Can Carrick’s Manchester United Upset Arsenal? Pep Guardiola's Crisis at City, and Crystal Palace’s Survivor Season: Big Weekend Preview 01/23/26

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

0:11Can the suddenly ripple muscle that is Michael Carrick's Manchester United 2.0 head to Arsenal and prove themselves to themselves for the second week on the row? Manchester City had a Davos of a week. They couldn't lose to the bottom of the table walls, could they? Abandoned coach Oliver Glasner. Oh, and his suddenly beleaguered Crystal Palace. welcome Chelsea against aura coach Liam Rose Senior. Will he prove they're all in a post-coaching world in which football's won by vibes and the best Lego building strategies? This is Big Weekend Preview where we answer those questions and make your score predictions about week 23 of ye Premier League Rumble.

0:49It's a joy to see it's my old mate Rory Smith. Hey up! Afternoon Rog. Good morning Rour. Let's dive straight into the big one. Arsenal are going to Manchester United Sunday. 11.30am Eastern Time on Peacock. How would you follow up the perfect first act of kidney-punching Manchester City 2-0 in the down-belows by swaggering up to North London, facing the league-leading Arsenal? First up, Michael Carrick. Raw simplified his football, put players in their natural roles, what do you know, and delivered cacophonous victory last weekend. Is this the weekend we find out whether that was just new interim to the interim manager bounce, or the Carrick nascence is something more profound and real.

1:30I'm considering buying a giant wheel, like on Wheel of Fortune, to measure the level of Manchester United's backness. And I think at this point, we're quite far towards Manchester United being back, Rog. They've won a single game. They won a game by the same margin against the same opponents as Norwegian side Bodo Glimt. They are back. No, I think they were really impressive at Old Trafford last week. I was there, as you know, Rog. And they played Manchester United football. They played the sort of football, the fans of that club specifically want to see. And obviously, sensibly, you think, OK, Arsenal, seven points clear at the top of the league, don't concede goals, almost impossible to beat domestically.

2:13United probably is a step too far, and the best they can hope for is comporting themselves well, doing OK against a team that are obviously superior. But at the same time, part of me wonders, does this sort of fixture actually suit this kind of Manchester United? They want to play on the counter-attack. They want to kind of take their chances when they come along. They haven't played in Europe this week. Maybe they go to the Emirates and they make a bit of a statement. You know, we've watched Arsenal. Yes, league-leading Arsenal. Yes, seven points clear Arsenal. But they have come off back-to-back goalless Premier League draws.

2:43And I'm sure Michael Carrick will have watched the great tactical genius Sean Dyche and his ferocious low block. Frustrate the heck out of Arsenal, who are going to be on a steady diet of low blocks for the rest of the season. There's a Manchester United DNA of attack, attack, attack. But is that the strategy that they could employ? Lou block, Lou block, Lou block. I think it's low block, low block, low block until you get a chance to go, at which point they've got Dorgue, they've got Ahmad. They have the pace to kind of catch anyone out on the counter-attack. And I think that is the obvious way for Carrick to play.

3:15You don't take a sort of middling Manchester United team to the Emirates to try and play the lead leaders at football. You have to try and catch them out. Yeah, obviously, Arsenal much better than United. obviously they'll be heavy favourites and in most circumstances they will win this game. But for the first time in a long time, I can really see a way that Manchester United can hurt Arsenal. And that in itself, I suppose, is a form of progress. Yeah, I do. Any fan base that does that chant, low block, low block, low block, the epitome of on the football will have my heart forever. Let's talk about Arsenal though.

3:47Those two back-to-back nil-nil draws, almost like existential angst just simmering, even though they actually extended their league at the top of the table. in the process last weekend against Forrest. Lots of possession, minimal cutting edge. This morning, the damning praise of reverse psychologist Pep Guardiola, who called Arsenal the best team in the world. So, so good. He didn't say so, so good, but, you know, he was thinking it. I'm fascinated to see, Ro, this weekend, who Mikel Arteta starts against that enormous human forehead Harry Maguire. Victor Jocherez, one goal in his last 10 in the league, but who's counting?

4:25But you also have rejuvenated, hungry speed merchant, Gabriel Jesus, itching to reveal whatever T-shirt he's got on under that Arsenal jersey. Both men scored in the Champions League midweek. Jocares, as he scored a proper banger, Jesus obviously scored twice. To me, the pace of Jesus makes rational sense, but dropping Jocares doesn't necessarily need some very deft Mikel Arteta man management. Yeah, I think to me it would make sense to play Jesus, Not necessarily even his pace, just his movement, I think, is the sort of movement that would really cause Harry Maguire problems in particular. You do have to remember that Lissandro Martinez has been pretty good since coming back into that United team.

5:03And he pocketed one big Scandinavian last weekend, and I'm sure he'd fancy doing another with Jochrez this weekend. But you're right, there is a psychological element to omitting Jochrez. The big money signing, the player who was kind of brought in to be the finisher for Arsenal, the person who would sort of slot home the many, many chances they make, It hasn't worked out. And if Arteta drops him on one level, you wonder whether does that kind of hamper his confidence? Does that effectively seal his fate for the rest of the season, which is risky when you consider Jesus' fitness record? Or do you get that old Arteta sort of spin where it's not starters and substitutes, it's starters and finishers?

5:42Do you say to Yacarese, look, if you can come on and score when Harry Maguire's nice and tired, does Gabi Jesus has run him around a lot for 75 minutes? Maybe that's the best way to do it. Yeah, I think I'm contractually obliged to act like a professional broadcaster in this moment and just bellow, I think Jochores is going to pick Martinez up and throw him into the back of the net, Roar. That is analysis. But what kind of game do you expect in the Emirates? I think it'll be tight. I think it will be hairy and nervous for Arsenal at points because they are now in that sort of full-on psychodrama stage of the season.

6:16I think United can hurt them. I think United will ask them questions and they will produce a performance that means they leave North London with credit. But whether they actually take any points, whether they win, that's sort of a different matter. I think a lot for me depends on the mindset of Bruno, who was fearsome against Manchester City last week. He was unplayable at times in terms of his positioning and his hunger, his desire to hurt all comers. Also, the wild card, Kobi Meino, free and playing for a new contract. But maybe we're just overcomplicating this, Rory. At the end of the day, maybe all of this just revolves around which players, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane trash talk between now and kick-off and how they respond to the bants.

7:00Because isn't that how football works in our post-tactics world, Roar? Time to look into the Terry chocolate orange shape crystal ball. I've got mine right here. Tell us how the game's going to go, Rory Darmus. What is the final score? So, as I say, I think it will be tight. But ultimately, I think Arsenal's quality tells. I would go 3-1 with the old caveat, Rog, that the third goal is late. Oh, boom, boom, boom. I see. Also, Hathaway perfection almost. Arsenal romp 3-1. Big Gab's so annoyed at the non-clean sheet, but please, please, please, let A's a score.

7:40To the next! Oh, Manchester City. Welcome Wolves. Saturday 10am Eastern Time on Peacock. A gimme-puck roar. This suddenly feels almost like a 40-yard chip out of a bunker that could possibly be chunked. Bottom of the table Wolves. You think of them honestly as a scooby snack for Pep Guardiola. But then this is sudden, truly humbled City who went down with all hands against United at Old Trafford last weekend and somehow still don't understand how Raw crapped the bed in the Arctic Circle at Bodo Glimt. Never play two teams at the same time, guys. Did we not learn from Trinidad and Tobago? Anyway, Wolves, sudden five-game unbeaten run, makes them the informed team in this one.

8:22We'll get to Wolves in a moment, but Raw, I am old enough to remember when Manchester City were on, what was it, an eight-game all-comp straight winning streak and were seen as the big bad wolf chasing down Arsenal's kind of naive happiness but instead the hunters become the hunted it came out of nowhere how do you understand it raw just this heinous humiliating humbling yeah there's three things one is is the obvious one which is they've got no central defenders left so you know against Bodo and against Manchester United they were not playing any of their first choice central defenders that that is a problem Mark Gay who should make his debut should solve that problem to a large extent That's why they've signed him.

9:02The second one is that City have kind of been playing the same players for quite a long time. And over Christmas and New Year in England, that's tricky because there are a lot of games and they get very tired. And the third, and Guardiola I think has alluded to this, is that they've obviously spent a lot of money in the last 12 months, Manchester City. They've signed a lot of new players. That does take time, that process. It doesn't happen. It's not plug and play. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen instantly. Just like last season, City look like a team that don't necessarily know each other that well at the moment.

9:30And I think what you see in games are those little breakdowns in communication that eventually have started to cost them. Hello, my name is Kuzinov, is what you're saying. They are quite chaotic conditions for Mark Gahey to make his City debut. Pep confirmed this morning the freshly signed Crystal Palace captain will plug the back line tomorrow. City, though, almost like the only thing I can compare them to is the norovirus because they are in trouble at both ends. The back line has been vulnerable. the attack can't believe we're saying this Erling Haaland the man who has uncooked an unbelievable 39 goals in just 36 games for club and country this season has just won in his past 8 games was furious post Bodo we talked about him in depth last pod but you know short of it is too much football man Pep Guardiola explained away the Bodo loss this morning he said we missed the chances that we had and the long balls we were not aggressive enough, which is fascinating because that aggression is normally said by Rodri.

10:36And the man whose name you kind of say and you hear like angels just parting the clouds and, oh, he's your former Blonde or winner. And he's honestly been seen, I don't like to be hyperbolic, but like the Ark of the Covenant, possess him and you win. He was sent off against Bodo and in the United game was so uncharacteristically sloppy in possession. Pep said this morning, it's been 11 months. Give him more time, referring to the recuperation from an awful ACL roar. I mean, we saw in that 11 months, City never came close to replacing Rodri at the heart of that midfield, but now he's back. Is the possibility that age, is it 29?

11:16He might not be able to replace himself, Roar, as a Rodri of our imaginations. I'd like to think not. You don't want it to be the case that an injury, even one that serious has curtailed his career at the absolute peak of his abilities. I think that what Pep said is probably right, that you have the original layoff from the injury, the point at which you get back on the pitch and can run around again. But after that, it takes months, I think, before you're fully up to speed. Bear in mind, you've not had a proper pre-season. Everyone else on the pitch is kind of flying already, and you're still trying to grind through the gears.

11:48It takes a while. So my sense is that Rodri will get better and better through the course of this season, but it may not be till next year that we see him back at his best. I don't like to say this, but we are running through every single element, like proctologist in this Southern City implosion. We thought this season might be Pep's last. We thought, you know, the$500 million plus that they spent on a squad overhaul, radical transformation since last January's transfer window was all in aid of giving him a farewell title. But he seems unable to staunch the bleeding. Incredibly, we have to remind ourselves he's been at City 10 years.

12:22His previous longest spell was four seasons at Barcelona. Could we be seeing just all of this rooting back to a losing of his grip at the last rule? Football has evolved into the slop almost of duels, direct football, set pieces, long throws, just pragmatic, robust, rock 'em-sock 'em style of football. That's the very opposite of his roots. Every manager, even the greats, gain a dent in their crown. Are we watching possibly something like how Ernest Hemingway talks about how the rich go bankrupt? It all just happens gradually and then suddenly. The thing with Guardiola is you can't really write him off, can you?

13:02But you do wonder, like you say, whether he's adapted too to this new world. He's adapted to produce a more sort of physical, more combative, a little bit more direct City team. But ultimately, that's not what his edge was. That's not what made him Pep Guardiola. So is there a case that he's now trying to coach somebody else's game in order to win? That won't end that happily. I think you have to believe that he's such a talented coach that he will get the swans on he wants. He will get the golden send-off. But it won't be the Premier League this season. And to be honest, they've not been great in the Champions League either.

13:34And I'm pretty sure he won't want to say goodbye with nothing around his net. And to Wolves in 20th place, 14 points from safety. but they have the fearlessness on the field of really a condemned man. Earned more points in their last four Premier League games, six than the two they gleaned from their first 18 matches of the season. Really gallows humour going on over there. Tell us, Ru, what's going to happen and what the final score will be. Wolves aren't bad. Wolves will ask City questions and they will go completely fearlessly because they've got nothing to lose. So I would say tighter than you'd have said like three weeks ago when you'd have been thinking it was six or seven, I think City win unconvincingly Wolves put up a real fight and City take it 2-1 City fans here's the good news for you Anton Semenyo is not in your Champions League squad I do believe his fresh legs will be a difference for you here but this game is going to be surreal nice news you get a much needed point this is going to be a 3-3 shootout lights madness and talking of madness oh Crystal Palace welcome Chelsea Sunday 9am Eastern Time on USA Raw.

14:42This one, much discussed. When Ismael Assar went off happily to represent his nation of Senegal at AFCON, his Crystal Palace were in fifth place. When was that? Like December 14th. Mark Gahey was wearing the captain's armband. Oliver Glastner, not sure if he was going to sign a new contract or not. How that platform of stability has utterly, like a match, just self-immolated. Palace, winless in 10 all comps. down to 13th place. The darkness has descended. Corner flag scourge. Jean-Philippe Mateta, the latest to rumble a desire to leave the club. Not a great time to face. Liam, Rosinha's reborn Chelsea team won three of four.

15:25This game suggests come for the football. Stick around for what will be guaranteed fascinating managerial post-match press conferences, whatever happens. First of all, in normal days, Yeah, FA Cup winning Palace should still be skipping through the daisies, sunlight in their hair or reveling in the glory of that first ever trophy win in the nation's history and the European journey that came with it. These should be the greatest days of their lives. They've waited so long for this to watch some flounder now. It's honestly, it's like having to watch puppies get tortured and I don't like to be hyperbolic.

16:00is the third act of this just proof of the life truth roar there's no such thing as fairytale winners in the end darkness waits for us all yeah it kind of is but that's a slightly bleak interpretation so i think my preference is to say it kind of shows that you need to be prepared for success as much as failure and i wonder whether palace didn't have that in mind that the way that everything kind of came together the cup win you know as a day this sort of incredible sort of side they built largely from players from the EFL from the second and third tiers Adam Wharton emerging as one of the best midfielders in England I think it caught them cold I don't know if they had a plan in place that enabled them to capitalise on it everyone's in a sense that the Palace don't necessarily have a vision for what the next step looks like and they've taken advantage so I think if there's a learning in it Rog if there's a lesson it might be that you have to kind of be be ready for when things go well.

16:54That's so fascinating. It reminds me, I had a friend that had a massive documentary in the early days of Sundance and his lesson from the whole thing that he came back with is always know what you want your next project to be. Cause he said he spent the whole of Sundance basking in the glory. Everyone be like, Hey kid, what do you want to do next? And he was like, I don't know. I'm so exhausted from doing this one. It's taken my all. And everyone was like, yes, see you later. And by the time he'd worked out, everyone had forgotten him. Palace are just an incredibly cult Sundance documentary filmmaker which is not nothing but Oliver Glasterman Jen is undoubtedly a super smart tactical brainer an amazing man manager humanly I love him survived a brain aneurysm he's meant to be a guy who has life in perspective which is rare for football he famously turns his telephone off at 10pm every single night to keep the world away from his family but last week Raw the sour speech criticising the club for the timing and what gave his departure, saying he felt, quote, abandoned.

17:55And then quickly the club said, we good, don't worry. We're all good. We got over this. He's going to be our manager to the end of the season. I would love that to occur because I want happiness for Palace fans. But this is not the way football works, is it? We know the moment Palace are thumped again, his post-match press conference, the media will lower their hooks with bait on them. It's going to be incendiary, isn't it? Yeah, well, Glasner said today, Rog, that he's had lunch with Steve Parrish, the Palace chairman, that they've kind of cleared the air a little bit, that the ice has thawed and that they're all set up for a great final six months of the season.

18:28So I'm sure it's going to be fine. Yeah, you're right. As soon as there's another roadblock, as soon as there's another obstacle, the test is whether Glasner lashes out again effectively and at that point it probably does become untenable. You would like to think that everyone can be very mature and realistic and kind of positive about the situation, make the best of it and he gets the send-off he deserves. But you're right to say that that's quite rare in football. God bless. I hope they had an incredible lunch though on Magic. I hope they went to Nando's. Nothing at a cheeky Nando's can't fix.

19:00Quick word on Chelsea. Sorry, Liam Rosini is Chelsea. Man is a genius. Three wins in his first four games. Where are you on the Ura King trademark? A win at Selhurst Park would really be a boon for the Chelsea top four quest. But you're like, yeah he won but it was against Charlton in the FA Cup, Brentford in the league who actually should have won with all the chances that they had and botched and then big deal against big Insipis' Paphos in the Champions League and that was just 1-0. It's a bit mean isn't it to sort of disregard the games he's won by saying oh they they don't really count but at the same time I think as you've said before every single game for Resenia will be a test and the challenge is what happens when you fail one of them.

19:44At some point he's going to lose a football match and it's who you lose it to, it's how you lose it and it's how everyone responds. Palace away is a bigger test than Brentford at home and to be honest, again as you say, Brentford probably should have won that game or at least got a point out of it. So this one has the air again of a kind of a trap for Resenia. If he can't keep winning the questions will come very very quickly. What kind of game will we see and what's the final score you envision Roar? You see ya. I think we'll get a bit of a reaction from Palace. I think Palace have had a bad two weeks.

20:15There's no kind of two ways around that, but this is a good team with some really good players, and they'll want to kind of reassert themselves, restore a bit of order. I think Chelsea will play well, but maybe not as effectively as they need to be, and Palace will win 1-0. I see it differently, Ro. I know that Palace have not won, is it, in their last 16 against Chelsea, and I don't see that changing. Rosinha's squad battling a virus, but I still see this being 3-1 to the Chelsea. Cue every team suddenly starting to look at incorporating the marginal advantages of Lego into their training.

20:52To wrap this baby up with a feature we call One More Big Thing Raw. From a game we've not discussed, what are you looking forward to the most this weekend? Speaking of managers who are constantly on the edge, can Thomas Frank keep his job for another week? They're at Burnley Spurs after a really good performance in the Champions League We're seeing a little bit of a theme with quite a few English teams that the Champions League is making everyone feel an awful lot better about themselves. Maybe looking forward to midweeks more than they are looking forward to weekends. Burnley are tough. Point at Anfield last week.

21:22They know how to defend. They know how to frustrate. And it does feel as though, Frank, similar to Resenia, if Frank drops points, everything kind of comes to a head. So I think that might be the, in terms of news developments, that's probably the game to keep an eye on. That game, Saturday, 10 a.m. Eastern Time on USA Channel, aka Kyle Walker revenge game loading. For me, one big thing I'm looking forward to is Everton. Less the fact that they're playing Leeds on Monday, more the fact that they're not playing this weekend, which guarantees me a pain-free 48 hours, which I really need right now in life to be candid.

21:58But wow, Raw, to face Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the man who spent nine years at Everton Football Club, the best smelling man, pound for pound, And I promise you, in the Premier League, he's going to score a hat-trick against us, isn't he, Ru? I don't think he will, but it will be an interesting game because Leeds are going really well. What sort of reception do you think Albert Lewin gets? I've been thinking a lot about that. The right thing to do. A man who scored a beautiful goal which saved us from relegation. A guy who we know needs to be loved. a guy who struggled, honestly, mentally at times.

22:39All we can do is give him a warm welcome, but I do fear Roar. We're living in darker days. What do you expect? I think he will get a full-on round of applause from the Hill Dickinson. I think there will be lots of affection for Calvert-Lewin. I really, really hope so. I spent a tiny bit of time with him towards the end. All I can say is it will be an incredibly healing boon that he'll remember forever. But before we head off, some fine news for kit collectors out there. We've got three quite incredible jerseys. Mystery jerseys from points around the globe. They're ruined slightly because I've signed all of them and we're going to be giving them away on our Discord.

23:18So if you haven't already, go and join the Men in Blazers Discord channel. Link in the show notes. And today through Sunday, simply drop a photo of your favourite kit from your collection in the fantastic Jersey channel to enter and we'll announce the winners on our Discord on Monday. And while you're there, get stuck in for the games. I do love our Discord. It's such a revelation for me in the matchday experience to watch alongside of you. If you were on early days of Twitter, you know what a positive, joyous, quite intelligent, very funny matchday experience can be. That's the Men in Blazers Discord analysis.

23:53It gives me life and I love it so much. Come be with us. And that's it, Roy. You too give me life. We'll be back Monday. We didn't mention Liverpool, man. The whole show, that's just repression. Moe back. They play Bournemouth. My golden war cherries tomorrow at 12.30. Can I get a score prediction? I think a draw with goals in it. So one all or two all. But it might also be Andy Robertson's farewell, Rog, which is very sad. It's incredibly sad. End of an era vibe. I see it. 3-3-2. Beautiful. Huge love to you all. Let's finish by spoiler alerting all the scores from this weekend's game. We're going to pop them up on the screen now.

24:28Rory and I have both told you exactly what's going to happen. Let us know what you think in the comments. Are we right? Are we wrong? But they're all human truth. Let's watch football together this weekend because football is better with friends. Big love. Buy my book. Join our Discord. Courage.