Arsenal Bottlers No More? Manchester City Face Brentford Peril, and Spurs Search For Safety: Big Weekend Preview 05/08/26

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2:23Arsenal, bottlers no more. Champions League finalists, Premier League title in their own hands, visiting doom-curious West Ham. Nothing can go wrong now, right? Manchester City, fresh off that 3-3 loss against Chex Note Everton, Looking to rebound against Europe, Dreaming, Brentford and Spurs, powered by De Zerbe and Peppa Pig in equal measure, welcome Leeds with something unfamiliar to them all season. What's the word? Hope. And this is a show where we discuss all you need to know for your viewing pleasure this weekend. Delighted to be here with the Luis Enrique of words. It's my friend, Mr. Rory Smith.

2:57It's the time for complicated politics, Rog. I don't quite know what that means, but I'm nodding my head because it is complicated, Rory. it was just 27 days ago. Arsenal's own fans booed them off in defeat against Bournemouth. I remember when the consensus had Manchester City as inevitable. They were nerveless. They were hunters. Arsenal were the victim. Dead-legged. Bottlers. One squad managed by a winner who knows how to do this. The other by a nervous Nelly was self-sabotaging because of his own obsession. I've had so many Arsenal fans roar in my timeline telling me three weeks ago they'd accepted they'd never win anything with Arteta leading their team.

3:35Everything has changed. What's the moral of the story? The Arsenal fans are on Tuesday night's Champions League semifinal approach levels of delirium then only to rapture. Should they retrospectively feel a little absurd? Or should they think, hmm, our booing worked? Yeah, we inspired them by booing them. I was going to say it's a valuable life lesson about how you can't predict football and it's inherently wild and untameable and it doesn't function like we want it to function, Rog. but I think I prefer they were right to boo Arsenal and it's had the desired effect. Yes, that can be the only moral lesson.

4:09Children, boo from the bottom of your heart. By the way, can we also acknowledge the Manchester City bottle meme man? How do you think he's feeling? It is such a strange... That seemed to be the story of the season, the vision of the season. Instead, we're kind of now left with him watching his team fall apart at Everton. The bottle just still secreted in his pocket. sadly lost the drift. It is curious, isn't it? Because it felt like we spent, what, six months talking about whether Arsenal were going to bottle the title. And then every time they dropped points, we decided that they were in fact in the process of bottling the title.

4:45And I would say that what City did at Everton was a much more definitive bottling of the championship than anything Arsenal have tried. It was a masterpiece of bottling. They were 1-0 up, they were cruising, and then they conceded not one, but two goals, Rog, to Tieno Barry. It feels like taking it almost too far. That man should have a statue at the Emirates. You know, we spent ages and ages, didn't we, talking about how the pressure would tell on Arsenal? And yet, in fact, when you look at it, it seems to have told on City first. Want to give huge thanks to Bank of America, official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the men in blazes media network.

5:21Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? We know nothing. So children, boo. And number two, bottling is good for you, apparently, because Arsenal did bottle. But they still travel to West Ham in control of their title-winning destiny. Sunday, 11.30am Eastern Time on USA Channel. Five points clear of Sorenes City, who played one game less. Between the hosts and the visitors, I think there's 40 points in 17 places. By any metric, Arsenal should be rampant here. Three wins in the last four league games against the Irons by an aggregate score of 13-2. The Hammers back in that relegation zone, full of fear, because their fellow doom rivals are actually on searing form.

6:02Forest taking 13 points from the last five games. Even Spurs have seven from the last three. That is more title race pace than Salernoie fight, but Raw. And this is a big, however, being in that relegation zone. It does create an existential angst for the players, right? Which can, and I said can, I didn't say will, but it can empower them to do extraordinary things. I think at this stage of the season, given Arsenal's position, having to go to play the team that's currently 18th in the Premier League isn't ideal. West Ham are a more challenging proposition because of the state that they're playing for than their general level of talent might suggest, Rog.

6:39I think that's probably the best way of putting it. In November or February, this game is probably a relatively straightforward win for Arsenal. Now, three games left, West Ham have no margin for error. suddenly it is by some distance probably the biggest obstacle between Arsenal and the Premier League title. Now the lead table isn't really a guide to how hard games are anymore. At each end of the table, they're difficult opponents. You kind of want the ones in the middle, Rog. Yes, you do. The Evertons. But we all saw what happened to them on Monday. We'll get to that. What I think about this game, West Ham, they are made to score on the counter or via a revenge-minded Mavropanos set-piece bobbler.

7:18I'm just saying Roar tell us what kind of game this is going to be amidst all those war bubbles what's the score going to be? I think it'll be noisy and I think it'll be fraught and that'll be what gives West Ham hope because to those West Ham fans they're not there to watch Arsenal's story play out they've got their own drama going on and they're concentrating on that I'd expect a fast physical intense start but those sorts of games kind of suit Arsenal this Arsenal the Arsenal that Arteta's built there might be a little bit of sluggishness after the Champions League game I suppose that elation that high of making a first Champions League final for 20 years, that could impact Arsenal, but I think they get through.

7:55Maybe not especially comfortably, but I think they just about make it. Yeah, West Ham will draw a modicum of solace. They have not lost in six at home. I think modicum is not enough. I see this being Gunners 2-1. Celebration Police on patrol again. Ole, ole. Here's what I wanted to ask you. I think Tottenham fans will experience this game. Will they watch and cheer on Arsenal against their relegation rivals even if it means Arsenal ultimately win the title. This is Sophie's choice, Ro. I can't think of a worse scenario for Spurs faithful, to be honest. This is the complicated politics of it, Rog.

8:27I'd say this is possibly the most exquisite agony football could ever craft. That Spurs know that they need Arsenal to win to help them stay up or they can kind of sacrifice themselves so that West Ham leapfrog them at the bottom at least for 24 hours but in the hope that it damages Arsenal's title hopes. I genuinely don't know how Spurs fans will approach that. I'm not sure how you would call that as a Spurs fan. I suppose if you were positively minded, you could say that they kind of win either way, don't they? But I'm not quite sure Spurs fans are in that headspace at the moment after this season, Rog.

8:57Yeah, the great Czech leader, Václav Havel, himself a football fan, once said, perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope. Don't know what that means, to be honest, but there it is for your Spurs fans. Maybe spend the 90 minutes doing something more beneficial than watching this, like going on the Peppa Pig marathon. I'm just saying. OK, ho, ho, ho, Daddy Pig. It's time for another edition of Pack Your Bags, brought to you by our great friends at Yeti. Oh, I love Yeti. Their bags are durable, super organisational. I take one wherever I go. It's always on my back. And Pack Your Bags is a recurring segment that highlights the players who are close on the cusp of earning a spot on the World Cup play this week.

9:38Focus on an incredible young player, Ryan. Stunning sixth-place Bournemouth side travels to Fulham Saturday 10am Eastern Time on USA. Ryan, 19-year-old Brazilian, born in Rio, arrived in January to replace Semenyo. Huge shoes, but he's quietly just slipped into them and become one of the most intriguing young attackers in just 12 appearances for the War Cherries. Four goals, two assists, back-to-back scoring performances. So hungry, so sharp in the league. Raw yes on the international stage, I think it's one cap for Brazil. But injuries to Rodrigo and Estevão suddenly make the international picture a little bit intriguing roar Brazil's attacking pool it's never thin but if club form opens the door Ryan's at least standing close or proximate roar does that mean anything to Carlo Ancelotti?

10:22I think it will in the circumstances Rog because as you said there's no Rodrigo Estevão is a doubt he would certainly be in the squad if he was fully fit and Rafinha as well the Barcelona playmaker has missed most of the last few months with injury and that does kind of open the door to Ryan he was in Brazil's last squad in March he settled into the Premier League pretty well he looks like he has the quality to play maybe not the experience but I think given those injuries and given the need to have kind of game breakers match winners in his squad I think Ancelotti might certainly if Estavao doesn't get fit I think he might go with Ryan to be honest he strikes me as being the first player in line.

11:01Godspeed to Bournemouth up the fruit pound for pound the greatest team in English football OK, back to the title chase and second place Manchester City. Still alive, but man, Monday night's giddy clash at Everton. Drew some blood. City, dominant until they weren't. Tien O 'Berry, you mentioned him, Roar. Ain't marginally better at football than anyone listening to this show right now. Scored twice, even he couldn't believe it. Watch him point to himself and do me, two goals. And no, yes, City yank themselves back into it. I mean, Everton live to leak in 90 minutes plus. It's what we do. You know, Everton are going to Everton.

11:39Watching Doku cup is here, though, to the crowd when City, all they've done was draw a roar. That was a choice. This week, City welcomes seven-place Brentford. Their 22 goal wants the Igor Thiago. He will have been watching that space in the game video behind City's back line at Hill Dickinson and just be salivating for kick-off. Brentford's off-season, I wonder. It's born on the fast break, Rook. It is, and Brentford's retro-dynamic City's not bad, certainly in terms of the games that they give them, if not necessarily the results. They're maybe not quite a bodey team for City, but they seem to have a way of playing that unsettles Guardiola's team.

12:13This is not an ideal fixture for City, given how fragile their situation is. I don't know about their confidence. Doctor Who's last-minute goal was an interesting one against Everton because in the moment, Roger, I was the same as you. I kind of thought it was meaningless that City dropped points. It doesn't matter whether you dropped two or dropped three, the damage was still done. I guess that the different spin on that is that Arsenal can't afford to lose at West Ham. That's how it changes it. So there's still a degree of pressure on Arsenal. They don't get a free hit. City don't have any more mistakes to make.

12:42If they want to take it to the final day, if they want to keep Arsenal honest, if they want to stand any chance at all, they have to win. And to be honest, I think they probably have to win big because if Arsenal do drop points, if they do draw at West Ham, goal difference is still important. So it's a really high-pressure game for City. And we saw on Monday night, maybe they didn't cope all that well with the pressure, Rog. There wasn't even really that much pressure rule. Well, that was what was so strange about the Everton game. I'm going to be candid. When we say the goals came out of nowhere, you know, Gahey malfunctioning suddenly, they really came out of nowhere.

13:15Pep was asked what he thought of Brentford this morning. He just kind of cursarily played one of his greatest hits. He deemed them to be so good. So good. Yeah, so good. Despite the drop points, still Pep Guardiola's team, still full of players who can change a game in a flicker. I read Ryan Cherky on the show this week. talking about how he has flourished under Pep, always having the ball, always being encouraged to attack, always wanting to create chaos. That interview is in our show notes. And it feels like a little bit of City that makes them still feel dangerous, Roar, because I do believe there is going to be one more twist and turn in this title race.

13:53It just has to be. I'm old enough to remember, we anointed Liverpool title winners five games into the season, and then we said, no, it's actually Arsenal. Ripped it from then, handed it to Manchester City briefly, decided, oh, that was a mistake, handed it back to Arsenal for a long time, until the Etihad game, when we declared City now home and dry. Not so fast, my friends, it's Arsenal again. I mean, this season, it's always been football theatre of the absurd, an experience that just kind of reflects the absurdity of our human condition. Through linear narratives, illogical situations and fractured language, yeah?

14:29Everyone's saying that. ultimately what that means is we've got no bloody idea what's going to happen in the next seven games between Arsenal and City do we? Well no and it's because the Premier League is so finely balanced because the spread of talent is so even obviously Arsenal and City are the two best teams in the division by what feels like a long way but if you look through their results most of the games aren't won by four or five goals they're not blowing teams away every Premier League game this season pretty much has been has been competitive has been in the balance to some extent until relatively late on we're way down on the number of of thrashings victories by four or five goals to where we'd normally be and that does make it much harder to predict Rog because every single game and Everton proved this on on Monday night every single game no matter how harmless they look no no matter how much we sort of take them for granted in our in our permutations every single game contains peril and I if I'm honest I think Brentford at home kind of fits that bill as well for City.

15:23Pep this morning talked about the advantage of playing a day before Arteta's boys he said all we can do is put pressure on Arsenal City can reduce the gap to just two points with a win but any drop points I agree with you will prove fatal to their own title hopes so score prediction time how do you see this one finishing I think City start well don't kill it off Brentford come back and score twice and City get another late equaliser but the damage this time is pretty much terminal this statistic is incredible to me We think of Pep City as just monsters of mentality in the title chase, but they've dropped 17 points from winning positions this season.

16:00It's a huge number. Clubs most since, I think, 2009. And 12 of those 17 points come in calendar year 2026. Story of this game, Bs score late again. Hold on to deliver another Arsenal victory. 1-1. It's time for the quizzo quizzes. Last week we took Premier League managers' arse. Which ones would survive the pressure, the crucible of Saturday morning under eight football management? The answer was simple, Rory Smith. This week, if you're on a long cross-country flight, which you're going to be in the United States when you come be with us for the World Cup, and you had to have two Premier League managers either side of you, yeah, you're centre-seating.

16:35Who would you choose and why? Don't like centre-seating, Rog. I don't have the height to centre-seat. You need to be a smaller man than me. Put your elbows away. So I think there are certain clear criteria here. You don't want anyone too tall. That strikes me as obvious. You obviously want someone slender. That's not really a problem. It doesn't rule anybody out. Everyone's in great shape. I think you want someone with quite good personal hygiene, if I'm completely honest. I think that's important. What are you saying, Ro? I'm also not a chatter on a plane, Rog. I won't even really, unless I really have to, talk to the people I'm travelling with.

17:08And that extends right up to my wife and children. I just don't want to talk to people on planes. I just don't like it. You're barbarian. Give them a screen and let me concentrate on the fact that I'm 30 ,000 feet in the air. I feel that's a perfectly ordinary approach to flying. So I'm going to say that on one side, I think you want someone who doesn't seem too chatty, but is friendly. And I'm going to go for Fabian Herzler. I think Fabian Herzler would be fine on one side. Looks like he smells nice. I think he's up and down going to the toilet, but excuse me, doing the, yeah, excuse me. And you're like, oh, God.

17:37Well, if he's on the outside, that's fine, Rog. And then on the inside, I think I might go for Rob Edwards at Wolves. Again, a man who I can say from personal experience does smell very nice. He's a charming man. I think he'd be able to get extra snacks, Maybe a free drink out of the stewards. I think people like Rob Edwards. He's got a vibe. He's got a charisma. I'm hoping I can kind of bask in his glory a little bit. So I'm going to go Edwards and Herzler, I think. You think Rob Edwards is able to coax the second bag of Sun Chips? I think Rob Edwards could flirt his way out of anything. The pretzels and the Sun Chips.

18:07I also do not like the chatting on the flight. I like to work on the flight. So I'm going to go Roy Hodgson, because I think he'll be dozing for the full thing. and Marco Silva will just sit there to my left, smouldering, raw-dogging the entire flight in silence. You wouldn't want like an Arteta who fits the bill height-wise because that's too intense. You don't need that. You don't need that energy next to you on a flight. Yeah, I'll be checking the air masks and everything, just making sure everything's working. I actually, by the way, Arteta definitely reclines the seat to its full no matter how much you know.

18:39He's definitely that guy. I was on a flight last month sitting by a dude. I worked the whole flight seven hours. We got off. he goes, Rog, big, big fan. And I realised he just spent the last seven hours watching me type, swear, pick at several bodily orifices and all that. So I'm just saying, if you're a GFOP and we're flying together, just tell me when we take off, so I can be on my best behaviour. Yeah, you've got to be warned that you're being watched, Rog. That's mean to tell you when you get off. I know, I was just fixing my underpants. Anyway, back to the football. Big game of the weekend.

19:13We're going to wait until Monday for the sweet release. Tottenham fans, when your boys take on Leeds, Monday 3pm Eastern Time on USA. Good news, you're free of the relegation zone tyranny. Last week, playing against Aston Villa, you look fantastic. A collective again. Fight, belief, there was badge banging, back-to-back wins. Really the miracle of the Zerbi ball. Peppa Pig, possibly the true saviour. Perhaps of all great footballing mysteries, he answers yes. I mean, Raw, either way, the mood around Tottenham has just changed completely. Seven points from the last three games will do that to you.

19:49Leeds, same kind of momentum, unbeaten in six. Fresh off a 3-1 win over Burnley. 43 points level Crystal Palace, almost to the promised land of safety. They're not mathematically safe. I think a point would do it, but they're already in the optics of 43 points. They're already pretty clear. They can almost feel solid ground under those feet. But for Spurs, this still feels existential, Roar. There's good vibes right now. Survival is feeling possible, even probable, but you lose. Those ghosts are going to come howling back. Yeah, it's still delicate, Rog. It's still really fragile, I think, for Tottenham.

20:23The last two games have been incredibly encouraging. Getting that late goal at Wolves, finally winning a game in 2026. That was a massive psychological barrier broken, I think. And then, this sounds a little bit churlish, and I don't mean it to be, but they kind of ran into Aston Villa at the right time. I watched Villa last night absolutely obliterate Nottingham Forest and looked like they really cared about football and really wanted to win a match. And I think it's probably fair to say they didn't seem like that against Tottenham last weekend. I think even after the game, Oli Watkins said that Villa's players' thoughts were on the semi-final when they were playing Spurs.

20:59I know that they'd rotated the squad. Unai Emery tried as hard as he could to look really unhappy and like he was definitely invested in the entire process. but Villa's players understandably were thinking we have one of the biggest games of our career ahead of us I don't really want to get injured I don't want to be tired I don't want to kind of trim it myself too much to this game that ultimately for them means very little and Spurs benefited from that there's no denying that but at this stage I think Spurs probably take what they can get and those six points they have as you say totally changed the dynamics down at the bottom it may well be that by the time this game starts Leeds are safe because if West Ham don't beat Arsenal that's Leeds clear basically that could make them dangerous I suppose they could have a sort of freedom, a sense of kind of joie de vivre about them Rog, I don't know, we don't have a lot of joie de vivre in Yorkshire, for Tottenham though this is one of two games that they know if they win they are safe, they finally have a bit of confidence they clearly have bought into Roberto Di Zerbi's methods, both players and fans they feel unified as a club and that's really important And the score will be?

21:59I think Leeds will score, because they're a good team and as you say, unbeaten in six, they're in decent form but I think this might be the evening the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium starts to breathe easily again. I'm going to go 3-1 Spurs.

22:1217th again, ole, ole. By the way, everybody laughed when De Zerbi said his Spurs will win the last five games. Back-to-back wins have followed. I'd say a 2-1 win which will make it a hat-trick. Whistle the great escape theme song with joy, Spurs fans. I predict, sweet release. Okay, it's time for one more big thing. What you got, Roar? Well, I'm going to Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, very early in the morning in the United States, to watch probably the most depressing game of the weekend, which is Liverpool against Chelsea. A Chelsea team who are in absolute freefall in the league under repeat interim manager Callum McFarlane, desperately hoping for some sort of sucker, some sort of hope, some sort of positive from a season.

22:54And there's no one better qualified to give it to them, Rog, than whatever's left of Liverpool. The states are slightly weird. I mean, Liverpool should get into the Champions League from here. They might not do it through their own merit, which would be fitting. Chelsea can still kind of sneak in the back door. I think if Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth, Chelsea can still get in through sixth. I'm not sure that that would be an especially dignified way of getting into the Champions League, to be perfectly honest. I'll bite your arm off for it. It's two teams who are really searching for some sort of meaning, some sort of purpose, some sign that the future doesn't need to be quite so bleak, is what I'm expecting from Anfield.

23:26That game, 7.30am Eastern on Peacock. Can I just note, Chelsea have lost seven successive league games, only once in their history. That was in 1952. I think they'll equal that record. Limp 2-0 surrender. My one last thing, Everton taking on Crystal Palace, 9am Eastern Time Sunday, also on Pecock. My Blues, fresh off one of their achievements of the season. The mighty draw in Manchester City that helped Arsenal to the title, trademark. The joy I felt watching that quite fantastical night ultimately puts Crystal Palace's very real achievement into even greater context. I watched them yesterday with real awe.