Marcus, Luke and Jim discuss whether the dark arts are becoming more common in modern football. Why are we answering that question now, you ask? Well, no reason…

Plus, which players would we like to bring out of retirement and what should the punishment be for managers leaving their technical area? Come join us!

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Qarabag could have descended on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on a fleet of bikes. Qarabag’s manager Gurban Gurbanov COULD have been drinking some Carabao in a caravan. But no: instead Spurs had to go and beat them.

Marcus, Jim, Luke and Vish look ahead to Ange Postecoglou’s date with destiny and Erik ten Hag. Plus, Jason Tindall rocks up to St James’ Park dressed as a judge and Fenerbahçe reach the height of pettiness. Jose Mourinho is their manager, after all. Plus, a TITANIC game of Jack’s Encyclopaedia!

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It was far from plain sailing but Liverpool were ruthless against West Ham in the Rigobert Song derby, while in the Steve McClaren derby Man United reminded the big man just why he’s put the Atlantic Ocean between him and Old Trafford. Marcus and Andy are here to discuss everything from the Carabao Cup and Europa League!

Plus, Fabio Borini is still at large! You read that right. Find out all about it – only on Ramble Reacts!

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THE RAMBLE. A podcasting masterpiece towering 500 metres above sea level, but a land-saving 200 metres wide. #RambleNationalDay

Marcus, Luke and Jim react to the latest Carabao downpour and Chris Smalling’s latest outpouring of love for NEOM. Elsewhere, listeners give AFC Wimbledon’s fundraiser a Ramble twist and Everton’s new owner considers landing a spitfire on the pitch at Goodison Park. Plus, Rodri’s injured for the season and Jim gets injured by hypocrisy. Join us!

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Time for a Tuesday tickle! Marcus, Vish and Jim discuss Aston Villa’s breakneck start to the season and Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins turning into a quality big man, bigger man partnership.

Plus, we wonder just how good Newcastle are after a disastrous time of it at the tweediest stadium in the Premier League – while their former man Andy Carroll gets dragged out of a vineyard and immediately scores two goals for Bordeaux. Plus, a player in Wales gets arrested midway through a football match. ODB… is that you?

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Join Marcus, Jim and Vish as we recap the biggest game of the season so far, where Arsenal had to be at their dastardly, ugly best to keep Man City at bay. It’s refreshing to see two sides who genuinely can’t stand each other. 

We also whip round the rest of what proved to be a cracking Premier League weekend as Luis Diaz brought the fireworks, West Ham continue to welcome opponents in with open arms and the calls for Danny Welbeck to get a surprise England call-up grow ever louder. From one chair in particular… 

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A listener gets in touch asking how Rodri can possibly complain about too many games when he signed a new Man City contract after the new Champions League format was announced. Marcus, Luke and Andy discuss the idea that players should take matters into their own hands and begin rejecting new contracts if they’re really serious about the tough schedule.

Elsewhere, players that never played in the Prem who would’ve been perfect for the league – and which bald Premier League mangers would best suit their own player's hair? Light and shade people, light and shade…

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The Football Ramble have managed to gain exclusive access to Mikel Arteta’s team talk for their trip to Man City on Sunday… “Live. Laugh. Love.”

Today, Marcus, Luke, Andy and Pete look ahead to the thigh rubber of the weekend and propose that Kevin De Bruyne and Martin Odegaard have an arm wrestle on the sidelines to entertain the crowd. Elsewhere, Anthony Gordon drives a VERY BIG car and Cagliari’s flamingo mascot takes pelters from their own fans.

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Join us at the London Palladium TONIGHT for 'Football Ramble: Time Tunnel', a journey through football history like no other. Expect loads of laughs, all your Ramble favourites, and absolutely everything on Pete's USB stick. Get your tickets at footballramblelive.com!

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Could players really go on strike? And just how much will certain journalists at certain newspapers lose their nut if they do?

Night two of three in the first week of the Champions League was overshadowed by Rodri’s comments that a strike might soon be the only option. Marcus and Luke discuss that and remember the time that former Pompey man Jon Gittens called the ref a chicken nugget.

There’s also time to check in on Spurs, who narrowly escaped a massive upset in the Carabao Cup – but Luke thinks Big Ange will still be celebrating Christmas back in Melbourne…

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Join us at the London Palladium THIS FRIDAY for 'Football Ramble: Time Tunnel', a journey through football history like no other. Expect loads of laughs, all your Ramble favourites, and absolutely everything on Pete's USB stick. Get your last minute tickets at footballramblelive.com!

The Champions League is back and it was an emphatic night for Aston Villa on their return to Europe's top table. *Insert gag about it looking like men against boys*.

Elsewhere, Marcus, Luke, Vish and Pete dine on some tasty Carabao after Man United’s big win last night and Paul Mullin almost dined on Alex Cochrane in the “Hollywood” derby. Plus, Andy Carroll is set to spend the year drinking wine in the south of France and we couldn’t be happier for him.

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We're back on stage and tickets are out NOW! Join us at London Palladium on Friday September 20th 2024 for 'Football Ramble: Time Tunnel', a journey through football history like no other. Expect loads of laughs, all your Ramble favourites, and absolutely everything on Pete's USB stick. Get your tickets at footballramblelive.com!

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Ethan Nwaneri was given some minutes in Arsenal’s win against Leicester City this afternoon, and he delivered an impressive cameo.

The youngster had scored two goals in the Gunners’ midweek League Cup match against Bolton.

His performance in that game has made it difficult to justify leaving him out, despite him being just 17 years old.

Arteta brought him on when Arsenal was searching for a winner, with the game tied at 2-2.

Nwaneri showed quick feet and caused problems for Leicester as Arsenal continued to pepper their goal.

Martin Keown has been impressed with Leandro Trossard and is delighted that the Gunners signed the Belgian, especially after his performance against Leicester City today.

Since joining Arsenal, Trossard has been one of their standout players, consistently making important contributions to the team’s success this season.

In the absence of Martin Odegaard, Arsenal has struggled with creativity, which has allowed Trossard to start more games for the club.

Trossard often makes a bigger impact when coming off the bench than when starting, which has been the case for several weeks.

However, he broke that pattern in the match against Leicester City, scoring a goal and forcing Wilfried Ndidi to score an own goal, putting Arsenal back in the lead.

Former Everton and Chelsea player Pat Nevin has praised Arsenal for their performance against Leicester City, insisting they fully deserved their win.

The Gunners were dominant in the first half, but they allowed their two-goal lead to slip in the second half, and Leicester nearly secured a draw.

Mikel Arteta’s side showed character and persistence, scoring two late goals to take all three points.

It wasn’t the second half their fans had expected, but Arsenal once again demonstrated why they are considered one of the favourites to win the league this season.

When the game was tied at 2-2, Arsenal barely allowed Leicester a moment of peace until they found the breakthrough, and Nevin was impressed.

Bukayo Saka can’t stop breaking and setting records in the Premier League this season, and the attacker just set another one against Leicester City.

This season has been a brilliant one for the Euro 2024 finalist, and his form could lead Arsenal to the title.

The Gunners have relied heavily on him for assists, and he hasn’t disappointed. But in the game against Leicester, he delivered an even more outstanding performance.

Saka was Arsenal’s captain for the day, and he led by example, unsettling the Foxes and helping grind out the result.

Arsenal found themselves in trouble at 2-2, but they continued to press their visitors in search of the winning goal, with Saka being one of their most active players.

Theo Walcott is impressed with how Arsenal defeated Leicester City in their Premier League game this afternoon.

The Gunners appeared to be heading for a routine win before their visitors levelled the game at 2-2.

In the past, that might have been enough to demoralise Arsenal, but not this time.

The current Arsenal team knows how to get results against and Walcott believes Mikel Arteta has instilled the belief that they can beat anyone.

This gives them the confidence to keep pushing for a win, no matter the situation they find themselves in.

Arsenal earned a 4-2 win against Leicester City this afternoon after surviving a second-half scare from the Foxes.

Leicester was two goals down at the break, and most people thought the game was over, expecting Arsenal to finish the job when the teams returned.

However, the Foxes fought back, and the score was 2-2 during added time, before Arsenal scored two late goals to seal the win.

It was a nervy performance from Arsenal, and they will not be proud of how they squandered a two-goal lead in the second half.

Nevertheless, the most important thing is that they ultimately won the game and should be proud of their overall performance.

The game started as we expected with Arsenal going straight in for the kill and the Foxes on the back foot, but our first clearcut chance fell to Martinelli after 15 minutes.

It fell at his feet, but it looked like he wasn’t confident with his right foot and flicked it to his left and gave Leicester the time to react.

But 5 mins later he didnt fluff it and hit it with his right (yay!) in the centre of the box. He only scuffed it but it trickled into the corner of the net and we had the lead at last. Its his first goal of the season so hopefully his confidence will go up now from now on.

Arsenal kept up the pressure with lots of corners and possession but couldnt get through the physical Foxes low block. They were not averse to a few bookings either.

Ten before half time Havertz got a great flying header, but it frustratingly was just wide.

This week’s team prediction is going to be much harder than usual, as, having played 5 really tough games since the start of the season, we are now facing a run of much less stressful fixtures.

After many of our backups putting in excellent shifts in the midweek win on Weds, I am hoping that Arteta will continue to rest a few of our first teamers once again, considering Leicester are yet to win a game and are one of the favourites for relegation, and even more importantly, we are playing PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday.

How Arteta manages this, I’m not sure but I’m hoping one thing is sure is that we should see Neto’s debut in goal with Raya’s injury.

I think we will revert to our usual back four, and I am hoping they should have a tough game and were rested midweek.

The midfield and forwards are only going to be a will guess, but I want Rice and Saka tobe  rested after playing midweek.

In Victoria Pelova’s absence. due to an ACL injury, with Lia Walti just back from a major injury, and a move for another top midfielder, Keira Walsh, falling through, Kyra Cooney-Cross was to step up this season, and she’s already hinting at that.

That said, Lia Walti was in the starting XI for Arsenal’s UWCL qualifier against BK Hacken midweek. Our Gunners won 4-1 on aggregate and Walti was named Player of the Match. And Victoria Pelova has stepped up her rehabilitation process this week too.

More good news, Gooners…

Victoria Pelova stepped up her recovery today. We’re so proud of you, Vic! pic.twitter.com/Rvf65nGl2b

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 27, 2024

Arsenal have amazing players but the sad reality is they won’t remain loyal forever.

Since his appointment in December 2019 Mikel has done a pretty good job in his first managerial appointment of his career so far, despite the ups and downs, no one can argue against the fact that we’re currently on an upward trajectory as a club moving forward.

This has been helped, not just by the great job he’s been doing, but also by the clever recruitment and development of our players by the club. This has seen us not just improve collectively but individually as well, in this never ending search for major silverware.

The improvement has been there for the whole world to see over the past few years with us now being consistent title chasers, in arguably the best league in the world, against (in my opinion) the best team in the world,

This has been possible by the help of the quality players we’ve had at our disposal for some years now. We must not forget however that this much attention we’ve been getting will come with the risk of potential interests in our stars from European giants, (I was tempted to use “bigger clubs” but my ego is too fragile for that and most gooners can say the same!)