Why Man United, Liverpool-Arsenal, Milan Derby Will Provide Halloween Chills

Ah, Halloween. The season of spooky mishaps and merciless candy-fueled aggression. A celebration of dark creativity where costumes grace every street, as one of the witches in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth said – “From the piercing of the thumb, something bad comes this way…” – this it’s a time for crafty fun. It’s also a time to cuddle up in the comfort of your own home and watch scary movies.

I like being scared. It is a feeling that is an alarming reminder to the soul, evoking my senses and telling me once again that I am indeed alive. Therefore, horror movies for me are therapeutic. Halloween, as Clare Dunphy said on Modern Family, is “MY HOLIDAY” and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

From a footballing perspective, this weekend’s Halloween action also brings some scary drama as some of the issues currently affecting some clubs will be highlighted this weekend. And just like Linus bypassing trickery to host the mythical Great Pumpkin in the 1966 classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, we’ll also be waiting and hoping for some disturbing drama.

Here are some of the most notable matches for the weekend, and in the spirit of the holiday, I’ve given each match a Halloween theme with a horror movie twist.

Enjoy and most importantly, Happy Halloween.

There is a terrible desperation with Manchester United right now and it permeates the whole club, not just because of the results, but because of the management, the ownership and the personnel. After losing 3-0 to Bournemouth, they are now on a seven-game winless streak and haven’t won in the Premier League since August 30 (3-2 against Ipswich Town).

United is a club with an incredibly important history, but one that cannot escape the ghosts of the past. Old Trafford is known as the Theater of Dreams but for now, it feels more like A Nightmare on Elm Street. Man United fans continue to be chased and hounded by an ownership that won’t let them get on with their lives.

Michael Carrick needs a win or his tenure is effectively over. However, I don’t think even this match can save him from the inevitable.

As for Chelsea, a club that has spent a huge amount of money (more than a billion dollars in recent seasons) to build a squad that is both dynamic and full of power (Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer) is very Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where Xabi Alonso is a joint, yet friendly creation. needs discipline – especially now that the aforementioned Palmer is suspended for the red card he picked up against Tottenham Hotspur.

This particular defeat, along with the one against Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup, showed that the Chelsea set-up needs self-control. Must be stronger defensively if there is any hope of Champions League football this season. And to be honest, there are no excuses because the Blues only have domestic football to worry about.

Otherwise, the Chelsea project, like the creature, will eventually disappear and fail once again from the quest to win European football. This is a very important match for both sides.

There is a powerful energy that comes from Anfield every time Arsenal visit Liverpool’s stadium. In fact, Arsenal’s win rate at this venue is the worst in the club’s history as the Gunners have won just six times in their last 34 trips.

So for Arsenal, much like Jordan Peele’s 2017 psychological masterpiece Get Out (starring Daniel Kaluuya, who happens to be a die-hard, lifelong Arsenal fan), Mikel Arteta’s side must withstand the pressures of a very scary and hostile environment and escape Anfield with the three points.

As for Liverpool, using Peele’s follow-up Us in 2019, where fearsome attackers terrorized a family, I’m starting to think there’s more to the Liverpool side than what was initially thought to be an inconsistent side under new manager Andoni Iraola. It is now more certain where Alexander Isak is finally delivering on a consistent basis. The Swedish striker has six league goals from his last six games. The question will be, can he do it against Arsenal’s strong defensive unit?

There have been thoughts lately that Liverpool are indeed the real deal under Iraola and a genuine title contender. This is a great test to see if that feeling holds weight.

A historic match inside an iconic stadium that will soon say goodbye in the coming years as news this week – ahead of this weekend’s Milan derby – declared that the San Siro will be demolished during the 2031-32 season to make way for the 71,500-seater Generali Stadium, which will begin construction next year.

But that will be then and this is now as the Derby della Madonnina (as the Milan derby is known) is a royal match, a glorious classic filled with Halloween-style motifs as the city itself, an ancient place of ghosts from the past, is rich with Gothic identity centered around the Duomo di Milano.

Therefore, Italian Gothic horror – famous in the 50s and 60s – takes the role of the protagonist, so do yourself a favor and watch Mario Bava’s classic Italian masterpiece “Black Sunday”, where an executed vengeful witch returns from the dead to take revenge on her lookalike successor. And that’s how I see this game on Saturday, as Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan, seven points behind league leaders Inter, must do everything in their power to close in on their home opposition and exact revenge on defending champions Inter.

In terms of personnel, USMNT star Christian Pulisic (newly signed to an extension until 2031) and Luka Modrić should be available for this game, while Inter continue to deliver with Lautaro Martínez missing with a hamstring injury.

The blue of Inter and the red of Milan contrast with an eerie, albeit colorful, fog that perfectly sums up the animosity they have for each other. Let’s see how it all comes together on the scariest night of the year.

‘Tis the season for scary themes and haunting results. Let’s take them all.