The Premier League will want to show their teeth

Sports lawyer Chris Farnell has been speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live ahead of the start of the Premier League investigation into 115 charges against Manchester City.

Farnell expects the Premier League to use this case to stamp down their authority when it comes to financial issues in football.

It is alleged City breached its financial rules between 2009 and 2018. City strongly deny all charges and have said their case is supported by a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”.

“All clubs are aware of the rules and regulations for the PSR and the Financial Fair Play,” said Farnell.

“Recently, over the last few years, these sorts of charges clubs have been looked at in terms of the Financial Fair Play, I think the Premier League are attempting to show their teeth with this one and mark their territory.”

On whether City could lose their titles, if found guilty: “I suppose technically they could. I think it’s more likely that, if you look at Glasgow Rangers, that wouldn’t happen potentially, they could put a mark against it, but it’s unlikely that you are going to get your titles stripped away.

“In my opinion, it’s unlikely they would do that but I think what’s important that there’s litigation that could come out of this, for example, for those teams that did not win the title and did go into Europe, all of these different types of situations could unfold, depending on what is said as a result of this hearing.”

Arsenal expose Spurs weaknesses

Arsenal’s attention to detail – and small detail can settle matches balanced on fine margins – demonstrated why they inflicted more north London derby pain on Tottenham.

The screams of delight from the Arsenal analysts at the back of the press box when Gabriel thumped a towering header past Guglielmo Vicario in the 64th minute to give Mikel Arteta’s side a crucial 1-0 victory – their third in succession at Spurs – underlined a decisive difference between the two sides.

Spurs were presented with a huge opportunity to make a statement against their fiercest rivals as the Arsenal teamsheet arrived without captain Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, absent through injury and suspension, respectively.

Instead, Ange Postecoglou’s side delivered a performance that deteriorated into a morass of poor decisions all over the pitch, shooting and crossing opportunities either passed up or wasted as a degree of panic set in after Gabriel’s goal.