Arsenal Champions, Pep Guardiola Says Goodbye, and Spurs and West Ham Face Relegation Peril: Big Weekend Preview 05/22/26

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2:19Final weekend of the Premier League. Ten games all kicking off at the same time. All we need now is Scott Hansen in a Decker box. Arsenal, once bottlers, now champions. Spurs and West Ham fighting over the final trapdoor. Pep Guardiola saying goodbye finally at the Etihad. And half the league trying to scramble, see if they'll be playing in Europe next season. Not you, Everton. This is Big Weekend Preview, hitting all the Premier League storylines ahead of this final weekend. No wonder. Joining me as always to break down the biggest storylines is Mr. Rory Smith. It's been a long week, Rog. Rory, it has been the longest week.

2:57I mean, I've got a big picture. I'm overwhelmed by football. So much pure, uncut good stuff going on. Makes your head feel like it's going to explode.

3:07Roger Bennett:It really does. I mean, it feels like a lifetime ago that Mohamed Salah was tweeting out another incendiary post to try and undermine Arna Slott. We've lived through whole universes, Rog, in the last week. Was that a year ago or was that four months after Hearts went into second place? It happened in 2007, I think, Rog, to be honest. I think that's when Salah retired, didn't he? It's what it feels like. We have so much to get into. Match-up won. Crystal Palace against Arsenal. The newly crowned Premier League champion Arsenal. Get used to saying that. 11am Eastern time on CNBC. and also won the title Tuesday night, strangely without playing, something that never happens in American sport.

3:48The playoff base nature guarantees you always win it on the field here. And yes, this is technically a football match, but for both clubs, feels celebratory. Royal Palace off to the Conference League final on Wednesday, Oliver Glaston's last game. But first and foremost, Arsenal Football Club, God of Honour time. It does feel like it's going to be a coronation lap for a club that spent 22 years trying to find its way to this exact feeling, this exact moment.

4:15Roger Bennett:And Crystal Palace reserves get to be there to help them do it. Yeah, it won't feel like a competitive match in the slightest, I don't think, because obviously Palace have got the conference lead final to look forward to on Wednesday. They will be resting players for that. Oliver Glasner's made that abundantly clear. And Arsenal, for the first time in, what, five years, maybe more, the tension has gone out of Arsenal. We are going to see Arsenal footloose, fancy free, not weighed down by that burden of expectation. that they get to play with freedom and with oxygen and without angst. And I'm not sure we've seen Arsenal look like that in what feels like living memory, Rog.

4:49I 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 Blazers media network. Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? You know, let's dig into this. My living memory does not go back as far as 22 years raw. Two stadia, four head coaches. And in the last three seasons alone, the agony of three straight finishes as second place. Close enough to see the summit, but only feeling pain because they couldn't touch it. Never close enough to lift the trophy until now. So, number one, let's not let the fact that Piers Morgan is happy ruin the truly heroic aspect of Arsenal's title-winning season.

5:37You know, so many inspirational storylines. I've talked about them. I've loved them. I'm not an Arsenal fan. But watching them have to battle the all-comers on the field, but the scorn, the derision, the noise, the bottle memes. But Kai Osaka, the kid who joined Arsenal's Academy in his 80s, King Kaiow, desperate to bring a title to the team in the side of his hero, Thierry Henry. You know, I asked him this morning when I spoke to him, what does that feel like? You've done it. And he still can't believe it. He said, until we lift the trophy, it won't feel true. You've got Mikel Arteta, gone from just a lightning rod of mockery to a winner roar.

6:14Watch his reputation flip from butter the joke to state-of-the-art genius. And my favourite, Eberichie Eze, soulful, faith-filled journey, which thrills me beyond words. for him to get a guard of honour from his former Palace teammates too is beyond movie ending. The fans roar, they've suffered, they've catastrophised, they now flip that switch to utter euphoria and ecstasy. We've lived every tweet, every TikTok. It's magnificent, that kind of joy. But the question is now, Saka said 22 years there was laughing, there was joking, they're not laughing anymore. I asked him about that this morning and he kind of said, yeah, it's not about what we're about to do.

6:51When I say the shining bright, it's about savouring this moment. First things first, this win. How does it change Arsenal's identity? We'll never hear second again, ole, ole. The bottle memes, they all stop. You know, there won't be schadenfreude at Arsenal's expense. How does this change the core identity?

7:07Roger Bennett:I think it does something really profound, you know, winning a title. I texted a friend of mine who lives in New York now. He's an Arsenal fan. He was the first person I thought of really when they won the title. And he said that he felt lighter than he could remember. And I think that's the best way of putting it. When you support a team that expects to be winning trophies and hasn't been winning trophies for a long time, you do feel light. You feel a kind of glow, I think. And Arsenal fans should live in that for as long as they can. They should allow it to kind of permeate their bodies, their souls, and just relish it.

7:37Roger Bennett:Relish that feeling of accomplishment because this has been such a long journey. And obviously in the days since that game between Bournemouth and City that sealed the title for Arsenal, The focus has been on Arteta on the pickpockets and the TikTok memes and the olive tree and all that stuff about that he's done to try and change the culture at Arsenal. And I mean, some of that I think probably helps. Some of that I think is kind of gimmicky. But, you know, it's all kind of vindicated now, I suppose. But for the fans, it's been a much longer journey than that. For the fans, they have never seen them lift the lead at the Emirates.

8:05Roger Bennett:They have never played at the Emirates as champions. An entire generation has kind of been born and grown up not knowing Arsenal winning the Premier League title. And for a club like Arsenal, that's not really how it should be. this is one of England's three genuinely historic superpowers, and they had been in the shadows for so long. So I think now what it does for the fan base is it puts an end to that weight, to that pain, to that angst, and that removes an edge. What it gives you, I think, is a confidence, a confidence that, you know, do you know what, even next season, two seasons' time, if there's a bit of a fallow period, if things aren't quite as good as they should be, you still go back to that and think, we did it, we were champions, I know what that feels.

8:46Roger Bennett:And that, I think, does change the way that you feel about your club. Yeah, I mean, not just the winning. It is about banishing the banter sphere, conquering it, silencing the noise roar. Speaking to Bakaya this morning, it did feel a little bit as if that was almost as joyous a feeling as actually winning the title. Once that result had been confirmed, once the celebrations outside the Emirates had started, once they were kind of celebrating at the training round, I found it quite curious how quickly their thoughts turned to, in inverted commas, the haters. I'm not sure that's what you'd want to do in that moment necessarily, but I think it has clearly, they felt they had a point to prove.

9:21Roger Bennett:That has clearly been part of their fuel, that all of the criticism they've had, all of the kind of laughter they've had, being the big club struggling in the social media age, that has been something that has driven them on. They have been conscious of that, and I suppose in a way it's fair enough that they want to kind of vanquish that ghost. How could you not? Every time they conceded second again, ole, ole. it's just that everyone has relished in Schadenfreude at Arsenal's expense. I think part of the reason I really admire this Arsenal journey roar is because it is so unbelievably human. And I think that is probably the most human response to winning is, yeah, you dance to we are the champions because that's what you're meant to do in the social.

10:00You have to legally do that in the social media era. But you do feel like you have propelled. John Oliver always spiked is the greatest human motivation. I think you carry both of those things in those moments.

10:13Roger Bennett:Yeah, well, we've said a million times, haven't we, that when a team scores a goal, some fans jump up and celebrate with each other and some fans turn to the away end and give them the finger. Those are the twin emotions that drive all football. And it's fair enough that Arsenal should want to indulge them. I think that's the bit that stands out to me the most, though, Rog, is the courage of coming second, of facing all that criticism, of nursing what must be the doubts that you can get over the line. like they are human ultimately. They must have wondered, can we take on City and triumph? Can we go all the way?

10:43Roger Bennett:They must have had those thoughts. To go again in a fourth season and do it is genuinely remarkable. We're so proud to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides presented by Visa. Your ultimate guide to the best places to eat, drink, explore and watch the beautiful game across the United States and Canada. We know football's more than just the game. It's the shared experiences with those you love. The pre-game meal at a local diner. That half-time pint at the right pub. The post-match cry. I love a post-match cry. And we want to thank our sponsor, Visa. Make experiencing new places as easy as a tap-in.

11:22Ball's just sitting there on the goal line. All you've got to do is tap it in. Enjoy this delirious summer of soccer. Experience those cities like locals. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. Get rewarded just for shopping with Simon Plus. Don't miss Memorial Day sales at Simon Premium Outlets and Mills. You can get points at scores of stores, access to exclusive offers, and exciting surprises. You've got an extra day off, so make it pay off with the best deals from brands you love all in one place. It's a summer kickoff thing. Join today at simonplus.com. rewards program term supply see simonflus.com for details I mean it is can you imagine also the other side is like to feel that you were having that ripped away and it was happening again and you were about to come second again I mean that must have been the most crushing sporting weight on their shoulders and and ultimately you're right the word courage which some of us use far too much I think I mean me it really is that is the emblem of this arsenal They have taken so much s*** this season.

12:34Style of football, the reliance on set pieces, the failure to win the quadruple, which is so funny. The 18 goals from corners. They get lambasted for working hard, training as a unit. The hunger for control, that's a bad thing. No, the number of 1-0 wins. Also, I think it's eight. I'm so impressed by that. As a man that's watched his team cough up lead after lead, a back line. It's honestly been harder to break down than the plot of Pluribus. et cetera, et cetera. And now they've won Raw. I'm looking forward to all of that falling away. I really am. You've seen almost the switch flick to joy, to relief.

13:11Bakaya said there's something a lot of relief to us this morning. But there's still a game to be played, Raw. A trophy to be lifted. That moment, as I said earlier, to what Declan Rice was, he said, that's when it will feel real. Bakaya said, I can't wait to feel how heavy the trophy feels. I just love that, Raw. or it will feel real when I feel how heavy, yeah, it's real. Okay, it happened. Just save the moment, Arsenal fans. The game itself, also beautiful for Crystal Palace. The farewell of Oliver Glasner, a man who came in and gave them the first major tribute and is poised to bring the second.

13:46It's his last game. He will be cheered. He'll rest up his players, as you've said, for Wednesday night's Conference League final to come. Expect, honestly, so many teenagers on this field. I've got a feeling Max Dowman's going to be one of the most experienced players on the pitch? Or what kind of game is it going to be? And what's the score?

14:02Roger Bennett:Old man Dowman. Yeah, it will feel weird. I think for the players, for the fans, it will be what is actually quite a rare experience, which is a game that doesn't matter. The result will have no bearing on how the crowd feels. And those things don't happen very often. Arsenal will get their guard of honour. They will have that big trophy to lift at the end. Bakaya might be disappointed if it's a bit lighter than he's expecting. I mean, it is hollow. It can't be that heavy. And the 90 minutes in between will just kind of be, to be honest kind of a carnival I think so I would expect it to be quite fun a little bit silly quite light hearted we're expecting a heatwave in England this weekend and a heatwave by actual standards not just a heatwave by English standards so I think it will be a summer party for both teams that Arsenal will win 3-0 I've got the elation continuing to free football finally a lot of haters been like why couldn't they have played like that all season and the answer is what hungover 4-0 though by the way I got a call from Chris Richards' agent last night in the wake of news about his ligament injury.

15:00And the agent said the injury is, quote, minor. Chris hopes to be ready for the Conference League final. I'm not sure he's going to start. But the word was, I don't anticipate him missing a minute of the World Cup. So let's pray. One last Arsenal thought, Raw. Title winning moments. I think everyone remembers where they were when it happened, when Arsenal finally went. When Arteta in his garden with his controlled fire, Arsenal fans outside the Emirates, beautiful. Me on the tarmac in Oklahoma City after we were diverted on the way to Dallas. Dallas, by the way, a city I adore. You know I love the meats.

15:35I love the meat sweats and the barbecue is out of this world. Which reminds me, this week we learned something that I'm really super proud of. We worked very hard on it. It's our interactive city, guys. Every host city for this summer is in there. It's sponsored by our great friends at Visa. you the listeners in every city made incredible suggestions where the world should go in your city where they should eat where they should drink where they should visit and we poured our souls into each one of these guides and in return the traffic is beautiful people are really flocking to them I'll make sure our team puts a link in the show notes for anyone who wants to check them out make sure I want to thank you viewers thank you listeners for doing this so the world can revel in this like I did in Dallas when I was there but a big game too Manchester City against Aston Villa, Sunday, 11 a.m.

16:23Eastern Time on Peacock. More enormous news this morning when Pep Guardiola relented to truth and decided to announce his own departure in a truly poetic video. Very Pep. Music in it, you know, slightly quirky choice. He said, don't ask me the reasons I'm leaving. There is no reason. But deep inside, I know it's my time. Nothing is eternal. If it was, I'd be here. Eternal will be the feeling, the people, the memories, the love I have for my Manchester City. Really poignant. He leaves Manchester City after 10 trophy-laden years, you know, arriving as an outsider, struggled in that first season, but uses beautiful mind to, I'd say, harness the singular advantages that Manchester City's project offers, innovating, redefining the standards for success and his pursuit of glory, every trophy, changed the entire city of Manchester, which cares about football and music above all else.

17:21He's almost become like a Catalan Gallagher brother. Raw, 17 trophies in his own style, like his cargo pants. 115 charges hanging over there in the shadows. Bonnie Rene wrote a really excellent piece on Pep's genius and football's dark heart. Raw, I've got to ask you, where does Pep Guardiola rank in the Premier League's greatest managers? The way he's tactically transformed, not just Manchester City, but the entire English game, from his own team to the entire pyramid, down to the grassroots of football. He's changed the way football is understood in England.

17:53Roger Bennett:Yeah, I mean, I think he's probably above Arna Slott would be my overall opinion. Below David Moyes then? Below David. No, I think... So in terms of honours, if you're going purely on kind of silver and gold, he's behind Ferdison. He's second to Alex Ferdison, certainly of the Premier League era. I think if you're looking at influence, at things that are less tangible, at something a little bit more conceptual, I think he's probably the most influential manager in English football's ever seen. As you say, there's been this incredible transformation in the way we play football in England that has been inspired in no small part by Guardiola.

18:24Roger Bennett:So Wayne Rooney said this week that if you watch Sunday lead football, trying to park football, pick up football, you see Guardiola principles there in a way that you never used to. Goalkeepers will pass it out from the back in Sunday lead. They don't do it very well and they almost certainly shouldn't do it, but they will do it. If you watch lead one, lead two, the championship, you see teams playing with inverted winners. Pep has inverted every single position in his time in England. He's taken every position, kind of deconstructed it like a Michelin-starred chef and changed what it does. That is an incredible legacy tactically.

18:55Roger Bennett:But I actually think, Rog, his biggest impact, and I've written this this week, is more about how he's changed our idea about having ideas. When he arrived, we were very sceptical of two things in England. One was this idea that what succeeded on the continent would succeed automatically in England. Guardiola was kind of the ultimate test case for that. He was kind of the rainy night in Stoke test made flesh that we thought, all right, he's won everything with Barca and Bayern, but that doesn't count. He will have to bend for the English game. As it turned out, England bent to him. And that is Guardiola's greatest triumph.

19:26Roger Bennett:But the really big thing is that we were also really suspicious of managers with philosophies. That was not a thing that we were used to in England. We didn't trust it. Philosophy, ultimately, Rog, is a foreign concept to the English. We don't really do it. And now, 10 years later, every manager has a philosophy. If you don't have a philosophy, people are a bit like, well, what's his vision for the game? That is a massive shift in the way we think about football. And a lot of it, not all of it, but a lot of it is because of Pep. There is 100 % an English football before Guardiola and an English football after Guardiola.

20:02Yeah, I mean, that first year, Rua, Fraudiola, the ball of fraud. Remember, he struggled in that first year. I don't teach the tackles, he said, after City were bullied. I think it was by Leicester City, which is amazing. We laughed. The press laughed. Everyone loved his struggles at the beginning, and he overcame it all again. Second proper use of the word courage. Him leaving in this moment for Manchester City, I think it feels, you know, I've been there. Dad's off. You know, we've lost our footballing father. and City are going to have the hardest succession. I don't like to be hyperbolic since Apple had to replace Steve Jobs.

20:41I think Enzo Maresca is an excellent manager from Pep's coaching tree to boot, but it's very hard in football to be the man who follows the man. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it and him and that, but there's another departee of great meaning, Bernardo Silva, Portuguese mischief maker, one of probably the most relentless battlers that City have ever had. John Stone's also leaving. another slice of City's sole exiting I filmed with both men for an interview that's coming out tomorrow also they were in buoyant mood I've got to say even though it was the day after they they lost the league that will debut tomorrow but with all of this change is this about a smooth handoff to the Mares Guerrero or does losing Pep and Silva and Johnny Stones does it feel almost like a bigger cultural reset?

21:28Roger Bennett:It's really hard to imagine that there won't be at least some sort of aftershock from losing Guardiola I don't know, Rog, to be honest, whether getting someone like Mareska, who is so clearly connected to Pep, who feels in some way derivative of Pep, and I don't necessarily mean that as an insult. I don't know whether that's necessarily the smart thing to do. I can see the logic of it. I think it should work. He's a good coach. He's very well respected at City, elsewhere. He's very highly thought of. Is there a possibility that he kind of seems like a slightly reduced version of what went before?

21:57Roger Bennett:I think that's probably the risk. not that you necessarily want a massive culture shock and get Sam Allardyce in and start lumping it towards Erling Haaland but there is a risk with the transition of that scale because I'm not sure we've ever really even Klopp's Liverpool, Wenger's Arsenal, Ferguson's United I'm not sure we've ever seen a club built so specifically for one manager and that manager was Guardiola they were in a very literal sense Pep Guardiola's Manchester City he was the centrepiece of the club and the front office built around him that's the amazing thing is that it's not the case that he was slotted into a structure or even that he was the structure like Wenger at Arsenal or Ferdison at United it's that he was put in place and then the structure was built with him at its centre he is the load bearer of Manchester City and ultimately none of us quite know what happens afterwards as you say losing silver losing stones they've lost players like that before they've they've they've had to kind of acquiesce the time at various points whether it's De Bruyne, David Silva, Fernandinho so to lose those two I think in normal circumstances they would barely notice it to be honest, they'd just be able to kind of roll straight through, sign Elliot Anderson, sign another central defender, off everybody goes City are an incredibly well run club there remains as you say the shadow of the 115 there is the nature of their ownership we shouldn't ignore but they are very well run for what they are, but even that this is a kind of generational challenge to overcome the loss of Guardiola, to move from what they've had to what they will be, will be really difficult.

23:20And if it doesn't work just give it to Liam Gallagher to the end of the season yeah We need to quickly talk about Aston Villa, magnificent in their own right, surging in after the team's midweek Europa League glory in Istanbul. What a job Unai Emery has done under quite difficult financial constraints, tactically, culturally transformed the club. Villa win their first trophy since 1996. You think about that and you realise again, the majority of fans are too young to have experienced that kind of giddy feeling with their team. The squad will now be remembered for generations. So into this game itself, City's title race over, emotional stakes so high.

24:03Pep Guardiola's final home game at the Etihad, there'll be a stand next season in the stadium named after him. This will be the last time he's with his friend, the water bottle on the sideline, Raw. What kind of a game do you expect to play out amongst just utter sweltering, almost demigod worship and emotion?