All four clubgowi football previews for Sunday 21/09......
Sep 21, 2025
Ligue 1: Auxerre- Toulouse
We have made a profit on all four Toulouse games so far and despite losing the last two of those, they were playing PSG and Lille and scored 4 goals against the current top 2. Ahead of their opener I noted .....
Owned by RedBird Capital, who also own AC Milan and have a minority shareholding in Liverpool. Since promotion in 2022 there has been steady improvement 13-11-10, also some silverware, the 22/23 Coupe de France and a first European campaign in 14 years as a consequence. Their numbers are pretty good, much better than their league position and last season they should have scored 11 more goals, conceded 4 fewer and collected an additional 14 points, which would have placed them 5th. They had a poorish second half of the season, but were pushing for top 8 prior to that. Third youngest squad in Ligue 1 but they will come on for last season. Look solid and a decent campaign awaits.
The hosts are coming off a 2-1 home defeat to Monaco when I wrote.......
Auxerre have lost back to back away games against teams inferior to Monaco, since beating newly promoted Lorient 1-0 on opening day ahead of which I had written....
Auxerre's 11th place finish was the highest by a promoted team post COVID and they had clearly learned a lot from the just one season spent in the top flight in 2022/23. However, their budget is small , the second season can often be tough and their numbers suggest that they over-achieved to the tune of 7 points and 17 goals. They have lost RW Gaetan Perrin who was very influential in their promotion campaign and who scored 10 goals, creating 11 assists and was ever present last season, that was a contribution to 43.75% of all the goals Auxerre scored! This campaign could be much tougher.
They lost ITB attempts 12-4 and TIPA's 34-11 and will be without suspended RW Josue Casimir who was filling in at RB last week in an already makeshift backline and Toulouse can continue their fine h2h scoring record with 18 goals in six unbeaten meetings.
2.25 units Toulouse to score "over" 1.5 goals @ 2.63 asian line, the away win @ 2.70+ appeals almost equally.
Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund- Wolfsburg
Dortmund made my notes last week when they visited Heidenheim and they included ....
Dortmund have four points and six goals and it should have been 6 and 6 as they snatched a point from the jaws of victory at St Pauli where they led 3-1 with the clock showing 85 minutes, before giving up a red card/penalty and late equaliser. Bit sloppy to say the least and whilst they did then beat Union Berlin 3-0, they should have conceded in that too and I think another Borussia win in this series with BTS is the way to go.
I went with Dortmund to score 3 and also to win with BTS. The latter didn't
look great when the hosts had their main striker sent off very early. However, Borussia led 2-0 at half time ( xg 1.85-0.09, BC's 3-0 , ITB 7-1, on target 6-0) and were going to run in 3-4 after the break when the 10 men tired and who knows, maybe Heidenheim could steal one on the break. Well no! Dortmund shut up shop which I am not sure has ever happened in their Bundesliga history against a weaker team, a man short and the game finished 2-0! They went to Turin in midweek to start their Champions League campaign against Juventus and scored 4 goals, of course they did! Leading twice and 4-2 with 95 minutes on the clock, conceding in the 96th and 98th minute to the Old Lady to snatch a point from the jaws of victory!
They now host Wolfsburg on a quick turnaround and with surely some disappointment from midweek hanging in the air and they have already thrown away two wins this season in games that should have been dead and buried. The visitors have scored 16 goals in their four competitive games, including 12 in their two on the road, but one was a 9-0 win at lower league opposition, yet still a confidence boost.
In my ever popular ( at least in my own mind) preseason notes I touched upon some positives for Wolfsburg ....The Wolves have finished 11-12-8-12 in the last four seasons, but we expect more from them and they were top 7 for three straight seasons prior to that. They were the only bottom half team with a positive goal difference and 56 goals scored was the most outside the top 9 and 6th highest. XP placed them 9th and surely some improvement is on the cards. They have been busy in this window with six in and six out and a net spend of circa £20m and it does indeed look like an upgrade. They have strengthened the defensive spine and wide options and made the loan for Mohamed Amoura (10 goals and 12 assists) last season permanent. They have a new head coach in 40yo Paul Simonis who has never played the game, but has coached for over 20 years! Most at youth level and then as an assistant head coach, moving up to the main role at Go Ahead Eagles ahead of last season. To say he made an impression is a bit of an understatement! Leading Eagles to 7th place in Eredivise and to domestic cup success and European football, that was the first trophy they had won since 1933! An interesting appointment.
Wolfsburg have a dismal record in this stadium, losing 9 of the last 10 and conceding 32 goals, but look better suited to play their part in an open game this time. They have celebrated their 80th anniversary this week which has been a big thing for the club and I expect a positive showing at the very least.
1.5 units Dortmund to win and both teams to score @ 2.79 asian line.
2 units "over" 3.5 goals @ 2.23 asian line.
MLS: Minnesota United-Chicago Fire
Fire have served us unbelievably well this season, both to score two plus goals (on the road) and to concede twice at home and in that regard, they are the 2025 version of LA Galaxy 2024! They are coming off a 1-3 home defat to NYCFC.....
Fire have been the team that continues to give this season and they are coming off a 3-2 home win over New England Revolution ahead of which I wrote .....
Chicago Fire have served us very well this season, especially on the road and if you want some background notes you can read them in this post on the clubgowi website. They won that game 7-1 BTW. However, they came up short at Philadelphia Union last time out and whilst there is no shame in that as the hosts are very good, they did ship four goals and have now conceded eight goals in their last three starts, two here in the Windy City and 2+ in 7 of their last 9 outings. An old foe is in town and these matchups are always competitive and Revolution have scored five in their last two away starts and two plus goals in four of five visits to Chicago.
Fire have conceded 2+ goals in 10 of 18 home MLS starts in the last year, that is 55.56% and we can back Revolution at 39.68% to follow suit.
It is four weeks since Fire lost 4-0 at Union (see above) and they have not played on the road subsequently, but did score four in two home games and had scored in 13 straight away games ( 2+ goals in 10) before visiting Philly and I feel they will be highly motivated to exorcise any demons which remain from that day.
United's performance levels, if not results, have nosedived and they are a net -8 BC's in their last two starts, most recent of which was a 2-1 loss to Austin on Wednesday AET in the US Open Cup semi final, conceding the winner in 121st minute, which was heartbreaking and there is not really too much time to get over the disappointment and to recover. All 11 players from the previous league game featured in that, eight started in both and it will be tough ask to go again today.
2.25 units Chicago Fire to score "over" 1.5 goals @ 2.44 asian line.
Premier League: Arsenal- Manchester City
| 2025/26 | Overall | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gdf | Pts | Form | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | ||||
| 1 | Liverpool | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 12 | WWWW | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2 | Arsenal | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 9 | WLWW | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 9 | WLWW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Bournemouth | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 9 | WWWL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Chelsea | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 8 | XWWO | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||
| 6 | Sunderland | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | OWLW | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 7 | Everton | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | OWWL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 8 | Manchester City | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | WLLW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | ||
Big game for both teams, but I would say especially City, who could be a respective 9 and 6 points adrift of Liverpool and the Gunners at this early stage, should they lose. Each played a Champions League game in midweek and won, but advantage Arsenal, as although they had to travel, they played Tuesday and City two days later and in terms of preparation for today that is big and on Thursday the hosts would have been in a full training session readying for City.
However, my own jury is still out on Gunners striker Viktor Gyokeres, Odegaard is carrying a knock, Saka and Havertz are injured and Eze is being played out of position. Of course, there are a lot of positives too and they do look solid defensively, but xGD sees them as 3-4 goals worse off and I did not like their performance at Anfield (not brave enough), or in the second half at Old Trafford where they received a bit of a battering. I don't really have an issue with them as favourites, they have been largely great at the Emirates and City have struggled in these biggest games, where once they thrived and were so dominant, but it always has to come down to odds and Arsenal at odds on , just feels wrong all things considered. Having said all that, I could probably list more problems with City and whilst they have at least started scoring a few goals, they have been poor out of possession and cannot press. They are on a run of 0-2-7 away to last season's top half of the table teams and have given up just shy of 1.9 xGA per game in those which is appalling.OK, so I don't like either! But where I feel any value is with is .......
2.5 units both teams to score and "over" 2.5 goals would have been a winner in 5 of the last 7 h2h meetings and looks overpriced today.
The draw @ 3.83 and 2-2 scoreline @ 15.0+ (that was the score at the Etihad last season also appeal in a game where both should score and neither dare lose.
Good luck!
We don't just sell football betting tips, as you can see there is an extensive analysis behind our asian handicap selections. Subscribing to our sports betting advice service need not break the bank. Learn more by visiting our subscriptions page.
Sport: