Welcome to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap in to the world of soccer with me, your Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe. 🍻

On tap today:

Ready? I thought so. Let’s pour.

Like your cheapskate friend as soon as it’s their round, Arsenal’s big lead at the top of the Premier League has completely disappeared.

What happened, you ask? They just lost to second-placed Manchester City in a six-pointer. What is that, you also ask? On Sunday morning, Arsenal led City by six points. If the Gunners had won, their lead would have increased to nine. But they lost — and now that lead is just three.

"Joe, that still sounds like a lead to me?"

City also have a game in hand — meaning they have an extra match still to play that Arsenal have already used up. Factoring that in, if City win on Wednesday vs 19th placed Burnley, they will go level on points with Arsenal (and ahead on goal difference).

City opened the scoring in the 16th minute through a brilliant Rayan Cherki solo goal before their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma gifted Arsenal’s Kai Havertz a most bizarre equalizer. The Etihad went briefly, brilliantly silent.

That was until Erling Haaland stepped up. The big Norwegian swiveled inside the box on 65 minutes and restored City's lead — his league-leading 23rd goal of the season.

Arsenal pushed hard to draw level for a second time with Gabriel putting his head to doubly good bad use — firing both a header off the post and his forehead on across Haaland’s nose, incredibly avoiding a red card for the latter. City deservedly held on for the win.

Arsenal haven't won a league title since 2004. City have won six of the last eight. Momentum is firmly with the team in sky blue.

Now, let me get back to serving some very upset Arsenal fans at the bar who badly need a drink.

The rest of the action from England’s top league this weekend:

I don’t usually go into too much detail on the other European leagues but since we’re coming towards the end of the season, they’re worth checkin in on.

Think of Europe's top leagues like the NFL's conferences — each country runs its own competition with its own champion and its own set of bragging rights. Here's where things stand with about six weeks left in most seasons:

A couple of weeks back I thought the dream of Wrexham continuing their climb up the English soccer pyramid into the Premier League was over.

But after Saturday's 2-0 win over Stoke, the dream is still alive. They now sit 7th in the Championship, just two points behind Hull in 6th place — which would get them a shot at the playoffs and promotion to the Premier League.

Three games left, no margin for error. Hollywood couldn't have written a tighter script.

Also on tap:

Since taking the Arsenal reins in 2019, how many times has head coach Mikel Arteta led his side to a second-placed finish in the Premier League?

Answer at the bottom 👇

Getting to World Cup games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this summer could cost fans over $100 for a round-trip train ticket from Penn Station. The normal fare? $12.90.

New Jersey's governor is pointing the finger at FIFA, who are set to pocket $11 billion in tournament revenue while leaving host cities to foot the transport bill. Senator Chuck Schumer called it a "shakedown."

FIFA said they were quite surprised by the criticism — “if you think $100 for a 30-minute train journey is so expensive why don’t you just quadruple your own paycheck like the rest of us?”

And if you were planning to tailgate outside the stadium to soften the blow? Bad news. FIFA have banned tailgating at all World Cup venues. No grills, no parking lot beers, no pre-game rituals that Americans have been perfecting for decades.

The country that invented tailgating and is currently being told it can't do it. What could go wrong?

Everton called Goodison Park home for 133 years before moving to Hill Dickinson Stadium this season. One hundred and thirty-three years. That's not a soccer ground, that's a family heirloom.

The new stadium sits on the site of Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool's waterfront — a former commercial dock, now a 52,769-capacity Premier League venue that cost around £750 million to build.

The South Stand holds 13,000 fans in a single steep tier, inspired by Dortmund's famous Yellow Wall. Pack them in, make it loud, make it a tough place to go.

Phrase: A brace

Origin: From hunting terminology — bagging a "brace" originally meant catching two of something. Somehow made its way into soccer and never left.

Definition: When a player scores exactly two goals in a single game.

Usage: "Kane grabbed a brace for Bayern on Tuesday night. Two goals, and a quiet reminder to everyone at Tottenham of exactly what they let walk out the door."

April 20, 2021 — Five years ago today, the European Super League died within 48 hours. Twelve of Europe's biggest clubs — including six Premier League sides — announced a breakaway competition that would have replaced the Champions League and guaranteed spots to founding members regardless of performance.

The backlash was instant and volcanic. Fans protested outside stadiums. Players spoke out. Leading pundit Gary Neville called it a "criminal act" By midnight, Chelsea had withdrawn. The rest followed within hours.

The whole thing lasted less than two days. The fans won. The whole story is captured in a doc called The War for Football. It’s worth checking out.

In each of the last three seasons. Fourth time lucky?

Thanks for stopping by at The Tap-Inn.

If you enjoyed this, forward it to that friend who knows nothing about soccer and help spread the good word. For every 10 friends that use your referral link to pull up a stool, I’ll personally buy you a beer.

You read that correctly.

I’ll be behind the bar every week, Monday and Friday, serving up soccer. Sláinte.

— Joe