Manchester City’s spending has been the focus of much discussion over the last 24 hours. They bought four players in the window, but will they be enough to prevent Pep Guardiola’s empire from crumbling? Rory Smith thinks not 

And Real Madrid have complained very loudly about VAR “manipulating” the game against them. Thomas Hill Lopez Menchero is here to tell us if they have a point. 

Plus we’ve got news from all of the big games around Europe too. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Si Watts, Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve got a full deadline day round-up for you here with everything that was confirmed after 11pm, but before our bedtime at midnight. Deal of the day? Marco Asensio for Aston Villa? Or will it be Mathys Tel for Spurs? 

Chelsea were never really comfortable at Stamford Bridge, but they grabbed themselves a much needed victory against West Ham. Simon Johnson was there. 

And we’ve got another episode of Heavy Metal Football…statistics for you, including the answer to the question: Who’s always trying to walk the ball into the net? The answer may not surprise you… 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Simon Johnson 

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be honest. When Kai Havertz missed that first half sitter, you thought that Arsenal were going to lose, didn’t you? And why wouldn’t you? That’s how football works. It’s powered by narrativium. Except this time it wasn’t. Arsenal destroyed City and Havertz got one in the back of the net eventually. 

Amy Lawrence has the Arsenal angle, Sam Lee has City, but we’ve also got Carl Anka at Old Trafford, the theatre of pathos, we’ve got Jay Harris at the GTech where Spurs were impressive and if that’s not enough, Pol Ballus joins us from Spain where Barcelona have rejoined the title race.  

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee, Amy Lawrence, Carl Anka, Jay Harris, Si Watts and Pol Ballus

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s mission accomplished for Tottenham and Manchester United, they’ve spared themselves a Europa League play-off. So have Rangers, which very few people expected. Jay Harris was in North London, Mark Critchely was in Bucharest, but they both made time for DFB.  

So did Seb Stafford Bloor because it looks like young Mathys Tel is on the move. But where to?

And we’ve got a whole weekend of domestic football on the horizon, so we’ve picked out the most interesting games in the top five league. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Mark Critchley, Jay Harris, Seb Stafford Bloor

Producer: Tom Fuller

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Manchester City were 0-1 at home to Club Brugges, but they fought back to win 3-1 and claim their place in the play-offs. Sam Lee was there and he’s looking forward to their reward; a clash with Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. 

Paris St Germain didn’t just survive, they managed to bag a seeded place in the play-offs, Seb Stafford Bloor watched them and he was impressed.

And Aston Villa’s 4-2 win over Celtic was overshadowed by David Ornstein’s news that Jhon Duran is set to move to Al Nasr in Saudi Arabia. Jacob Tanswell was there trying to make sense of it all.

Plus, we’ve got a full and actually quite straight-forward guide to what happens next. Could Liverpool’s reward for finishing first be a clash with PSG? Yep. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee, Seb Stafford Bloor, Jacob Tanswell

Producer: Steve Hankey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yep, it’s the big one tonight. Eighteen games, all at once and heaven only knows what that massive Champions League table will look like at the end of it all. What does it all mean? Listen here for a full briefing.

Plus, what’s going on with Borussia Dortmund, we speak to Seb Stafford Bloor. And are Brighton really about to sell Evan Ferguson? It appears so.  

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Phil Hay, Seb Stafford Bloor

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruben Amorim doesn’t seem to mince his words and his comments on Marcus Rashford this weekend were fascinating. We check in with the team from The Athletic FC podcast to find out what they mean. 

Plus, how did Leeds get on at Burnley?

And we’ve got another installment of heavy metal football…statistics and how they suggest that Trent Alexander Arnold and Son Heung Min aren’t having such bad seasons after all. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Beren Cross

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mood at Tottenham is pretty bleak right now. Defeat at home to Leicester was not what anyone was expecting. The fans are absolutely furious and understandably so. Jay Harris reports back for us.

Laurie Whitwell was at the Manchester United game and he has our full sympathy for that. Jacob Tanswell tells us about a tired looking Aston Villa. And, after the first hat trick of his Real Madrid career, Dermot Corrigan tells us why he thinks that Kylian Mbappe has finally settled at Real Madrid. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Jay Harris, Laurie Whitwell, Jacob Tanswell, Dermot Corrigan

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finally, there’s a smile on Ruben Amorim’s face. He thought, as indeed we all did, that Man Utd had chucked away a perfectly good win with an entirely preventable mistake. He was wrong, Bruno Fernandes saved the day and poor old Ranger, depleted by injuries, went home empty handed. Laurie Whitwell was there.

Spurs could so easily have done the same. They dominated the first half in Hoffenheim, fell away completely in the second and scrambled out with a crucial 3-2 win. Seb Stafford Bloor was watching.

And if that’s not enough, we also had Richard Sutcliffe at the much heralded Wrexham - Birmingham game. Listen here.  

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Laurie Whitwell, Seb Stafford Bloor, Richard Sutcliffe

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Manchester City aren’t out of it yet, but they were taught a lesson in Paris by a young side that have none of their predecessor’s traits. PSG fought as a team to come back from 0-2 down and, in many ways, this is sad because we can no longer laugh at them.

We can laugh at Bayern, if that’s something you’d like to do. They were beaten by Feyenoord and may not get one of those nice automatic passes. Arsenal probably will do though, they beat Zagreb comfortably enough.

We’ve got Sam Lee in Paris, Jordan Campbell in London. Seb Stafford Bloor and Alexander Barker join us too. Listen now. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee, Jordan Campbell, Seb Stafford Bloor, Alexander Barker. 

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices