The Debrief: Champions Arsenal & Saints expelled from Final

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1:06On the Football Daily Podcast, The Debrief with Mark Chapman. Hello, welcome to the Football Daily Pod. Arsenal have been crowned Premier League champions after Manchester City drew at Bournemouth. Spurs still aren't safe, they lost at Chelsea and on top of all of that, Southampton have been expelled from the EFL playoff final, Middlesbrough will take their place. So plenty to get into let's start with Arsenal being crowned champions. Correspondent John Murray and the former Arsenal defender Matt Upton were at the vitality as Manchester City drop points.

1:50and that is it the Premier League title race is over it's ended here at Bournemouth a 1-1 draw Manchester City will finish second and it's Arsenal's Premier League title for the first time for 22 years it will not go to the final Sunday. Mikel Arteta and his team and everyone in North London, you can reach FIBA pitch again. Arsenal will win the league in 2026. Wow, it's just incredible stuff here. What a moment. You could sit here and talk about this game, but this isn't where it needs to be. It's all about what's going on at the Emirates Stadium. it's all about the Arsenal fans what an achievement Mikel Arteta how badly has he wanted this title John he has been desperate along with everyone associated with the football club and they've done it they've done it in their own style they've done it in a different way but they've achieved something absolutely incredible what a night for Arsenal Pep Guardiola is now going across there with the Manchester City players to the travelling support.

3:12And as anyone who follows football knows as a supporter, it is the hard courts, the true, true supporters that travel away. And Pep Guardiola has gone over there and has applauded them. And it is not staying long. He's not lingering with the rest of the Manchester City players. He's actually turning now and he's walking Pep Guardiola back across the pitch with his head bowed. he has had 17 seasons as a manager in league football as a head coach he's won the title in 12 out of 17 seasons and yes it won't be this season it wasn't last season it's the first time ever that he's not won it in two consecutive seasons and as he reaches this side of the field he is absolutely, he's crestfallen and as he walks towards the side of the pitch he slaps his hands together in frustration and disappears head bowed out of our sight down the Bournemouth Tunnel He looked a bit upset didn't he?

4:17I have to say, or I say upset he looked deep in thought and it's almost like what's going on is kind of hitting him and the fact that he may well be leaving the football club or the disappointment at the moment but you cannot take away the standing that that man has in this game is the greatest ever. Also, that reaction to me had a touch of he feels that what's happened in the last 24 hours has not helped his team's cause here tonight. That's the body language I'm reading. Yeah, maybe. You may be right, John. I'm sure there's a mixture of emotions but it certainly could well be the case. There is a...

4:54You talk about Guardiola's demeanour. There is a real sadness on the faces of several City players, Matt. There are some in tears and some of them are the new ones, the Ryan Cherkeys. There are also Phil Foden looked close to tears, Erling Haaland as well. Yeah, I mean, again, Chappers, there's a mixture of emotions there, isn't there? There's the disappointment of not taking this to the final game. There's the sadness that they've been working with a great head coach that they'd be very close to, have a lot of emotion towards. And I think it goes back to John's point, doesn't it, about how much has that affected this Manchester City team today?

5:35And that's a really sad thing to think about, to be honest. I suppose we'll never know, will we, actually? And the only balance to that, maybe, is this had been singled out for quite a while as the most difficult remaining fixture. Yeah. Yeah, it didn't disappoint them in that sense, did it? And a form of hungry, snappy into the tackles, high-octane football. I think City started the game with probably a tank that was about three quarters full. I don't think they were quite, you know, at it. It's so hard after an FA Cup final. Just the occasion, the build-up, Wembley. I don't know. It's a different requirement to play that game and then come into this fixture.

6:22and it was almost like a perfect storm that didn't go Manchester City's way. I mean, I had a thought, and you will understand this, Matt, of course, but I had a thought for all those connected with Arsenal when David Brooks went through and hit the post, in that even then, even in late second half going into stoppage time, Arsenal fans still weren't able to quite shake off the nerves. No, and it proved to be that way, didn't it? Because even when that goal from Haaland went in, I'm watching them run back to the halfway line and I'm thinking in my head, I'm thinking, it can't happen, can it? It just can't happen.

7:04But football has this funny way of having these moments that just look completely impossible and then it presents itself and it happens. I mean, it didn't happen and Arsenal fans are celebrating, I'm sure. But I certainly sat here and just had a little moment and thought, oh, perhaps it could. Exactly. Just thank goodness. Thank goodness there wasn't a VAR in that. Oh, don't. After it had gone to 1-0. Don't throw that in as well. But enough over the last two or three weeks of those kind of things. Bournemouth are celebrating there and they are celebrating hard. I would guess the celebrations are going to be even noisier and even louder and more vociferous as we head to a pub.

7:46Good luck, everybody, for this section. As we head to a pub near the Emirates, Nesta McGregor is there with Arsenal fans. Yes, Mark, well, under any normal circumstances, you know, you speak to any football fan, they'll tell you it's one club for life. I reckon every single Arsenal fan adopted Bournemouth as their second team tonight. I watched the game in a pub a few hundred yards from the Emirates Stadium. There was tension, emotion and jubilation. There's horns blaring. There were people running up and down the streets. And I've got Louis and Amy who've stuck around today. Guys, you've waited 22 years.

8:20I don't even know how old you are. I was two when we last won the league. I was two years old. There you go. So you've waited 20 years, two years to see your team win the league. Sum up the season tonight for me, Louis. I think we deserve the season. The way we played, people might say the 1-0 wins, the 1-0 wins. We have played with passion, emotion. We played. I feel like we honestly deserve this title. The way we've been the season, we have scraped the wins. That's fine. We're just so happy. We can't honestly, we can't be into words. I cannot speak. Was it ever in doubt? Because you've come second the last three seasons.

8:51Was this one ever in doubt? At the start of the season, maybe. I thought of the last season, Liverpool winning. I thought we might have fell off. But after we won yesterday night, I knew if it had to go to Palace, we would win at Palace. That's what I knew. Okay, now, Amy, I hope I'm not spoiling the news for everyone. You're pregnant. I am. Your baby shower is the day of the parade. Louis, are you going to the parade? I'm going to the parade. I'm going as well. So the baby shower's cancelled. Yeah, we're just going to tell my mum. There you go, Mark. The baby shower's cancelled. Arsenal fans are now piling out onto the streets, across the street from the Emirates, and I'm sure this party is going to go long into the night.

9:27They've waited 22 years. They're going to enjoy every single second. Back to the Vitality Stadium. And I'm just looking as well, Mark. I've got pictures of outside the Emirates. They are in all the streets now outside there. That has felt for them like a very long 22 years. Yeah, I walk past that pub when I go home, Chappers, and I'm kind of glad I'm not there. It looks like absolute chaos. And rightly so. They're going to have a great time. And, you know, they've done it in a way that has drawn a bit of attention, hasn't it, with a lot of criticism. But who am I to judge how somebody wins a Premier League title?

10:09the point is they've won it and they've done it their way there's been some narrow wins there's been some scruffy performances but that's what it takes and if you can get it over the line against the quality that is in the Premier League at the moment then it's a major achievement and Mikel Arteta has been desperate for it it's a big body of work isn't it to get it to this place so I'm very pleased for him in particular it's a big body of work and it's also been a patient body of work for a lot of And, you know, a lot of people connected to that club since 2020, really. And some people have come and gone in that time in various roles.

10:50But that has been a very, very patient club. Yeah, and all the way from the recovery from Arsene Wenger, isn't it? You know, we've seen with Manchester United and other clubs possibly where it's had a huge dent and then it's got to reinvent itself, has got to pick itself up and he stamped his identity on the football club and he was confident enough and brave enough and bold enough to go into that process and it's there's been a lot of bumps along the way there's big bumps this season and to come back from the losses they had in that sticky period i think a lot of people were were really on their case and understandably because there's been history of that so i think the group's overcome it that the strength of the squad I think has been unmatched in terms of the depth of quality.

11:36I was looking at them last night and thinking the options they've got in this game, if they need defensive options, midfield options, attacking, wide, they're all there at the disposal. And credit to the manager, he's utilised those things right and got the job done. So it's been a long time, but so happy that they've won it. How do you view it all, John, in a considered way? I think that it's been difficult for them because it's been such a long time and also because of the way that they've chosen and decided that was the best way to go about this. And it was almost like Mikel Arteta thought, if we are going to do it, we've got to do it our way.

12:21And that was not a popular way. So that's why they faced a lot of ridicule from the outside during the course of this season. whether it was directed towards Arteta himself. Remember the other week when they lost at Manchester City and Declan Rice was showing, saying, it's not done. He was ridiculed for that. But it was almost as if that fixture cast this huge shadow over them. And once it was gone, they knew what they needed to do. Yeah, and also the fact that they did actually find form in that match and played well, and they haven't lost since. In fact, they've won five out of six matches. they've played in all competitions since then.

13:00It's been a great response from a game that you lose, but I think you come away from it realising that you're good enough to do it. And I think the miss from Havertz was huge, wasn't it? And they probably deserved on chances to get back in. But back to Arteta and him selecting this style to win the title, it's probably not something that he may have thought himself ever playing like this, to be honest, or his preferred choice of how Arsenal would play. but the failure over the last two or three seasons of not being able to win the Premier League has led him to a place where he thinks I think we can do this and we can win it so let's go for it and it's been unapologetically physical set played you know it's just had all that structure defensive stability it's gone totally heavily in that direction and and it's worked and I think you know you have to look at that and say it's quite a bold move from a coach to to go down road at a club like arsenal another thing as well we don't talk about very much is it is his first senior job as a coach and he's been given six and a half years in that job it's like something out of the you know a previous age yeah 351 matches and you know they've stuck with him he's had the time you know we talk all of the time don't we about managers needing the time and yes they've spent a lot of money as well over the course of those six and a half years but he's found a way and I feel that he has been different as a manager this season in what in what way by the way I'm going to nick that for match of the day later that's a really good discussion point that so thank you very much for that that's my pleasure um in what way do you think he's different I think that I think we we've seen a different Arteta this season and one example of that was when they lost at home to Manchester United and I went downstairs thinking he's going to be prickly.

14:57In previous years a result like that, a setback like that he really came out punching there and I thought that was an example of how he's thought, how I need to approach things when we get setbacks and so that's one area where I feel he's been different this season Just a final thing, then we'll take the closing stages at Stamford Bridge and then we'll talk more before Tony lives here at Hard Turn. It's probably a good lesson for all football fans, isn't it? That 2004, Arsenal won the league. The Invincibles won the league, Matt. And they probably thought there were plenty more league titles on the way.

15:35You never know when it's going to stop and then you never know how hard it is to get back there. No, absolutely. You can lose track. You can go completely off course. You can derail. at any point in this game it needs real stability it needs forward thinking you're almost planning for the next situation to happen the next player that you lose the next head coach you you hire one right where's our next one that work starts probably the moment you you bring one in you know football clubs that operate in that way tend to have that stability and are always in the conversation I think that that's the bit that brings me back to how how long Michael Arteta has been at Arsenal, it's because they've never derailed under him, have they?

16:16They've had sticky moments and they've not looked like they're going to challenge for a title maybe, but they've always been in and around that conversation. So to then get it to that place without having major drop-offs, I think maybe that's down to his kind of the way he's controlling nature a little bit and the requirements that he has to have in his team. And he likes that and he's a stickler for it. He won't sway from it, but it's allowed him to have the longevity, John, because they've never looked like they're way off the pace, have they? He's not someone, my perception is, he's not well-loved.

16:51However, people do like winners. You mean externally, don't you? Externally, yeah. Externally, that's my impression. But, you know, once you... You know, he's now a couple of weeks away. He's got the Premier League. He's a couple of weeks away from a Champions League final. Matt and John, we will leave it there. It's finished at the Vitality Stadium. Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 1 Arsenal are the Premier League champions for 20-26 Let's hear from Pep Guardiola with George Cummins First of all, congratulate Mikel, staff the players Arsenal for this Premier League all deserve and today the fatigue was part in the game, the fatigue always the brilliant that we need the players and the final third and many things today the fatigue from Crystal Palace and Brentford especially the final come back here so they have 12 days a team like is extraordinary well managed and physicality dynamic good so we cannot do that but we play against many many things we're going to control we didn't give up we continue continuing the toughest periods in the in the season and then at the end yeah it's always it's a pity that we cannot bring the hoped until until the last game against Aston Villa but accept the reality congratulations.

18:12You've been so good amazing since January so Meno Gaye he comes in is there anything you look back at and just think something could have been different or you could have pushed us maybe your start could have been better? Absolutely nothing there's something many many things we cannot control as simple as that and when that's happened you can give up and never give up so people can say that but we realize you know what happened this season and despite of that we were there we were there we were there and we were there and that is is really really good it's a good lesson for us to have to do it better do it better to try to the things that we no control you know you have to win you know the big margin otherwise always is more difficult what did you make of the fixture at least because do you think after the cut final you could have done with another day's rest that would have made a difference absolutely but It's what it is.

19:02We can play Thursday, right? I have more days, but... It's, you know, I've been tough in terms of fatigue and mentally and everything. So, same with Chelsea. Chelsea play seven days to prepare the final, 12 days here at Bournemouth. And, of course, sometimes we think, ah, it could be better. Yeah, the human beings, 11 months working, have a World Cup, short holidays, and keep going, keep going, keep going until the end. so that's why it's said to the players. I've been managing maybe 60, 70 years of my career. These are the ones I've been by far the most proud because everybody makes an incredible contribution.

19:42Okay, and just in terms of the last 24 hours, did that have any impact on the team or the performance, everything that's been spoken about? Absolutely. So I prepare like always and like everything. I'm an incredible professional. And Rodri wants you to stay as Man City manager. What are you going to do? I'm an exceptional manager. Thank you very much, Pep.

20:29We'll be right back. Settle down, Tuffer. Sorry, mate. Cricket on Five Live Sport. Oh, I've lived every ball of this. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily Podcast. The Debrief. With Mark Chapman. Spurs are still in trouble then. The relegation battle with West Ham will go to the final day. Jonathan Pearce and Paul Robinson were watching at Stamford Bridge. They didn't deserve anything tonight, Tottenham, the way that they played in the first half. They huffed and puffed in the second half. That last passage of play there sums up the way they played this evening. Mateus Tell was so poor, twice in injury time there, in stoppage time, he had two opportunities at the far post, that was a wonderful opportunity to play the ball into a box that was full of Tottenham Hotspur yellow jerseys, and it ended up in the goalkeeper's arms.

21:18Too many bad choices, too many wrong decisions, the recent performances under Roberto Di Zerbi weren't emulated tonight. Chelsea didn't have to do much to win that game tonight, they were in control for most of it, Once or twice, Tottenham showed in fits and starts that they had some attacking intent, but actually they didn't do enough to get anything tonight. We go to the last game. Yeah, Tottenham 38, West Ham 36. West Ham at home to Leeds, Spurs at home to Everton on Sunday. What a dreadful, dreadful night if you're a Spurs fan, Paul Robinson. I'm going now, Mark. Sorry, I can't leave. Yeah, not the ideal scenario tonight.

21:57I was genuinely full of hope here, and you look at the record, Chelsea have won now 39 times against Tottenham, more teams than they've beaten in the Premier League of any of the other teams, and I think the record for Spurs coming here tonight, it was all against them, and I was thinking of the last four games undefeated, two wins, better performances, and I was thinking, well, the due one, and they weren't due one, not the way that they played, first half they lacked the fight, they lacked the endeavour, and they lacked the lead out of anything, they sat back, they were defensively passive, They allowed Chelsea possession.

22:30And as I said in the commentary there, Chelsea didn't have to do a lot to win this game. Tottenham weren't the way that they played under Roberto Deserbi. He'll be disappointed doing his post-match interview tonight. They seemed a little bit more like the Spurs of a month ago in that they were tetchy and they were... I know it's a derby and everything, but tetchy and niggly and complaining a lot. Was it like that? Admittedly, I was trying to watch two games at the same time. That's a really good way of putting it and explaining it. Like I said to you, the way that Roberto De Zerbi's come in, and there's been that slow, gradual improvement.

23:05You didn't see anything at Sunderland in his first game because he didn't have enough time. But then the Brighton game, then the Wolves game, the Villa game, there was slow improvement, there was a gradual improvement, and you could see that he'd had time on the training ground with these players. And the belief that the players had at Aston Villa, the way that they were taking the ball with each other, they were pressing high, they were winning the ball in the right areas. And you thought, right, the manager's having a real impact here, you can see what they're doing. then the Leeds game one that I I will honestly admit I expected them to win that game and I think that's damaged them coming into tonight because I think a lot of those players maybe like myself and other Tottenham fans expected them to beat Leeds at home because Leeds were safe but Leeds turned up and showed what a good Premier League side that they're slowly turning into and that game maybe dented their confidence and belief a little bit coming here tonight because you're right they look like Spurs of four weeks ago tonight I honestly wouldn't like to predict Jonathan Sunday afternoon, would you?

23:59First goal will be absolutely massive. First goal in the two games. I said in the commentary earlier, don't forget David Moyes will take his Everton team there. And he's still got West Ham in his heart, David Moyes, from his years there and his European triumph there. He won't want to see West Ham relegated. And Everton won't go there and just, like a team on the beach. And I think if Tottenham go 1-0 down and West Ham go 1-0 up at home to Leeds, then the Tottenham Oxford Stadium will be very, very brittle. By the way here, Mark, this sums up Chelsea's season. The players are doing, well, euphemistically what's called a lap of honour, I guess.

24:32Lap of appreciation and half the Chelsea fans have gone home. And it's the quickest lap ever. They've only done like an inside lap, haven't they? They're round and gone. I'd say there's a third of the fans left in the stadium to applaud their team at the end of their season. That says it all. It does. It's been a miserable campaign for Chelsea and yet they are still in with a shout of a European place whether Xavi Alonso would want that for them next season, it is open to debate. Do you think perversely, Paul, the Spurs stadium could well be more nervous than the West Ham stadium on Sunday? Yeah, I do, because they've got such an awful home record.

25:10And you look at the way that they've played there this season and last season as well. Saying to Jonathan in commentary, you know, this is not something new for Tottenham. I think the European success masked a lot of struggles last year in the Premier League. And when you, you know, I say it to you all the time, when you circle a drain long enough, at some point you're going to fall into it. You look at where they finished last season, you look at their home form last season, you look at the performances last year, and it's exactly the same, it's been replicated this season. And I think the nervousness at home and the expectation.

25:37I've been relegated from the Premier League twice, and when you go to that last day and you know that you need a result, regardless of who you're playing, you could be playing the top of the league, you could be playing somebody in the bottom three with you. Pressure does strange things. Some people thrive under pressure and you find out about different people and their personalities and what they're like under pressure. You find out the true person when they're under pressure. Some thrive in it and some don't. You just hope in that situation that 75 % of your 11 thrive in it. Paul, Jonathan at Stamford Bridge, thank you very much.

26:09The relegation battle will go down to the final day of the season. The race for the European places will. The title won't. Manchester City held at Bournemouth this evening and they needed a very late equaliser at that. we can hear now from Roberto Deserbi he's with John Southall but tonight I think we played a good game not good enough to win the game we created not many many chances but the beginning of the game with Matisse Tell before the Enzo Fernandes goal and before the second goal another big chance with Richarlison If you analyse the two goals we conceded, I think we could do better, for sure.

26:55But anyway, we are alive. Now we have to prepare a final. Last season, my players played a final. More prestigious, maybe. Nicer to play, because if you win, you win a trophy last season. now if we win we win pride we win dignity we win something more important I think When we spoke last time after the Leeds game you said your players maybe felt the pressure at home so how important is it on Sunday that they don't succumb to that Listen, there are some days in the life of everyone where you have to show who you are and Sunday is the day.

27:54Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final for spying on Middlesbrough ahead of the semi-finals. Middlesbrough replaced them and are set to play Hull on Saturday. Southampton have also been given a four-point deduction for next season. They admitted multiple breaches. So they also observed Oxford ahead of a game in December 25 and also Ipswich ahead of a 2-0 draw last month. Adam Blackmore, sports editor at BBC Radio Solent, is with us. They are going to appeal, though. Yes? Yes, Mark. Good evening. They have submitted an appeal, which they hope will be heard tomorrow for sure.

28:42they didn't win any of the games they've admitted breaching the regulations on, which hasn't been lost on people this evening, as you can imagine, Mark, because the fan reaction is, what was the point? What are they appealing against if you go by the EFL statement, which says they admitted multiple breaches? So the Oxford game, as you say, they lost 2-1 in December 25. The Ipswich game last month, which ended 2-0. And then Middlesbrough, I mean, I'm assuming they're sort of saying, well, they didn't win because they were spying ahead of the first leg, not the second leg. I'm assuming there's the argument there, which ended as a goal of straw.

29:27But what are they appealing, given that they have omitted those breaches? I think they are appealing the punishment and the size of the punishment that it's disproportionate to the crime. I don't think there'll be that much sympathy from neutral observers, Mark, to that argument. But I guess if you think that this is possibly the biggest financial sporting punishment that I can remember in modern times, you're looking potentially, what, a punishment that effectively could be£120 to£200 million based on the play-off final being the richest game in football, then you can see why Southampton think maybe they've been harshly dealt with.