Only one of the league’s top five stumbled mid-week, with Manchester City being drawn at St. Andrew’s, though Tuesday and Wednesday’s matches were overshadowed slightly by Wednesday’s news, when the best right back in Premier League history announced his retirement. Because the sometimes controversial way Gary Neville went about his business, many will overlook him being a maintain for England and the standard on the right during the young history of the Premier League. On this edition of the EPL Talk Podcast, Kartik Krishnaiyer and myself start with reminiscences of United’s former captain.

After talking about the midweek results, we turn our attention to Monday, where Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll were the vertices of a historic transfer triangle, one which saw a record-setting move to London, an equally eye-bulging price for his replacement,, and £35 million end up in Newcastle United’s pocket. And for all the pounds being thrown around in seemingly crazed last minute buying sprees, club spending may have been sane compared to some of the unimaginative and inaccurate descriptions cast at the latest chapter of “Moneyball.”

Finally, we turn to the weekend, overlooking the fixture list save Sunday’s final kick-off: Liverpool, having prepared for Chelsea midweek by trying a 3-5-2, facing their former talisman at Stamford Bridge.

Get “Moneyball,” the influential book mention in today’s podcast, as part of a free trial to Audible. Sign up today for a free trial and get Moneyball or a different audiobook title today.