Everton's appeal against their 10-point deduction for financial breaches is unlikely to be overturned, according to football finance expert Dan Plumley.
The Toffees received the heaviest points deduction in Premier League history earlier this month, leaving them in the relegation zone after they were found to have broken the league's profit and sustainability rules, spending £19.5m over the allowed limit across four seasons between 2018 and 2022.
The club is appealing the ruling, looking to use mitigating factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the war between Ukraine and Russia, which led to the cut of financial ties with Alisher Usmanov, a commercial partner of the club.
However, Plumley believes even if Everton's appeal is successful, the deduction is more likely to be reduced than overturned, telling Stats Perform: "I think there's going to be mitigation and proportionality. Those are the things that Everton are focusing on.
"The best-case scenario of course is it gets overturned. But I get the feeling that we're probably not in that particular line of thought at the minute. You are looking at a reduction on appeal and a link to some of these mitigating circumstances.
"I get the sense that it will go down that road of an appeal and you’re probably looking to get this reduced in the first instance. I think to get it overturned is a bit of a stretch based on where we are with some of those other factors as we've said, but we've not seen the appeal yet."
Many Everton fans feel the club is being harshly set as an example, with the Premier League coming down especially hard on the Toffees because of the plans for an independent regulator to come in.
Plumley agrees that Everton's penalty is somewhat of a tipping point, explaining: "Because there's been that notion of perhaps there was never going to be a punishment for breaking these restrictions, it does feel like a watershed moment.
"We've never seen the Premier League deduct points for these profit and sustainability regulations, and that's part of the backstory here and some of the wider narrative that we need to be aware of. There is no precedent, there is no benchmark.
"This is the first points deduction link to these regulations. It is the only one of its kind. And I think that's interesting given the fact that we've had 10 years of these regulations within that league, and this is the first time that a sanction has been met."
The commission that dished out the ruling stated Everton did not breach the rules to gain a "sporting advantage", though that a sporting advantage had to be inferred by the fact that Everton had overspent.
They successfully staved off the drop last term, but sides such as Leeds United and Leicester City, who both went down at Everton's expense, are now reportedly set to sue the Toffees in response to the deduction.
Plumley believes this raises an important point, saying: "Of course, Everton didn't want to be in relegation battles in the last few years and probably wanted to be higher up in the table.
"But that notion of sporting advantage can have different connotations depending on the level and I think that's where the compensation challenges from the likes of Burnley, Leeds, Southampton and Leicester become interesting because then we're talking about a sporting advantage that is maybe the difference between staying up or not.
"We might not see that necessarily see that as a sporting success, but it might be termed as a sporting advantage over other clubs."
Everton fans protested the decision by holding up pink banners, bearing the Premier League emblem and the word "Corrupt", during Sunday's 3-0 loss to Manchester United at Goodison Park.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and an Evertonian, has claimed there was an "abuse of process" during the case.
Burnham accused the Premier League of "regulatory malpractice" for attempting to introduce a sanctions policy specific to Everton's case during the disciplinary process.
Flick: Barcelona need to learn how to win without Yamal
Hansi Flick has urged Barcelona to find a way to win without the absent Lamine Yamal, as he misses a second consecutive match with an ankle injury.
The 17-year-old missed their 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad which halted Barca's seven-match winning streak in all competitions before the international break.
Yamal has only missed two LaLiga matches since the start of last season, while Barcelona have lost both games this campaign in which he has not started, after coming off the bench in a 4-2 loss to Osasuna in September.
Flick said that his players need to show that they can win without their teenage sensation.
"Tomorrow I will put the question to the team, it will be a very good question for them [if they can win without Yamal]," Flick told a press conference on Friday.
"Against Real Sociedad, we didn't play well, and it wasn't because of Lamine's absence. He is a very important player for us, but we have options to also play well without him.
"He won't be able to play tomorrow, we don't know when he will be able to go back from his injury, but what is clear for me is that we want him to be back only when he is 100% recovered."
Yamal played a big role in Spain's European Championship title win earlier this year in Germany, winning the best goal and the Young Player of the Tournament award in his breakthrough campaign.
He continued to thrive this season with five goals and seven assists to help Barca to the top of the LaLiga standings on 33 points, six ahead of rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand in second place.
Yamal is also the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
Flick suggested that he may have to adjust his system, as it is hard to replace a player with such a mixture of speed, technique and finishing.
"We might be a bit limited by the absence of Lamine," Flick said.
"But we have a lot of players with great quality, and they can play in different positions. We'll see what we'll need and we'll design the game plan.
"It's always important after the international break to come back strong and with confidence. That's our goal for tomorrow."
'If we get relegated, I will be here', says Guardiola amid Man City charges
Pep Guardiola insisted he would stay with Manchester City even if the club is relegated as punishment for their alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.
Guardiola, who joined City in 2016, signed a new two-year contract extension on Friday, ending speculation over his current deal that was due to expire at the end of the season.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
During his time in charge, the Spaniard has won 18 trophies, including six Premier League titles and their maiden Champions League crown last year.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
However, a hearing into Man City's 115 charges for allegedly breaking the Premier League's rules is also under way, but Guardiola said he will stay regardless of the outcome.
"I said that six months ago. If we get relegated, I will be here and next year we're going to come up to the Premier League. I knew it then, I feel it now," Guardiola said.
He also revealed that he agreed to fresh terms at the Etihad in less than two hours.
"I felt I should stay here. Of course, because they want me. For obvious reasons, for the results and because we've known each other for a long time," he added.
"All my decisions have been like that, what I feel in the moment. I don't pre-convince, I wait. I decided to stay here and in just two hours we did it [agreed the contract]."
City welcome Tottenham to the Etihad this weekend on the back of four consecutive defeats - Guardiola's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
They have also won just three of their last 10 top-flight games against Tottenham (D2 L5) and are looking to win consecutive meetings with them for the first time since April 2019.
Despite their run of form, Guardiola was quick to point out his side's recent success, most notably becoming the first team to win four consecutive Premier League titles.
"When you are here for nine years, with a long time at one club, you live all the scenarios, all the situations," Guardiola said.
"You're able to lose four games in a row, but at the same time, you're able to win four Premier Leagues in a row.
"The difference is that most of the teams are able to lose four games in a row in different competitions, but just one team won four Premier Leagues in a row. So it happened.
"Did it happen in one season? No. When you've been somewhere eight or nine years, yeah, both sides of the run can happen."
Moca FC's Baez, Correa sanctioned by Concacaf Disciplinary Committee for violent conduct in Carib Cup semis clash against Cavalier
The Concacaf Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned players Miguel Baez and Jesus Correa of Dominican Republic club Moca FC for incidents that occurred during their Concacaf Caribbean Cup second-leg semi-final match against Jamaica’s Cavalier FC on Thursday, October 30.
After considering the documentation and evidence gathered during its investigation and based on the competition regulations and the applicable disciplinary code, the Disciplinary Committee has imposed Miguel Baez a six-match suspension and Jesus Correa a three-match suspension for violent conduct.
The sanctions include the automatic one-match suspension for the on-field direct red cards given to each player during that 7-0 beating in Kingston.
Both Baez and Correa must serve their suspensions during the upcoming 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup third-place matches and future editions of the competition.
Moca FC is scheduled to meet Haiti's Real Hope FC in that home-and-away tie on November 26 and December 3 to determine the next Caribbean representative that will contest next year's Concacaf Champions Cup. Finalists Cavalier and Cibao FC, also of the Dominican Republic, have secured automatic berths.
Meanwhile, the Disciplinary Committee has also warned the players and the club that more severe sanctions could be taken should incidents occur during future matches.
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