Latest Premier League schedule: Rich... contrast

In the 2023-2024 season, Newcastle - after becoming super-rich thanks to investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) from Saudi Arabia - returned to the Champions League arena for the first time in 2 decades. Everything seemed fine after the first 2 months of the season. But Newcastle then plummeted, finishing only 7th in the Premier League. The lesson then: Coach Eddie Howe's team could not handle two major arenas, the Champions League and the Premier League, at the same time. This season is progressing similarly. Newcastle is in the leading group of the Champions League. But they are one of 5 teams that have lost consecutively in the last 2 rounds of the Premier League, currently standing in the bottom half and only 2 points above the relegation zone. In the last 4 rounds, Newcastle lost 3 matches, against opponents that were not formidable including Brighton, West Ham, Brentford.

Newcastle's challenge for the next month (from now until Boxing Day 26.12) is a terrible schedule: 10 consecutive matches in the Premier League, League Cup and Champions League. The opponents in the Premier League are all very strong when after Man.City are Tottenham, Sunderland, Chelsea, MU. Both coach Howe and Newcastle's force in general are considered not to be of sufficient stature to conquer the fierce circumstances in top football. Why is the PIF's mountain of money not enough to help Newcastle completely change its stature? This is the common weakness of the "new rich" type in football today: they are bound by financial fair play regulations (not just spending money on shopping is enough), and do not have the ability to attract stars. Newcastle wanted to buy Benjamin Sesko, Hugo Ekitike, Bryan Mbeumo to play with Alexander Isak. As a result, the above stars all chose other teams, while Isak himself left.

Lịch thi đấu Ngoại hạng Anh mới nhất: Nhà giàu... tương phản- Ảnh 1. — Haaland *(right)* is about to reach the milestone of 100 goals in the Premier League

Man.City is also a super-rich team, but at the opposite extreme. They won the Champions League, became famous under coach Pep Guardiola, and actually won the Premier League before Guardiola. Their fame and success over a long period of time (and the income that comes with it) help Man.City successfully deal with financial fair play regulations and easily attract stars. Everyone talks about Erling Haaland. In fact, Jeremy Doku was Man.City's best player in the recent 3-0 win over Liverpool. Nico O'Reilly, Ryan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders... have all emerged recently. Man.City's squad always has something new. On the other hand, coach Guardiola is very experienced in fighting in many big battles at the same time, those are the essential differences between the two super-rich teams.

In the past, the legendary Alan Shearer set a record of 260 goals in the Premier League while playing for Newcastle. If Haaland scores tonight, he will break Shearer's record of scoring 100 goals in the Premier League in the fastest time, right at Newcastle. Shearer's record was 100 goals in 124 games, Haaland now has 99 goals in just 108 games. And of course, no one doubts Haaland's ability to score goals - he has scored 14 goals in 11 Premier League games this season, in addition to 16 goals in just 8 games for Norway in the World Cup qualifiers.