Arsenal go seven clear as Manchester City drop points, & Carrick suffers his first loss

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1:18Alistair Bruce-Ball:This is the Football Daily Podcast with Alistair Bruce Ball. Hello, welcome to the Football Daily Podcast. Coming up, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson was alongside Chris Coles at St. James' Park for Newcastle against Manchester United. But we'll start with Manchester City dropping points at home to Nottingham Forest in the title race. So Arsenal going seven points clear as they beat Brighton 1-0 at the Amex, plus a big win for West Ham at the bottom of the table too. How will that impact Tottenham in the fight for survival? and finally we'll discuss how Michael Carrick lost his first match as Manchester United manager at St James' Park.

2:05Alistair Bruce-Ball:So many stories in the Premier League to get into, but we've got to talk about Manchester City dropping points in the title race at home tonight, first of all, drawing 2-2 against Nottingham Forest. And with Arsenal beating Brighton 1-0 here, Arsenal extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to seven points. Manchester City have the game in hand. Arsenal have eight to play. Manchester City have nine to play. So let's hear from the City boss, Pep Guardiola, who's been talking to Jonathan Pearce.

2:35Paul Robinson:Astonishing game, really. You had so much possession. You dominated the game, and yet you come away with just a point. Yeah, and the chances, yeah. I had two goals in one corner at the end. Yeah, we did everything. we could a little bit better, but yeah, it's great. What could you have done better? The school goals. And defensively, it shows you that this league, you can dominate for long periods of a game, but this league is unforgiving. You make, switch off twice and teams can punish you. Yes. I like when, yeah, we concede few. Of course, you have to maybe do it better, but it's not about to analyse one specific action.

3:19Paul Robinson:to never point fingers for my players. They did everything. We had the chances at the end, even in the first half and the momentums and something that always happened and that at the end we couldn't win. If you can criticise your team today, what points would you criticise? Never criticise. I will do with you, Jonathan, so that's for sure. And strong points of your display today, what would you look at and think that was really good? In general it was really good. Many, many good things. Many good things. You're very experienced in this title race. They've got to come here. You've got the game in hand.

3:54Paul Robinson:This doesn't mean it's... No, it's Newcastle. And after Madrid, and after game by game.

4:00Alistair Bruce-Ball:Game by game, plenty of games to come. Pep Guardiola slightly taciturn there with Jonathan Pearce. Paul, no surprise, I guess, after a result like that. Has that surprised you tonight, Paul? I mean, again, I've watched Arsenal this evening. They got over the line and haven't played that well. Manchester City, since the late comeback win against Liverpool, seem like they've been on a bit of a roll. Haaland back in the team tonight, Semenyo scoring again, but they've not been able to beat Nottingham Forest at home.

4:24Chris Coles:Yeah, I think that's upset a lot of people this evening with Arrakis. I mean, I don't think you'd have seen that one coming tonight at all for Nottingham Forest. No, you know, the Premier League win under Pereira. I mean, they progressed in Europe, but actually only won four away games all season, I think going to a Manchester City side, who I think there's a lot been talked about Manchester City. We all expect them to go on this run and that home game that they've got coming up against Arsenal, everyone talks about that, has been the pivotal game. whereas actually they're not the Manchester City of old we've seen that, we've seen that there are chinks in their armour but they were in a great run, four straight Premier League wins and especially at home, I mean their record at home is up there with Arsenal's and you would genuinely have expected them to pick up all the points tonight

5:03Alistair Bruce-Ball:And Paul, does it change the way you feel about the title race at all or have you been sort of in recent weeks, recent months thinking that Arsenal are going to get there and this only confirms that?

5:16Chris Coles:Three or four weeks ago, I was in the Manchester City camp thinking that, you know, where Pep is, he thrives at this moment in the season, he enjoys this moment of the season, and his teams genuinely do seem to kick on. Both of them, let's not forget, are competing in four competitions between now and the end of the season. There's going to be a few twists and turns. But from an Arsenal point of view, there's always questions because they haven't got it over the line. They've not done it for so long. So that finger will always be pointed and that question will always be asked until they do it.

5:43Chris Coles:But actually, the questions that they get asked when they say, you know, the North London derby, it's a big game against Spurs. OK, Spurs are poor, but it's a North London derby. They go and put four past Tottenham. The home game against Chelsea, it's going to be a difficult game. They beat Chelsea. They go to Brighton tonight. OK, one paper, what looks a difficult game? Brighton coming off the back of two wins after two defeats. You would expect them to have a go at Arsenal. They've answered that question again at the moment. Every question that Arsenal are getting, they're answering.

6:09Alistair Bruce-Ball:Manchester City are stumbling at times. Yeah, the next time these two are in Premier League action is a weak Saturday. Arsenal will play first. So a seven-point lead. Manchester City have the game in hand. Arsenal at home to Everton win that. And they would go ten points clear before that night. Manchester City are away at West Ham. As you say, Paul, and as I witnessed, Arsenal, again, like Sunday against Chelsea, weren't at their best tonight. Didn't have many efforts on target. The goal they scored came early in the first half from Bakayo Saka. And a little bit of fortune about that as well.

6:40Alistair Bruce-Ball:Took a deflection off Carlos Beléber. Fooled Bart Verbruggen. couldn't close his legs in time and zip through there into the back of the net. The second half got very stodgy indeed. But as we've been saying, they got the win. And here's the Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, on what is a really big win for his team tonight.

6:57Paul Robinson:Very, very happy because it's a very difficult place to come. And when you're playing the amount of games that we're playing and a team demands you everything that Brighton does, every time you have to come here, we knew that was going to be a long and a tough night. and we make it a little bit tougher because probably our heart rate is a little bit too high when we have the ball and we have not been as efficient and as composed as we need to do. And when you don't have that, you have to have many other qualities to win in this league and certainly the team has that. And just in terms of the title race, obviously Man City during tonight, where does this leave you with what's next?

7:30Paul Robinson:Because you're counting down the game. I know we go another game, another victory, a really tough one. I want to say thank you for all our supporters because they were phenomenal throughout the night. and very happy that we could offer them that victory again, which is a massive one. As we all know, as the games start to get less and less, so very happy.

7:51Alistair Bruce-Ball:Paul, how good must that feel? You've not played brilliantly. You've kept the clean sheet. You've won the game. And then you hear that Manchester City have dropped points as well. In terms of the title, that's going to give Arsenal a massive boost, isn't it?

8:03Chris Coles:Of course it does. It gives you a huge boost. I mean, whether you're in a title race or a relegation battle, you'll speak to players and you'll speak to managers and every interview that they do, we need to take care of our own business. We don't look at anybody else's results. Having been there, more so in a relegation battle, that's a complete lie. Players and managers lie. The first thing you do is look at the other team's results when you come in. Yes, you try and take care of your own business within the 90, 95 minutes, whatever you're doing, but the other results, of course, they have an impact in and around you and it does give you a boost.

8:32Chris Coles:I mean, Tottenham going into their game against Crystal Palace tomorrow, for example, when you look at what's happened at the bottom of the table tonight, all of a sudden the pressure's just been ramped up on them. They're now one point above the bottom three. And I think the same with Arsenal and Manchester City. Arsenal have played, you know, Manchester City have played first more times than not against Arsenal. But actually the thing that Mikel Arteta said there and what will please him, we talk about it all the time, the defensive record that they have. Yes, you go and win and you win when you're not playing particularly well, but it's the lack of goals they concede.

9:02Chris Coles:They're such a strong defensive unit. They've only conceded 22 goals this season.

9:07Alistair Bruce-Ball:Do you think as well, Paul, when when they get ahead they don't mind it getting scrappy that you know Brighton started the second half well here and and then you know there were a few changes made in terms of substitutions they lost their rhythm a bit and the game got really stodgy and scrappy and tense and a battle and and all that sort of thing but actually with Arsenal in front and with their defensive record and knowing how solid they are they probably they probably don't mind that rather than sort of going toe-to-toe with Brighton free-flowing either and even though they've got the capability to do that

9:37Chris Coles:We're at the point in the season now where it's three points, regardless of how you get them. Listen, there's no pictures on a league trophy, is there? There's no pictures on the Premier League trophy or on the table at the end of the season. And Arsenal are in a position now where you see that with the set plays. You know, you talk about style and you talk about, you know, playing attractive football. All of a sudden, managers have realised that if you score a goal ugly, it still counts exactly the same as if you put 50 passes together before you do it. And Arsenal, if they are to go on and win the title, they're going to have to suffer at times.

10:05Chris Coles:and he said that in his post-match interviews, Mikel Arteta. They're a team that are comfortable without the ball. Yes, they've got the attacking quality to hurt you, but they are comfortable without the ball and we've seen them this season. Again, listening to what you said about the game tonight, maybe not necessarily at the best and it's not been a pretty game, but they won't care travelling back to London.

10:23Alistair Bruce-Ball:So we've heard from the Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, on their win at Brighton this evening. Let's get the view from the other side of things. Brighton boss Fabian Herzler had a bit to say about Arsenal ahead of this game. What's he had to say afterwards?

10:39Paul Robinson:Good performance, good effort, create a lot of chances, don't give away chances to them. I think they had one shot on the goal, so therefore performance good, result very disappointing. I was watching you on the touchline, you looked a little unhappy at some of the decisions, is that fair to say? Possibly you should have thought Mosquera sent off or not? It's not about the decisions. I think there are three tried hard, but I think it's more the way Arsenal place so I never saw a game where the goalkeeper went down three times without having anything so that's something I made my point before the game so I think we shouldn't use too many words for for that tonight because my opinion stays the same and therefore we should really focus on the positive things today and that was our performance.

11:26Paul Robinson:In that case do you think that affected the standard of football tonight that was possibly on show because some people are and it probably wasn't one of the greatest games? We tried. I think we tried to play football and that's what we are standing for. And of course, it's not easy to always get into a rhythm, but still we had a lot of chances. So there were enough opportunities to take away a win and therefore it's not easy to get into a rhythm with an opponent who tries to only waste time. And definitely we can do better in the final third, but overall we tried to play football and we tried to find solutions.

12:03Alistair Bruce-Ball:Paul, that is interesting from Fabian Herzler because obviously he said what he said ahead of the game. They've been beaten at home tonight and basically, you know, having a go at the league leaders for the way they manage the game and go about things. And David Rye did go down a couple of times. He made one save and went down and hurt his shoulder and received a bit of treatment. There was another moment he was about to go down. The fans sort of, you know, showed their anger at that and he decided not to. I mean, you've obviously not seen the game tonight, but you have seen Arsenal play plenty this season.

12:34Alistair Bruce-Ball:Is this justified? Is this all teams that do this? Is he just annoyed because he's lost?

12:40Chris Coles:Probably a bit of both. We had it here this evening with Aaron Ramsdale. He went down 15 minutes to go. Newcastle obviously down to 10 men. They'd put in a real shift in the second half. Manchester United were just starting to get a little bit of a foothold in the game. Aaron Ramsdale went down away to our left-hand side and surprise, surprise, two or three minutes later, absolutely fine. And no problems. Eddie Howe used it as like a timeout. Michael Carrick used it exactly the same. Both managers got their sets of players in front of them and were able to get some instructions onto the field.

13:06Chris Coles:And it also gave the Newcastle players a break, and I don't know how we address it. It's a common theme with Arsenal at the moment. But as you said, you said it wasn't a great game, you said it was a bit lumpy at times, but Arsenal find in a way. And they honestly won't care. It's been that long that they've won this Premier League trophy. They're so close to it now. They really won't care what other people think or how they get over the line. And the goalkeeper going down, it's been looked at by the powers that may be and there'll be some kind of a rule change coming in whether that's an outfield player that gets sacrificed for the 30 seconds or a minute if a goalkeeper goes down for treatment how they address it, I don't know, it's a very difficult one it's a really difficult area because how do you prove whether somebody's injured or not?

13:49Chris Coles:You can't

13:50Alistair Bruce-Ball:Yeah, and it's not just Arsenal who do it they're obviously in the spotlight because because of the game tonight and against Chelsea, they win with a couple of set pieces and Fabian Herzler was talking about how they go about set pieces. They are very much in the spotlight on this, but as you say, you've seen it at St James' Park, so it's a problem the game's got to deal with. I mean, Fabian Herzler said tonight that the referee actually did his best. He didn't blame the officials, did he? He actually felt they were powerless, couldn't do much about it.

14:22Chris Coles:Ali, I was at Sunderland Leeds last night and we had it last night with the Sunderland goalkeeper. 20 minutes into the game. Leeds were so far on top of Sunderland. They were struggling. Regis Le Brie used it as an opportunity to get his team together and to give them some kind of an instruction. It's a common theme. Listen, it's not something that's new, but it's something that's becoming more apparent and more used. Sven-Goran Eriksson told me to do it in 2006 in the World Cup because of the heat, because of different stages in the game. You look back on some of the footage there. I did it once or twice in the latter stages of that tournament when we were maybe under pressure or at times when the players needed a break, the manager, you just get a little signal from the side.

14:58Chris Coles:It's not something new. It's been in the game for a long time because the goalkeeper is the only one, obviously, that can't go off the field to play. Now it's just becoming overused.

15:16Paul Robinson:From a small village on the banks of the River Nile... Everybody call me Mohamed, but, you know, short name or nickname, they call me Mo. to the biggest stages of world football. Salah is more than just a player. He's an icon, a symbol, a king. It's 6-0 and Salah rips off his shirt. Mohamed Salah represents a dream for Egyptians, for Muslims, for Africans. More than just a football player, he gave us hope. I'm Kelly Cates. This is Sporting Giant's Mo Salah. Listen on BBC Sounds.

15:54Alistair Bruce-Ball:You're listening to the Football Daily Podcast with Alistair Bruce Ball. Big night at the bottom of the table as well. Nottingham Forest, of course, got that valuable point away at the Etihad. And West Ham got a really important three points, beating Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage. Elliot Anderson scored the equaliser for Nottingham Forest in their 2-2 draw at Man City. Let's hear from him.

16:19Paul Robinson:Sure, great character, you know, been from behind twice. It was a really tough place to come. We knew it was going to be, but I thought everyone put a performance in and worked till the end. Talk us through your goal. What a fabulous finish that was. Yeah, it was nice. Just sort of found the opening and thought I'd have a shot, obviously. Wanting to shoot more, so I thought, yeah, I'll just hit it and then hit the net. How much confidence can this result give you for the rest of the season, for this relegation battle to come here and really test Manchester City? Yeah, it gives us a massive boost.

16:49Paul Robinson:You know, we've got some games coming up that we'd like to take three points in. So it gives us that little bit more confidence, you know, going into these games.

16:57Alistair Bruce-Ball:So that's Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson speaking to John Bennett after the 2-2 at Manchester City. So, Chris Paul, let's give you the bottom of the table. I'll tell you what, let's go from Leeds in 15th. They're on 31 points. They played 29. Spurs have played 28. Now, they play tomorrow. Do not miss that on Five Live and BBC Sounds tomorrow night. Massive game for Spurs at home to Palace. They're on 29 points, so two points behind Leeds. They're one point now ahead of Nottingham Forest and West Ham, who are both on 28. Forest staying out of the bottom three. Their goal difference is four better than West Ham.

17:32Alistair Bruce-Ball:And then Burnley and Wolves a bit away from them on 19 and 16 points respectively. Just to give Paul a break from talking, Chris, talk me through how you see the bottom of the table there and who you feel is most vulnerable. I mean, the pressure now on Spurs tomorrow for that game, It feels intolerable almost.