We’re building to a crescendo.
With Arsenal beating Burnley on Monday, it’s over to Manchester City to keep the Premier League title race alive when they travel to Bournemouth tonight. Will champagne corks be popping in north London, or will we go to the final day on Sunday?
City made it a domestic cup double on Saturday when they won the FA Cup thanks to a sublime flick from Antoine Semenyo. City fans may be distracted by reports about Pep Guardiola’s future right now, but in this week’s SVQ, we’ll tell you where they rank for overall trophies among England’s elite clubs.
Across Europe, José Mourinho is in the news again. His Benfica side achieved something great while also ending the season frustrated. We’ll reveal all in our Viz section.
We also have an interesting Ask Opta question – well, we always have an interesting Ask Opta question, but this one’s especially interesting… you know what we mean. And of course, our usual five-question quiz is there to be taken on like a well-intentioned dribble.
🌎 Before We Begin…
The season hasn’t quite finished yet, but the 2026 FIFA World Cup is just 23 short days away. It’ll be here before we know it, and frankly, we can barely contain our excitement.
With an expanded 48-country edition, it’ll be quite the task to keep across everything, but we here at Opta Analyst want to help our lovely, dedicated, and probably good-looking newsletter subscribers do just that.
So, once we hit World Cup season, Stat, Viz, Quiz will be a little different. Firstly, you will get three of them in the first week of June (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) as we preview the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Then, from Monday 8 June, you will receive a fresh SVQ to your inbox each day from Monday to Friday. That’s five a week, each with the latest World Cup data stories, interesting Opta facts, and plenty of trivia to get fully immersed in the biggest football celebration of the summer.
If you’re reading this, you’re presumably already subscribed, so sit tight and await a summer of SVQ. If you’re not, or know someone who isn’t, you/they can sign up for FREE here.
🏆 STAT - Man City Win Their 29th Major Trophy
In a typically tight affair, Saturday’s FA Cup final was decided by a moment of brilliance.
Erling Haaland yet again failed to score in a final for City, and is yet to find the net in nine outings at Wembley, but he did provide the assist for Antoine Semenyo to divert the only goal of the game in with a cheeky flick.
It was not a classic final. There were just 16 shots (Man City 9, Chelsea 7), the lowest in an FA Cup final since Wembley re-opened in 2007.
That didn’t matter to City, though, who marked their fourth consecutive final with their eighth win in the competition overall, going level with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.