Arsenal’s Perfect Start, Liverpool’s Growing Pains & Tottenham’s Search For A Breakthrough | Big Weekend Preview 09/17/26

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio.

0:30This is Big Weekend Preview, the show where we tangle ourselves in the Gordian knot of football. And I'm joined by the envy of Turkish transplanters everywhere, Mr Rory Smith. How you doing, Rog? And the Volta Marder Awards, it's Humphrey Carr. Hello. Gents off the top, hard politics. Let me show you the photo from last night, Prime Minister Andy Burnham of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada. Both diehard Evertonians. Humph, does this make you more or less optimistic about the future of the democratic free world? Well, I mean, it does worry me that as Canada potentially moves closer to a relationship with the EU, what we've shown them is Everton as an inducement to come and join in.

1:10I looked at this and I loved it, number one, with all of my heart. But also the world might feel like it's going to crap, yeah. But seeing a squad with Tiano Barry as the only striker, I do think it puts everything into perspective for these guys.

1:23Roger Bennett:There is an element of being an Evertonian teaches you that things can always be worse. And I think that's probably not bad for national leaders of what are at best Europa League qualifying countries. Yes, global terrorism feels daunting. But to watch Mikhellenko for 90 minutes and you'll know the human will to survive is undaunted. Let's dive right in. We begin today with Arsenal's trip to Brighton, Saturday, 10 a.m. Eastern Time on USA. Arsenal, 12 points out of 12, four very different styles of victory. Different opponents have tried different tactical approaches to defang the champions, the Arteta threat.

2:01Chelsea tried to out-shoot them. No bueno. Sunderland, they tried the occasional judo throw and catching them out on the break. Raw, Fabian Herzler is a tactical brain. I mean, his hair system alone is a very complex piece of thinking. Is there an Arsenal weakness, even a tiny one, that he'll attempt to exploit?

2:17Roger Bennett:Well, no, because Michael Arteta, as we have previously discussed, Rog, has been preparing them for everything that could possibly happen, any sort of eventuality. I think I want to take a more kind of joyful approach to football from now on in my life. I think the big threat is that Brighton have scored more goals than anybody else. Brighton are a good team, as we saw what can only be described as hilariously at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening. When I looked at the score and saw it was 2-0 to Manchester United, decided, well, that's probably over. And then I thought, no, it's Brighton. You never know.

2:47Roger Bennett:And, you know, half an hour later, they've beaten them 3-2. So I think this is a real challenge for Arsenal. You asked me the other day, Rog, when I thought Arsenal might first drop points, and I said the Forest game in October, maybe Newcastle away in November. You didn't say which year, though, did you? I didn't, but I think Brighton's a genuine challenge for Arsenal. They're a good side, and they're in what we must describe as, in football language, a good moment. Yes, they love to have fun, and they love to do goals. and we love to see them have fun and do goals, provided it's not against whatever special team we hold in our own hearts.

3:20For me, I think Arsenal's greatest enemy is themselves, which is the sort of thing people say that sounds very wise. Oteta said that to me. I said, who's your greatest opponent? He said this. Ourselves. And that's how we prepare and evolve our club, our team, our squad. Look at you. Are you Oteta's scriptwriter hump? This looks like a lovely piece of sort of scripted corporate synergy where I've thrown to another piece of me on the Men in Blazers network. In reality, as you know, I will not watch anything on this network that doesn't feature me. So I didn't even know that was on there. But no, but I mean, I think the reality is I say it because it's sort of the thing that wise sage people say as they stroke their beards.

3:57But I think that the greatest challenge to Arsenal for me is the amount of their output from last season and what their output is going to be this season. Eventually, it's going to catch up with them. Now, I don't know that this stage is going to be the point where it does catch up. But I think the thing that's most likely to trip them up is getting tired. I do think that Brighton is a good early challenge for them. Cue Declan Rice dropping to his knees. It's not over. It's not over. I've got to admit, you talk about Brighton being funhub. I love watching Arsenal. Erdegaard gliding, Havertz dummying, Guimaraes thumping everything, unleashing six magnificent master meme celebrations in the process.

4:37Arteta's Arsenal, almost like Radiohead. They're constantly evolving, innovating season to season. You know, you like that album. They're going to go, nah, we're going to put completely more tinkeries. Right now, I do think we're somewhere between OK Computer and Kid A, if I'm reading Arteta right. Every great team has a style of their own. Pete Guardiola City had that elegant mechanical execution that David Silva pulled back from the byline. Klopp's Liverpool did it with a maniacal kind of wave of emotion. We know this game is going to be a fascinating, hard-fought, tactical, spatial, almost parapsychological battle.

5:15The Seagulls, yeah, just gave Manchester United that good pecking. Before we give predictions, can I hear from both of you? Who's one player you want to watch in this game and why?

5:23Roger Bennett:I've been quite taken with Yalcouye, the midfielder that they signed. Oh, is that what you're going to say, Hum? He's done me. He's absolutely stiffened me. I also love Yalcouye. You guys can have a Yalcouye off. I don't think that man deserves enough love. This is like The Bachelor. You can just both make your pitch to him and he'll give one of you a rose. Oh, hang on. Are we not giving him the rose? Is that not the idea? I don't know how it works. I don't know how The Bachelor works. I've never seen The Bachelor. This is outrageous. By the way, just so you know, those who do watch The Bachelor, I'll say it.

5:49Yeah, this is the worst episode of The Bachelor ever,

5:52Roger Bennett:but keep going. Just two men giving a man a flower when he doesn't want one. I think he just looks so kind of fearless. That's what I like about him. I didn't know anything about him when they signed him. He kind of arrives in the Premier League and looks totally unfazed by it. He's inventive. He plays in lots of different positions, does lots of different things depending on what is required. He's been an unalloyed joy for me this season. He has this glorious sort of slightly throwback quality to him. The goal he scored against Chelsea was an absolute beauty. My rather embittered and jaundiced shell cracked and a ray of light blasted in that reminded me of being a little boy again.

6:27Roger Bennett:There's something really nice about a player who completely takes you by surprise. We don't get that anymore because we know everything. You've seen everyone has got a YouTube compilation reel of them completing short passes. And it's set to kind of European techno. And it's meant to showcase how great they are. But all they're doing is deeply simple things that any professional footballer can do. You've just made me miss Beto, a player who took himself by surprise on the regs, which is the greatest. I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to watching this weekend. Big Esri concert. Still betting, I think the word is, next to Gabriel in the back line.

6:59But the way he looked down Xhaka with that see you outside made him, I think, an instant cult hero. Arsenal fans, you tell me. Arise, General Esri of Newhamborough. A reminder, which I think is important. Arsenal are doing all of this, just one goal conceded all season, without William Saliba, which we were told would do them in. I'm actually praying for Max Daumann, 12 years old. When is he, first start of the year, midweek, two goals in the Canabao against Ipswich. First, so dirty in the best of ways. came only the second 16 year old to score two goals in a game for a Premier League side any comp after do you know who guys uh it was after Wayne Rooney yes it was that's some good company not bad raw quick one should we expect to see more and how soon should we expect to see him the Dalman

7:44Roger Bennett:thing is fascinating because he's clearly incredible he's like Arsenal know exactly how talented he is but that is such a strong team and the tricky thing when you've got a 16 year old who do you take out to play that 16 year old does that is that's going to be an international it's a major fiddy you're going to have to remove. How Arteta plays the downwind situation this season will be really interesting because there will come a point where his age is no longer a reason to hold him back and they have to judge that quite carefully, I think. To the predictions, starting with you, Ro. For all my fine talk, Rog, of thinking Brighton will be a challenge, I think it's a challenge that Arsenal will pass.

8:15Roger Bennett:So I've gone for 2-1 to the reigning and also future champions. Wow, we are. Not only do we both like Yalcouye, but I have also picked two goals for Arsenal to Brighton and Hove Albion's one. I know what we're all doing. We're just copying each other's results now. So we stay neck and neck in the table. Keep it tight. Take it in the corner flag. Run it down. We can all qualify for Europe. If we all do this, we can all qualify for Europe next season. I think this is going to be a taut game. I think it's going to be tricky. I believe the result remains the same. Arsenal have its late 2-1 to the Gunners.

8:50Hunt for the repeat continues. And you're speaking of which, Saturday on Network NBC, 3.30pm Eastern Time, and then on Peacock after that, our new original documentary called Arsenal Dynasty Loading? Will Ayer. It's a beautiful piece. Really proud of it with Arteta, a bunch of the players, some of Arsenal's biggest celebrity fans, including Sudeikis and the great Spike Lee. For that to be on, Network NBC fills our heart with joy.

9:20We go from the quest for perfection to more of a scavenger hunt type affair. Bournemouth, Liverpool, two draw addicts collide. Sunday, 9am Eastern Time on USA. Irola versus his own glory day tinge good memories. The bass brain returns to the Vitality Stadium. We spent three glorious seasons building, tinkering, occasionally quoting Murakami. to everyone who listened at Bournemouth. Cut to different, slightly more frustrated figure right now. Admitted his team went backwards last week in the goalless dud against Fulham. A little bit like watching a brilliant indie director struggle under the weight of a first Hollywood feature this role.

9:59Very interesting hearing him talk about the core problem lying with the front line. If they don't press, the rest of the system can't work. The midfield can't create. But all of his big names, they're the ones he's critiquing. Isaac, Barcola, Gap, Po, Wurtz. Those are his big money men. And he's a manager not used to managing big money players. He can't take any of them out ruthlessly like he has

10:23Roger Bennett:in other parts of the squad or can he? Well he has kind of shown that he's prepared to do it. Ryan Dravenberts played in the first game at Newcastle and was removed immediately. He's done the same with Frimpon. I'd agree with you that doing it to... Isaac is difficult. There's no natural replacement. Not really. Wurtz, it would be a damning indictment. but I've got to admit Roger I went to Anfield on not only on Saturday for the goldest draw against Fulham but on Tuesday night for the 3-1 Carabao victory my favourite energy drink against Tottenham and was really impressed by Lewis Kumas who's a player who's been on loan for a couple of years and ran around more than anyone I've ever seen for almost 90 minutes and was was crucial I think he gave kind of Irayola an impression of what he wants his striker to be I was there with my son and my nephew and I didn't check my phone the entire game I didn't check my phone when I was driving home because I was behind the wheel of a motor car and that's a lead role and then I woke up in the morning and all of the kind of discourse around Liverpool was Sobber's life terrible the goal doesn't make up for it Gravenberch is terrible all these players are terrible and the joylessness of it the fact that the Liverpool's sort of reserve team-ish had actually beaten quite an experienced Spurs side in a really fun game seemed to have been completely lost and I think all this talk of what should Iriola do should this player be dropped should that player be dropped this is going to take a little while and people not only need to kind of take the fun when they can but there might need to be a little bit of patience with everybody concerned What is football for if it is not to just vent I mean Humph Bournemouth entering after the beginning of their own Europa League journey competition Erola qualified them for last season his well-worn spot on the touchline now occupied by the swarthy marker Rosie you would wouldn't you Speaking as an outsider with no significant biases, that would be me.

12:11This one's got the feeling of a very important game for Liverpool before they head into the international break and then the narrative kind of freezes agonisingly for a couple of weeks like Amber. There's the grumbles, there's the venting, there's still got the fitness, the adaptation, the cohesion, the culture. 14 days around the Irola net, that's a long time. Humph, who needs a good result more? Fabian Wirtz has almost been the symbol of Liverpool's lack of creativity, or Andoni. Wirtz is in danger of running into that situation where he can end up with 15 goals and 15 assists this season and somehow it will still be seen as being underachieving in some way, shape or form.

12:50But I just think it's a bigger one for Andoni. He needs to get another good result, start building some momentum for the team. To lose against your old boys would be so psychologically fraught. So let's hear your predictions. spoiler alert it's starting with you well this will be one for the drawhounds it's 1-1 as far as I'm concerned

13:10Roger Bennett:I'd agree that it's meat for the drawhounds they chuck it to them as they chase but it's 2-2 isn't it they'll have drawn 2-1 twice this season Bournemouth I think have drawn basically every game 2-1 these two teams do draws in the same way as Elizabeth Holmes makes awkward documentaries I see a we used to call it a Desmond a 2-2 from two teams struggling to convince to two teams just struggling to find the will to live. 17th place Tottenham against 19th place Aston Villa. Not laughing there, but for the grace of God. Eight games played between them, just two points won and one goal scored. This one, honestly, is a footballing equivalent of Johnny Cash's hurt facing off against Manchester by the sea.

13:49What an incredible joy it will be to peel ourselves out of bed first thing Saturday morning, 7.30am recent time on USA. I pity Spurs fans, Villa fans on that West Coast to have your day blighted by human tragedy. I want to ask both of you, Tottenham's early season form, it's so curiously tragic. Even fun facts accounts, just neutral, just nature lovers, start to take the piss. Look at this.

14:14Roger Bennett:This is from at a whale fact. Many people think whales would be bad at football given they have no concept of the sport, nor the ability to move freely on land. But so far this season, whales have stored the exact same amount of goals as the entire Tottenham Hotspur start in XI. I've always said that whales and whale enthusiasts are bitter and cruel people. And that's just bearing that out. That's not necessary. It's brutal. It's a real drive-by slapping for the good people of Tottenham. A mighty fin has come out and slapped them in the face. Did you know that a blue whale's tongue weighs as much as an elephant?

14:48I feel like I did at one stage because that's the sort of fact that gets broken out, but I've forgotten it because I mostly remember at school, a lot of the talk about blue whales was about a different appendage of theirs. It's hot, right? You mean that it's the size of a car? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. This one, I've never understood. Their blood vessels are so wide you can swim through them. How does that even work? You know the scene in The Fugitive

15:11Roger Bennett:where he's at the entrance to the big sewer thing? Yeah. So could you do that in a whale's blood vessel? Like, stand at it before, like, is it like a water slide? Before being shot off a dam, maybe. By the way, I also found out orcas have distinct dialects that differ region to region. Can you imagine the scout orca? That would just be like... Surely all orcas are Geordie's. Was absolutely dripping in seals over here, lads.

15:38Simple question. To start us off, will Tottenham score a goal this weekend or do they have to enter some kind of forced the embargoing to get off the mark? I don't want to jump ahead to ruin my prediction early, but I'm going to say no. Only because it would be the funniest possible outcome. I mean, I don't find this funny. I take no pleasure in this. I do think like, we don't know what to do with ourselves in football world now that Arsenal, we can't laugh, we can't do the bottle or we can't do the bribe. It's like everything feels like it's just completely moved to the Tottenham school and then reveling in it.

16:12I think this is going to be a fascinating clash. Two sides, yeah, they've seen Mundercourt. There's so much talent. One of them's going to click. There's injuries. I know Villa, no Pau Torres, There's Pedro Porre, Sandro Tonali questionable right now for Spurs. But, Roy, you pointed out, ultimately, we lump everything on those managers. And there is a contrast. De Zerbi looks like he's just absolutely fraught, maniacal. Emery, though, still the trust of that team. Is it possible to say, Roy, Spurs or Villa, who needs this more, you know, to do the goals?

16:44Roger Bennett:I think in terms of managerial fate, De Zerbi's position naturally feels much more delicate and much more fragile than Emery's. as Emery has got a longer body of work at Villa, there is this sort of absolute faith. And I think it might be slightly, not misplaced, but a little bit overblown. There's kind of this sense that Emery will sort everything out. Doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter what happens or who the players are or how bad things get, Emery will sort it out. I'm a little bit worried that Unai Emery has grown his hair out, which I think is a sign of real genuine distress. He's got real volume now there, Hump.

17:14Roger Bennett:Real volume. He's not doing that thing that bloke that Man United fan's doing, is he? Oh, he could be, yeah. Until Villa wins five times in a row. I'm not going to cut this hair at all. He's got a really sort of spectacular, he's got a widow's peak, but it's a really spectacular sort of swish of hair. It's admirable. I'm not criticising the style. Just think it suggests that it's a man with a lot on his mind. Whereas De Zerbe, you know, obviously he wins one game which keeps Spurs up. Then he spends£400 million,£500 million, and all of a sudden it's all gone wrong. So I think he desperately needs a goal, a win, a point.

17:49Roger Bennett:Villa are obviously in sort of like an identical situation. except that they know or at least they believe that they know that Emery will get them out of it but I would agree with Hump I think when I was driving back at the weekend listening to the Spurs-Everton game on the radio I just found myself desperately supporting nobody scoring because it is the funniest thing to happen You guys are two dark lords by the way I love your theory that ultimately Emery's saying to his squad I am so busy dealing with this problem I can't even get my hair cut meanwhile Deserby is just constant I mean that so much work goes into the different shaving Never at the barber.

18:21Yeah, he's been like, I'm not even phased. Look at me. I'm in the barber's chair. Tell us your predictions. I kind of feel like you already have. You're both milling the continuation of pain.

18:31Roger Bennett:This isn't a prediction, Rog. I'm manifesting. I'm Paltrow manifesting. Nil-nil draw. Same. What's going on, Rory? You and I, we're so in sync this week. It's been a mind melt. I'm doing a show with two sick puppies. Two sickos. Yeah, man. I don't like it. I see a strange, strange thing happening. a goal, a God to real goal for Tottenham Hotspur 2, 1-0 three big points, let's move on for the World of Pay narrative, shall we? So Manchester City against Sunderland, Sunday 9am Eastern Time on Peacock City still perfect, four wins out of four in the league, carrying that Derby Day win Asterisk cough, momentum back to the Etihad to Hush Sunderland, who will take offence at your whale impression which is still making me laugh in the back of my mind with Phil Ferdin serving his red card ban in this one.

19:17Mureska's tinkering is going to continue. I'm fascinated by how this midfield shuffle will balance out of all Manchester City's new recruits last weekend. We saw Enzo Fernandes abandon the midfield to move into the box at will. The tactic Mureska, as I said, was intended to create overloads. Also, I mean, he feels that Elliot Anderson can do everything, and he kind of showed he could in the derby. I'm curious, Mureska's got so many tools. Fernandes, Anderson, Bwadi, Kovacic, O 'Reilly, What combination would you like to see more of?

19:49Roger Bennett:It strikes me the natural balance is Buwadi, Anderson and Enzo. But then I'm intrigued by Cherky as well. I think Cherky is a really interesting player under Maresto because he is a little bit more of a free spirit. He takes a little bit of integration, whereas Maresto is very system first. I'm intrigued to see how that plays out. But I think the future of City's midfield is those three. It's Buwadi and Anderson a little bit deeper. And then Enzo as that kind of raider bursting forward into the box. On to predictions for Manchester City against Sunderland. Humpflair on this. Do it in a Geordie accent.

20:20I've gone for Manchester City 3, Sunderland 1.

20:26Roger Bennett:Sunderland is not, they're not Geordies, they're Maccams. They're Maccams, that's a key distinction. But it's very different. No one who's not from Sunderland can do a Maccam accent. It's not a thing. Well, I was told by a friend of mine from Newcastle that my Newcastle accent sounds more like a Geordie accent. and then when I tried to do a Sunderland accent to a friend of mine from Sunderland, she was like, no, you sound like a Geordie. So I can't. I think maybe I have to try and do it. Maybe I have just been doing a Sunderland accent. I've gone for 3-0 because, serious football point, Sunderland played in Europe this week and that is the big thing that's going to challenge.