Spurs go down to NINE, Rogers' stunners and Calvert-Lewin strikes again.
THE TOP STORY
Morgan Rogershas it.
Whatever “it” is, Rogers has it in abundance.
That swagger; that aura; that ability to cut in on his right foot and spark something out of nothing.
Rogers did it twice as Aston Villa overcame Manchester United 2-1 on Sunday to move back to within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
His first goal — Villa’s 45th-minute opener — was spectacular. Rogers retrieved a punt from John McGinn, just about keeping it in play, and then scampered infield. Yes, he was afforded far too much space by Leny Yoro, but it still took poise, skill and raw ability to caress his finish, with pace and dip, into the top-right corner.
Matheus Cunha equalised for United, but before the hour, Rogers repeated the trick. This time, he beat Yoro to a loose clearance and, despite the ball being trapped under his feet, managed to engineer the pace and swerve on his shot to beat Senne Lammens.
Rogers became the first Villa player since Dion Dublin, 27 years ago, to score at least two goals in back-to-back Premier League games. Villa, meanwhile, have reeled off 10 straight wins in a row in all competitions for the first time in 111 years. Those stats come courtesty ofOpta.
Villa’s leading scorer this season, Rogers is the best-performing English player in the Premier League this season. At this rate, the question is definitely not whether he makes it into Thomas Tuchel’s squad for next year’s World Cup, but simply in whcih role does he start.
Rogers is equally capable behind the striker or out on the left flank, while he is also able to do a job on the right if needed.
The irony is, his underlying metrics are not remarkable, but that is why using data is never enough to really measure a player’s impact.
With Rogers in this kind of form, Villa — who face Chelsea and Arsenal in their next two outings — can have plenty of confidence that they belong right in this title race.
MOMENTS OF THE WEEKEND
Cristian Romero had an all-timer of a dismal display as Tottenham lost 2-1 to Liverpool on Saturday. With Spurs holding their own well enough with 10 men after the dismissal of Xavi Simons, Romero (their captain, don’t forget) played a dreadful pass out of the defence, then compounded his mistake by rushing out to try and make up for it, gifting Florian Wirtz the space to slip in Alexander Isak. Romero was then outjumped for Hugo Ekitike to make it 2-0, and just as Spurs, via substitute Richarlison, had found their way back into the contest in the closing stages, Romero went and got himself sent off for kicking out at Ibrahima Konate. Really leading by example…
Dominic Calvert-Lewinscored again. Not since the start of the 2020-21 season, under Carlo Ancelotti at Everton, has Calvert-Lewin been in such strong form. He has already equalled his third-best goals tally for a single season in the Premier League. Never a prolific scorer, Calvert-Lewin brings more to a team than just goals, but it is pleasing to see him hitting his straps at Leeds United, who have surged six points clear of the drop zone on the back of a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in which their number nine netted twice; that’s six goals in five straight games for the 28-year-old. Now, the challenge is for him to stay fit.
Credit: Instagram - @leedsunited
Arsenalsaw off Everton to reclaim top spot from Manchester City on Saturday, and benefited from a quite bizarre decision from Jake O’Brien, who handled inexplicably from Declan Rice’s inswinging corner. However, just as inexplicable was how Arsenal came away from Hill Dickinson Stadium without conceding a penalty themselves. Everton were second-best, but David Moyes can justifiably feel aggrieved that his team were not awarded a spot-kick after Thierno Barry was clearly kicked by William Saliba. That Sam Barrott, who was poor all game, did not give the decision onfield was bad enough in and of itself. For the VAR to then take close to three minutes to assess whether Barrott should review his decision (he should have) only for them to decide against it, just sums up how poor this bunch of officials continue to be.
THE GLOBAL GAME
🇮🇹The Supercopa Italianais underway, with Napoli and Bologna seeing off AC Milan and Inter, respectively, to reach Monday’s final.
🇩🇪Harry Kanecapped off a superb 2025 on a high. He has plundered a career-high 51 goals this calendar year, while his effort late on against Heidenheim on Sunday took him to 100 goal involvements in the Bundesliga. He reached that tally faster than any other player on record in the competition’s history.
🇪🇸Kylian Mbappescored yet again on Saturday, taking his tally for 2025 to 59 goals in 59 games for Real Madrid. That saw Mbappe draw level with a certain Cristiano Ronaldo in the club’s record books for the most goals scored in one year. The Frenchman’s tally, in fact, is only beaten by one player in modern history, and that is Lionel Messi, who scored an incredible 79 times for Barcelona in 2012.
🏴Celtic finally claimed their first win under Wilfried Nancy, who really, really needed this break. The Hoops beat Aberdeen 3-1 on Sunday, though they are six points adrift of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.
🇲🇦Morocco kicked off the 2025 AFCON with a 2-0 win over Comoros, with Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El Kaabi on target. ViaOpta, Morocco completed 206 passes in the final third of the pitch vs Comoros, a new record by a team in an AFCON match.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Poverty chanting. What’s it all about? Who actually gets anything out of it?
Those that sing it — do you think it makes you look big and clever? Oh, so very witty.
Arsenal fans (or some of them) sang “Feed the Scousers” during their trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday. Everton responded brilliantly. The home fans’ boos quickly drowned out the nonsense chant, and the club elected to show the ‘Fans Supporting Food Banks’ emblem on the big screens.
People must be better.
COMING UP
A few highlight fixtures for this week (all times GMT). It might be Christmas, but footy never stops!
Monday: Napoli v Bologna (19:00) — Supercopa Italiana
Tuesday: Arsenal v Crystal Palace (20:00) — EFL Cup QF
Friday: Egypt v South Africa (15:00), Man Utd v Newcastle (20:00) — AFCON, PL
Saturday: Chelsea v Aston Villa (17:30) — PL
Sunday: Atalanta v Inter (19:45) — Serie A
MTAG’S RECOMMENDATION
This write-up byRoyal Blue on the decision facing David Moyes and Everton over Harrison Armstrong is worth your time.
[Royal Blue
🔵 Royal Blue: David Moyes set for another Harrison Armstrong dilemma
A lot has changed at Everton since August. But one of the biggest questions for David Moyes in the final days of the summer transfer window has re-emerged to challenge him again this Christmas: What does he do with Ha…
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a month ago · 7 likes](https://royalblueeverton.substack.com/p/royal-blue-david-moyes-set-for-another?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web)
MTAG’S WEEKLY RECAP
Here’s our pick of the site from last week — the latest**Business With Blain.**
[Business With Blain: You Get What You Pay For
Business With Blain: You Get What You Pay For
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December 18, 2025
Read full story](https://mtag.substack.com/p/business-with-blain-you-get-what)
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