Roman Abramovich takeover. He was everywhere at the beginning, even briefly operating as sporting director during that extraordinary first summer. Over time, though, Behdad Eghbali became the dominant ownership figure.
Now there is no ambiguity.
I actually think that clarity could be good for Chelsea.
Whatever you think about Clearlake’s approach, and there has been plenty to question, football clubs generally function better when everybody understands where authority resides. Xabi Alonso certainly appears comfortable with the arrangement. He has spoken positively about his relationship with Eghbali, who travelled to Madrid several times while attempting to convince him to become Chelsea manager.
Alonso said something this week that caught my attention: “It’s good that the main one is clear.”
That sounds simple, but Chelsea haven’t always felt particularly simple since 2022.
Stamford Bridge decision could define Eghbali
The fascinating part now isn’t another transfer window. Chelsea have spent enough money to make transfer fees feel like Monopoly currency.
It’s the stadium.
Stamford Bridge remains one of my favourite grounds in the Premier League precisely because it still feels like a football ground. There’s history and character there, but sentiment doesn’t solve the commercial problem. Chelsea are trying to compete with clubs operating from significantly larger modern stadiums.
Redeveloping Stamford Bridge would preserve the club’s home, but the suggestion that Chelsea could require a seven year temporary move to Wembley illustrates the scale of that undertaking.
Earl’s Court therefore looks increasingly logical.
It would still be controversial. Leaving Stamford Bridge would represent an enormous emotional decision for supporters, and once you move a football club away from its historic home, you cannot put that history back afterwards.
Yet if Chelsea genuinely have an opportunity to build a world class stadium nearby, with the capacity and commercial infrastructure expected of one of Europe’s wealthiest clubs, it deserves serious consideration.
This is where Eghbali’s ownership will ultimately be judged far more meaningfully than by another £100 million midfielder.
Chelsea have already undergone the chaotic part of the Clearlake experiment. Players arrived in extraordinary numbers, managers came and went, enormous sums were spent and supporters understandably wondered where any of it was heading.
Now there are signs of something more coherent. Alonso has won four of his first six games and, importantly, appears to have the relationship with ownership that he wanted after his experience at Real Madrid.
The next stage needs to be about building something permanent.
Training facilities can be improved. The squad can continue evolving. Chelsea will inevitably keep buying footballers because, well, they’re Chelsea.
But resolving a stadium question that has lingered for years would represent something considerably bigger.
Boehly’s departure closes the most visible chapter of Chelsea’s takeover.
What Eghbali builds next, quite literally in the case of the stadium, will tell us much more about whether this ownership ultimately worked.
Bournemouth’s Journey From Survival to Europe Deserves Celebrating
There are certain football stories that become so familiar you almost stop appreciating how ridiculous they actually are. Bournemouth are one of them.
We have become accustomed to seeing them in the Premier League, spending significant money and taking on England’s biggest clubs. Yet go back to 2008 and Bournemouth were reportedly five minutes away from liquidation before former chairman Jeff Mostyn wrote another £100,000 cheque to keep them alive. They subsequently began the 2008-09 League Two season with a 17 point deduction and looked destined for non League football.
Eddie Howe then arrived as an untested manager and somehow kept them up.
What followed remains one of English football’s great modern rises. Howe eventually took Bournemouth through the divisions and into the Premier League, and while there have been relegations, managerial changes and ownership changes since, the club have continued progressing.
I find stories like this refreshing because football can become obsessed with the same handful of clubs. Bournemouth will never generate the global attention of Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal, but try telling supporters who remember League Two that what happened on Thursday night was somehow less significant.
From minus 17 to San Sebastián
The numbers tell the story beautifully.
In September 2001, only around 150 Bournemouth supporters travelled to Peterborough to watch their team lose 6-0. On Thursday, approximately 2,100 travelled to San Sebastián and watched Bournemouth beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in their first European match.
That’s football.
And Bournemouth didn’t arrive in Europe simply because somebody threw enormous amounts of money at them.
There have been some very good decisions.
Appointing Andoni Iraola after Gary O’Neil had kept Bournemouth up looked ruthless at the time. Iraola subsequently delivered finishes of 12th, ninth and sixth, taking Bournemouth into Europe despite considerable turnover within his squad.
When Iraola decided to leave for Liverpool, Bournemouth had already been preparing. Their analyst Jonas Munkvold had spent two years studying coaches, with Marco Rose eventually identified as the preferred successor. Iraola even spent two hours with Rose sharing information before leaving.
That’s what good football administration looks like.
Rather than panicking when an important manager leaves, you already know what comes next.
They also recognised that European football could place enormous pressure on the squad, so instead of another summer of upheaval they resisted interest in Rayan, Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott.
That decision already looks rather sensible.
Scott produced the pass for Rayan to score Bournemouth’s second goal against Sociedad, after Justin Kluivert had become the club’s first European goalscorer. Bournemouth led 2-0 after only 20 minutes.
It wasn’t entirely comfortable. Sergio Gómez pulled one back and Sociedad applied considerable late pressure, with Djordje Petrovic making two important saves as Bournemouth held on.
But perhaps that made it more appropriate.
Bournemouth’s journey was never supposed to be straightforward.
From almost disappearing, to minus 17 in League Two, to the Premier League, and now to winning 2-1 away at Real Sociedad on their European debut.
You don’t have to support Bournemouth to recognise what an extraordinary football story that is.
JJ Gabriel, Manchester United and the Danger of Wanting Too Much Too Soon
There are few things in football more dangerous than deciding what a 15-year-old player is going to become.
JJ Gabriel might become a superstar. He might become a very good Premier League player. He might disappear from the elite game altogether. Nobody knows yet, because he is 15.
What we do know is that Gabriel has formally asked to leave Manchester United, a club he has been associated with since he was nine, with Real Madrid working on a potential deal and Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain also showing interest.
Reading the details, my immediate reaction is that this looks like a hugely talented kid receiving some questionable advice.
I also think we need to be careful before turning Manchester United into some poor, innocent victim of modern football.
Big clubs recruit children from other academies all the time. They make decisions about youngsters based on what suits Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or whoever else. Players can spend years inside an academy before being released because somebody decides they aren’t going to make it.
That’s professional football.
So if a young player and his family decide another club offers a better opportunity, I’m not going to suddenly become sentimental about the welfare of a multi billion pound football institution.
United appear to have offered him a pathway
Where this particular situation becomes harder to understand is what United appear to have been offering Gabriel.
He has already trained regularly with the first team and reportedly impressed senior players with his technical ability. Across last season and this one, he has scored 31 goals and provided six assists in 34 youth appearances, often against considerably older opponents.
United have also arranged meetings involving Gabriel with former head coach Ruben Amorim and Sir Alex Ferguson, while Michael Carrick has coached him and the club gave him the No 77 first team squad number. United’s position is that they have made substantial efforts to demonstrate how highly they rate him.
Most significantly, he could apparently have been involved against Brighton in the Carabao Cup this week. Had he played, he would have become Manchester United’s youngest ever senior player.
At 15, I’m struggling to see how that constitutes a blocked pathway.
Gabriel’s frustration appears partly connected to his first team exposure. He received only eight minutes against Atletico Madrid during pre-season and was subsequently unused against Leeds, while another teenager, Tynan Thompson, was given 45 minutes in Gabriel’s preferred position.
I can understand disappointment.
What concerns me is allowing disappointment at 15 to become impatience.
Real Madrid hardly guarantees first team football
Then there’s the proposed alternative.
If the argument is that Gabriel needs senior football immediately, Real Madrid seems a curious solution.
Their reported plan would initially involve Gabriel playing for the under 19s and Castilla, with gradual integration towards the senior team.
That’s entirely sensible from Madrid’s perspective.
But it also sounds remarkably like development.
And development takes time.
Perhaps Gabriel’s family genuinely believes Madrid provides a better environment. Perhaps there are elements of United’s development plan that haven’t become public. We should acknowledge that possibility rather than pretending we know every conversation taking place around a 15-year-old.
Still, from the information currently available, I struggle with the apparent urgency.
A teenager with this much ability needs excellent coaching, competitive football, patience and adults around him who understand that development isn’t linear. He doesn’t need his career treated as though every month without a senior appearance represents an opportunity lost.
Manchester United shouldn’t receive enormous sympathy here. They understand how the academy system works and have benefited from it themselves.
But neither should we pretend every decision made in pursuit of the biggest possible opportunity is necessarily the best decision for the player.
JJ Gabriel might ultimately prove everybody wrong and become a Real Madrid superstar.
At 15, however, perhaps the most valuable thing anybody around him can offer isn’t another promise.
It’s time.
Premier League Predictions: One Last Weekend Before the Break
And so we reach the final Premier League weekend before the three week international break. Savour it, because after Sunday we’re swapping club football for a schedule that, personally, will give me an excellent opportunity to catch up on television.
There are some intriguing games, though, particularly Brighton against Arsenal and Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth. Here’s how I see Gameweek Five playing out.
Brentford 2-2 Chelsea
Chelsea have enough attacking quality to hurt Brentford, but I’m still not convinced by them defensively. Brentford remain unbeaten after four matches and home advantage should help them again.
I can see goals at both ends without either side quite doing enough to win it.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Aston Villa
Neither side has started the season particularly well and I’m struggling to trust either of them enough to predict a winner.
Spurs have at least shown some defensive improvement, but Villa surely have too much quality to remain this ineffective indefinitely. A draw feels about right.
Brighton 2-2 Arsenal
Probably the game I’m most interested in this weekend.
Brighton are the Premier League’s leading scorers with 13 goals from four matches, while Arsenal arrive having won nine consecutive league games and conceded only twice during that sequence.
Brighton at home can cause anybody problems and I think they will finally put a couple past this Arsenal defence. Arsenal have enough quality to respond, so I’m going for an entertaining 2-2.
Everton 2-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich have been competitive since coming back up, but Everton at home feels like a different proposition.
David Moyes will have them organised and difficult to play against, and while losing Iliman Ndiaye has taken creativity from their attack, I think they’ll find enough here.
Newcastle United 1-1 Hull City
Hull keep making people look silly for expecting their bubble to burst, so I’m going to give them some respect.
Newcastle desperately need a response after losing 4-1 at Leeds, but Hull remain unbeaten. I think they leave St James’ Park with another very useful point.
Nottingham Forest 3-0 Coventry City
This could be another difficult afternoon for Coventry.
Forest should have gained confidence from winning at Aston Villa, while Coventry arrive after being beaten 5-0 at home by Brighton.
At home, I expect Forest to win comfortably.
Bournemouth 2-2 Liverpool
After writing earlier about Bournemouth’s European adventure, this is a fascinating way for them to finish the week.
Andoni Iraola returns to the Vitality Stadium with a Liverpool team that remains very much a work in progress. Bournemouth will have the emotion and confidence generated by their European win, while Liverpool have enough attacking talent to cause them serious problems.
I can’t separate them. Goals, probably some chaos, 2-2.
Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
Probably the most straightforward prediction I’ve made, which is usually when football makes you look stupid.
City should have far too much here. Sunderland have won only once in their opening four league games and I expect City to control this from relatively early on.
Leeds United 2-1 Crystal Palace
Leeds have made their best start to a Premier League season since 2001-02 and that 4-1 win over Newcastle should have Elland Road absolutely bouncing.
Palace are struggling and I think Leeds continue their excellent start.
Fulham 1-1 Manchester United
I’m changing my mind on United. If this game was last weekend, I’d have predicted an away win.
Fulham have just gone to Anfield and kept Liverpool scoreless, while United have followed their Manchester derby defeat with elimination from the Carabao Cup against Brighton.
United could certainly win it, but there isn’t enough evidence at the moment for me to trust them to do so. I’ll take a 1-1 draw.
And then, sadly, that’s your lot.
Three weeks without Premier League football awaits us. I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of the international break.
And with that, the Premier League disappears almost as quickly as it arrived.
Perhaps that’s why I want to enjoy this weekend rather than spend too much time thinking about what comes afterwards. We’re only five games into a season that is already producing interesting stories, and I’d quite happily have another Premier League round next weekend.
Instead, I’ll find other things to do.
There is actually something quite healthy about that. Football consumes enormous amounts of my week, partly because I love it and partly because I’ve made the slightly ridiculous decision to build much of my working life around it. When the calendar creates a gap, perhaps the sensible response is to use it.
I’ll catch up on films. I’ll watch some television that doesn’t involve somebody drawing tactical shapes on a screen. I’ll spend time with the family without checking whether a team has announced its starting XI.
I might even go outside.
Then, three weeks from now, I’ll probably be desperate for the Premier League again.
That’s the strange thing about football. We complain when there is too much of it and miss it almost immediately when it’s gone.
At least we’re leaving club football with plenty to think about.
Chelsea have entered the Eghbali era properly. Bournemouth are playing and winning in Europe. A 15 year old at Manchester United is already facing decisions that could shape his entire career. And somewhere among my ten Premier League predictions, there might even be a correct score.
Enjoy the weekend.
After that, I’m changing the channel for three weeks.