Premier League title race goes to the final day – Football Weekly podcast

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Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

It's Monday morning at 8.32 in the morning, and Casemiro is still playing Arsenal on side.

Sunday League centre-backs in unison around the country yelling up, up, but to no avail and Arsenal go back to the top at the creaking, flooding old Trafford.

And so the air of inevitability title race marches on Manchester City waltzing past Fulham elite marksman Joseph Guardiol and friends in the early afternoon sunshine all eyes now to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night mind you given how Burnley opened Spurs up feels unlikely the city procession will stop Burnley also opened themselves up enough times for Spurs to capitalise and the Clarets are down along with Luton barring Miracles who patronising tone alert are a credit to themselves none more so than manager Rob Edwards.

Other things on the agenda, the end of Moyes are Chelsea Good, the Player of the Year, Celtic win the old firm, Man United Women win the FA Cup, goalless playoffs, and people listening up high in the sky.

All that plus your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Will Anwin.

Hello.

Hello, Max.

Hello, Dan Bardell.

Good morning.

And hello, Barry Glendenning.

Hi, Max.

Paul says, is this the most anticlimactic season of all time?

It's gone from a potentially thrilling three-horse photo finish to the favourite cantering home not sure dan do you think that can we really criticize a title race that will definitely go to the final day i feel like asking for more is perhaps greedy yeah i mean we're still going there with i think we'll go to the last day with arsenal and manchester city obviously having a having a chance of winning the league which is a which is which is a good thing i i don't really understand that i think it's okay relegation is is dumb there's plenty of other things still going on i mean how low can manchester united finish that's quite a an exciting thing for me i'm looking at that thinking will they finish eighth eighth?

Will they finish ninth?

Can they get themselves up the league?

That's exciting.

Any advances on that, Will?

I mean, obviously it is going to the last day of the season and I keep thinking, oh, Spurs are, you know, they're up, you know, they're quite high in the league, they're quite good.

And then I remember that Oliver Skip was playing left back for them against Burnley.

And I think,

yeah, I think City will be all right on Tuesday night.

I think not much to be concerned about.

I mean, it's gone further than previously.

Usually City are playing their reserves and plotting for the Champions League final at this stage.

Everyone's having a week off and some child that's going to be sold for 12 million quid gets a few minutes to bump up his price tag.

It's been all right.

I think Arsenal are doing what they, you know, yesterday was a bit of a non-event at Old Trafford of a football match, but Arsenal have done really well.

They've conceded the fewest goals in the league.

It's been a reasonable title race, and you never know what might happen in the league where anyone can draw with anyone.

It's possible.

Spurs could pull one off on Tuesday, but

who knows?

It feels unlikely.

So let's get to that game at Old Trafford then.

Nigel, and I probably stole Nigel's joke in the intro, but he just says, Not a question.

I've just heard that Casemero's just got back into the defensive line.

I can't stop watching him playing Arsenal on side in that moment.

Yeah, it was an incredible error from him at the end of a bad week for him.

Shipped a lot of the blame for United's defeat, crushing defeat by Crystal Palace.

And then he was

very much culpable for

the goal, which

was you know the main talking point of what Willis said was quite a non-event of a football match.

But

it's schoolboy stuff.

I'm not sure,

you know, is Eric Tonhag to blame for that?

I don't think anyone's to blame for that, apart from Casemiro himself.

And

Jamie Carragher has said, you know, time for him to hang up his boots, needs to retire.

And perhaps it is time for him to be farmed off to uh Istanbul or or back to Brazil but he has two years left on his contract to Manchester United

and he's very well paid by them so you know they'll be hoping it's just a blip but it was a an astonishing error and going you know what what you were saying about the the title race our entire season's work would be

sort of a complete waste of time if we said, oh, no, it's it's not going to be.

But there does seem to be a crushing inevitability about the fact that manchester city are going to win the title i picked arsenal at the start of the season i'm sticking with them i'm not changing my mind now but i can't see spurs doing anything against city on tuesday i think they'll get destroyed we'll get on to city's game against fulham uh later i'm sure but johnny liw wrote a column on saturday and saying like is it just a sort of an illusion that we've been made to think this is an interesting title race and i I noticed that Mark Riley, Lard of Mark and Lard fame, took exception to this.

He's a City fan.

He took exception to this on Twitter and then, you know, cue

a stampede of abuse for Johnny, the so-called journalist.

But I think he's kind of right.

It's hard to get away from the fact that City are just too good.

I mean, although hard to argue with either Mark or Lard.

The people that invented down count as a radio feature, frankly, can do no wrong in my eyes.

Dan, the opposing view on Casemiro comes from Jez saying, look, with multiple trophy winning Casemiro being vilified by overweight fans and pundits who never made mistakes in their playing careers, have any panel members ever gallantly volunteered for a job that needed doing, but that they couldn't do, only to be savaged for how badly it went?

And I kind of understand that, right?

He is out of position.

But that specific moment, like midfielders also run out, like, like everybody who is in the box at a set piece, for example, runs out, don't they?

Like it's sort of, you never, ever see it.

So rarely do you see it at that level that I think the criticism for that specific moment feels justified to me.

It's a difficult one because he's a midfielder playing centre-back.

And at the moment, I don't think he wants to be playing in midfield for Manchester United.

And he certainly doesn't want to be playing centre-back for Manchester United.

If you're playing next to, I presume Johnny Evans is 35, 36, if you're playing next to Johnny Evans and you're still the slowest centre-back,

There is a problem there, isn't there?

I mean, Manchester United are decimated by injuries.

I do feel sorry for Casemiro, but he's not like anyone for Manchester United, except for maybe Garnacho.

He's covering themselves in glory at the moment, but we know how football works and there always has to be a scapegoat.

But it just doesn't look good when you lose a game because of that moment.

he doesn't look good on Casimiro.

But like you said, he's such a decorated football.

He was such a good player.

And last season, he was a good player for Manchester United.

I think many people were surprised that, you know, people were saying he was a good siding last year.

He was a big part of Manchester United finishing third.

But this season, he just looks like he's running through treacle.

I had heard, Will, that Scott McTominay has sort of played centre-back before.

And so like it could have, Tenhard could have done something different.

I mean, James says, do you think the water pouring through the roof of a stadium and down the stands is a bit too on the nose as a metaphor for United season, which is an excellent question.

If you look at Monday night and then think, I know, I know, I should be getting beat 4-0 by Crystal Palace, but we need to do exactly the same thing again.

I think Ten Hype does deserve a bit of criticism.

There were other things you can be done.

You could even play a bat five and play Cambwala and just accept this is what Manchester United is now.

If we want to keep out teams like Arsenal, we might have to go for a bat five.

But obviously, you know,

not the most courageous thing to do.

And the fact that Casimir plays centre-back again probably is a bit perverse.

But yes, in terms of Arsenal, they actually have a good defence, and that was the difference.

You know, I don't remember United having a shot on target.

David Ray didn't do anything.

You know, he's winning his golden glove, and he could have worn golden gloves yesterday.

You know, didn't really matter.

And, you know, Saliba was excellent.

He's been the difference this season.

They lost him at the end of last season, and the title race sort of ended at that point.

And that's the thing.

Arsenal, they're well coached.

They weren't at their best, but they all knew their roles.

They played in the right manner.

They got the goal that they needed.

They didn't really have to strain themselves.

They could have had a couple more goals in an honor to make some saves.

But yeah, Arsenal's done really well.

And the fact that they are in a title race against this machine that is city is good for them.

They'll have the money to improve in the summer and it'll be hopefully another title race for them next season.

And yeah, that's what happens when teams are quite well coached and players know what they're doing.

I mean, it might not catch on, but yeah, they're doing an excellent job to keep this title race going to the final day.

What did you make of Arsenal's performance, Bass?

It was decent.

I mean,

it was as comfortable of a 1-0 win as you'll see, I think.

They probably should have scored more, and Anna made some good saves.

But, yeah, it was a professional,

quite emphatic 1-0 win.

It could have gone wrong for them at the end, but it didn't.

And

just the spine they have have there saliba gabriel declan rice davadrea just they never really looked like conceding did they garnaccio had a couple of sort of half chances but that was it so yeah a pretty emphatic 1-0 win job done go home and yeah sort of put your feet up and watch the telly on tuesday and be really sad after 17 minutes when sitting at 3-0 up i think arsenal must have looked at other manchester united games this season like the two liverpool games at Old Trafford, and those games kind of descended into chaos.

And that almost suits Manchester United because they've got no tactical framework whatsoever.

And they almost dragged the opposition down to their level.

It felt to me like Arsenal didn't want to push forward.

Declan Rice barely marauded forward once from midfield.

And in recent weeks with party playing, Declan Rice has had that license to come forward, but he didn't.

He sat next to party pretty much as soon as they went 1-0.

Look, you didn't see Declan Rice come forward again.

So I just wonder whether part of Arsenal's plan was,

let's not take any risks, let's win this game 1-0.

We don't need to do anything stupid, we don't need this game to descend in chaos because that's what Manchester United wants.

Yeah, I think that's an interesting point, actually.

And I think, again,

I think we have given Arsenal credit, but you know, perhaps the fact that they are still toe-to-toe with City means you almost can't give them, like, it's almost because it feels like City are going to win the league, it feels like Arsenal haven't done enough, right?

And they haven't as yet done enough to win the title, but that feels it feels really harsh on them, given that it it is very hard to keep the pace with City.

Before we get to City,

you do hope that

the roofs in the offices that Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making them all go back to work at are slightly better

or better kept than the one at Old Trafford.

Those scenes were.

It's a disgrace.

I mean, it's funny, but it is an absolute disgrace that an elite Premier League football stadium is that dilapidated that customers who are paying an awful lot of money to go and watch the game are getting absolutely soaked.

You know,

rain, it's not uncommon in Manchester.

It's been known to fall every now and then, but

that's something that really needs to be sorted out very quickly because it's totally unacceptable.

Do you think it's just a gutter issue?

On Talksbook, we often have adverts for the gutter brush.

The hedgehog could gutter brush.

Now, this pod is not sponsored by them yet, but just one hedgehog gutter brush could do a whole lot.

Well, if there is clutter in your gutter, get a brush, Max.

It's something we've been telling listeners to do for a long time.

I don't think it is a gutter issue, but

crikey, it is.

That's a shambles.

It's shocking.

There is no excuse for it.

I watched the game on Sunday in a tree house and I didn't have those kind of problems.

It was raining just as ferociously where I was in Wales.

but yeah, no problems in the treehouse.

What were you doing in a treehouse, Dan?

My girlfriend's family had, I don't know, what do you call it, rented, rented like a treehouse accommodation for

the West?

I thought you were going to say my girlfriend's family are squirrels.

No, no.

Very, very, very big and grand.

treehouse.

It was very nice, but you would expect if you're watching a game at a treehouse, maybe you would encounter the problems that fans had at Old Trafford rather than it being the other way around.

How high up

the tree was the house?

Rome here, I don't really know how to answer.

It was just you up a ladder?

I mean, did you have to climb two flights of stairs?

Maybe I'll send you a photo afterwards.

I had to go to two flights of stairs to sounds like quite an elite tree.

The way you sold it as tree house was just what it's called.

Planks of wood in a tree.

Sounds to me like someone built a whole house.

I mean, it was very tree in it.

It was very wood-based, but

saying it's a tree house is probably unfair, but I don't know what else to call it because it essentially is a house in a tray.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

So Man City won 4-0 at Fulham in the early kickoff on Saturday.

21 are beaten in the league now.

We keep wondering, Will, if this is boring or not, but it's certainly like it is worth remembering that the fans...

in the ground looking at them they seem to find it quite fun even though i i don't need to know that noel gallagher's at another man city match i'm aware of this now but like it did seem like they are enjoying it yeah i actually watched this game in a cave um It was very enjoyable.

Yeah, you know, yeah.

Noel Gallagher refusing to do the Poznan.

A man, man after my own heart,

I don't want to engage any of this.

No, I don't want to stand there and look miserable.

This is what football's about.

It's not about enjoying yourself.

It's about trekking around the country and looking really happy.

I think he looked quite happy.

I mean, he didn't look upset while the Poznan was.

He didn't join in.

Didn't join in, did he, Matt?

No, true, he didn't join in.

But yeah, it was one of those games where just complete control.

You know, no other team controls controls matches like City.

It was domination from start to finish.

I think Fulham were alright in the first 15, and then City just took over.

The only chance Fulham had was like a little flick that was trickling towards the net, and Edison fell on it.

So, yeah, City really, really good.

Kobachich has come in recently and brought that extra layer into the midfield where there's very little getting through them at all now.

I think Roderick's probably a bit tired and needs that help at this stage of the campaign and

Guardiol's recognised that so you end up with Rodrik, Hovich, Bernardo Silva and not many people getting the ball off them with a bit of De Bruyne added in.

And it is, no team can compete with what City are doing at the moment.

Moving teams around and never in doubt, I don't think on Saturday.

It was just straightforward, pure professional, robotic domination from City.

And they're probably going to do it again on Tuesday and then again on Sunday, with you know, Yosko Guardiol being the new

Erling Carland, scoring all types of goals, you know, headers, tappings at the back post, cutting in from the left.

He's got it all in his locker.

It's quite impressive considering he scored about three goals in his career prior to about three weeks ago.

So he's

stepped up for City when it's needed.

And he's settled in really well, I think, after you know, Guardiol has said he had a tricky start to the campaign, coming into a new club that was completely dominant across football.

I assume you sort of turn up with imposter syndrome and it takes you a bit of time to think you're up to that level, even if you've cost 88 million quid.

But yeah,

he's really turned it on for City.

Much in the way that you, you know, how you must have felt when you first did the pod now to becoming, you know, a regular, almost Galactico status, Will.

I was saying before that, you know, if the title race didn't go to the final day of the season, that our whole

lives were basically futile.

But even if it goes,

I think my existence is quite futile.

Everything I've done in my career has been a complete waste.

Brad.

I don't know if it's imposter syndrome or what.

Oh, no, you're right.

You just are, and it's not a syndrome if you are an imposter.

Is it?

Brad says, is Gvardiol a pod listener?

On the 8th of April, Jonathan Wilson said, I don't think Gvardiol's had a great season.

Not saying he's a bad signing, but he has not been as great at City as he was at the World Cup.

Since then, five goals and two assists, to which Vonomir says, is Josko Guardiol the new Beckenbauer?

He'll lead Croatia to Euro's glory and save Barry from having to relocate.

The two goals he scored that were really good, and they were both scored with his weaker

right foot.

I think the tap in, I'm saying that's not a tap in.

I mean, he had to stretch every sinew,

steer the ball home at the far post with the outside of his right boot.

It was a really nice finish.

And

yeah, it was quite interesting that it seems he was offered the chance to take the penalty, late doors,

which would have made him the first defender

in Premier League history to score a hat-trick, and he turned it down.

Julian Alvarez took it instead, and you had on TNT Sports, Peter Crouch, I think, was saying that, you know, oh, it's good that Alvarez took it because this could go down to gold difference, but it would have been fun if he had taken it.

And I think he kind of wanted to, but said, oh, I'd better better hand it over to the designated penalty taker I reckon if Erling Haaland had still been on the pitch the option wouldn't have been open to him to to turn it down but uh Haaland had gone off at this point but um yeah he has had a a terrific season and

I this game

Fulham have had a good season by their own standards but this was a very feeble effort from them.

They started quite well, played well for the first 15 minutes, and after that, they just got suffocated.

It was like City were like a bow constrictor just squeezing the life out of them.

And

I was hoping for better from Fulham and it was a rubbish performance by them.

The difficulty is a Board constrictor is unlikely to overthink things on Tuesday or Sunday, isn't it?

It's just going to do what it knows.

We do some idle, mindless speculation about Tuesday night, Dan.

And it is kind of dependent on your mob, Villa and Liverpool, to how much Tottenham turn up.

Because if Liverpool beat Villa, then, or even if it's a draw, then Tottenham still could sneak into the Champions League.

And so they would have to play for something.

Or is it kind of immaterial what Tottenham do because Man City are just too good?

It's immaterial.

I mean, this could be famous last words from me.

And I end up sitting here at the end of the season, seeing my team in fifth and Tottenham in fourth.

But I just don't see any world in which where Tottenham can turn up against Manchester City and hurt them at the moment.

They're kind of limped past Burley, which I'm which I'm sure we'll come on to, but they're coming up against a you know a powerhouse that the best team really in the world.

I know they're not in the Champions League anymore, but they are the best team in the world.

They're almost machine-like at the moment.

And to just keep churning off, churning out sorry, league titles like they do.

And I think they're going to again, it's absolutely incredible.

I don't think Arsenal are actually getting enough credit for being up there with him.

In all likelihood, Arsenal are going to get 89 points.

I think it would be quite nice for just once if Manchester City fans could feel what it was like to not win the league, getting 89 or 90 points, because that's an incredible point, Tally.

But Manchester City get to this point of the season every year and they just know what they're doing.

And I don't know if they're going to win every game, aren't they, in my opinion?

The only thing I can't see,

I'm like, Dan, I can't see

any chance.

of Spurs getting a result against City, but the only thing I'll go back to is that game city had against forest was it last week or the week before forest should have got something out of that forest aren't a particularly good team but they should have got at least a draw out that game if not won it so city are fallible it's just forest weren't able to punish them so if they have an off day will spurs be able to to do better we'll see yeah and obviously we haven't talked about the fact that tottenham would be handing arsenal a significant boost in the worst case is that you know, Villa lose on Monday, then Tottenham gets something from City, and then Villa win against Palace, and then Tottenham are not only not in the Champions League, but I've also handed Arsenal the title.

Do you have any nerves, Will?

Just to repeat, Oliver Skip is the left back for Tottenham Hotspur at the moment.

No,

have you not seen the City team?

They're really good, Max.

They're incredible.

I think they could do it.

I honestly do.

I think Scott Carlson could play in net and they'll do it.

I think we're fine.

Oh, it'd be good to see that.

Yeah, you can stick some subtitles over this video and put it out on the final day when West Ham win 8-0 at the Etiarda Concert.

Moyes takes the handbrake off, and that's it.

All right, that'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll talk about relegation.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So relegation all but settled ahead of the final day.

Burnley are down.

Luton, barring a 12-goal swing, are down as well.

Dan, is it a worrying sign that, you know, we had two teams with points deductions, yet the three promoted teams from last season have gone straight back down.

I did get Joel to check the last 10 years.

Over the last 10 years, 15 of the 30 teams went straight back down.

So for all three to go down, it's very, very rare.

It could be a freak season, or this just could be a sign of, you know, what's to come.

Well, last season, all three three stayed up didn't they which i'm imagining that's pretty rare as well so we've kind of gone for gone par now now haven't we after after last year i think it did feel almost like the three teams at the bottom or the three teams that came up they were reliant on points deductions and you know when point deductions have been overturned that feels like it's been a huge blow to them more so than when they've when they've lost games i think luton look they've been they've been a a good advert for for the championship the way they've come at rob edwards has made a lot of friends along the way, I would say.

Luton have given it a good go, but they've just had a terrible last third of the season, maybe lost a couple of players who were important to injury and not really recovered.

Shefford United Burnley, it's felt like they're down from day one, pretty much.

They've not been a good advert for teams coming up from the championship.

And I was watching that game and just thinking there was a point at the start of the season when Spurs hadn't hired a manager that, you know, there was a Burnley documentary out.

Company was being talked about potentially as being the next Spurs manager.

If the Spurs job came available now, company would probably be nowhere near the running.

But it sounds like afterwards, it sounds like Company is going to stay with Burnley and have a go at getting them back up again.

But I think what Burnley did, they just changed too much.

You can sometimes do too much.

I think they went away from some of the things that had made them good in the championship, brought in too many players, and it just hasn't worked.

Will, you've watched 10 Burnley games this season, which I reckon is must be quite entertaining, or did you feel 10 was too many to be sent to?

I've seen them get two points in that period.

Right.

So it was, you know, it's quite a nice place to go.

It's quite a nice drive from here, actually.

So I don't mind it.

It's 50 minutes door to door.

You park at the cricket club.

But yeah, it's the problem with Burnley,

Chef United and Luton, financially, it's a big gap, and they were never equipped to...

make the jump up and that's fine and Luton had been very sensible about it and Chef United just couldn't compete at all.

But Burnley actually spent £90 million over the summer and they lost Teller and they lost Matson from the promotion team, which is a big problem, and never replaced them.

They spent 20 million quid on a goalkeeper they didn't need and then belatedly had to drop him when it really wasn't working with Trafford and go with the goalkeeper that was best in class last season.

And company, and it is absolutely right to have a philosophy and to have ideals, but to be at this level and to not change when it's not working is pretty criminal.

And I love Vincent Company more than anyone else, and it's difficult to look him in the Iron Press conferences now.

But

every manager has that level of pragmatism.

Guardiola changes things, things evolve with what city needs, with how the game changes.

And company's got them still passing out from the back.

So many goals conceded from mistakes and chances conceded.

Every game is the same.

Spurs was the same.

They start well in the first 15 minutes and they had a few chances.

He actually scored against Spurs, which was a rarity.

Usually they just miss a few chances.

Then someone makes a defensive howler.

I mean, on this occasion, it's Pedro Porridge.

It was just given as much space as possible.

But yeah, generally there's a defensive howler somewhere.

The passing out from the back doesn't work.

There's not enough Premier League experience.

And they spent a lot of money for that level, but no Premier League experience.

A lot of players, talented footballers, some really good players that will go on to do great things, but none of them have boosted their value this season, which is part of their philosophy that they want to bring in young players, build them up, and sell them on.

But no one really comes out this season with any credit apart from maybe Luca Colliosho, but he got injured and he's missed months, so his price won't have gone up.

And it's just the fact that they didn't learn from the mistakes, they didn't just go, we need to be defensively sound and build from that.

They just kept in the same things, same errors, and that's why they've gone down.

And they would have been down weeks ago if it wasn't for Forrest getting a four-point deduction.

And they'll come back up because

those players will have learnt, but that lack of Premier League experience, I think, was very naive from

company and the recruitment team.

Everything was based on stats, and thinking that everything's black and white with stats when there are some grey areas that Premier League experience does help with, I think it was very naive.

But thanks for coming, Vincent.

See you in Eat this time.

And it's interesting, actually, that they went down when they were playing Spurs because it sort of feels like a team that are better than them, but have the same fallibilities, and a manager who isn't pragmatic, who likes to play out.

So,

when these two come against each other,

the better team will probably win.

I mean, that happens quite a lot in football, but you take my point.

I hope you take my point.

Burley probably should have been two up in this game before Spurs scored because

Bettina missed a sitter

from an Odeburg cross.

Then Jakob Bryn Darson put them ahead.

So, if they're 2-0 up,

who knows what might have happened, but they weren't.

Spurs equalize,

you know, typical Burnley mistake.

And then Spurs ran riot and should have won by an awful lot more than one goal.

While

I kind of respect

Vincent Company's stubbornness, but they just coughed up so many cheap points through silly mistakes and making the same mistakes over and over and over again over again.

I think they will feel, you know, you look at Sheffield United, you look at Luton, they pretty much did all they could, but Burnley

left a lot of points out in the pitch that they should have won.

Just before we move on to Luton, you know, Spurs still clinging on to this faint hope of fourth, despite Oliver Skip playing left back down.

Obviously, Villa are in such a great position.

They went out the Conference League to Olympiarcos, sort of soundly beaten over two legs.

And they do look like they've kind of just completely run out of juice.

And they've got Liverpool and Palace, so who are you know palace are the best team in the world so you sort of sense they might not get another point but that probably won't matter yeah i've been saying for about three weeks now there's a world where villa gets zero points and still get champions league football because it felt until this weekend that villarorma's limping on one leg but spurs had been shot into but they did that spurs felt like they had nothing left which given the volume of games that villa have had compared to spurs i don't know whether spurs is a a mental fragility from a coach that demands a lot throughout the whole season

high intensity football taking a lot on board.

But yeah, Spurs having that Man City game is a godsend for Villa because Spurs really,

I think they should have got fourth.

When you look at what Villa have done in the last month or so, and it really is Olymp at the moment, injuries are just catastrophic.

Every week that there's a new injury, I think we're down to 12 or 13 senior players now.

So there's very little options on the bench.

We have just run out of steam and run out of bodies.

But I actually,

just to touch on the Europa Europa Conference League for Villa ever so slightly, these teams that Vida have been playing in the last few rounds, Lille, Olympiakos, they're teams that have been playing in Europe for the last decade.

They'll have played Champions League football.

You know, they're consistent European teams.

It's the first time Villa have been in Europe, I think, since 2010.

And a lot of these players had never played in Europe before.

And I think naivety of managing ties over two legs, I think that's where Villa came up short, really.

And Olympiakos, I've got to say, were very, very good.

And I hope they can go on and win the tournament but for me the priority has always been fourth and it looks like barring an absolute sensational turnaround that I can't see Villa will get fourth and imagine the party scenes tonight if they could if they could if they could beat Liverpool I don't think they will but the party scenes if they could beat Liverpool tonight would probably be like nothing I've ever seen in my lifetime Dan can I ask would would you have um John McGinn in

the conversation for sort of player of the season?

Not necessarily winner but would would he be on your short list for like overall not just villa's player of the season i think he'd be number two in in in villas list and you've just said that that isn't what you've asked me but i've i've answered it anyway i think he's been captain of a team that's played for fourth he's played almost every single game he's played a variety of positions and been very good in every position he he's had i don't know if there's like a There should be like a clubman of the year for the entirety of the league.

I don't know what that would be called, but I think he'd probably win that.

But if a Villa player was a patronising clubman is a patronising abortion.

Oh yeah, but is the one

he probably is the one no one wants to win, but he's just he's filled in everywhere for Villa this season, been a really good captain.

But if a Villa player was to win PFA player of the year, I think it would probably have to be Ollie Watkins because his record, considering he doesn't take penalties or take set pieces, his goal involvements are just out of this world, really.

Let's talk about Luton and West Ham, actually, because it was a big day for them as well.

West Ham won 3-1.

Luton were one up at half times, booze at the London Stadium.

Slightly worried that David Moyes wouldn't get the send-off that he deserved.

Rob Edwards, Baz, looked totally gutted at full-time.

I mean, his stock is so high as a manager, how he dealt with the Tom Lockett situation, the fact that he sort of openly weeps.

It's nice to see that, you know, it is good to cry.

And like, he has been,

you've said it a number of times, it's really hard not to sound patronizing when you talk about him or Luton or what they've done and how far far they've pushed.

And they were actually quite a way off in the end, but there were so many moments where they were close to getting something from so many games.

Yeah,

and I still go back to, I think

they lost two home games, one against Burnley.

Oh, I think, yeah, it's Burnley and Sheffield United both beat them at home

at Kenilworth Road.

And that I had a feeling at the time that's going to kill them.

And so it has turned out to pass.

They just weren't good enough.

And

watching, they have been hammered by injuries in the last few months, as

Dan has mentioned.

And some of the players that are on the pitch just clearly aren't good enough.

They're not Premier League standard.

And there's no shame in that, but they gave a right good go.

I think everyone was rooting for them.

But

they came up short in the end.

As someone who cries at the drop of a hat uh i've cried at the funerals of people i've been at that i didn't even know i've never met and uh

you know uh so i i have a lot of love so what were you what were you what were you doing at those funerals free sandwiches i yeah free booze max no i i would know their children say or their kids would be friends of mine so i'd go to the funeral yeah but yeah rob edwards Very difficult not to like him.

He seems like just a thoroughly good guy.

He's preposterously handsome and uh yeah he he was very emotional after the game and he said he he felt like he disappointed people he let people down i don't think that's the case they'll be ready to go again next season it'll be interesting to see how they they bounce back from this setback but i don't know if rob edwards will still be looting manager by christmas i think he could go on to to bigger and better things i'd just like to say as someone that can't cry because i've got blocked tearbooks i have no time for anyone crying Never cried at a funeral wedding, none of this.

Have you ever cried then?

Like, can you not actually cry?

Well, as a kid, you can cry, but then, then you can't stop.

So I've just

basically become a, yeah, I'm basically a sociopath now.

Yeah, if I cry.

So like, if, if, if you're watching E.T.,

nothing happens?

Like, I mean, I can't remember watching it, but

presumably you get like a lump in it.

Presumably, like, you can still get that kind of lump in your throat.

Yeah, well, i don't i just don't i just don't have any feelings i'm just dead inside now

but if he were to cry would would luton's would that yeah yeah yeah

the demise of a premier league football club hundreds of miles from where i live which is the tid is the one that's going to break me

yeah look luton came up there was a surprise team to come up but through the playoffs no one really expected them came up late so i think it was the playoff final in june you know so not much time to plan, considering compared them to Burnley, who knew they were coming up in when, January, and had time to plot a course and did it terribly.

Luton made some smart signings, didn't break the bank, took a risk on Ross Barkley.

And let's be honest, that's what it was, and it's but it's paid off, and he's been excellent.

And you know, I'm sure he'll be in the Premier League next season.

But yeah, they just plotted for the future.

They'll come back stronger because financially they'll be on a far safer footing.

They've not, you know,

put all their money into signing £20 million goalkeepers like Burnley.

And it's a sensible thing to do, knowing that, yeah, you're probably not going to be able to create a team that can stay in the Premier League.

And

it's no shame in that.

It's an incredible level of sport.

But they'll be in the mix again in championship next year.

They'll have some money to spend because of parachute payments and everything.

And it was a very sensible policy.

They've done what they can.

They've had a very good unit.

They've troubled lots of very, very good teams with their style.

They've been, you know, managed to match teams physically, which is good.

Defensively, they've been

pretty decent.

You know, Mengi came in from United and has looked really good.

And that's it.

They've done everything they can within their means and without risk.

And the fans aren't no no Luton fan I think is calling for Rob Edwards head.

Oh come on oh he should have kept us up.

Oh oh chong chong could have you know should have made the difference for us.

Why did they sign him?

So yeah it's you know well run football club.

It's quite rare.

I'm not sure if Harry Styles will go and watch him in the championship, but

these things happen.

They had that game at Bournemouth, didn't they, in March, where they were 3-0 up at half-time and they were looking like they were going to be in a really healthy position.

And they chucked that away and ended up losing that game 4-3.

You feel like that might have knocked the stuffing out of them a little bit because their record probably since that day in March hasn't been brilliant.

And maybe that was when they lost a bit of momentum and lost a little bit of confidence.

And just to touch on Ross Barkley, Everton aren't going to have any money to spend in the summer.

Ross Barkley back there in the summer feels like the most obvious transfer of the summer for me.

There was a moment for West Ham, George Earthy, you know, scoring his first goal for the club.

And you sometimes forget with all these players, you sort of, you know, the fact that they are all on their own personal journeys and that moment of what it meant to him, you could just see like how excited he was.

And that rounded off that win for David Moyes.

Jacob Steinberg wrote a good piece about him at the weekend.

And I think we've kind of agreed on this, Baz, which is it's probably the right time for him to go, but he has also been one of the greatest West Hand managers ever.

And those two things can both be true.

Yeah, absolutely.

He's done a fantastic job there, but the fans

don't like the style of play,

don't like...

to see their team give possession to the opposition at home and they're the ones that pay their money so they're entitled to their opinion.

I would imagine they all wish david moyes very well i imagine they're all very grateful for to him for helping them win a trophy which

no one really predicted uh

and

the way his departure is handled got a bit messy towards the end when he was kind of saying what implying it was up to him whether he wanted to stay or not when all available evidence suggested it was not going to be his decision.

That was a bit of a mess, but

he's done a really good job there.

I would be interested to see what job he gets next,

if indeed he does get one.

I presume there will be takers for his services, but I'm not sure who they will be.

Will he get a Premier League job or will he be the championship or will he go abroad?

I don't know.

Surely he is shooing for

November, somebody panicking.

Like, surely that is, like, I'm not saying he's the new Allardyce, but surely that would be, you know where David would be.

Back to West Ham in November potentially when Lopotagi's

possible.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three will begin with Chelsea's minute at Nottingham Forest.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game Day Scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly.

Must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Forest 2, Chelsea 3, Forest is Safe.

Will, you were there.

I mean, what a nice football match to go to for

Forest fans.

You know, they had an afternoon in the pub.

They arrive at the ground knowing they're basically safe.

And it doesn't really matter what the score is.

They can just have a nice time.

Plenty had a great day.

I went, and

the car park there is within Trentbridge Cricket Ground.

And so I could walk in to watch the county championship game as a Lancashire fan against Nottinghamshire.

And the place was full of...

people in forest shirts because that's what they do.

You go have a few pints in the sunshine.

It was great.

Follow it on the phones to see what Luton and Burnley are doing.

It was a wonderful thing.

And you get in for just before full time in the 3pms, everyone hoarding around Soccer Saturday,

celebrating the goals going, as Paul Merson says, George Irfey's done it.

Those are mortal words for Nottingham Forest.

Yeah, it was party atmosphere.

No one worrying about 12-goal swings on the final day or anything.

It was great fun.

There was a few beach balls,

usual moaning about VAR decisions and whatnot, but

everyone had a good time until Nicholas Jackson rather selfishly scored a winner for Chelsea, you know, to ensure that Forrest hadn't categorically stayed up on Saturday.

But yeah, it was a good occasion.

It was actually a brilliant goal, that Jackson.

It was a brilliant move.

Only the top three have picked up more points than Chelsea since Boxing Day, Dan.

And Rob says, are Chelsea actually good after all this?

I don't think anyone would have done much better than Pachatino has done.

And we always say in football, it's better to end the season well than start the season well so chelsea have had a patchy maybe first half of the season but they go into the summer now with a little bit of momentum and a little bit of feel which i always think is important in football when you're trying to attract new players when you're trying to build something i think now chelsea suddenly becomes a little bit more of an attractive more attractive proposition than perhaps it would have been a few months ago for prospective players but I think they did well in January not to get suckered into doing too much after having three of the most crazy transfer windows that had ever existed.

I think they needed that little bit of calm and not trying to bring in a few more players to fix it, give those players that they'd already bought in time.

And there is semblance of a team there and an attacking unit.

Now, Cole Palmer has been a brilliant signing.

He's the only signing that Chelsea have made in the last three windows where you can hand on heart say, yes, that's a huge, huge success.

But he's just a wonderful footballer to watch and involved in so much good that Chelsea do.

And, you know, Will says that that last goal was

a nice goal.

Good to see Rhys James back on the pitcher, probably a little bit too late for him to get a place in the Euro squad with England having about eight or nine other right backs as well.

But just good to see him back on the pitch again because he hasn't been on the pitch all season and he gives you in the modern day a lot of what you would want a wing back to give you.

And hopefully, he can have a run of staying fit now because you know he's an important player for Chelsea that hasn't been there for the entirety of the season.

Actually, given there's 26, I wonder actually if Southgate might take Rhys James because he probably would have been first-choice right back.

Hard to say.

We'll see, Barry, won't we?

We will see.

I think he might.

I think he might.

But it was good to see him back.

He's had a horrible couple of seasons, hasn't he?

And he's been out.

He had a surgery on his hamstring in

middle of December.

So, yeah,

just to see him back on the pitch is great.

And one of his first touches was this inch-perfect cross to set up Jackson.

I think my favourite bit of this game was that

Michaelo Muderick scored brilliant goal.

What a pass by Cole Palmer.

I mean, just incredible.

But

he was substituted and

he was over the far side of the pitch from the dugouts, so he had to take the scenic route back to the Chelsea bench.

And the abuse he got

from the Forest fans was just tremendous.

I really enjoyed that.

I'm sure he didn't enjoy it.

Hopefully, his English isn't very good and he won't.

He was going, What does waste of money mean?

To be fair, a lot of people in Nottingham do refer to people as duck.

So

maybe that's what they were

just friendly, or right the duck as he's going around.

Yeah,

no, no F's anywhere.

Anyway, in the other games, you know, that didn't necessarily matter a huge amount.

Everton beat Sheffield United 1-0.

I'd just like to say about the Robinson versus Calvert Lewin push, where Calvert Lewin somehow got booked for aggressive play or something, just based on being pushed over.

I thought that was quite impressive.

Do you know, it was nice to watch Calvert Lewin, you know, fit and doing well.

And again, you know, probably too late for the plane, but, you know, you should be picking players who are, and, you know, the centre-forward, you know, we can have the...

the Tony Solanke debate in just a second on Bournemouth-Brentford.

But, you know,

he was definitely up there at points with Southgate as the number one behind Kane.

Chevy United conceded a 101st goal, so they've got that record.

They'll be pleased to know.

Bournemouth-Brentford, which was a brilliant last five minutes, Dan,

including, was it Wiss's touch to Muemo for the first goal?

Is absolutely amazing.

It's just unbelievable.

I think they're both two very underrated footballers, though, so they always contribute.

towards everyone talks about Ivan Tony, but he's, you know, obviously Tony was missing for the first half of the season, but it's those two really that have kept Brentford up.

And Burmo missed a large chunk of the season, but his body of work in the first half of the season before injury was very good.

I actually think he's Brentford's most important player in Burmo.

He is such a talented footballer, drifting in, scores goals, gets assists, links the play really, really well.

I actually think

it would be a bigger blow to Brentford to lose him in the summer than it would be to lose Tona.

That's interesting.

Dominic Solanke's got a great header.

It celebrated with an orange mask, which is something to do with the anime series Naruto.

Barry, can you furnish me with any more information on Naruto?

No, I can't.

I don't know anything about anime,

but I do know people who are into it tend to be really, really into it to the point of obsession.

But no, I'm afraid I can't furnish you with any information whatsoever.

That's totally fine.

Let's go to Wolves Palace, Palace 131.

At least Bazin, this was just so good.

And Stewart says, how far can Palace go under Glasner if we can keep the band together?

He says.

Well, keeping the band together is going to be hard, I think.

But I love watching Elise, Eze, and Mateta.

Oh, they're just terrific.

So entertaining.

Yeah, if I was a Palace fan, I would be desperate for them to keep the band together.

But there is going to be a stampede for the services of Elise and Eze.

They're worth massive money.

And

we don't know what their personal ambitions are, but they might fancy playing Champions League football, and they're both perfectly capable of it.

But just watching them play, they don't get on the pitch too often, but the last few weeks been an absolute pleasure watching Crystal Palace because they are so good.

So, so good.

In that sense, it's sort of hard, you know.

Had Roy had them all season, it's very interesting how different it might have been, but it does feel like Glasnar's done something something amazing.

I kind of think, Dan,

they need to be a job lock.

It's sort of like you couldn't split up the you can't split up the proclaimers, right?

You can't have one without the other.

You can't, I don't want them to go on separate footballing journeys.

I want them to go, if they move, I want them to move together for the rest of their career.

Very much like you and Barry.

I've heard people say that about you and Barry before.

Desperately trying to get away from this.

But it's, you know, what can we do?

If you appear without the other, it's not the same.

So, yeah, I couldn't.

I agree with what you've said there.

Just on Elise and Eza,

at the back end of last season, they were both fit at the same time.

And Hodgson had this runner-form where they were playing brilliant football and they were scoring loads of goals all of a sudden from nowhere when Hodgson came in.

So this is actually the second time this has happened.

But I think there is something special about Glasner.

I think he's come in straight away.

and made the players that are already in the building better, identified a system that will get the best out of the players that are there.

And they also had a good January Palace because the two players that they've they've bought in, Wharton and Munas, have made a real difference to them, both in terms of going forward and stability defensively.

I mean, Palace have got a collection of the oldest right-backs in Premier League history, I think.

So to throw Munas in there, and now Klein's playing right centre-back and Joel Warden, he plays, he's playing right at centre-back, it's just giving the team a little bit more impetus and a little bit more energy.

But Glasner coming in has reminded me a little bit of when Emry came in at Villa, just hit the ground running straight away, got the best out of players, has got a nice way about him.

And I think Palace might be able to hold on to them both and have a really good season next season because they've proved they're good at recruitment with Friedman in the past.

They always get good players in from the EFL.

I think if Palace can keep this all together, they could be a team that was capable of pushing towards Europe, in my opinion.

Joel Ward's been given another year, by the way.

I want Joel Ward to play for Chris Palace forever.

It'd be remiss of us not to mention when Joel Ward came up.

Obviously, Barry's saying he'd fitted

seamlessly into Glasner's plan, and a Palace fan noted he'd only played 60 seconds of it.

Chris got in touch to say, not a medical procedure related, really, but listening to the pod this morning as I was working and had a chuckle at Joel Ward fitting seamlessly into the Palace system for a whole 60 seconds.

All I can say is, things went a bit Munich, you bastards.

We've finally done it, Baz.

We've made a listener shit themselves.

Our work is done here.

Nothing else is necessary.

Oh, tremendous.

Thank you, Chris, for being so honest about these things.

It's just science, as Barry said.

It's, you know, it's fine.

Newcastle and Brighton do won a piece.

Newcastle is in the hunt for one of the

Conference League.

We'll do a bit of Play of the Year.

We mentioned Player of the Year.

The nominees, Phil Foden, Declan Rice, Erdoga, Alexander Isak, Ollie Watkins, Cole Palmer, and Virgin Van Dijk.

The big controversy what is no Rodri.

Are you up in arms?

Did you cry?

Yes.

No, no when i want to cry now i always get really angry so yeah

yeah roderie should be player of the season every season i will

break rules and admit in last year's guardian top 100 i had rodri top wow yeah it's supposed to be anonymous so you know i'm just i'm doing it for the people but yeah i think without a doubt you look at the he's not lost again

when he's city don't lose when he plays it's funny that when he when he when he's absent they lose.

That's the thing.

It's incredible.

Maybe it indicates that he makes quite a big difference to the best team in the country.

So probably should be in there.

Yeah, very weird.

Rodri

has to be in it.

Whatever.

Oh, Phil Foden with fancy footwork and scoring goals.

Oh, Lardie Dar.

No, Rodri.

This is it.

Five yards every time.

He's brilliant.

I mean, yeah.

Football, eh?

Arteta Klopp, Emery, and Iriola up for manager of the season.

So well done, Sid.

Low.

Young Prayer of the Season nine: Erling Harland, Phil Foden, Bakaiosaka, William Saliba, Alexander Isaac, Cole Palmer, Cobby Maine, and Destiny a Doggy.

No, Anthony Gordon.

Some rails against that.

He has had a brilliant season.

Barcelona Jim says, Can anyone name the country to the immediate north of England?

Yes, this is in relation to perhaps us not focusing enough on Scotland this season.

Our apologies.

Celtic B Rangers 2-1 Baz.

A bad day for John Lundstrom, but

on the verge of the title.

The John Lundstrom Derby.

that was quite an afternoon for him at Celtic Park.

Scored an home goal, then

had a scything tackle,

studs into the shin of Celtic fullback Alistair Johnston.

He initially got a yellow card for it, which was upgraded quite correctly to a red.

I think, you know, I couldn't have any complaints.

And the Rangers manager said, you know, sort of afterwards, he knows he's been a bad boy.

But it was quite funny on the sky coverage, Kenny Miller was on CoComs trying to defend the tackle.

Like, oh, you can't do anything these days.

You can't tackle anybody.

And just go, oh, come on, mate.

He was going at 200 miles an hour.

I mean, it was the reddest red you will ever see.

And I don't know what the ref was doing, giving him a yellow to begin with.

He must have thought he got a bit of the ball.

Not that that really matters, but yeah, Kenny Miller's

defending the indefensible on COCOMS with his very much Rangers hat on was quite amusing.

So, Celtic have uh, they won two one, they missed loads of chances, should have won by more.

They missed a penalty, uh, Matt O'Reilly

had a spot kick save by Jack Butland, who pulled off some incredible saves to keep Rangers in the game, but ultimately they lost.

So

Celtic need a point against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night, I think, or they might not even need a point if Rangers don't beat Dundee tomorrow.

That will make it 12

titles out of 13 for Celtic.

Brendan Rodgers has been

crowing about it, basically.

used his post-match interviews to take pot shots at various critics who accused him of phoning it in, saying how hard he works.

You know, he's in the training ground every morning between half, seven, and eight o'clock.

I mean, I personally think that's quite lackadaisical effort.

Any day we have a podcast, I'm up before 6 a.m.

So,

yeah, up your game, Brendan.

I'd just like to say that John Lundstrom stayed in the same hotel as me last summer, and I saw him at breakfast twice, but I'm not sure I can get sort of five minutes of material out of that.

But you know, if you'd like to work shopping, did he

sprint across the dining room and like take you out with a studs-up tackle while you were inspecting the scrambled eggs?

Yeah, when I was

picking up the last poached egg available, and he thought he was having none of it and went in two-footed.

I can't remember now if he was the subject of the Will Anwin anecdote or not.

No, no, no, no, but there's someone else at a hotel, yeah.

It was the same hotel, but I

didn't see him at an owl show or anything like that, or at the Michael Jackson Jackson Tribune.

Is it bad?

I've forgotten, is it bad I've forgotten who it was?

Yeah, I can't remember either.

He lost me a very poor anecdote.

I mean, I'm how can I forget?

I'm told it was it made the night in Manchester.

I mean, the picture of me and said footballer as part of the selfie that the footballer asked for was it was 40 feet behind you.

It was blown up to 40 feet.

It was massive.

That's probably the biggest picture I've ever seen of a selfie of someone and a footballer.

And I, Connor Cody.

Yeah.

Ah, yes.

Yes, that's it.

Look, elsewhere, Man United beat Spurs 4-0 in the Women's FA Cup final.

Worth digging out.

Ella Toon's opening goal.

Absolute cracker.

That one.

And please listen to The Guardian.

Women's Football Weekly's out tomorrow for the full rundown.

We don't need to do a massive deep dive on the championship playoffs.

Norwich nil, Leeds 0, West Brom 0, Southampton 0.

That was

an afternoon of fun with that and Arsenal Manchester United, but it all set up for the second legs.

We got put off the radio for that.

I know, we did, didn't we?

Absolute outrage.

Big EFL pod next Tuesday

after the championship semis have concluded, after the League One and League Two playoff finals.

Finally, a lot of you getting in touch that listen to the pod in high places after an email from a tree surgeon.

In ascending order, Eric says, I work part-time at a rock climbing gym and occasionally listen to the pod while setting new routes on the wall.

While 50 feet is probably closer to the ground than where window washers or crane operators work, still nice to have your voices keep me company up there.

Chris says, long-time listener, first-time emailer.

The last pod mentioned listening from tall places.

I'm an exploration geologist and I work in Alaska.

I listen to the pod while in a bush plane going to and from the mine I work at.

In addition to listening from the air, I've also had the pleasure of having the pod on while coming face to face with a grizzly bear.

Picture attached.

I was on an ATV coming back from surveying six miles out of camp, and the bear was blocking my way.

I made it through half the episode before he moved away enough and I could proceed.

Now, what I know is, were you playing it out loud to the bear, and did he get bored halfway through?

And in which case, who was on the panel?

And, you know, we'd like to know which panelists bears don't like, especially for our live tour of Canada.

Oh, by the way, I'm

because I'm so worried England are going to win the Euros I'm going to Canada

the Tuesday after the final because I right I have family there and I reckon no one will be talking about the Euros there and I have checked Halifax Wanderers are playing at home while I'm there so if anyone connected with Halifax Wanderers is listening and would like to offer me uh i don't know lovely hospitality for the game, that would be really nice.

Um, Adam finally says, Hi, Max and Ko.

I'm referenced to listening from high places.

I'm a pilot.

Your podcasts get me through long flights over oceans at 40,000 feet, where all communications are done through texts.

You and your fellow host never fail to cause me to break out in laughter, drawing strange looks from my fellow pilots.

I shouldn't be focused on flying the plane, Adam.

Thank you for helping me relieve the hours of boredom and keep up the great work.

Yeah, tough to beat unless someone is on the International Space Station.

But I'm still interested in people up high towers.

I'm pretty sure your mate the crane driver says he normally listens on the tube, which is not high up.

But, you know, there we go.

Anyway, look, that'll do for today.

Thank you, Baz.

Thank you.

Thanks, Will.

I'm also willing to take any freebies as well.

Fine, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I thought so.

Oh, Dan, how's your tumble dryer settling in?

Yeah, I mean, last time it did end up taking a higher portion of the podcast than I would have liked for my first appearance.

Surprised to be, surprised to be asked back for a second appearance after that debacle.

But yeah, it's good.

Is it gelling?

Is it gelling with the rest of the appliances?

Yeah,

I've had a text about the getting stuff out of the tumble dryer whilst I've been doing the podcast as well.

The tumble dryer is never far from the Guardian Football Weekly.

It's always Joel says,

The Tumble Dryer is a real utility man.

Thank you so much.

All right, cheers.

Well, thanks for coming on, Dan.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

This is the Guardian.