With Euro 2024 taking center stage, club football has taken the back burner and we the fans aren’t complaining, as we have been graced with some sensational football in Europe’s elite competition. There was a buzz about the released Premier League fixtures and I shared my two cents on it, but preseason football will see Arsenal take another United States tour, taking on Manchester United at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and Liverpool in Lincoln Financial Field Stadium in Philadelphia before returning back to London to host the Emirates Cup.

Arsenal will host Bayer Leverkusen in the first fixture, before taking on Olympique Lyonnais. This would offer the fans the chance to see their former heroes, as the likes of Granit Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette and Ainsley Maitland-Niles will grace a place they once called home. 

For Euro 2024, we are currently in Matchday 3, with teams getting a clear picture of their future, and it has been some great television.

Starting with Group A, Germany had a great game with Switzerland, that showed that they were certainly no pushovers, and in all honesty, a draw was the best result for both sides. This draw confirmed top spot for Germany, with Switzerland tucked in behind them in second place. In the other fixture, Hungary took it to the death to score the goal that potentially guaranteed them a knockout place, while Scotland bowed out of the competition, with one draw in three games.

Group B had the most drama, with Italy and Spain flirting with elimination and it was a banger. Gigi Donnarumma, undoubtedly the best goalkeeper in the tournament, was back to his best, making great save after save to keep his nation’s hopes alive. Following a handball that was spotted by VAR, Luka Modric stepped up to take the penalty, Donnarumma guessed right and made a fantastic save. Modric atoned for it when he reacted to rebound Budimir’s effort following yet another good save from the Italy goalie. When it looked like Italy was out of the tournament, Riccardo Calafiori made a slalom run forward before teeing up Mattia Zaccagni curled a beauty home. Croatian elation turned to tears pretty fast. Elsewhere, Spain rested their big guns and got a result against Albania, but David Raya had to make some great saves to earn his clean sheet.

Group C had a very boring end with England sharing the spoils with Slovenia, while Denmark drew with Serbia. Despite coming into the Euros with so much attacking talent, England has been very dour in the final third, and has been better defensively with two clean sheets in three games, as you’d expect from Gareth Southgate. Group D had a pretty frantic end, with Austria winning the group after defeating Netherlands. France had a surprising draw with Poland, dropping them to second place.

Group E and Group F get settled today and we will see how that pans out.

Sayonara.