Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal's fates diverge in PL ahead of crucial Champions League week of action

Hello there! The UEFA Champions League is back this week with another round of fascinating fixtures, but before that, Europe's top clubs kept things interesting over the weekend. I'm Pardeep Cattry with the latest.

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All times U.S./Eastern

Monday, Oct. 21
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 PL: Nottingham Forest vs. Crystal Palace, 3 p.m. ➡️ USA Network

Tuesday, Oct. 22
🇪🇺 UCL: AC Milan vs. Club Brugge, 12:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UCL: Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸🇨🇦 MLS Cup playoffs: Montreal vs. Atlanta United, 7:30 p.m. ➡️ Apple TV+

⚽ The Forward Line

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool thrive, Man City survive, Arsenal stumble

Several teams shifted spots at the top end of the Premier League table over the weekend, with Liverpool coming out as the big winners as they extend their stay atop the standings by another week.

Arne Slot notched his 10th win in 11 matches as the Reds' manager on Sunday, beating a resurgent Chelsea 2-1 in the biggest test of his tenure in charge so far. The Blues out-possessed and outshot the opponents 12 to nine but Liverpool's newfound habit of restraint under Slot's leadership meant they opted for quality over quantity in their attack. In the end, they had five shots on target to Chelsea's two and won the expected goals battle by 1.94 to 0.99.

They maintain a one point lead over Manchester City, who continued their unbeaten season on Sunday but looked more vulnerable than usual in a 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers. City went down early but were back on level terms through Josko Gvardiol's 33rd minute goal, seemingly setting up the reigning champions for a dominant display. Instead, City looked all out of ideas for the next hour, creating few meaningful goalscoring opportunities despite taking 22 shots overall. They were rescued by John Stone's 95th minute goal, but if Sunday's performance is anything to go by, a long season may be ahead for City as their margins of victory get progressively smaller.

While City bent but did not break, Arsenal's unbeaten start to the season was snapped on Saturday as they lost 2-0 to Bournemouth after going down to 10 men. The loss puts them in third and four points behind Liverpool, not necessarily cause for alarm just eight Games into the Premier League season. The Gunners do have reasons to worry, at least in the short-term – William Saliba's red card was their third of the season, demonstrating a surprise inability to maintain composure. Plus, the defense-minded Arsenal have now conceded eight goals in eight league Games to start the campaign, demonstrating a need to clean things up in the back after their defense-first strategy led them to a second place finish last season. It adds another layer of intrigue to next week's clash with Liverpool, who looked as polished as anyone despite the managerial change over the summer.

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🇪🇺 A Champions League final rematch

The headlining act of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League action is in Spain, where reigning champions Real Madrid host Borussia Dortmund in a rematch of last spring's final, though both teams will check into Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in contrasting form.

Real Madrid are in the early stages of a title race in La Liga, three points behind league leaders Barcelona and showing general signs of strength as they aim to continue last season's dominance. Dortmund, meanwhile, have room for improvement in the Bundesliga with only four wins in seven Games and currently sit in seventh. The Champions League is an entirely different story for both sides, though – Dortmund enter Matchday 3 atop the league phase standings and are one of seven teams with two wins out of two, while Real Madrid picked up a shock loss at Lille on Matchday 2.

The reigning European champions are still heavily favored to win on Tuesday and get their Champions League campaign back on track, though the 1-0 defeat to Lille felt like the imbalance that was constantly on display last season finally cost them. Much like they were a year ago, Real Madrid are wasteful in attack – they rank within the tournament's top six for shots, shots on goal and expected goals but drop to 12th for shots on goal percentage. They were a bit more efficient in an urgency-themed second half against Lille, since Jonathan David's penalty shortly before the break tilted the game in the French side's favor. Real Madrid's sluggish first half, in which they took just four shots, was a defining aspect of their loss, though – and the first area of improvement to tackle on Tuesday.

The good news for Carlo Ancelotti is that his star-studded options will be available to him on Tuesday. Most notably, Kylian Mbappe is back after dealing with a thigh injury weeks ago that limited him to a substitute appearance against Lille and scored in a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo over the weekend. Vinicius Junior also scored in Real Madrid's Saturday win after missing Brazil's World Cup qualifiers with a minor injury, while the likes of Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo are also in the mix for Tuesday's game.

🔗  Top Stories

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👑 Chawinga's new records: The Kansas City Current's Temwa Chawinga added more records to her résumé in her first NWSL season, becoming the first player to score 20 goals in a season and also the first to score against all 13 opposition teams.

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🔴⚫ Pulisic's assist: Christian Pulisic notched the assist on the game's lone goal as AC Milan beat Udinese on Saturday.

💰  The Back Line

💵 Best bets

• MLS: MLS Cup winner
  💰 THE PICK: LA Galaxy to win MLS Cup (+380) – Inter Miami may be the oddsmakers' favorites to win MLS Cup but as the postseason begins, but there are a handful of teams in the league that could very reasonably beat them to the podium. That list of heavy-hitters includes the LA Galaxy, who recovered from last season's malaise to finish second in the Western Conference. They boast the league's third-best offensive record with 69 goals in 34 games, while forward Gabriel Pec had a standout season with 12 assists in the regular season. They will no doubt be a team to keep an eye on in the playoffs as they eye a deep run – and their first MLS Cup in 10 years.
• MLS Cup playoffs: CF Montreal vs. Atlanta United, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Daniel Rios to score (+180) – The MLS Cup playoffs begin Tuesday with a winner-takes-all wild card match between CF Montréal and Atlanta United, two teams with similar offensive output but vastly different defensive records. Montreal conceded 64 goals in 34 regular season games, which could allow Atlanta to advance despite being away from home. Count on Daniel RIos to play a big role for the visitors on Tuesday, especially after scoring seven goals in the regular season.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don't miss out on CBSSports.com's betting home page.   

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