Reds roll into 2025 looking imperious S6 E18

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz. The Reds beat Leicester 3-1 last Thursday and played another tough one against West Ham on Sunday - just the 5 goals this time. We are at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand - 14 points clear of City, 9 from Arsenal (same games) and 10 from Chelsea. We’ll review those games and then talk about the upcoming Premier League game against Man United plus a look around the league. 

Part One - Leicester City at home - xG 1.91 vs 0.34

• Conceding early again, but it felt different. Lot of pressure, didn’t necessarily count in xG

  
  



• ‘Abject’ said James Pearce in the first half. Really…  Maybe too many crosses, maybe a little too rushed.

  
  



• Second half - so much movement, Jones!

  
  



• 17 fouls against us to 5! With 68% possession. Szobo yellow card. Darren Bond doing a solid Coote/Oliver/Tierney impression. The VAR stuff was weird CSI in its intensity. Gakpo 2nd, Nunes doesn’t touch the ball.

  
  



• Cody Gakpo and Mo’s goals - woof!

  
  

Part two - West Ham away - xG 3.09 to 0.32. 7 shots from West Ham, Sean Rogers tells us that title winning teams concede less than 10 on average.

• Difficult fixture for us this one - well at least on paper. Surprised the ground was so full at the end - assume they expected this.

  
  



• Started great, but West Ham were easy to play through. Areola started like Yashin and eventually reverted to the mean

  
  



• Luis Diaz finish, Joe Gomez injury, Kudus at 1-0, Then some Mo magic. Mac Allister with the most pressures (regain led to Mo’s goal).

  
  



• Second half, unusually low key - Trent. Mo’s 10 chances, the Jota goal…. 

  
  



• Word on Antony Taylor - no cards, 10 fouls against us, and 7 against them. 

  
  

Part three - elsewhere and look ahead

• Man United on the horizon… they were actually abject in the first half against Newcastle,

  
  



• More on Mo Salah - 

  
  





• Passed Beckham and Henry to be 10th for the all time EPL assists. One behind Thierry Henry for goals - 8th, could get to 4th by the end of the season.

  
  



• 8 games with a goal and an assist - most ever in the Premier League and he’s got 20 games to go.

  
  



• NBC’s Rebecca Lowe insistent that Mo is nowhere near the best player in the Premier League era - WTF

  
  



• But is he as good as Cole Palmer? 

  
  





• Contracts - Bascombe, La Marca, AS 

  
  

We will be back January 13th ish  with a review of United at home and the various cup games, looking ahead to 2 potentially season defining away games at Forest and Brentford. Thanks to Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. Wishing you all a Happy New Year

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic