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Laura Woods: Manchester City in Champions League like watching paint dry at times

Arsenal should go for it at the Etihad

I wasn’t angry when Arsenal went to the Etihad last season and played for the draw. I think acknowledging when a team is better than you and having a gameplan to get something out of it is smart.

Manchester City are still miles ahead of Arsenal in terms of development and experience – and the Etihad is an absolute fortress.

It’s also very early on so if Mikel Arteta has plans to do something similar – especially after watching Inter in the Champions League grind out an, albeit very boring, draw – I don’t think it’s the end of the world.

Taking a point away is better than most teams can manage, especially without Martin Odegaard.

I did feel at times like I was watching paint dry with City on Wednesday night. In the interest of excitement, and in trusting Arsenal’s back four, I would also love the Gunners to go for it.

Arsenal have the ability to go toe-to-toe with them and a win at the Etihad would certainly be a statement.

Too soon to call Haaland a great

I always think the title of a Premier League great should be reserved for players who have retired so we can fully appreciate them.

Erling Haaland is still in his career infancy in the Premier League, which is terrifying in itself when you think of how much he’s already achieved.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind he will be a great but let’s let him achieve his full potential here first and enjoy watching it all unfold before we stick any labels on him.

Results need to improve quickly for Dyche

I’m not worried for Sean Dyche’s job because he’s got the backing of the Everton hierarchy and the injuries and illnesses he’s dealing with are enough to cause Pep Guardiola problems.

Keeping Everton up last season despite the points deduction will have absolutely won him some credit – and quite rightly so.

But if new ownership does come in and results don’t improve the writing could be on the wall no matter how hard Dyche has tried with this squad.

Villa and Brighton show teams from Championship can compete

Sometimes you get teams who come up to the Premier League and absolutely go for it.

Sheffield United’s first season up there a few years back under Chris Wilder was phenomenal to watch with their overlapping centre-backs, the mishmash of experience in the team and the way they continued to grind out results.

But other teams had figured it out by their second season and it all went to pot.

Norwich, the perennial yo-yo club swapping promotion and relegation every season, were a good example of needing to adapt your play, as exciting as it is, to address the gulf in quality with the top teams.

Ultimately the difference in revenue will play a huge part but I really don’t think it’s panic stations just yet for any of the promoted sides.

Look what Aston Villa and Brighton have achieved since being promoted. It shows what a good manager, smart transfers and a proper strategy can do.

There are still very good examples of how teams from the Championship can compete at the highest level in very recent times.

Give new Champions League format time

I like the new Champions League format! We were promised bigger fixtures earlier on and we’ve already seen them.

AC Milan vs Liverpool and Manchester City vs Inter this week, Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich at Villa Park next and Liverpool vs Real Madrid in a few weeks.

Sometimes I found the group stages a bit drab but I genuinely feel very excited about a lot of these fixtures already.

The league table might be a bit boggling on the eye at the moment but give it a few more matchdays and I don’t think there’ll be any confusion.

Joshua too strong for Dubois

I watched Daniel Dubois fight versus Oleksandr Usyk live in Poland and was so impressed with the way he handled the Ukrainian at times. I’ve watched him improve a lot recently, too.

But, in saying that, I don’t think anything will stop Anthony Joshua becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion.

They’re both big hitters so I really hope it’s an entertaining fight and I hope we see a knockout.

For me, that’ll come from AJ.

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