Eight (early) Boxing Day football thoughts with an American twist

The Premier League is back and the EFL rolls on

1. Antonio Conte continues to get it wrong from the start of matches for Spurs and relies on having a superior bench compared to the opposition to change the trajectory of matches. Also though it should be noted that, Conte’s team excel at fitness and this also accounts for the late match heroics we have consistently seen since his arrival last year.

2. Fulham are for real, something I had anticipated as they stormed through the Championship last season but unwisely backed off of earlier this season as I saw the lack of good transfer activity early in the summer. Aleksandar Mitrović is an elite striker globally (you can ask Portugal about this - they ended up in the World Cup playoffs almost solely because of Aleksandar Mitrović’s heroics for Serbia), Captain Tim Ream is playing his best football at age 35 (the best American at that age since Brian McBride, who also had St Louis connections) , and how about Willian, who is an ageless wonder. Marco Silva is the leader-in-the-clubhouse for Manager of the Year.