Arsenal and Manchester City set up a two-horse race – Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

So now a two-horse race for the Premier League title with both Arsenal and Manchester City winning on Sunday.

Arsenal were ruthless at Spurs, 3-0 up at halftime halftime without doing that much first quarterback, but in vain, is there an Ange Plan B that involves defending set pieces?

Manchester City rode their luck and Chris would square football boots on these so-so dry city ground turf.

Turning to their now goal-scoring regulars of Harland and Vardiol.

Any hope Liverpool had is surely gone now after dropping two points at West Ham.

They did enough to win, but didn't, even if Cody Gakpo should have been allowed to slot that one in, all while Mo Sala and Jürgen Klopp rowed on the touchline.

Elsewhere, Sheffield United are down to steal a line from Irish satirist Barry Glendenning.

The big question is, what does that mean for eating sandwiches in the presence of Chris Wilder?

Bernley get the penalty.

Wolves should have got eight months ago at Old Trafford.

And Geoffrey Schlupp hits a good one.

EFL Times as Cambridge survive and leads implode.

Heartbreak for Chelsea women in the Champions League.

With Vera announcing she's leaving at the end of the season.

Will the rest of the cast down tools?

All that plus your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Jordan Jarrett Bryan.

Welcome.

Morning, mate.

Hello, Barry Glendenning.

Hi, Max.

Hello, Jonathan Wilson.

Morning.

How are you doing?

I'm very good then.

So, the top of the Premier League, Arsenal, 80 points with three games to go.

Manchester City, 79 points with four games to go.

Liverpool, now a little way away, 75 points with three games to go.

Let's start at the Tottenham Hot Spurs Stadium.

I thought this was an odd football match.

I thought Spurs were quite good in the first half and found themselves 3-0 down.

Obviously, Arsenal, as I said, were totally ruthless.

I'm clearly too biased.

Jordan, you are too biased.

Let's get the sensible views first.

Wilson and Baz.

Wilson, start with you.

What did you make of it?

Well, I was watching it in the Nottingham's press room next to Phil Brown.

So I'm not sure how sane my views are going to be either.

But Phil Brown's view definitely was, it's too easy.

It's just too easy.

And I think that was it.

Tottenham did play fine, but Vicario, people have worked out, does not like in swinging corners.

You really pressure him.

And even the break that led to the second Arsenal goal, there was a sense it's all just a bit simple.

And you know Saka's going to come back onto his left foot.

And okay, I know Ben Davis has had to, you know, has charged across.

Maybe his momentum means that he's going too quickly to stop.

But it all just seemed, you could see that happening from miles away that Saka was just going to wait for him, turn inside.

And you say, yeah, it's a really good finish.

But

it all did just feel a bit simple.

And

it didn't feel like a 3-0 game at halftime.

And then there was that classic Arsenal thing of Sears to get under a little bit of pressure they they do wobble quite badly and in the end yeah they they held out they got away with it but it was

I don't know I clearly there were celebrations at the end and I get that and that that's reasonable but given the position they're in at half-time

I'd still be I mean it's too late in the season for it to matter really I guess but you'd still be worried about their

their capacity to see games out, their capacity not to be derailed when things do go against them.

Yeah, I largely agree with that.

I thought the first half, Spurs didn't do a whole lot wrong and then found themselves 3-0 down.

Should they have had a penalty instead of Arsenal getting that second goal through Saka?

Probably.

But it wasn't given for the Trossar trip on.

I don't think it was an intentional trip, but it was definitely a trip on Kulasevsky.

Then when Arsenal looked to have the match won

because they're better at defending set pieces and better at taking set pieces than Spurs are.

They give away two really silly goals.

Raya gives that goal to Christian Romero, and then Declan Rice, for reasons best known to himself, kicks Ben Davies in the bollocks.

There's no other way around

to dress it up

in the penalty area.

And

weirdly, that penalty was only given after a

touchline monitor review.

And despite the fact that the referee Michael Oliver had a very clear view of it, I think it was like that episode of Father Ted where

Ted kicks Bishop Brennan up the arse and then just denies he did it.

And Bishop Brennan starts to doubt himself.

We had a question exactly on that.

Yes, Wilson.

Declan Rice did no denying at all.

I mean, I don't know if you've seen the camera from behind the goal.

Declan Rice's body language is, oh shit, I've just given away a stupid penalty.

And

he barely bothers to move because he obviously knows it's going to be checked.

But I wonder, I mean, I've found as I've got older, if somebody shoves a menu or something too close to me, I just can't see it.

I've got to sort of lean back.

My eyes now can't focus if things, something's too close.

And I wonder if that started to happen with Michael Oliver.

If incidents happen too close to him, he just can't focus.

Oh, he's near-sided.

That's the problem.

yeah it develops with age i think isn't it yeah i think your your eyes muscles relax with age so what so actually for for instance really close he needs to pick out some little reading glasses

during the game and that is totally fine no i i i'd be more of the view that he he michael otto were thinking that that cannot just have happened

i must have imagined that

so i i think if declan rice had just emphatically denied doing it he might have got away with it the thing is at the end of it all Jordan, like they held on, right?

And they've done what they needed to do.

And they were, I guess what you don't know is

it did feel easy for Arsenal, even if Tottenham were playing well in that first half.

And had it been harder, you sort of got the sense that Arsenal weren't giving, they weren't giving everything in a sense.

They could have stepped up another level, perhaps.

Yeah, for sure.

There was definitely another gear.

to go if if required.

I think it's important to mention the context of the week, this game within the concept of the week.

It was a very, very difficult, potentially season-ending week for Arsenal to come through that with a win at Wolves, a win at Chelsea, and a win at Spurs.

I think shows a lot about how this Arsenal team have improved.

I personally wanted a clean sheet as well.

So I just think it would have been a nice

round off to the week to kind of come through those three games with nine points and no goals conceded.

But yeah, I think Spurs actually weren't that bad in the first half.

We were just...

clinical and ruthless.

I disagree slightly with Jonathan Wilson, who mentions that the pressure maybe was what caused Arsenal to slightly mini-implow towards the end.

I think in previous years, a little bit of pressure would make this team capitulate.

I just think it was David Rare being too comfortable.

I just think he was too comfortable and he was bored.

And that led to that particular error.

Go on, Wilson.

No, but my point is that the Brentford game, the Bayern game, are very similar.

Arsenal are totally cruising.

Then a goalkeeping error leads to them conceding.

And then they can't get back to that level of control.

Panic sets in.

The Brentford game, they eventually

did get back together last 15 minutes.

The Bayon game, again, they sort of got it back by the last 10, 15 minutes, but

they conceded two in that time.

You know, I could see an extra goal in that time.

The difference was this time, it was 3-0 up when it happened rather than 1-0 up.

And I think

it's similar to the Fulham game they lost, similar to the West Ham game they lost, that

one little thing goes wrong, and the whole rhythm is knocked out of kilter.

And they're not good at riding through adversity.

I think when things are going well, they're exceptional.

But I think the failing that is still there.

And you can even trace it back to the Liverpool or West Ham games last season.

One little glitch, even when they're in control of a game, sends them off.

And that's not the sign of a team who are going to be relentless champions.

I think that's fair comment.

I think that's fair comment.

But

I think it was this one was about obviously winning the game and kind of getting through and putting the pressure onto City.

Again, I slightly disagree with Barry because I found the analysis last night or match the day where Ashley Williams and Shea Given were saying it was a penalty.

I was stunned.

I don't think it's a penalty at all.

Where I've got sympathy for Spurs is the goal that was disallowed.

I'm not convinced that was definitely offside.

I think there's an argument that he's just in line.

I've got a bit of sympathy there with Spurs, but just a couple of...

other slightly wider things.

That's now four points against Spurs, four points against Chelsea, four points against Liverpool, Liverpool, four points against City.

And I'm hoping six points against Manchester United.

And it just exemplifies more so that if Arsenal do finish second, which I think they will, again, just how good this city team is, because to get that amount of points against your big six rivals

and still, you know, come second.

I know that it's not just big six league.

um shows just how unlucky they are and just finally as well set pieces i remember the first manager i hear i heard talking about the importance and the value of set pieces pieces being Sam Allardyce back in the day at Bolton.

And I'm not saying he's the first person to invent the idea of focusing on set pieces, but Arsenal's set piece record this season has been a massive part as to why they are in this title race.

I just think I just wonder if other clubs now will spend as much money in transfer fees as they do on their set piece coach because clearly if you can add 10, 15 goals to your tally with set pieces, that's going to make a significant difference as well.

Yeah, it is interesting that Spurs, Arsenal played three games games while Spurs were sort of kicking their heels waiting for this one.

And

Andrew Postakoglu knows how good Arsenal are at corners, taking corners.

He knows how bad his own team are at defending them.

He knows his goalkeeper gets bullied at corners.

And yet did nothing or appeared to do nothing to rectify the situation.

I know

these set piece gurus, I think we're obliged to call them,

are quite the fad at the moment.

But what Arsenal are doing, it's not really rocket science.

It's, you know,

get a load of big blokes at the back post, and then as this in-swinging, well-hit in-swinging corner puts up, put Ben White on the keeper, and as this in-swinging corner is being sent in, everyone swarms to the near post and someone gets their head to it, whether it's Kai Havertz or Pierre Mila Huiberg putting the ball into his own net.

Why aren't Spurs making more of an effort to stop their goalkeeper being bullied?

They had time to work on it.

Yeah, it's a really good point.

Look, Arsenal have scored 16 goals and corners in the Premier League this season.

That's the most by a team in a single campaign since West Brom under Tony Pulis in 2016-17.

But isn't that the point, Wilson?

That it's maybe

you've got a plan for your corners, right?

You're going to mark zonely, which is what Tottenham are doing.

But then once Arsenal have got this thing where they all come from behind and they you know so Tottenham players don't know where they're coming from you have to change in the game right you have to say look we've got to do something different because this isn't working or as everyone else has said just get somebody standing in between Vicaro and Ben White and two to Ben White what Ben White's doing to Vicaro which is kind of lean on him and just push him out the way.

Yeah, I mean this is one of the problems with solar marketing set pieces that broadly speaking that does work.

We probably need a man-to-man element as well.

So it happened in the City Forest Gold Forest City game as well that the Gradiol goal, he runs off Morgan Gibbs White.

And because of that, he's moving at pace when he gets to Murillo.

And to Mario can't get the height, can't get the power to beat him in the air.

I mean, maybe he wouldn't have done it anyway.

And so you sort of think, well, that's.

I don't think it's as simple as saying one is right and one is wrong.

But it's clearly an issue with zonal marking at said pieces that once a player gets a run and you're static, what can you do against it?

And again, again, Forest, maybe Nico Williams is off a pitch because of getting treatment.

Maybe if they had that extra man there, they would have had an extra body and it wouldn't have happened.

I don't know.

But it did occur to me in that game: this is a really obvious flaw, and I don't really know what you're meant to do against it other than have somebody man-to-man on Gradio, giving him a bit of a nudge as he jumps.

Yeah, actually, it's interesting.

It's interesting you talk about Forest there because you sort of think, Jordan, with set pieces, right?

Obviously, Man City will have better players than Nothing Forrest, right?

Arsenal probably have better players than Tottenham.

It's obviously slightly different.

But you would think set pieces is something that like anybody could be good at.

Like, that is not like incredible natural £100 million player talent.

Okay, the delivery matters, but you should have somebody with half-decent delivery.

Like, all the clubs should be good at set pieces.

That's where, like, Tony Pudis and Wes Brom, they go, right, this is something we can be good at.

Yeah, yeah.

Because we have limited options.

Like, it's almost a surprise that City and Arsenal are the best two teams, I think, in that regard.

And that was the point, I think, that Paul Mercer made on Sky yesterday, that that should be the leveler, right?

That shouldn't really matter who's got the biggest budget, who's got the best players, the best coach.

You know, if you're down at the bottom of the table, the one thing that you can be as good at as Manchester City is

from set pieces.

So I guess in that sense, yeah, you're right.

But there must be a reason why a lot of clubs, Liverpool, I think, do as well.

Most clubs now do employ a set piece specialist because there must be something extra that those guys are bringing to the table that just the idea of, well, mark your man, you know, block this guy out of the way brings to the the tactics as well just briefly on the gavardio goal if we'd moved on to that night in the forest game i thought it was one of my best goals the weekend that goal is really really good he's gone at least a yard and a half past the post and to get that connection and that that header on i thought was a brilliant goal from gavardio that wasn't really discussed much in the analysis um and maybe it's because the wrong person was marking him because wheelios was off the pitch i don't know but just wanted to flag that goal yeah it's a good point um just to say on spurs arsenal i'm absolutely here for how how grumpy Ange is when he has to talk to the media after a defeat.

He makes what, what, how many interviews he's got to do, and he's just, he

has no interest in being there.

Just so, he's just so furious about the whole thing.

So, yeah, look, City 1-2-0

at Forrest after that, after Arsenal put the pressure on.

And actually, Barry...

You feel Forest might have left one out here.

They could have done something in this game.

They had the chances.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean,

that game will give hope to Arsenal I think because with better finishing Forrest could certainly have drawn and might conceivably have won the game.

Chris Wood had a day to forget he missed two sitters, another sort of half decent chance that he might have scored on one of his better days.

Just looking at my notes here, one, two, three, four, four.

Forrest had more chances than City.

Played very well, but still lost because City were more clinical than they were.

It does show that City are kind of fallible because

on another day they could have

only drawn or even lost.

Yeah,

Forest's XG of 1.27 at half-time, the most by any side in the first half of a game against Manchester City this season.

Lots of questions along these lines.

Sal saying, do we know who Chris Wood supports?

And are Forrest considering their options?

Dan, you know, when will Notting Forest release a statement accusing Chris Wood of being a Luton fan?

Patrick, what did Stuart Atwell slip Chris Wood before the match to mean he would miss so many chances?

He just had one of those days.

He's actually had a really, a really good season.

I liked Wilson Pep saying, we were so lucky, the pitch was so dry, and that's why they missed those chances.

They were lucky.

But I sort of feel this a lot about City this season.

There's very few games where I think they've been that impressive.

And yet they've got 31 games unbeaten now.

Of course, it helped me.

I thought it was quite punchy punchy from the PGMOL that the refereeing team was Nico and Kellis Matthews and the coach of Eric Morcombe.

But

I don't think there was any sort of var controversies in that game.

But

I have to say, I didn't notice the pitch being dry.

That was something that only, I mean,

if pitch can't have been dry, it absolutely hammered down.

I went to Nottingham early to see a mate for lunch, and it must have rained for at least four or five hours while I was in Nottingham.

So that pitch must have the best drainage in the the history of drainage.

If that pitch was dry,

so yeah, I thought that was nonsense.

And I don't know,

the fact he had that weird rant about kickoff times and having to play too many games.

Yeah, there's an easy way around that.

Lose some matches, and then you won't be in these competitions.

But is he getting under a bit of pressure?

I don't know.

Because you look at it now, and Arsenal's three remaining games, Bournemouth, United Away, Everton.

City's looking a little bit harder because they've got to go to Fulham and they've got to go to Spurs.

I mean, West Ham at home is pretty straightforward.

Even Wolves are home next week, I don't think is that easy.

Wolves beat McMolyneu earlier in the season.

So

I mean, I still think City will win the title, but they're running now, now that Arsenal have got through this last week, as you know, as Jordan mentioned, those three games, I think City's running looks a little bit tougher.

Yeah, it's worth saying that

Arsenal have a goal difference is seven better than Cities.

So you think if Cities draw one game and then they all win their games, depending on, you know, city really turning it on, you'd imagine that the title would be Arsenal.

The question is, Jordan, you know, are you looking at Tottenham thinking, hang on?

Let's say Villa are clear in fourth, Tottenham have got fifth.

They're playing city.

Under 17s.

You know, like, what, like, like, like, what would you do?

Like, it's a really interesting situation, actually, because you can't imagine Passocogli would, you know, he wouldn't go into it that way.

But can you imagine everyone on the stadium going,

yeah, it could be like you now, Arsenal, you are now desperate, right, for Tottenham to still be telling

when that game comes out.

Yeah, we need them to be competitive because we need them to want to win or need to win that game against Manchester City.

My fear is that that top four slot is slipping away from the week by week because of how Villa, how good Villa are playing at the moment.

But no, you know, things can change within a week or so.

Villa drop points.

So, yeah, the longer that that top four race is competitive, the the the better it is for arsenal just two quick points on this game as well we often talk about um players maybe being like your cameron jerome's or your dave nuggets being too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem i wonder if teams like forests are the club that kind of and burnley are like the equivalent of that in that they're not quite good enough to be in the prem, but maybe too good

for the championship.

And if Forrest go down, I could see them just walking it next year.

And my other point was going to be about, again, Paul Mercer made an interesting point about Kevin De Bruyne's passing

in this game and how he's the best five-yard passer in the world.

And I think we tend to think of the best players in the world being great because they can make 60-yard diags or defense splitting passes.

But he made the correct point again that just being consistently good at...

passing the ball five yards with the right amount of power, with the right amount of

just the right amount of oomph behind it is a skill in of itself.

And De Bruyne is very consistent at that.

I just thought it was a very good bit of analysis from Paul Merrison.

Nothing annoys me more than when a centre-back is passing it to another centre-back and it's just a little bit behind them, or it's just slowing down the play.

Like those things really do matter.

If you're really focused and the ball isn't exactly the right place for the guy you're passing it to to then have the options beyond that.

And you're right.

I mean, De Bruyne was obviously effortless at that.

Liverpool probably out of it now.

2-2 at the London Stadium.

Barry, they really should have won this game, right?

They missed so many chances.

And if they win, you sort of think, okay,

they've still got a little chance, but it's none now, we feel.

Yeah, you'd imagine so.

And

if it was like Chris Wood, just a bad day at the office, you could say, you know, fair enough, these things happen.

But

this has been happening to Liverpool for quite some time now.

Very good forward players.

squandering chances and it's costing them points.

It costs them again here.

I think West Ham were well worth their point, having said that.

And

I mean, the first half of this game was

pretty dire.

And it was sort of lit up by the Jared Bone

goal not too long before halftime.

But otherwise, it was very pedestrian and dull.

And both teams, even though they both, you know, they're...

They both have something to play for, but they're kind of relying on other people to mess up.

So it did have a kind of end of season.

We've both thrown in the towel kind of vibe about it.

Then West Ham took the lead.

I would imagine Jürgen Klopp absolutely gave Liverpool's players a rocket at halftime.

And they upped their game considerably in the second half.

The two goals they scored were quite scruffy.

That Robertson sort of shot through it.

Oh, I thought he took it well.

I thought that was really well taken.

Yeah,

maybe I'm being unkind.

I thought he just took it because there was no other option available to him, and it sort of went through a ticket of legs.

And then the own goal, I mean, who gets that goal?

I don't know who got it in the end, but it hit every West Ham player.

Every West Ham player since the 80s.

Tony Cotty got a touch on it.

Steve Potts, etc.

Yeah, we'll give it to Tim Breaker.

Fine.

Harvey Elliott hit the woodwork.

Then you had that

Cody Gakpo incident with Alphonse Ariola.

It was definitely Alphonse Ariola.

Correct.

You know, where Anthony Taylor made an absolute tit of himself, really.

I mean, if Gakpo had scored there, there would have been no reason to disallow the goal.

Yeah, Harvey Elliott

hit the woodwork twice.

I think Liverpool have now hit the woodwork 24 times in the Premier League this season.

So yeah, they should have won, but they didn't, and it was their own fault.

Darwin Nunes, certainly 23 from him, I'd imagine, of that 24.

Yeah, I mean, the gagpo thing is weird, isn't it, Wilson?

And, you know, Anthony Taylor's kind of, I better do something now.

I'll call the physio on.

Um, was, I mean, I found it quite entertaining, but like, really, it's a bit like the Arsenal penalty against Bayern, isn't it?

It's one of those where I kind of get how somebody could argue this isn't how we want goals to be be scored, but also it is exactly how we want goals to be scored.

So I mean, with the Arsenal one, I think it's slightly different in that

Gabrielle isn't cheating there.

He thinks the goal kick hasn't been taken and nobody's gained that advantage from it.

So just let it go.

Here, it's a little bit different in that.

I don't really understand what was going on.

Where I give Andy Taylor credit is he had the presence of mind to blow his whistle before Gapo got to the ball.

so that there wasn't an issue that he'd put the ball in the net, there wasn't a goal to be ruled out.

But isn't that the big mistake that he shouldn't do that?

He should just say Ariola's lost his concentration, and you know, he said, playoffs.

Was Ariola thinking he had a free kick, or was it?

I mean, I assume that's what was going on.

Ariola, maybe.

And again, I think if it's a misunderstanding, I'd be inclined to show sympathy.

We all misunderstand things, as much as it should cost you a goal.

And, you know, he had collided with the post.

There had been sort of two occasions where Antita seemed to say, do you want treatment and maybe he just thought that he'd misunderstood and are you older thought that he was about to get treatment i think we don't want goals scored on on daft misunderstandings you know liverpool hadn't done anything to deserve a goal there so i think anthony taylor actually kind of gets himself out of the situation pretty well on what's just a i think fundamentally a miscommunication between him and ariola which can happen so i don't know i think referees often get things wrong.

I think that's an example of a referee actually just being quite sensible and

making sure that

no situation occurred.

Well, you convinced me, Wilson, if nobody else.

I also think,

and

this is a different point, but I think basically referees should only be allowed two types of haircut.

So one is to be bald, the other is to have a side parting, and they all should have absolutely blunt names that could be a butcher in the Northwest in the 1960s.

I mean, isn't that what it is?

Well, no, it's not.

Who can't you have anymore?

Gerald Ashby should never have been allowed to be a referee.

But Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver, they're both good, solid butchers' names, and therefore that's acceptable.

And therefore, we should support them, whatever their decisions are.

Darren Kahn.

Darren Kahn is, you know, making sausages in the back room, isn't he?

Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely fine.

Actually, this crop of referees are pretty good, but

we've got to be a little bit careful with.

It's more of a fancy haircuts than the fancy names.

But Roger Milford is definitely more Tory MP than Reference.

Exactly.

And yeah, Roger, Roger Milford, you know, if he'd sent Gaza off, Gaza wouldn't have done his knee and the history would have been very different.

Right.

There we are.

Yeah.

I mean, on a slightly serious point,

probably be good if there was a little bit more diversity.

Yeah, okay, yeah, that is normal as when we think about it.

But, you know,

it's worth mentioning Jared Bowen, who had a really good game, scored one, set up one, scored 20 this season.

That's a pretty good return.

Pushing for the plane.

Might not be the most exciting of all those attacking midfielders or sort of wide attackers, but can certainly do a job.

And look, we haven't really discussed David Moyes.

We will do.

We have done many times.

But Julian Loboteggi spoke to West Ham and has decided to go to AC Milan.

You would, wouldn't you?

I mean, I think that is sort of

the way,

you know, if we had the choice of those two, with all due respect, of course, to West Ham.

That'll do for part one.

Part two will begin with Chevron United getting relegated.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Thankfully, Jordan in the break said, you didn't mention Klopp and Salah, which was arguably the biggest headline.

So look, I did have it.

It's all written down in front of me.

Yes, thoughts, Jordan.

Oh, I have none.

I just thought it was worth, you know, you floated it to the point.

So, look, Jurgen, so Mo Sala's coming on.

Jurgen Klopp says something to him.

It's a weird time to like, I don't imagine what he said.

I mean, it's obviously pointless to speculate.

Just don't be shit today, Moe, or something.

He got really riled him up.

And then, afterwards, a Mo Sala sort of worked walked through the mix zone and said, Ah, if I speak, there will be fire.

So, all quite entertaining.

You imagine neither of them will be there next season, but you don't want this to end in a sort of sour way, Jordan.

Yeah, it's looking that I'm a Liverpool fan, so my interest is minimal.

But if you were a Liverpool fan, it is quite sad the way it seems to be ending because you've got these two legendary figures, not only for Liverpool, but for the prem, I guess.

And it seems to be, you know, a marriage that is

ending in a very messy way.

Look, we don't know what was actually said, but if we're going to speculate what was said, it feels like Salah was a bit effed off that he was dropped.

He's trying to get in the zone to get ready to come on and play.

Klopp said something to him that has obviously triggered him.

It's not worth it, Brian.

Well, yeah, it was a little bit of that in there.

I'm not sure if it quite needed him to be held back by

Nunez there.

But visually, that doesn't look great

on the whole thing.

And he has been poor.

I mean, Klopp's within his rights to drop Salah on the basis of form.

They're out of the title race now.

So Klopp may well feel, I can drop you anyway, because I'm not in the league.

So I can do what I think is the right thing to do.

But yeah,

it's not a good look.

Newcastle 5, Shev United 1 Chevy United are relegated they were actually actually quite good in this game Barry weren't they the first half especially obviously this was the day they got relegated but it also wasn't the day they got relegated they've been relegated because they haven't been very good all season yeah um

they've conceded 97 goals in 35 games they've probably hit the ton before the end of the season uh they've conceded five or more in seven games and they just just haven't been good enough and we all knew from the start they were going to struggle because they lost, sold or lost several of the players and loanes who who

helped them to get promotion and didn't replace them with enough quality.

Away at Newcastle is always going to be difficult.

And

despite a good first half where they probably should have been in the league going in at half-time,

Brooks smashed the ball wide, I think, when scoring looked easier.

That would have put them 2-1 up.

And then, yeah, they capitulated in the second half, and it wasn't that much of a surprise.

Newcastle were hugely improved after the break.

And Chris Wilder just said, you know, we don't have any leaders out there.

We've been bullied.

This is, you know, talking about the season as a whole, I think.

And

I'm pretty unimpressed with the job he's done since coming in, but he did have very limited tools to work with, and it's no surprise that they have been relegated.

Funny feeling that Ben Osborne, the Sheffield United

midfielder, listens to the podcast, so go easy on him on his quite funny own goal.

But it was the highlight of the game where it was sort of a bit like Gordon Strachan in the Charity Shields.

That one was caught between his legs, slightly Jimmy Chiore.

And just the camera pants him as he just went, oh, fuck off.

And I was like, it was absolutely perfect.

It was exactly what anybody should have done in that position.

I think he then went and booted the post in frustration.

And I suspect it may have hurt.

Such was the venom with which he kicked the post.

So if you are listening, Ben, congratulations on the relegation.

And I hope you didn't hurt your toe.

Yeah.

So only Swindon have ever conceded more goals in a single Premier League season.

That was 193, 94.

And that was a 42-game season.

So three games to go.

If I was a Chevy United fan, I would want the record, absolutely.

Meanwhile, Newcastle Wilson, Isaac looks, is such a brilliant player and has been brilliant.

Gimarash scored in this game as well.

And you keep hearing that they're going to have to sell one of these players.

I just don't know which one you would, if you were forced to sell one, which one you would sell?

I mean,

I think Isaac is exceptional.

And

I think Gimarash has clearly been brilliant for them, and I'm sure would continue to be brilliant for them if they can keep both.

But I think he's probably the easier to replace.

I think Isaac's movement, the quality of his finishing,

he's just one of those players who

everything just looks so natural for him.

You sort of feel he's nowhere near his ceiling yet.

I think one is a very good talent, one is an absolute exceptional talent.

So I'd be tempted to keep Isaac.

Ryan says, is Matt Ritchie the best lorry driver ever to play in the Premier League?

Yeah, this is the news that Matt Ritchie got his HGV license this week.

He looked very happy about it in the photo.

Eddie Howe, answering in classic football manager style, said he's always trying to improve himself, which I really

liked.

That's Makit Zama.

That'll really help his channel runs, won't it?

Because he can drive a big old lorry.

I'm just wondering, like, people are saying Newcastle will have to sell one of those periods, but I believe the Saudis have a quite expansive portfolio of hotels that they could surely sell to themselves to generate income that would allow them to keep their best players and possibly get more in.

But if they did a deal with Eddie Stobart, then Matt Ritchie could be sort of farmed out on loan to haulage

and then Eddie Howe wouldn't have one player.

He's not selecting that often.

Is Matt Ritchie planning on being a lorry driver after he retires?

I don't know, actually.

I don't know.

No, he's the reason he's got it is because his wife owns horses and this allows him to drive the horses about.

Ah, I see.

Oh, what a disappointing.

I just wanted to want it to be a trucker.

He wanted to be a late-night trucker and just, you know, text in overnight radio shows.

It's Matt on the M1.

Play Belinda Carlyle.

Right.

Anyway, 12 Trafford Man United won.

Burnley won.

A game, Wilson, where Andrea Nana simultaneously kept Manchester United in the game and cost them the win.

Yeah, I mean, it was an absolutely brilliant save.

I sort of think now it's harder for saves to stick in the memory in the way they used to, just because with all football being televised, we see more of them.

But that's still one of those saves where you see it, you do think,

you know, what on earth just happened?

So it's the sort of deflected head, like the shot is in, and then Lyle Foster redirects the ball, and you think that is in.

Yeah, so he's moving to his right.

Lyle Foster then gets his head to it, and he has to go to his left.

And it's not just that, it's the fact that he manages to get enough sort of power with his wrist to push the ball away.

I don't think getting a hand to it is the hard bit.

Getting a hand to it, I think,

I'm not saying that a normal person could do it, but I think a lot of goalkeepers would get a hand to it.

It's being able to sort of then flex your wrist enough to sort of punch it out of danger.

It's sort of been the story for a nano all season, hasn't it?

That he does a lot of very good things.

He does a lot of very bad things.

He got away with punching a player in the head against wolves early on, and this time he didn't.

It's an odd cushioned header from Casemiro, Jordan.

You know, to set up a Nana to punch someone else in the head, isn't it

is it odd i mean i've seen players before i've seen carl walker's very good at this like kind of dinking it high enough that there's players there's traffic in the way but obviously the key has the advantage of being able to catch the ball above people's heads so i it wasn't a bizarre head of that bizarre ahead of for me it wasn't a very good it wasn't a very good one though i mean like like well as as turned out no

but the idea i i didn't see him do that and think why are you doing that um Maybe the execution was just a little bit off, for sure.

Eric Ten Hag, Barry, said,

we are one of the most dynamic and exciting teams in the Premier League.

Who's he now trying to convince?

Who's he talking to?

They are exciting.

I find them an entertaining watch.

I mean...

I suppose I can kind of understand Eric Ten Hag's frustration in that he must think, I can't do right for doing wrong.

When we get beaten, I get slaughtered.

When we win i get slaughtered when we draw i get slaughtered like what am i supposed to do here but the fact is united remain an incredibly easy team to play against and burnley should have won this game i think and burnley could really really regret they're just throwing points around like confetti they gave away two easy points, stupid points against Brighton.

They lost two stupid points against Everton.

I wouldn't say these were stupid points to lose and a draw at Old Trafford is usually a good result, but I think they should have won this.

They were a better side.

You know, that's six points right there.

That would, if they had them in the bank, would put them four points ahead of Nottingham Forest and near safety.

They may still stay up.

People are giving them a chance.

They play Forest on the last day of the season.

So hope, you know, in the interests of

final day entertainment, here's hoping they're still in with the shout of staying up when they play Forest.

And it's interesting, everyone's giving Burnley a chance of staying up, but nobody seems to be giving Luton a chance.

But Luton still have an extra point on the board.

But Burnley are playing better than Luton at the moment.

Yeah, that's a good point.

I mean, look, Luton lost to Wolves, Wilson, and you do sense, it's exactly right, isn't it?

Luton are in a better position than Burnley, but form-wise, they really aren't.

Well, yeah, it just feels like the air's gone out of that balloon.

I mean, it's a little bit like, you know, Arthur Cheers was saying how much of a day that, yeah, Salah's got how many goals this season, of course, he has to start.

You sort of think, have you seen him since the Cup of Nations?

He's been absolutely terrible.

Like, form is a thing.

And, yeah, Luton,

I don't know if it's weariness, if it's a confidence of

it, or you have a loss of confidence caused by being in so many games.

and not getting wins from them.

They have had a lot of injuries.

Yeah, that Wolves game was one of those games where you think, well, Wolves aren't on a great run.

They've got nothing to play for.

This is a chance for Luton.

And to sort of slightly meekly go 2-0 down.

Okay, there's a bit of a fight back at the end.

They have the air of a doomed side.

And

all the conspiracies in the world probably aren't going to save them.

So Burnley, 24 points, Luton 25, Forrest 26.

They've all played 35.

Forrest fixture list is Sheffield United away, Chelsea at home, Burnley away.

Luton have Everton at home, West Ham away, Fulham at home.

Burnley have Newcastle at home, Spurs away, Forest at home.

So you'd say, Jordan, that Burnley have the toughest run in there?

I think so.

And I think Luton have the nicest game because they're playing three teams, if I'm not mistaken, that aren't playing for anything at the moment.

Is West Hammer kind of playing for a conversation?

Okay, okay, yeah.

You'd take Luton's fixtures, I guess.

I think Burnley will do it actually.

I think the momentum is with them.

I think it will be Forrest and

Luton

that end up through the trapdoor, unfortunately.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, we don't know what will happen with.

Forrester appealing, aren't they?

Yeah, we're due to find out this week.

So they've lost four points.

Will they get one or two back?

Don't know.

I don't really understand these appeals.

I mean,

there must be, like, I don't really understand why everton got points back you know

they got their punishment then they appealed and then okay have two points back or whatever three points back whatever it was um so did it

was it just uh

that the the independent tribunal or whatever made a mistake or i i don't know i should i should know and i don't but well i don't know and we should all probably know but you know it's not that it's not as interesting as actual football.

But you kind of need the people deciding the appeal for Forrest.

You kind of need them to not know what the Premier League table is, right?

You know, it's like finding jurors that have never heard of some incredibly famous murderer, right?

You just need someone to go, I don't know what football is, but I can really make a judgment on how many points you should get back or not get back.

Because if they make the decision and it instantly changes the league table in either way, then it sort of doesn't feel like

could you maybe take the jurors and sort of lock them up for I know 72 hours, just being fired random clips of games, random clips of us, of other football podcasts, so they become very disoriented and have absolutely no idea what's going on.

I actually just play this season's podcast so they have no idea what's going on.

They certainly won't know who Jan Bennerak is.

That'll be easy.

Do you know this person?

A lineup with Best of the Garden Bennerach to see if you're allowed on the jury.

Or Fabianski and Areola.

Exactly.

Villa, Chelsea, Villa 2, Chelsea 2.

Chelsea are random.

I think Villa will be disappointed, Jordan, weren't they?

They had a two-goal lead.

They could have lost it, of course.

I'm still not quite sure why Chelsea was so annoyed that a VAR check for a really blatant push gave a really blatant push.

I mean, that feels to me

what VAR is about.

Yeah, I didn't get it either.

They were massively clutching.

But Villa were really good.

Villa were really good.

And

I think they will get top four.

And they will have deserved a Champions League football next season.

And I just,

it hurts me, but watching Aston Villa is a real pleasure.

And I think that the job, we've said it before in this podcast that Emre's done.

I thought they would have actually burned out by now.

I thought the kind of March, April period

would be where they would tail off.

And they haven't.

So, you know, fair play to them.

I'm a massive fan of Jacob Ramsey.

So I hope that he comes back next season and is back to what we saw last season.

And that Rogers player, he looks like there's another great find from

Villa as well.

So yeah,

it wasn't a great result in the end for them, but it's looking like it's going to end up being a very, a very good season.

Yeah, everyone feels that, you know, they just have such a good lead on Tottenham now, Wilson.

Don't know that, Villa, even though Tottenham have, what, a couple of games to get close.

And Tottenham's fixed list is Chelsea away, Liverpool away, City at home.

That feels like Villa have got it now.

Yeah, they haven't quite, but they're definitely very strong favours.

I think we're just playing better than Tottenham at the minute as well.

I think Tottenham looked very fragile.

I guess we've already done the Tottenham bit, but their fall-off since that first 10 game.

I know the first 10 games was not ever going to be sustainable.

They had 26 points in the first 10 games, but it has been quite a sharp fall-off.

And I know there's been injuries,

but yeah, I wouldn't.

Given the fixture list, I think

Villa, one more win probably would be enough.

So Chelsea, Chelsea during this game, while we're on Chelsea, their women lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the second leg of the Women's Champions League semi-final.

Kadisha Buchanan was sent off for two yellows.

The second very soft.

Emma Hayes said it was the worst decision in Women's Champions League history.

And it did remind me that they got an incredibly soft penalty in the quarterfinals, I think, last year against Leon in the 128th minute, which could also be one of the worst decisions in...

Women's Champions League history, but Emma Hayes didn't say that about that particular incident.

But it was really soft.

I mean, I really feel for for her because it was a really bad decision.

They'd hit the post about a minute before.

And, you know,

those two moments could have really changed this game.

And Barcelona's penalties to get the second goal was also soft.

But it is worth listening to the Guardian.

Women's Football Weekly to find out if a panel of experts agree with Emma Hayes on that.

But yeah, Chelsea won't win the Champions League.

Still, of course, very much in the hunt for the WSL.

That'll do for part two.

Part three will begin in Bournemouth.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Another great win for Bournemouth, 3-11 at Brighton.

They only have three points after their first nine games.

Now they're 10th.

48 points is a record for them in the Premier League.

Why did we ever doubt Sid, Barry?

Or maybe you never did doubt Sid?

No, I was doubting Sid, I have to say.

I was Sid sceptic, and I'd like to apologise.

I should have known better.

Yeah, they've got 42 points since the start of November, which I believe, according to a match of the day graphic, only the top three or four sides have bettered that.

Rate of accumulation.

Brighton seem to have just given up for the season.

They haven't won any of their last six games.

lost four drawn two.

I'm going to be interested to see what happens at Brighton during the summer because I think Roberto Deserbi might, A, he doesn't look like his heart's in the job anymore.

And B, I think he might have irritated Tony Bloom, Brighton's owner, who is not a man you want to mess with.

And if you go into a game of brinkmanship with him, as Deserbi appeared to do earlier in

the season, you're almost certainly going to lose.

because Tony Bloom is famously a very, very good poker player.

And I think Deserbi had a good hand, which has weakened and he played it badly so I have a feeling he may not be the Brighton manager next season but I'm sure they'll have someone interesting lined up to replace him if that is the case but um yeah a really good performance against by Bournemouth against Brighton in what was a very much an on-the-beach derby between two clubs who are near the beach just to build on Barry's point there about Deserby um I agree and I mean I've been an advocate of Deserby getting the United job next season, should that job become available.

But I just wonder if the way that he's limping to the end of the season, I just wonder if other clubs now are just thinking,

we're not quite sure if you are the guy and if he's kind of killing himself with the way that he's performing there

at Brighton, because it's not been a great second half of the season for Deserby.

And also, I heard the crappy stat over the weekend from this game that,

well, it was that the commentator said, Justin Cliver, that goal now means he scored more goals than his dad in the Premier League.

I thought to myself, I don't remember Patrick Cliver scoring that many goals for Newcastle.

So I checked.

And Justin Cliver's on seven.

And I just thought,

but it would be a really good stat for just people whose dads never played Premier League football.

That would be more fun, wouldn't it?

Maybe, maybe.

Charlie Daniels' dad is a cabby.

Charlie Daniels first goal in the Premier League.

This now means he has more goals than his dad god you could you just drop it out all the time he's never passed the knowledge

exactly well that's interesting on deserby wilson isn't it you sort of think like other clubs are smart enough to look at the job he has done as a whole rather than the last sort of couple of months here but but there is a danger there was a point where like there were so many jobs open and he was a flavor of the month And the way football works, that that can change very quickly, that he could end up, as Barry says, pissing off tony bloom losing this job and actually not getting one of the

sort of actually really quite big jobs that he could have ended up getting yeah i think i mean the the way brighton's form has collapsed i think is is understandable given the injuries they've had the youth of the players are now having to play the the fact they had the europa league for the first time in their history uh which you know quite apart from the physical strain on players i think it's an emotional drain on on fans all of those are totally reasonable explanations I think where Deserbi might have cost himself is just his behavior.

He doesn't look a man in control on the touchline.

His post-match comments all seem to be about jockeying to get his next job, but he doesn't seem focused on the team now.

And if certain players are starting to think, yeah, I'm not sure what my future is, and maybe not quite giving them all as he would have done at the beginning of the season, I think Deserbi has to

bear some of the responsibility for that.

I don't think you should write him off for Brighton's results, but I think it's reasonable to say, is that the attitude, the behaviour of an elite manager?

And maybe it's not.

Injuries for Brighton meant a Premier League start for 21-year-old Odell Ophire, the nephew of rugby league legend Martin, and 19-year-old striker Mark O'Mahony, who deserved to be described this week as the new Evan Ferguson.

Has Evan Ferguson done enough to get a new Evan Ferguson?

I mean, possibly.

I mean, who knows?

John says not a question but if you have time after and Bournemouth beat Brighton you might like to mention Brighton's goal of the month for April competition consists of the Burnley-owned goal that rolled under their keeper's foot and that is it.

Everton beat Brentford 1-0 safety confirmed for Everton with this win.

And given Barry that Everton had that run of like 13 or 14 without a win, without the points deduction they'd be level with Brighton who we've that, as we've just established, is actually no great chase.

But anyway, you know, Dice is a fun manager to have have in the Premier League.

But I don't know if we've done him a disservice this season on what he's achieved given the upheaval at Goodison.

Yeah, it's been, I would imagine it's been quite stressful for him.

I mean, I don't think Daish needs anyone to speak up for him because he's very good at speaking up for himself in post-match interviews.

I think he's one of the better managers at doing post-match interviews, you know.

Whereas Eric Tenhag can come out and say, oh, we were brilliant in a game where they clearly weren't.

Daish can kind of gloss over bad performances and still sound

like he isn't talking through his hat or not sound delusional.

He's very well spoken.

But, you know, Everton have won three games in a row at home.

That was, you know, a nice quirk, I suppose, of the fixture generator.

And, I mean, this game was

the first half of this game was horrifically bad.

It was so bad.

And I really felt sorry for Kelly Cates.

And I can't remember who was punditing on Sky, but like the only thing they had to discuss at halftime was a Jared Brantwaite block from a Matthias Jensen shot.

Yeah, I think Christian Neurgaard had nutmeg James Tarkowski.

to tee up Matthias Jensen for a shot and Jared Brantwaite had blocked it.

That was the highlight of the first half.

And they were mugging furiously in the Sky Studio.

Is this all we've got?

This is Thing Gruel.

But yeah, picked up a bit in the second half.

Idrissagay scored another crucial goal.

He's not exactly prolific, but that's two in three games, I think.

And Everton, now officially safe.

They were pretty safe anyway.

Jordan Pickford made a couple of good saves.

And

Everton, they are the third that that will not flush.

And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Fulham Palace, all we need to talk about, Jordan, is the Jeffrey Schlupp finish, the goal of the day.

I mean, I know you said Gavardiel's header was good, but it wasn't as good as Jeffrey Schlupp's banger, was it?

Probably not.

No, probably not.

It was a great strike.

That's all I have to add.

Perfect.

A huge weekend in the EFL.

Leicester promoted to the Premier League.

Ipswich need four points from two to be certain.

That was after Leeds were hammered 4-0 by QPR, who are safe.

Amazing work from Sifuentes to get them safe.

Ipswich Drew at Hull, who can steal the last playoff spot from West Brom.

Huddersfield are basically down along with Rotherham.

It'll be between Birmingham and Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn for who joins those two.

In League One, Cambridge survive.

A far less stressful day than this time last season.

We needed a point and play for a goalless draw at Port Vale in one of the least interesting football matches of all time.

I mean, we could have done with a Jared Branthwaite block to make this game more interesting, to be honest.

It didn't matter because Cheltenham and Burton both lost.

So Cheltenham are relegated from League One.

Derby promoted the championship.

So the League One playoffs are Bolton v.

Barnsley and Peterborough versus Oxford.

In League Two, Automatic already confirmed for Stockport, Mansfield, and Wrexham.

Playoffs will be MK Dons vs.

Crawley and Doncaster versus Crewe.

Gutting for Barrow, who'd been in the playoff spots for about five years.

years.

Colchester United survive.

Sutton joined Forest Green in the National League.

consecutive relegations for Forest Green.

Adam says, Can you give a mention to Solihol Moore's FC, please?

Back-to-back trips to Wembley and the National League playoff final and then the FA Trophy Dreamland.

Yeah, Bromley v.

Solihol Moores for a spot in League Two next Sunday.

So, yeah, a new team in the EFL was exciting.

Stephen says, some words on the late and great Charlie the King Hurley would be wonderful.

A player who my dad nor myself ever saw play.

Granddad was lucky to, but somehow meant just as much

to all three generations.

Something I think is common across Sunderland fans.

Wilson, Barry, I'll start with you, Wilson.

Yeah, I mean, I struggle to think of another player who,

you know,

when did he finish playing?

Sort of

69, I think he left for Bolton.

And, yeah, he's still universally regarded as Sunderland's greatest ever player.

You know,

I don't know if they still do, but certainly...

late 90s fans still sung his name.

You still see people with Hurley 5 shirts.

And the extraordinary thing is, he didn't win anything.

You know, he was the captain of the promotion winning team of 63-4,

which fans of my dad's generation, I think, regard as being the best of all Sunday teams.

I mentioned him in my column on Sunday, and it turned out I could just name that 11.

I didn't have to look it up.

I checked, but Montgomery, Irwin, Ashurst, Harvey, Hurley, McNabb, Usher, Heard,

Sharkey, Crossan, Mulhall.

And then Alan Brown left during the summer, went to Schiffer Wednesday, and

things with a very Sunderland, in a very Sunday way, went bad quite quick.

But Hurley was a centre half, he was tough, big,

but he was also a very elegant player, very graceful player, got

20 odd goals in just over 400 games for Sunday, would go forward for corners.

But I think the reason he was so popular, and bearing in mind, he was born in Cork and grew up in Millwall, so he had no local connection.

I think the reason he meant so much was because he sort of embodied what Sunderland fans saw as their own best qualities.

That he did have that resilience and that toughness, but also there was a there was a grace there as well.

So,

yeah, very sad.

Yeah, I mean, I never saw him play, but he's the reason my dad was a Sunderland fan.

My dad would have watched him play for Ireland

when he was a student.

When my dad was a student, not

Charlie Hurley was playing for Ireland in Dublin.

I wouldn't imagine Sunderland would have been on TV in Ireland back in those days, if they even had TVs.

The other sort of nice thing about him is that when Sunday won the Cup in 73, he sort of has a walk-on part because he was the Redding manager who Sunday beat in the fourth round.

But every time he did come back, it was probably once a season he came back.

You know, if he knew he was going to be on the pitcher halftime, nobody went to get a pint.

Everybody was there to sort of to hail him because he 30 years after he stopped playing, he was still the biggest hero we had.

Finally, an email from Danny on the subject of uh um we were talking about a team where all the fans were in fancy dress but hurling like vicious abuse at the manager, but it sort of didn't quite land because they all looked ridiculous.

Danny says, Hi, Max Barry and Cole.

Your conversation about fans going to games in fancy dress reminded me of an incident on the final day of the 2013-14 season.

A friend of mine had a spare ticket for Spurs Villa, so I tagged along, keeping my Leeds United allegiance to myself.

Spurs beat a sorry villa 3-0, and I caught the train back to Liverpool Street.

While on the train my attention was caught by a thick brummy accent behind me.

It went as follows.

In the last month I've lost my job.

My girlfriend ran off with someone else.

The villa is shite.

Everything is just shite.

Curious to put a face to this embodiment of misery, I turned around to see said man with thick brummy accent dressed in full Mr.

Blobby outfit.

Ten years on, it still raises a smile whenever I think about it.

Keep up the good work and up the leads.

Danny Brogan.

Thank you, Danny.

Do we know for certain it wasn't Mr.

Blobby?

Because he kind of disappeared off the radar.

That's true.

Do you think all those things went wrong for Mr.

Blobby at the same time?

I hope wherever he is, I hope Blobby, Blobby, Blobby is doing tremendously well.

When he gets old, Blobby, because he was quite,

it was quite a lot of his life was about movement, wasn't it?

So hopefully he's still sort of quite agile because once he's lost that, it'll be a sort of sad time.

It's a bit old, Mr.

Blobby.

Anyway, that'll do for today.

Thank you, Jordan.

Cheers, mate.

Thank you, Barry.

Thanks, Max.

Thanks, Wilson.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray.

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