“For the second time this Premier League season, a points deduction for breaching its profit and sustainability rules (PSR) has dragged a club down the table and into the relegation zone. First it was Everton, whose initial 10-point penalty last November was recently reduced to six on appeal, and now it is Nottingham Forest. A four-point deduction, confirmed by the Premier League on Monday has pushed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side from 17th to 18th, suddenly a point adrift of safety. Here, The Athletic analyses the 51-page verdict of an independent commission that has heightened Forest’s fears of relegation to the Championship after two seasons back in the domestic elite. …”
The Athletic

“Nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore. Correction, nobody attacks with a 4-4-2 anymore. Almost 44 per cent of Premier League line-ups in the 2008-09 season were a 4-4-2; it is down to just seven per cent this season. Realistically, teams play multiple formations — 43, if you ask Mikel Arteta about his Arsenal side — throughout a game, depending on the phase of play. And the top ones are defending in the midfield third, a mid-block, with a 4-4-2. …”
The Athletic

“‘Nutmegs, for me, are a beautiful thing to do,’ Javier Pastore, the former Argentina international, said. ‘They’re beautiful to watch. In fact, even when I get nutmegged myself I find that beautiful – and that actually happens quite a lot too!’  Whether using the inside or outside of the foot, or the sole or the heel, Pastore was an absolute master of slipping the ball between an opponent’s legs, creating the illusion that he was running through people at times. Eliminates is a good word. Humiliates would be another. There are more elaborate skills on a football pitch, for sure, but it’s hard to think of any other trick that brings one player so much adulation and strips another of their dignity in quite the same way as a nutmeg. …”
The Athletic (Video)