Could Liverpool's luck run out against Everton? Can Arsenal stop Erling Haaland? Manchester United relegated? Big Weekend Preview Presented by PrizePicks 09/19/25

0:00We are delighted to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides presented by Visa. A joyously assembled guide to the best places to eat, drink and explore and watch the beautiful game across the country. It's a guide aimed at helping fans experience the city as a local. It's built by you, our listeners, recommending some of the best small businesses in your communities. Like the finest Viet Cajun in Houston. Yes. The best burrito in San Francisco. Yes. Where to save a lemon pepper wet in Atlanta. Yes, yes, yes. A massive shout out to our sponsor Visa, who's made this guide possible. Visa gives local business owners the tools and support to be ready for moments exactly like this one.

0:45Welcoming you to enjoy the games this summer. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio.

1:08Merseyside Derby this weekend at Anfield. When are Liverpool going to do us? Is it the 92nd minute, the 95th minute, the 98th minute, right? Those are the only three options. Arsenal, welcome Manchester City. I think it was Mike Tyson who said, everyone has a plan until Erling Haaland punches you in the mouth. Both Shanefield, Manchester United, Tremble as Chelsea roll in. Is Amarim's team now more meme stock than a football club right now? This is the Men in Blazers Big Weekend Preview presented by PrizePix, the show that takes your best questions and revels in answering them. Stay tuned for the end.

1:46I'll make my predictions, spoiler alert, the whole weekend, but let's do it. Hey, Roch, I'm from New Jersey here. Just watched my Reds get a big win in the Champions League. But I had a couple of questions about the Merseyside Derby. kind of a two-part question. One, who's been your favorite player ever to watch play in the Derby for either team? And second question, obviously, and I might know your answer here, but what has been your favorite memory throughout the Derby? Whether it's a goal, whether it's tackle, send off, something. Love your guys' show very much. Wish you guys the best and up the Reds.

2:19Let's go. Owen from the great state of New Jersey. What a gracious question. By the way, what will be featured in our show next week. Send us a video with your biggest question about the games ahead. Use the link in the description below. If you don't want your beautiful face on YouTube, just call one in, text it in 646 450 9472. You can leave us a voicemail. But yes, it is Merseyside Derby, Saturday 7.30 a.m. Eastern Time on USA. Liverpool, Everton at Anfield. Really a meat grinder for Everton hopes and dreams. Everton have not won at Anfield. This is incredible. In front of live fans in the 21st century.

3:01One victory in the last 25 years was, of course, under Mr. Carlo Ancelotti during the pandemic. Can you believe this statistic? Wait, it gets worse. I've not told you the worst bit. David Moyes has failed. This is incredible. In 22. I mean, even Sisyphus finds this amazing. 22 attempts with a whole golf bag full of clubs to win a game at that stadium. So can I build a case for hope? Honestly, I dare not. It's a trap. But Liverpool, they've been off to a perfect start. They found a way to mentality monster their way to late, late victory in every bloody game. Yes, they do appear vulnerable in moments across that back.

3:45But after midweek Champions League victory against Atletico, it scares me to say Mo Salah looks like Mo Salah again. Florian Wurtz in that game, flourish, flickered, menaced in moments in a way, honestly, that scared me. And yes, honestly, I'll whisper this because I don't want to curse myself. We Blues do have hope. We have Iliad Dye, who is a stunning creator in moments. And of course, St. Jack Grealish, less a footballer, more a mystical religious figure at this point. It's unclear for Liverpool if Izak will start on a slot in his press conference this morning. Very coy on that. But honestly, it doesn't really matter.

4:27Tonight, I do know this, when I go to sleep, if I sleep, my dreams will be haunted by that vision of Liverpool breaking forward and every single player in that outfield fancying hungrily their chance to score. Apart from you, Frimpong. We are delighted to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides presented by Visa. A joyously assembled guide to the best places to eat, drink and explore and watch the beautiful game across the country. It's a guide in helping fans experience the city as a local. It's built by you, our listeners, recommending some of the best small businesses in your communities. Like the finest Viet Cajun in Houston.

5:16Yes. The best burrito in San Francisco. Yes. Where to savour lemon pepper wet in Atlanta. Yes, yes, yes. A massive shout out to our sponsor Visa, who's made this guide possible. Visa gives local business owners the tools and support to be ready for moments exactly like this one. Welcoming you to enjoy the games this summer. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. Owen, I'm going to answer your question for reals in one moment, but first, Isaac has only played 60 minutes in a Liverpool shirt and dude already has his own song.

6:07He'll break his glory because he's more in Northern time. He's a scouts and now in honest bloods and time. It's Alex Sunday. He's like na-na-na-na-na. Where's our Beto song, lads? So, Owen, when you ask me what my favourite memory of the Derby is, you know, favourite memory and Merseyside Derby do not really go too hand in hand. If I'm being honest, when I kind of plumb the old footballing anals, I don't have many. To the outside world, Muzzyside Derby is a massive regional scuffle between blue and red. But growing up in Liverpool in the 70s and the 80s, it always felt like something more. And that's what weighed me down.

6:50Not just me, so many people in the city. Because the game felt like nothing less than just a savage battle on which everything mattered. The sense of good and bad, truth and justice, reward and punishment. I measured it all against this game. And at the core of the agony is that the team's histories, the fan bases are so intertwined. You have so many derbies where there's a clear division about why the fans are the fans. It could be religion, it could be class, it could be north and south of the city. But remember, Liverpool emerged as a splinter of Everton 14 years after its founding back in 1878.

7:24Homegrounds, Goodison Park, the Classic and Anfield were literally touching each other, divided just by a part, less than a mile apart. I mean, they were so close. And so entire families are split. My own family is split. My brother knowledge, massive red. And so witnessing the game, experiencing the game, I've said this before, it's almost like watching a boxer enter the ring solo and just proceed to smash himself in the mouth. And it gets worse. My producer, Ben Cook, took the time to calculate Everton's all-time record at Anfield in my lifetime. It is this. Six wins, 31 losses, 19 draws. What was it that Einstein was falsely alleged to have said about madness?

8:09Did he say insanity is doing the same thing over and over at Anfield and expecting different results? So when I do think about my favorite moments from the derby, honestly, the first derby I remember, Everton's 1-0 win in 1978. I was a tiny kid. I remember Liverpool seemed just massive. This will be familiar. They hadn't lost in about seven years, going back to 1971. But the game changed in the 58th minute. A sumptuous volley by my favourite footballer. I already had his poster over my bed. It had to be him. Sweet Andy King. It's going to fall for Andy King. Oh, yes, he's got it. Andy King has scored.

8:50And Everton have taken the lead. Oh, the sweet, surreal taste of Liverpool tears. We don't get to taste them enough, if I'm being honest. But in modern periods, what am I going to say? Greatest Derby memories, Owen. Yes. And I know this wasn't a win. And I know that makes it, you know, farcical from other people's perspective. But you've got to savour what you can savour, when you can savour it in life. So it's got to be Tark. Oh, James Tarkovsky. 98th minute at the final derby at Goodison under the floodlight, seeing that goal, experience that moment of true life with my own eyes. We had James Horncastle on the show on Wednesday.

9:33I love that man. And he came up with a beautiful phrase that he'd seen as graffiti. I think it was in Rome in Italian and he translated it. Someone had scrawled, I love you, like the feeling of a goal scored in extra time. So Tark, 98th minute in that moment against that team and the punch in the face that smashed my glasses to follow. Just the sweetest feeling of being alive that I've ever had at a football stadium. Lofted in by Mikalenko. Irapunen. Jokowski!

10:09Gladys Street has a moment for history, for eternity.

10:28On a more poignant note, today, five years ago, 2020, was the day that Diogo Jota signed for Liverpool. I think tomorrow's game will have an added layer of meaning, profound meaning, because, of course, Diogo's final goal for Liverpool was a winner in this fixture last season. It was such a Jota goal, dancing through opponents before finishing it oh so clinically. Jota, neat feet, opening goal.

11:05Diogo's Jota for Liverpool. The Little Magician's first goal in three months is the derby opener. Forever in our hearts, number 20. Next question. Hi, Raj. I'm Alex. I'm an Arsenal fan located just outside of Boulder, Colorado. I called in a few years ago when Erickton Hogg was still the manager of Manchester United, asking whose buoyant, bald bravery would reign supreme in the Manchester derby. I'm here with a different alliteration for you, asking which sturdy Scandinavian striker secures sovereignty in the Arsenal Man City game, Courage. Alex, why no video, baby? But what a question. And remember, join us on the Men in Blazers Discord channel during all the Premier League action this weekend.

11:49I'll be in there breaking it down with so many like minded souls who listen to this show. Because as we all know, football's better with friends. The link is in the show notes. Come and join us now. But yes, Alex, what a rumble awaits Arsenal against Manchester City. the Stay Humble, a Classic House Sunday, 11.30 a.m. Eastern Time on Peacock, in which we'll find out who is a greater striker, Big Vic Jokerez or Erling Haaland. I mean, even asking a question proves a point that I do not think we appreciate what ether Haaland is operating in sufficiently. He's just in his own levels, matched only and compared to only his own transcendent standards.

12:35and he keeps meeting them. This guy, this guy's historic. He just became the fastest man to 50 Champions League goals. Needed just 49 games to achieve that feat. Luka scored six goals in five games for Manchester City this season. Also casually found time to, you know, blast five goals in one game for Norway in between. And I do believe this. We judge Haaland's scoring feats solely against his past peaks. That is the class he is in. And I think we doubt him. We almost doubt ourselves watching him. He can't be real. There must be something about him that we can undermine. And we can't. I think it's because of his persona, which kind of embraces the introverted giant trope.

13:19I think also the fact he plays for Manchester City means he's always in Pep's shadow. But man, his feats are ecstatic, generational. Here's Pep Guardiola himself talking about Haaland and kind of where he fits in to the footballing modern-day pantheon. So the numbers speak for itself. So how like and fortunate we have to have him and just congratulate him because it's alongside in terms of goals, goals, but especially Lewandowski, but especially with the two monsters that have been Cristiano and Messi during 50, 20 years. Erling is there. I filmed with Erling last week and I actually asked him, I was thinking about Jokeres when I asked this question about how he bedded in so bloody quickly, whereas it takes other players, not just the likes of Jokeres and Cesc go some time or more time.

14:08And by the way, players like Thierry Henry or Didier Drogba, who went on to become legends, they too needed time. I mean, the thing about Haaland that is so amazing, he has taken it all utterly in his stride. and talking about Jokeres, this game is fascinating for him because he will be aware and Arsenal fans even more aware that he kind of failed to make a dent at all against Liverpool in the last big game. He's going to be eager to enforce himself here, show that he can impact massive games in massive moments. But for Arsenal, I actually believe the story of this game is going to be at the other end, the battle between Zubomendy and Rodri in the midfield and also how Arteta's starters and finishes.

14:49I love, I love that idea. how they can hold Haaland at bay. Martin Odegaard and beautiful Bakayo Saka are expected to be available. But whether the manager sticks with Christian Mosquera or welcomes back William Saliba, that is a question that is going to be fascinating to witness. Here's one for Arsenal fans. You guys, not content with all the celebrity love you get from the likes of Spike Lee, Anne Hathaway, Idris Elba, you've only gone and got yourself Rhys Witherspoon. My sons are huge Arsenal fans. so they're so excited about Calafiore. You just said exactly the right thing. Okay, okay, okay.

15:27Yeah, they're so excited. They love Odegaard, they love Rice, and they love Calafiore. Wow. Yeah. I'm really in there. So they really watch it. Yeah. And, yeah. Calafiore on Hello Sunshine. Make it happen.

15:44Next question. Sup, boys? Sup, Raj? Hodge, what relegation place will Man United finish in this season? Discuss. What's up, None? I love your question, but let us know where you are and where you're from, people, when you send these beautiful video messages to us. Good Lord, Manchester United. Welcome, Chelsea. Saturday, 12.30 p.m. Eastern USA. Tremble, because it all feels a little bit darkness on the edge of town. Manchester United, 14th place. Top scorer this season, own goals. Negative goal difference. That Grimsby fish slapping still stings. Ruben Amorim has a total of 31 points gleaned from 31 league games in charge.

16:31And when you listen to him, dude's kind of daring the board to sack him. Remember that Einstein insanity thing? Well, Ruben was asked this weekend if he'll change anything when facing Club World Cup winning Chelsea. And he said this. But I'm not going to change. When I want to change my philosophy, I will change. If not, you have to change the man. So, and we'll talk about that every game, every game that we lose. I don't believe in that in the system or whatever. So I play my way and I'm going to play my will until I want to change. I mean, what is that other than whatever quiet quitting is in Portuguese?

17:09Reports out of Manchester actually suggest that Ameren would receive a$16 million payoff if he's fired before the first anniversary of his November the 1st appointment, which kind of feels, or you could rationally guess, that that's what's keeping him in the job, the desire not to have to give him bank, which is crazy, as well as the scene this Saturday when Chelsea romp in the second half and Garnaccio scores. Of course he will. It's known to your question, will the United get relegated? Look, the Premier League season is long. Arteta talks about viewing his squad now in terms of starters, who begins the game, but just as importantly, who are his finishes, who come on in that second half to help him close, to finish strongly.

17:55United season, it's really going to revolve around which manager starts it, which we know, but also which manager finishes it. Because if it's Amarim, the relegation battle is real, but it won't be, it can't be, right? if United get, say, Oliver Glastner, as a rumour mill suggests from Crystal Palace, United could well be in Europe and the mighty Frank Illet will be getting his hair cut. Have we, in this year, ever become close, Frank, to five-in-a-row wins? So in January, they won three in a row and then lost against Palace. The next game was actually a win against Leicester, so it could have been the five-in-a-row then, but yeah, that's the closest.

18:40I'm hopeful that maybe by the end of the year, maybe I'll get a haircut. Well, but yeah, we'll have to see. By the way, talking to Chelsea, I love this this morning. Enzo Mureska, the manager was asked if he was being harsh to Raheem Sterling and De Sassi, making them train with his bomb squad on the periphery of his footballing project. As footballers in exile, really. And this, this was his very human response.

19:23Perspective, people. One last question. This is Christoph calling from King of Prussia, PA, Chelsea supporter, but got a general question for you this week. A lot of news about half and half scarves this week. Wondering, which manager do you think owns a half and half scarves? Let me throw in a million thoughts. Thanks, Raj. Bye. Christoph, you king. We talked a lot, yeah, about half and half scarves on Monday's pod where Rory Smith, after West Ham, decided to ban them for the Tottenham game. For the record, just want to put this out there. This is kind of journalistic of me. Full disclosure. I do own one half and half scarf.

20:03It's from 2007. I'm going to dig it out and show you. Everton, we're in the Europa League and we played Metalis Karkiv in the Europa League. I just thought it was such a funny thing. There was something about like seeing Everton, the club I love, like playing Metalis Karkiv. It felt like genuinely they were playing a team from Uranus or somewhere, just some remote planet. I don't know why. I found it very, very funny. but which manager likes half and half scars I've given this a little bit of thought and I actually do think it's Ruben Amirim to be honest because shows that he is supporting his team Manchester United but also supporting the team that fields his most potent goal scorer own goal but the only thing I know for sure it's not Thomas Frank of Tottenham Gent will not be buying your half and half scarves as his boys travel to Brighton here's Thomas Frank taken down to wax quite philosophically on the topic of half and half scarves.

21:00I love this man. Half and half scarves. So what? Half what? Half West Ham. Half West Ham won Spurs in this occasion. They sell them on the streets. Ah. I guess it's a little bit odd between two clubs that maybe don't like each other that much, to be fair. I don't know who is probably not selling that much. So the one who came with that idea probably is not the most wealthy guy or girl in the world. Back like the mighty Champions League itself. It's a segment you've been waiting for with almost equal anticipation. I'm sure more or less presented by PrizePix. Joining me as ever, oh, the patron safety of picks.

21:44A bit like Cole Palmer mid-game in front of the referee. It's Mr. Charlie Kip. Peace be with you, Raj. It's always a great joy to be here. but given that my track record this season is, let's just say, not great, Bob. I'm proposing we dispense with the pleasantries right out and just get right into it together. Oh, you never have to sell me on cutting out small talk, baby. Tell us what you got for us. They say the way to break a streak is, you know, think different. Zig when others are zagging, that kind of thing. So with that in mind, I turn my eyes to your game, Raj, the Merseyside Derby, where we are taking your friend, James Tarkovsky, to record more than 0.5 fouls.

22:18What you say there? You know I don't like to be hyperbolic, Kippo. But I think the chances that an Everton centre-back in a Merseyside derby at Anfield does not commit a single foul that I'm actually about the same chances I'm going to wake up tomorrow with a full head of hair, baby. I love the show of support, but just don't go using Rogaine on me now, okay? And for my other picks, since I showed you some love, I hope you won't mind indulging me when we turn to my boys, Fulham Football Club, and our new Brazilian starlet, Kevin, when we take him to grab more than one and a half shots when we host local rivals Brentford on Saturday.

22:50How am I not sponsored by Roggain? Make it happen, sales team. Kevin, best Kevin since McAllister. Gen, genuinely, let's use the word intrepid, in his debut against Leeds last weekend. Club record,$50 million signing. Shades of Willian in his Chelsea days. I do wish you boys luck, Kippo. I really do. Yeah, from the hardest derby in the country to, well, let's just say not the hardest. I think we'll save your thoughts on Craven Cottage for another podcast this week in Charmin Ultrasoft. Thanks as ever, Raj. I really appreciate it, my friend. Oh, huge love to you, Kippy. Come on, you blues. Come on, you white.

23:28OK, it's time for me to go all Rod Stradamus on your asses. With my spoiler alert score predictions for the weekend, this pains me to tell you in the Merseyside derby. Like Mr. T, I-C-P-A-I-N, Liverpool 2, Everton 1, early goal, late goal. Oh, of course. Why is it never us dancing? Manchester United will start well, but that will burn off after about 10 minutes and Chelsea will romp in the second half to win 3-1. This game, a rubberneck as the light. Gonaccio will score and assist and his celebration is just going to be peak spite as a rocket fuel of human motivation. And Rhys Witherspoon. Oh, she's going to be over the moon.

24:15Arsenal will beat Manchester City 2-1. For real. Late goal from a set piece scored by a defender who will only just resist the urge to pick up the ball from the back of the net and throw it at City players' head after retrieving it. That's it for today. Let me know what you think will happen score-wise in the comments. And this weekend, when the football's back in our lives again, remember we're all joined together in that singular feeling of smacking our alarms with the joy and levity of a kid on their birthday when football comes back. that sense of community that connects us. It's now enshrined in our official Men in Blazers Breakfast Club collection.

24:51Oh, the crockery, the fine china that you save, that mug all week for early football mornings. You'll find the teas, the hoodies, the hats, even some limited edition plates, mugs, teacups. We made a teapot. Yes, a full slate of matches and possibilities ahead. Shop now at the link in the show notes. Huge, joyful football mornings to you all. I'm going to leave you with some Erling Haaland from his appearance on our YouTube. You can find it. It's beautiful. Yes, the man is potent enough even to beat the curse of Rog. This is Rog saying to you that we're blessed to have football in our life, to share it for all of our differences, the different teams that we support.

25:31I do focus on in this time of chaos, the game gives us so much that's healing. Let football be such a profound sense of shared love for you. Here's Erling. We'll be back on Monday. Courage. I miss him. One day it's going to be me. Football is not forever. And Kevin was there for 10 amazing years. He did everything for the club, won every single trophy. So of course we miss him. But we have new players. Marmouche we see. Long shots is extraordinary. Tijani hopefully can give me a lot of good balls together with Ryan Shekhy as well. They need to feed me a lot of balls so I can score more goals. I look forward to that.

26:14Thank you.