London showdown between Arsenal & Chelsea, Leeds in the Dark vs Man City, and Are Spurs in Real Trouble? Big Weekend Preview 02/27/26

13:31Rory Smith:A response that proves the game is not gone just yet. But this game has got so many storylines. York's a giant. Erling Haaland returns to the place of his birth. the bare pit of Allen Road, been an incredible test for City's nerves. You remember the reverse fixture. I think Daniel Farker, relegation zone leads, 2-0 down and a half. Most journalists at the game were typing up his obituary, but then he made huge changes. The beer aficionado moved to three at the back, inserted Dominic Calvalluin, and his team battled with a pluck and a verve. They did lose 3-2, but since then have just gone on to two losses in 14 games.

14:09Rory Smith:They've not beaten Man City in five years, Ru. I think it was 10th of April 2021, the last great day. But Leeds fans, I mean, you're going to be there. They're going to expect their team to go out and essentially just give Pep's boys a good stiff kick to the down-belows.

14:24Roger Bennett:Well, the big test for Leeds is the light. That's the problem that Leeds have got. So Leeds have got, I think, the best home record at night in the Premier League. In the darkness. Ellen Road, when it's dark, that's Yorkshire's natural state of affairs. We are happy when it's dark. We understand it. There are no monsters in the dark, Rog. We are the monsters in the dark. That's Leeds' approach. The problem that he's got is that a month ago, a 5.30 kickoff was full on floodlights. To be honest, a month ago, a 3 o 'clock kickoff was full on floodlights. It has been dark in Britain for a long time.

14:59Rory Smith:I knew what I was going to say. They should win every 10 a.m. kickoff, baby.

15:03Roger Bennett:Yeah, they're kicking off at 12.30.

15:05Rory Smith:Oh, that's a bit shadowy at the moment.

15:07Roger Bennett:Let's put the floodlights on. So 5.30 at the start of February is a nighttime game, effectively, in which case I would have said this is a Leeds win. 5.30 now is kind of dusk. It's kind of evening. If it's a nice day tomorrow, which is theoretically possible, then it might even still be, you know, there might be a little bit of light knocking about. And I think that is very much not in Leeds' interest. But what that record shows to me, Roger, on a sort of semi-serious point, is how intimidating Elland Road is. Elland Road, along with the Stadium of Light at Sunderland, I think is where the best atmospheres are in the Premier League this season.

15:40Roger Bennett:And that will be a genuine test for Manchester City.

15:42Rory Smith:Do you find yourself in the press box just like getting into it, just effing and blinding, chanting along?

15:47Roger Bennett:The South Stand at Ellen Road is amongst the fruitiest stands in English football, I would say. Some of the stuff, I mean, I've got quite a strong constitution for stuff like that, Rog. But the South Stand occasionally makes me think, ooh, you've gone a bit far there, lads.

16:01Rory Smith:There's a line, lads. Come on, let's not forget ourselves. You're so far over the line, you can't even see the line anymore, Lance. I love your description of Leeds, though. It's like one of those movies where they're in the house chasing the baddies and the baddies wearing the night vision goggles. Leeds are that baddie wearing the night vision goggles. Interesting selection. Dilemma for Daniel Farker. Bless, he'll definitely be unleashing that handsome, I mean, one of the greatest smelling men in football I've ever met, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who will play alongside him. He loves Brendan Aronson.

16:35Rory Smith:He trusts Brendan Aronson, that scrappy wonder. But there's a very sizzling Lucas Metcher who could also play there from a City perspective. Ultimately, the win here piles on a world of pain, a world of pressure on Arsenal. They play again 23 hours later. City have won seven of the last eight, but not as good as that sounds, especially in the second half where they dropped off. This Leeds probing, it's going to be an incredible test. All of that more for Pep. I think of all the managers, he's very aware of just what a degrading experience Ellen Road can be, Roar. How is this game going to go? What kind of game is it going to be and what do you expect?

17:14Roger Bennett:It's a good question, Rog. The one thing that gives me a little bit of pause is that I was also at Ellen Road when Arsenal came to town and Arsenal wiped the floor with Leeds. They looked a long way better than Leeds. Leeds didn't really turn up that day. and I am a little bit worried that the same thing might happen, that City might just have too much quality and that one of those games that should be a big occasion, that feels like it should be full of tension and jeopardy, will end up a little bit of a procession. But at the same time, I think it will get dark by 6.30, 7 o 'clock, at which point Leeds will let themselves, they'll finally allow themselves to kind of transform into their true kind of state, which exists only at night time and I think they will get a one-all draw.

17:53I think Leeds will do a favour for the cosmopolitan elite in the South,

17:59Roger Bennett:which is not something we do lightly, Rog. The one thing people in New York to dislike more than the South is Manchester. That's so true.

18:07Rory Smith:By the way, the way you make it sound that danger only descends once it becomes dark, you make this game sound like a sequel to Sinners. It's amazing.

18:17Roger Bennett:And once it becomes light again, City are like, OK, we're going to live, we're going to live. Go on. I think Pep will be trying to kick off at 5.15. I think they'll be like, no, no, let's do the warm-up really fast, lads. Let's do it really fast. Let's get the warm-up done. Let's just kick off. Everyone's in the stadium anyway. Let's have a go. Come on, it's nice weather. Let's keep going. Pep wants it happening in the light. That's what Pep wants.

18:35Rory Smith:Pretty fascinating. For City, Doku, back in training. I think it's going to be noisy. I think it's going to be nervy. I think City will win without imposing, particularly in that second half. It will end up 2-0 with a crap late goal. Makes it sound better than it was. Fascinating for City. Real Madrid predictably drawn in the round of 16 of the Champions League. We're yawning at this point. They play so often. And then midweek, Arsenal go to Brighton. City host Nottingham at the very same time. Where do you expect the table to be once that smoke's cleared?

19:07Roger Bennett:Well, the fact that they're playing at the same time is fascinating. I think that's the first time that's happened in a long time that they're kicking off at the same point. I think the way the results will go, by Thursday morning, the table will have exactly the same gap as it does now. but I think it will be that City drop points at the weekend and Arsenal drop points at Brighton.

19:25Rory Smith:My God. Arsenal knocking two more games off as they edge towards that finish line. Come on, Spike Lee's boys. From the top of the table to near the bottom. Checks, notes. Tottenham Hotspur. Oh, the dread, the doom, the darkness, the loneliness, the self-loathing, if we're being honest. How did this happen to us? They travel to Fulham Sunday 9am Eastern Time on USA Channel. My God, Ru. First of all, watching Igor Tudor, their ferryman manager, just grapple with, live almost the reality of Spurs, that agonizing torture. I mean, he came as a rescuer. Already he looks shattered, not being that sensational as I say that.

20:08Rory Smith:You know, he admitted this job harder than I expected. Man's been there two weeks and he's already grading it. This is his words, somewhere between life and death. Yes, those are the stakes. To look at him roar, impress Convent's Eagle Tudor, see a man utterly bewildered by the ruins which surround him. It's like seeing someone who's brought a home sight unseen off the Zillow and just turned up and being like, oh my God, this is a money pit. It's hard to watch him. It's like he arrived proud and determined. Two weeks later, a man's on the brinks of Sounding, doomed and defeated himself. I mean, it's like Spurs' Harrenhal in House of the Dragon.

20:48Rory Smith:and Tottenham, bro, he'll do that to a man.

20:51Roger Bennett:It's probably two things, isn't it? It's one, the performance against Arsenal and the inability to kind of continue the fight after starting relatively well, to be honest, after getting through certainly the first half with some credit and then they kind of collapse. And the other thing is, I would guess, like looking around at training and just thinking, well, what do I change? What are my options? They've got about 13 fit senior players. Does they have 11 or 12 players out injured at this stage? As they have done for quite a long time. I think what we'll be getting to Tudor is not so much the scale of the challenge in terms of the mathematics of it, but his limited options.

21:25Roger Bennett:There's so little he can do. He needs his players to dig in and find some fight, to find another level from somewhere. And I think that's probably quite a tricky thing to do, given how low their confidence will be and how fatigued the players that are still fit will be.

21:40Rory Smith:Yeah, I mean, I think the crucial decision for the Croatian fireman, his team have won, what is it, like two games in the last 18 Premier League, which is just genuinely astonishing to associate with Tottenham. Does he persevere with his beloved three at the back or does he play a formation that actually suits the assorted bodies that he even has available? That decision, I think, will determine whether his relegation-threatened Big Six meme club produced a fight that we did see, as you say, in that first half of the North London derby or put in the feeble surrender, which ensued. Good news. Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso are back.

22:14Rory Smith:More to pick from. Mickey van der Ven, also expected to be fit. Here's the big question, Roar. I've got to say, you wrote about this so beautifully in your newsletter, The Correspondent. Sign up for it right now in the link in the show notes or on our website. Right now, Polymarket has Spurs relegation chances at 17%.

22:34Roger Bennett:Are Spurs relegation fears, I can't even finish this sentence, are they for real? Well, yeah, kind of the conclusion that I came to in that piece in the newsletter was, yes, they should be worried about it. And there's various reasons for that. Their form, their home form, the fact that they've got to think about a Champions League last 16 tie with Atletico Madrid. There are reasons that they should be conscious of the danger of relegation. Ultimately, I think the fixtures are on their side. And I know that this season, a lot of logic has gone out the window and anyone can beat anyone. And the Premier League has been really unpredictable.

23:08Roger Bennett:But if you're Ed or Tudor, I think you would be looking at the fixture list and there are five games, four of them at home, wolves away, where you'd think, if we can produce a performance, we will win that game. And that will be enough to keep them up. And to be honest, keep them up relatively comfortably. The danger, I guess, is if you don't go to Fulham and lose, then all of a sudden you're staring down the barrel of two defeats in two games. The confidence is drained yet again. And at that point, it kind of becomes a self-repeating cycle, I think. So then the fears are legitimate. The fears are real.

23:40Roger Bennett:But I don't think it's quite panicked yet.

23:44Rory Smith:I've always said that I believe Spurs are the Everton of the South. I never quite meant it in this way, to be candid. But somehow, here we are. Spurs are without a win in nine Premier League games. Roar, are they going to make that 10?

23:58Roger Bennett:What do you see happening? I think they will come close, and I think there'll be signs of progress against Fulham. But I also think Fulham are good, Rog. I think Fulham are kind of in a decent little run of form, plenty of confidence. They're a competent side. They're a really smart side. So I think this one ends as an unsatisfying for everybody to all draw.

24:15Rory Smith:Harry Wilson sings Fulham 1-0. And by the way, for the record, I don't think Spurs are going down. I think there will be a lot of misery. There'll be a lot of woeful football. There'll be a lot of fear. There'll be a lot of agony. But I think ultimately there will be other teams and other results which will save them. The help will come from outside of the house.

24:39Rory Smith:Roy, it's time for one more big thing. What one more big thing are you looking forward to that we haven't talked about this weekend? Looking forward to it is not the correct way of characterising this, Rog.

24:49Roger Bennett:I think Liverpool-West Ham will be very, very nervy. And I think it'll be very nervy for, well, one reason, which is that Liverpool haven't been very good all season. But the more pressing immediate reason is that there's no Florian Wurtz. Arna Slott has said today, on Friday, that Wurtz won't play against West Ham and he doesn't know when he'll be back. An injury sustained in the warm-up before the Nottingham Forest game. And I think we saw against Forest and we will see again against West Ham just how important Florian Wurtz is for Liverpool because without him, they can't create anything.

25:19Rory Smith:It's incredible. This is where we are now. We're Wurtz's team now. Good news, Liverpool fans. This one's at Anfield where you've only lost to West Ham once in the last six decades. Is that me trying to speak something into existence? I'm never quite sure. One big thing for me, I've got my own problems. Everton sadly played this weekend. It was so nice last weekend where they didn't lose until Monday. oh my god that was an agony to watch football is a passion

25:45Roger Bennett:football is a love that hurts

25:47Rory Smith:this Saturday they head to Newcastle 10am Eastern Time on Picoc for the Anthony Gordon Memorial Derby young Ginge gonna do us he is isn't he Raw and the only question is really is he going to celebrate that inevitable goal

26:01Roger Bennett:yes because the fact that he used to play for Everton is cancelled out by the fact that he's a Liverpool fan and wants the bloody move there

26:09Rory Smith:He's thinking about the future, not the past. I will never forget when he did the live show in Washington, D.C. on stage after scoring one of the most important goals in Everton history, the deflected strike against Manchester United that was one of the main reasons we stayed up that season. He came on stage to fans, sang his, oh, Anthony Gordon. Oh, and he, you know, oh, loved it, loved it. Hearing that chant in an American accent, he was like, yeah. And he let into the mic and he goes, I'm never going to leave you. I think three weeks later, was it, that he was gone to Newcastle, that ginger Benedict Arnold.

26:46Rory Smith:I will just say this, Jordan Pickford is our only hope, whether that former Sunderland hero can keep the barrage and the image of thousands of inflatable dinosaurs with tiny arms as he does so. Who knows how this game's going to go raw. The middle of the table is so tight, it's just like hope and shattered hope on a weekly basis. I've got a lot of darkness as I think about this game. I see a 2-1 loss for Everton. I'm not sure if Anthony scores. I've got to tell you, if Anthony doesn't score and we lose 2-1, it almost feels like a draw rule.

27:23Roger Bennett:It's good to see you taking a silver lining. I don't want to pick a goal story, but I think Newcastle maybe edge this one 3-1.

27:30Rory Smith:I've got to tell you, if Anthony Gordon, this is how sad I am, I would take a loss right now if someone said, Anthony Gordon doesn't score and you lose, would you take it? I would bite your arm off. I 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? So that's it for today. Here are, spoiler alert, all the results as we see them. My predictions and Rory's guaranteed 100 % correct predictions are all there. Are there any you actually doubt, Rory?

28:06Roger Bennett:Yeah, I really don't like backing Liverpool to win. That's not great. Like you say, mid-table is tricky, and it's really hard to call some of them. So, you know, I think Burnley might beat Brentford, but at the same time, they may well not. I think that Bournemouth-Sunderland could kind of go either way, because until three weeks ago, Sunderland were in great form, and now they've dipped. Bournemouth are the exact opposite. Same with Brentford and Brighton, say. So, so many of them are so hard to call. But the main one I'm worried about is, I don't like saying that Liverpool are going to win. Deep down, I'm not sure they are.

28:37Rory Smith:You know, when you said Burnley will beat Brentford, part of me was like, oh my God, that'd be so good because on Wednesday night in Houston at Rice University, best Rice since Declan, we've got JJ Watt, Burnley co-owner coming live on stage. And I realised, oh bloody hell, Saturday at Sloan MIT Conference, we've got Matthew Benham coming on stage. So I'm going to be totally neutral on that one, but I did actually dream last night for real that Manchester City get done at Leeds. And I woke up so refreshed. it was amazing best night's sleep I've had in 2026

29:07Roger Bennett:but that's because it's night time Rog and night time is Leeds time

29:11Rory Smith:night time I also by the way ended up dreaming last night this one's so weird I was at a wedding with Andoni Irola and he was such a good dancer

29:21Roger Bennett:that is a really weird that is a deeply weird dream I know

29:24Rory Smith:he was like really liquid on that dance floor one last note before we go on our way another incredible weekend of football awaits but fresh off their new album Prizefighter we've just dropped our new episode with the incredible Marcus Mumford. It's his third time on the show. It was really lovely to have him. He's very emotionally introspective. He's also proper, proper football. We talked about the beauty, inclusivity of the game when he went to England in the World Cup, launching the album by mirroring the iconic Messi in bed with the World Cup photo and also the singular joy of screwing world he's against seven-year-olds.

30:01Rory Smith:Check it out at the link in the show notes below. So come and join me, by the way, on the Men in Blazers Discord, which crackles all Premier League match day long. It's free to join. You can chat. We have a couple of thousand pod listeners. Come be with us. Houston, can't wait to be with you. Sold out show at Rice University. Raw, big, big love. It's been a pleasure. Enjoy your football. Buy my book and courage.