Arsenal edge closer to title with win over Burnley

24:51Brilliant. Love that. It's not a bad team, is it, when you think about that? So let's just go through it. So it was Ryer in goal. Instead of Lauren, it was Timber. And alongside Sol Campbell at centre-back, it was Gabriel. And then on the right-hand side, Saka is joining Vieira and Declan Rice in midfield. I think... So that's 6-5 for the Invincibles. I would do the same, but I'd just make one alteration. I would put Saliba in instead of Gabriel. OK. Saliba for Tour 8 rather than Gabriel coming in then. Don't feel that team, that combined team would lose too many matches, do you? No. Do you want to take any of it back?

25:35No, I don't want to take any of it back, but it is always difficult to compare generations of players. Let me ask you another question then, Patrick. Who would be your manager? Ooh.

25:59Listen, I think Arteta did a really good job taking the team a couple of years ago and seeing where the team is today. He spent as well a lot of money regarding Arsene. I think Alcena bring myself, Cherry and really good deals. So for that, I will say that Alcena will be the manager. Very good. Like the sound of that? Yeah, I think that's right. Menge, he's done a double in his first full season. I think it's a great team. It's a great team. Great manager. But they're not quite there yet, aren't they? Unforgettables. They've still got work to do. They've got to get over the line on Sunday. He knows that.

26:42He's gone through everything on the sidelines again tonight, hasn't he? And then they've got to take on PSG in the Champions League final. Mikel Arteta, coming your way next.

27:01Major championships, tour playoffs and the Solheim Cup. There's so much amazing golf to look forward to over the next few weeks and months. Jamie Weir here, host of the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, where we'll have it all covered. Join me every week to get the best analysis from the top pundits and to hear from some of the world's star players. Can Scotty complete the career Grand Slam on what will be his 30th birthday? Can a freed up Rory surpass Sir Nick Fowdo and become officially the most successful European golfer of all time? And what about Tommy Fleetwood perhaps lifting the claret jug just a stone's throw from where he grew up at Royal Birkdale?

27:41And can Charlie Hull inspire Europe to claim back the Solheim Cup in the Netherlands? That's the Sky Sports Golf Podcast. Listen and give us a follow wherever you get your podcasts. Find us through your Sky TV or watch us on YouTube.

27:59Welcome back to the Sky Sports Premier League Podcast. Let's get back to the studio for more reaction to today's game. Well, how many thousands of Arsenal fans would have loved to have been inside the stadium rather than stuck outside tonight as Arsenal sealed their end of the season, their final game at home with another victory, which leaves them just one win from their first title for 22 years. That is how much it means to them. Here's Mikel Arteta with Patrick Davison. well Mikel another big step how hard did you have to fight to take it though? it was another massive win obviously yeah we knew it was going to be tough especially when you don't close the game in the first half with the chances that we had it was going to be difficult you can sense as well the tension and how much it means so yeah very happy I've got a lot of hurt but now I start to worry with distinction if one day I can lose it all.

29:02Yeah, I mean, it wasn't quite West Ham, but again, was it pretty nerve-shredding on the touchline? Yeah, we didn't consider anything, but in the Premier League, any situation, the opponents have so much quality, and you never know. And yeah, it's another massive one, one-two goal. If we divide it into halves, how good was the first half? And although the goal took a while, did you always have that sense it was coming? Yeah, I think it's one of the best football that we've played this season. It was really good. I think it should have been two or three goals and the game would have looked different.

29:38But that's the quality as well of this team. If he's not able to make the difference by two or three goals, we certainly have the tools to make it very hard for the opponent to score. Can you talk us through that series of corners that you had? Because you go short, I think, three times in a row and obviously you're looking to generate a chance through that. but does that also then create a little bit more space front post when it does go in the box? It's like any behaviour of the opponent. If they don't come man to man, you do something. If they come man to man, you do something else. With the corners, it's exactly the same.

30:08When they adapt to avoid something, you can open another space and we need to be smart to explore it. In the second half, do we just see there the wait of 22 years? When it's been that long for a club, it's not supposed to be easy. It's never going to be easy, and especially with the quality that this Premier League has got. And you witness that, you know, Burnley, they're going to get relegated. But they are a top team, they are really well coached. And on top of that, every club has an incredible spirit, you know, to defend their history, their pride. And that's the beauty of this league. VAR obviously stepped in last week, and I think the consensus was, rightly, to disallow the West Ham goal.

30:48I wonder if you've seen back the Kai Havertz challenge around the 70th minute and have a view on whether that was a red card? I haven't seen it. You've seen it. I was there. I went straight to with our people and I haven't had a chance to have a look. And if you've had a little bit of fortune, that's also part of a 38-game season, I guess? For sure, if we look at everything, every action that happened this season, for sure, we're not going to get anything that we don't deserve. So, tomorrow night then? Because by this time tomorrow night, you could be Premier League champions. Any plans to watch Bournemouth vs Manchester City?

31:23I don't know yet. I just want to enjoy tonight and tomorrow let's see what we do. But I'm sure it must be me thinking, you've worked so hard, this group, over four years and more to get this close. Surely you'd want to enjoy that together. Yeah, but I don't know if what we have to do is just prepare the Crystal Palace game, the best possible way. The other thing is on our hands. your sense, your feeling, or do you have to have that feeling that they're going to take you to the wire, they're going to push you all the way? I don't know. This is the Premier League. We know the quality. What Andoni's done.

31:58You know the record that they have right now. The amazing season that they're having. Everything is possible. This is the Premier League and we'll be watching it. One last question, because there are reports tonight that this season will be Pep Guardiola's last. I wanted to ask you as someone who's been a hero for you, a mentor a friend a rival now if it is to be his last season how great is his legacy? Once he makes that decision then we can talk about it before that I think nobody should do that Thank you Mikel Thank you so much Thank you Yes those are the reports this evening that Pep Guardiola will leave at the end of this season which for Manchester City will be on Sunday before then they've got Bournemouth tomorrow night and Mikel Arteta is sort of saying not sure yet what the plan is.

32:45Do you think they will be together watching that? Because of course, if Bournemouth gets something against Manchester City, it's all over. I don't know if they will be together watching the game, but for sure, he will have an eye on the game tomorrow. If City doesn't get the result, they can be credit champion. And they may have something prepared in case. They'd want to be there, wouldn't they? They want to be together just in case. They want to be together or everybody will be at home. I'm sure players will stick together in somebody's house and watching the game. And they may plan something if City doesn't manage to get the result.

33:23Maybe everybody is meeting to the training ground and have a small celebration. But of course, they will be watching the game and hoping that City will not get the result. Around Jamie Vardy's house. I know, yeah, I was watching that. 11 times it's happened before. Teams won the title when they've not been playing. OK I think initially you go back to the Leeds team as it was Gary McCann has to lead Chapman all that on the cans on the beers I don't think it'll be like that I think it'll be a big celebration rather than a little one maybe but I would imagine they would get together after the game but yeah it's good to see the great scenes when you look back at them in probably years to come and they will want to celebrate that moment as well together but it's an awkward one if you get together and then it doesn't happen and someone's going to post a picture on social media and then you don't know.

34:12I'm not sure. I don't know. Yeah, they will keep emphasising. I just wish I was in that position once. That would have been nice. Yeah, of course. They will keep emphasising that it's not there yet and of course Manchester City are perfectly capable of beating Bournemouth. One factor of tonight, again, is the success of Arsenal's set pieces this season. That was the 18th goal they've scored from a corner this season, which is a new Premier League record, breaking the record. that they had already set, along with Spurs, we should point out. Do we underestimate this, Patrick, and just the value of it and the, I suppose you could say, the forward thinking of Arsenal to be at the front of this?

34:53Yeah, but the games change now. I think majority of the team in the Premier League have set-pieces coaches around. And majority of the teams spend time on set-pieces because sometimes games, winning or losing, are on set pieces. So during the week, you have to spend time, you have to work on the defensive and offensive side of set pieces because it became a really important part of the game. So teams have to be prepared, looking at weaknesses and strength of opposition team and how you can hurt them. So the majority of the team are well prepared, but Arsenal are better than the other teams in that side of the game.

35:35I think there's also been a common sort of shared group think, if you like, that the best attack wins the Premier League. But this is tonight the 32nd clean sheet that Arsenal have had in all competitions this season. Again, is that something that we should be speaking a bit more about, just that strength that they have defensively? I think the goalkeeper, the back four, the midfielder working quite really hard and winning the title, you have to be really strong. You have to excel in one part of the game and they're excelling on set pieces, but they are excelling as well on the defensive side of the game.

36:10They are quite really strong. They are defending really well. The two central backs have been sensational this season and when your difference is strong, you're always still in the game and you have a chance of winning games and taking the three points. And when you don't concede goals, is give you a good advantage. All right, Patrick. One of the big traditions we have on Monday Night Football across the season is when we get to the end, which we are for our Monday Night Football season, is that we put Jamie or Gary on the spot and ask them to tell us who've been the outstanding performers. So we're going to hear Jamie's take on his end-of-season awards now.

36:49Feel free to barrack him, to question him. Good job he wasn't here when we did the midfield award. No, but he did hear about that. Yes, I know. We got to the bottom of it. Right, let's start with the list that Jamie has. And we were talking before the game about the players of the year. Gary had gone with Bruno Fernandes. And you decided that an Arsenal player was worthy of merit, Jamie. Remind us. Yeah, I went with Declan Rice. I think up until the Man City Cup final, the Man City League game, I think in most people's eyes, he probably was the player of the year. He definitely dropped his level, I would say, in those two Man City games.

37:29I'm a big admirer of Declan Rice. Even I was a little bit disappointed with how he performed in the cup final and in the game at Man City. He went away with England and he didn't play and they were talking about him being fatigued. And that's where I go back to why I wouldn't choose Bruno Fernandes. Probably hasn't played enough games and had a chance to be fatigued and played in the games that really matter. Now, for me, Declan Rice then came back to the fore in two Champions League semifinals. That's what I'm talking about, playing in Champions League semifinals, delivering away from home, real captain's performance, then outstanding again in the return leg and, listen, very close to now, you know, winning the league title and playing in a Champions League final.

38:06You said you'd be in your midfield when we're combining the invincibles and the unforgettables. How would that work? How would you dovetail together as a midfield pair? No, but I think he's a kind of holding midfielder who likes to get inside the box as well. I think if we were playing together, I would be more defensive than Declan. I think he's a player who likes to project himself. He's got the power to do this box to box. and I think he's got the end of product who can allow him to be more decisive, scoring more goals and giving more assists. But he's a player with this kind of energy that I like in the holding a midfielder.

38:54So Declan Rice is Jamie's Player of the Year. Now Gary has been doing his own awards, which you can actually catch up on with the Gary Neville podcast. So he's on the gantry at the Emirates right now I was selecting his and you can catch up that at another time on the Sky Sports app and the website or wherever indeed you get your podcast. So these results are coming in live to us. I don't know how the speed, I can't control Gary's speed, but young player. Let's have a look who we've gone for. Ah, a tie, Nico O 'Reilly. Is this a player that you've watched, Patrick? Nico O 'Reilly. Yes. And to be honest, I'm quite really surprised by his calmness on the field.

39:35He played like players who've been in the Premier League for years. And of course, he played as a left-back. He can play as well as a midfielder. Really smart players, really good on the ball. And quite decisive in the last 30 yards. I've seen him making assists, scoring important goals, getting inside the box. It's been a really good surprise for me. And do you know what really surprised me, Jamie? When we were talking about... We were actually talking about West Ham's Elhajjouf last week and how left-footed he was in certain situations. So we checked the most one-footed players in the Premier League and the most one-footed, Nick O 'Reilly.

40:103 % of his touches are with his right foot. Yeah. Very heavily left-footed. Well, when you're that good and you've got a left foot that good, maybe that's the way to go. Is his future in midfield, do you think? I mean, it seems where he started and has been put into a left-back position by Pep Guardiola. It seems to me Pep Guardiola thinks, I'm going to find a place for him in my team. so it ended up sort of being in midfield initially then back to the left back and I think there was there was a game I think it may have been away at Burnley where I think Rodri was out and everyone thought a midfielder was going to come in and he put him in midfield ahead of like an experienced midfield player I think Gonzalez or maybe you know when they did both from Porto and it just tells you what he thinks of him and I always go back to a game I think it was last season away at Bournemouth when he came on and changed the game in the FA Cup and ever since then he's just been in Pep's team and what he did in the Cup final.

41:04And he's not just playing left-back. He's popping up in the number 10 position. He's in midfield. He's getting in the box, scoring goals. Wonderful talent. That's something else to consider if Pep Guardiola is indeed leaving. The impact he's had on players, like the way that he improves them, gets them playing in different positions. Nick O 'Reilly, the young player, according to Jamie and Gary. What about the best signing of the season? Who's that turned out to be? Ryan Cherky or Granit Xhaka? Who do you fancy? Patrick? I will go with a different name. I will go for Marc Gaye. I think City around December, it will be difficult to say City will be up there with Arsenal challenging for the title.

41:54And I think Pep make those two signings, Semejo and Gaye. and they had a massive impact on City's performance. So for me, I will go for one of the two players from City. I would absolutely support Gary on this one. But what has Ryan Cherky brought? More than you expected, obviously. Yes, and you know what? I just think he's been a great addition to the Premier League in that I don't think there's an awful lot of those type of players anymore. We call them Mavericks, someone who you see them do special things. He's so two-footed. Listen, Xhaka's been brilliant. He was in my team of the season halfway through the season.

42:32Huge impact. But Cherki, just for the type of player he is really more than anything. OK, most improved players. And again, we're going to Manchester City. Jeremy Docky, according to Jamie, and Mateus Nunes, who we talked about before the game, who was in your team of the season. Yes. Yes, as the best right back. Again, do you think this is something of the Pep Guardiola effect that we're talking about two City players being the most improved? I think there's a lot of players, when we look back at Pep's time, which it looks like we're going to be doing over the next week or so, people will always say, oh, he goes and buys the best players.

43:07But there's lots of history there at Manchester City, especially where players improve the longer they whip, Pep Guardiola. And I think those two players are the reasons why we've chosen them, really. For me, Doku now, I think he's almost the most dangerous wide player. When he has the ball 1v1, you almost think it's impossible to stop him. He can go left, he can cut inside, he's now getting goals. When he first came to Manchester City, he looked a bit erratic, didn't really have any end product. And I think it was just for me this season in terms of if I was playing full-back and there was one winger I didn't want to play against, it would be Doku.

43:39Who's the best manager of the year? Some great contenders. Jamie's gone for Mikel Arteta, who could be winning a unique double, as we said beforehand, only Liverpool twice, Manchester United twice and Man City once have managed the English top division and European Cup double. Gary's gone for the Leeds boss, Daniel Farker. Where are you going with this one, Patrick? Listen, I will go for Mikel Arteta or I will go for Aston Villa, Unai Emery. I think Aston Villa having a really good season. Yeah, on the verge of the Champions League in two different competitions, two different routes. Were you surprised that he wasn't one of the six candidates that the Premier League nominated as manager of the year?

44:28I was. I was surprised, yes, because they're still in the final of the European competition and nearly qualified for Champions League. And this is a really good season for Aston Villa. And I was quite disappointed not to see him nominated for the best coach. But Jamie's managed to get him into his award winners because he's your best coaching performance where Gary's gone for Andoni Iraiola. Explain that, Jamie. I think at the start of the season, you've got to remember, or go back to the end of last season, where Aston Villa missed out on the Champions League away at Old Trafford. So you know what that means.

45:06Last game of the season, the revenue's coming in terms of buying plays. And we know Aston Villa have been on the edge of PSR for a long time. They then had a really difficult transfer window in the summer, bringing three players in. On the last day, Lindelof, Harvey Elliott and Sancho. Lindelof's played a few games towards the end of the season. They then started the season, they couldn't score a goal, never mind win a game. And what they managed to do was be the only team besides City and Arsenal who you would class in a title race at one stage. I don't think anyone believed they would win the league, but they were there for a period.

45:41When you think that Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, four clubs I would say are all bigger clubs than Aston Villa and probably spend more money. Those four big clubs didn't even get close to being in a title challenge. Aston Villa did for a stage. They've now qualified for Champions League and they've now got a chance to win a European trophy. So for me, the job he's done, Aston Villa have qualified for Europe four years running the first time in their history. He's an unbelievable manager. What's your impression of Andoni Iriola, Patrick, who will leave Bournemouth at the end of this season?

46:13I think he put both boots into the map of the Premier League, I would say. I coached him when we were at NYCFC in the US. Was he a good student? I don't know if he was a good student, but he had that inside him. You could see that he will go into our coaching. And to see him doing that well, I'm not surprised at all. He's passionate about the game and he did a fantastic job with Bortemuth. I'm just looking to see where he will go next. What would you advise him? Listen, he is smart enough, not needing my advice. But of course, the question is always about when you manage to take a team to the European competition, if you manage to do that, why not stay and live that experience with Bortemus so that will be the question I will ask him if I've seen him but too late for that yes it's too late but I think there may be more bigger teams around maybe he want to go back to Spain I don't know sorry Patrick I think he's making a mistake moving on because the reason I say that is I agree with Patrick I think imagine they get Champions League and he's not there to be involved it's a bit of a long shot we'll see how tomorrow goes but they're almost guaranteed European football aren't they okay the one question mark about Iriola is for a real top club is can his methods and how they play can it cope with two games a week it's so intense how would it affect the players injury wise so if you were at Chelsea if you were at Liverpool in the future if you were a top team in European football you'd almost some evidence that he could cope with a team playing 55 to 60 games a season.

48:13I think in terms of where he's going to go next, I think he'll do it staying for another year. Well, he's not. He's leaving. We know that they've announced Marco Rose. But I probably think that's a bit of a mistake because I think that will put big teams off because they're not quite sure. He can be a smart move from him because he may have the feeling that he can take the team to a different level. so a strength of his maybe leaving the team and taking them to Europe so that can be a really smart get out at the right time get out of the right time it's an amazing legacy potentially that he's leaving behind at Bournemouth with two games left of this season right overachievers and underachievers who have they gone for they've both got Brentford as their biggest overachievers Jamie goes for Liverpool as the underachievers and Gary's gone for last year's Europa League winners Spurs.

49:09And what about the goal of the season? Well, Jamie's gone for Harry Wilson for Fulham against Crystal Palace. Let's remind you of what that looked like, Jamie. I was commentating on the game and I just thought it was a wonderful goal. The little flick around the corner, outside the left foot. Listen, we see lots of long range shots and sometimes I think people just hit it and it goes in the top corner, sometimes a little bit of luck. That was everything he did there he meant to do. The touch around the corner, outside the left foot, then he deliberately puts that in that far. Not quite top corner, but it was just a wonderful goal.

49:43And maybe because I saw it live, there's a little bit of a bias there. Yeah, and Gary went for Dominic Saboslai against Arsenal. When we were looking at some other stats earlier, Saboslai was actually rated as the second highest player by gradient overall. and Declan Rice was voted as their top player in terms of their numbers. Where was Bruno? Across the season. He wasn't in the top three. Favourite game. Gary went for the Manchester derby, the win for Michael Carrick 2-0 over Manchester City, which has helped him get over the line. And also Jamie went for a Michael Carrick game as well. 3-2 at Arsenal.

50:27that was his second game so a couple of Michael Carrick fans enjoyed those matches that were standout in our Premier League season remember you can find out the reasons behind all of Gary's choices on the Gary Neville podcast wherever you get your podcasts Patrick thank you so much for your company tonight, thank you for your honesty, we would love to have you back next season on Monday Night Football as well, we talk about your amazing career spanning different countries and different titles and World Cups and amazing career. We'd love to have you back. Patrick, thank you so much. Jamie, thank you as well.

51:03So which of these two is it going to be? We are a game closer to knowing because Arsenal have won their penultimate game of the season. One more win on whatever City do, they will be champions. Good night.

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