'Arsenal are on the brink PL title now' | G Nev reveals his end of season awards

0:00Well, welcome everyone to the latest edition of the Gary Neville podcast, which takes place as Arsenal complete their lap of appreciation after a 1-0 win against Burnley, which takes them, Gary, to within one more win of being the champions. How have you seen it tonight? They got the job done in a typical Arsenal way this season. And like you say, I think what they put themselves through. But they seem calm right the way to the end. I have to say they're very comfortable defending a 1-0 lead. I just never... I mean, we did win 1-0 at times, but I never played in a team that was ever comfortable at 1-0 because it was not sort of our DNA or our sort of feeling to do that.

0:44but this team are really patient, they're solid, they're reliable defensively, they trust the goalkeeper, their centre-backs, Declan Rice in front of them. And right now they're a very, very, very, very strong defensive unit that are difficult to break down. You said before the game, it's got one goal in five or six. Yeah, well, it's more than that, actually. Yeah, so... That is their 13th win by a one-goal margin. Yeah, 13th goal by one. it's just really difficult to play that way so there is admiration that I've got for them but they don't have to make it bloody hard for themselves I mean they play Burnley at home and the things that obviously look it's not a time for talking about this because it'll come it'll come again I suppose in pre-season but the urgency and the ability to play forward quicker and sort of make sure that you drive outcomes towards sort of what would be in 2-0 up 2-0 is fine then you can start to play and relax but 1-0 I just think that you're asking for trouble and tonight Burnley weren't able to cause them a problem and I think that will be enough to get them over the line I mean the sensational news that's breaking about Pep Guardiola can't get out of my head I mean that's like a game changer for English football the impact that he's had but Yeah, for Arsenal, they got the job done and they can now relax and watch Manchester City tomorrow night go to Bournemouth.

2:10And that's tough for Manchester City. Tough because they're coming off the back of sort of what will be a cup final. But Bournemouth are a very good side. Iriola's last game at Bournemouth at home and they can still qualify for the Champions League. So there's a game where they've got a lot on it, Bournemouth. So, yeah, I think we could be seeing the champions out there tonight and they may already be champions when we get to Sellers Park on Sunday. They have what is not unique, because you've been there, but very, very few have. They have this situation where their next two games are trophy games.

2:48You know, one for the Premier League and one, barring a City defeat tomorrow, but one for the Premier League, one for the European Cup. Yeah. How does that feel? How will they deal with this week and this fortnight? Yeah, I mean, look, the momentum that they've got and the excitement and anticipation should just be just good. It is. You can see it in them out there on the pitch, on the lap that they're doing around the ground. And this has been five years, six years in the making. This is not about just this season. This team, this coach, have been waiting and waiting for this moment whereby it's in their hands with one game to go.

3:20They've had it pulled back from them two or three times in the last four seasons whereby they've just fallen short. and the big question that I've been asking and many have been asking for the last two or three years can they get over the line? Because if they don't, trust me, it becomes a big problem it'll define you and define what you are and your legacy. Become a champion, Mikel Arteta become a champion manager and it's a game changer. All of a sudden the authority that they have, the fact that they can go the distance, they can beat a Pep Guardiola Manchester City team to a title which is no mean feat and they're within, they're on the brink.

3:57They're right on the brink now and I can't see how they're going to waste this opportunity. And he is getting it right, isn't he? Nobody can argue with that. Havertz came in for Jokeres today. Havertz is the match winner. He shifted things around in midfield. Erdogan came back. People felt Lewis Skelly was undroppable but he found a solution for a particular game and it all seems to be working at the moment. Yeah, look, the coach rotates. I can't disagree with coach rotating. We played in a team that rotated all the time, a squad that rotated all the time. And many managers say, I trust my squad, but then they don't go and use the players in big matches.

4:32This was a big match tonight. But I think Mikel Arteta will have wanted more goal threat. I'm sure he'll have wanted more goal threat. And they just have this habit of playing sideways and backwards. And Saliba and Gabriel, who are excellent defenders, I couldn't speak highly enough about them. But they should be on the ball as little as possible. not just necessarily as possible in terms of passes and touches but the time that they spend on the ball should be limited and I was like that I played a service game for 20 years of my career my job was to get the ball to the most talented players on the pitch as quickly as I possibly could and sometimes I see them just sort of dilly-dallying on it at the back and sometimes Declan does it in central midfield he can pass it by the way as well and I think come on it just drives me crazy it's a different way of operating they're trying to draw the opposition out rather than sort of what would be push it around them and shift them from side to side and probe and they do it sometimes and they do it effectively particularly in this right channel with Erdegaard and Saka when they combine with Mosquera today but sometimes it's better when it's with White and Timber but yeah they just don't do it enough.

5:41Jokeres I think when he came on showed emergency he's got a real threat, he looks like he's physically very good in this moment, I'm sure he'll play in the last two matches and obviously saving Louis Skelly and Jochrez and their legs for these last two huge matches has been a wise move because, as you say, Mikel Arteta, he's timing his run. And he's had experience now over these last few years of title runnings and this time it looks like he's getting it spot on. We have to address the one contentious issue, the one really contentious issue around that Kai Havertz challenge, which you said at the time you thought was probably worthy of a red card.

6:18Yeah, I thought it was a red card. from a professional footballer's perspective, and I'm not being arrogant there, dismissing what fans would view it as or what anybody else would, but you know what you're doing when you put your studs onto a standing leg at that height. You're looking at ankle breaking, you're looking at leg breaking there. That's a challenge that can sort of really endanger an opponent and really cause them harm. And it's vicious and it's nasty. It's a nasty one. and people might say oh it's nothing it's just a but honestly trust me as a player if you have that kind of challenge against you you think you know what I mean that could have been in the 80s a challenge like that and they've been fighting you know you've been fighting you're trying to harm someone nowhere near the ball no intent to play the ball not sort of case the ball's there and it's gone and then you end up going over it was just a clear wasn't a trip either one of them ones where you just leg someone up like you do in your school playground.

7:22He was legged up. It wasn't that one. It was one of them ones where, no, I didn't like it. So I thought it was a red. And do you know something that could have caused Arsenal a big problem in this last 20 minutes? And Mikel Arteta did the right thing and got him off straight away. Because if he's looking at his monitor, which his coaches will have been down there, they'll have said, one more little altercation with Averts and he's gone.

7:43Gary Neville:So they couldn't take that to me. That was the only risk that they had tonight. Yeah, I don't know what's going on down there, by the way. Is it a group photo? that they're having with all the families and the players. Yes. All right. That's nice. So, Gary, let's just read the last few days of the season. All the three personal matches. We've got Bournemouth, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa. How do you see it playing out? Yeah, look, I've got huge respect for Manchester City and what they've achieved over the last 10 years and what Pep Guardiola's done. And honestly, if they were to go tomorrow night to Bournemouth them win that would be that would be really big that because you know something they must be sort of thinking now it's slipped away from us but we always used to say keep the opposition honest keep Arsenal honest and Pep Guardiola will be saying look you've seen them against Burnley by the way when they go to Crystal Palace on Sunday there'll be no favours there as much as Crystal Palace are playing in a conference league game and that's what all the talk's about sometimes it can you know if it's 1-0 at Crystal Palace with five minutes to go and those home fans are there and they get them behind the goal and there's a corner and before you know it the league can just come away from you and Manchester City have won it in that way obviously in the past so it's about Manchester City doing their job tomorrow night and that's a big big big ask because even at their best Manchester City it's a tough place to go Bournemouth but obviously they can win there they've got fantastic players but that's the big one I see both teams winning on Sunday.

9:14Gary Neville:I really do. But the big question is whether it goes to Sunday and whether City can beat Bournemouth in 24 hours. OK, and that, of course, will be resolved one way or another tomorrow live on Sky Sports, when you can also, by the way, choose to watch Chelsea and Spurs, which has its own agenda. If Spurs win, they're safe and West Ham go down. We are obliged to look at your Monday Night Football awards, Gary, and compare them with Jamie Carragher's. which will be done sort of digitally, face to face. I beat him on the predictions for this season. I know that. Yeah, he's not done that well again.

9:50So I've got a list in front of me. You can give your winner in each category and explain it. And where it differs with Jamie, I suppose I'll have to put Jamie's point of view or try to. Please do. I won't be as good as him. But there we go.

10:04Gary Neville:So your player of the year was? The player of the year for me was Bruno Fernandes. Just going level with Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne on those 20 assists. I know people all of a sudden have started saying, well, assists mean nothing and all that sort of stuff, but it's only been done by two players before, and those players are pretty good. And I think just Manchester United's rebirth in this second half of the season, and it's largely down to him. Just the way in which he plays, his confidence in a team that have struggled for the first four months, five months of the season, that obviously lost a manager and I think he's just been a standout player and someone who I think has shone.

10:46Gary Neville:I think there have been really, really... I mean, Patrick Vieira said before the game and I don't disagree with it that David Reyes should be the player of the season. That's probably my thinking in some ways, historically, that the goalkeeper for Arsenal is probably their most important player along with their two centre-backs and rice and you couldn't give it to any of those four because they've been really solid but we tend to just look towards the more creative players don't we and the other one is Bernardo Silva has been outstanding at Manchester City Thiago special mention for what he's achieved at Brentford not necessarily saying he's been he's an amazing player but the achievement's big you've got to say that's a big achievement at Brentford to do that Haaland obviously golden boot again so yeah look I think Bruno in a season where it's not been a show stopping season for Premier League in terms of standards, you know, the points are down and everybody can beat each other, which is good for us and it's been competitive, it's been interesting but I think Bruno Fernandes for me is the player Who was Cara's by the way?

11:47Gary Neville:Cara was Declan Rice Who might be a European champion in a couple of weeks and you can see his point And I can't disagree with it, you know, if someone said to me Bernardo Silva, Declan Rice Gabriel, David Ray, I'm not going to turn around and say, oh you're wrong, you're out of order, I mean we're talking about fine margins here and it's a personal preference and I can't argue with the sort of selection of Declan Rice, I think, particularly if they go on and win the league and go and win the Champions League then I may look a little bit stupid because at that point you'd be saying that is an exceptional achievement You came to the same answer when it was down to a young player, who is?

12:22Nico O 'Reilly, because?

12:26Gary Neville:What a player I still can't get my head around You'll remember it Peter, a moment in the Carabao Cup final over in that far corner where I think he skipped through about No, it was against Arsenal. Ed De Etihad, over in that far corner where he skipped through about two or three players. I still can't get my head around that. And then the Carabao Cup final, the two goals. You don't do that. Honestly, I've been a full-back that's broken through at the age of sort of 18, 19, 20 into the first team and played for England. So I've been on that journey that he's on exactly where I've gone straight into the England first team after 30 games, 25, 30 games.

13:04Gary Neville:But not like that. Not in the way in which it's like a Rolls-Royce He's like Gareth Bale when he goes forward and like Pilo Maldini when he defends. That's not bad. No, honestly, yeah, I just can't envisage how full-back has changed that much when you've got this presence and this confidence and this belief in such a young player. And he's been magnificent to watch. Yeah, definitely for me, the young player of the year. Best signing? Best signing? I went for Xhaka. at Sunderland. Impact. Big, big impact. I mean, there's been a number of decent signings for clubs and that have done well, but you think of how hard it's been for clubs that have come up to stay in the Premier League.

13:54Gary Neville:And he's had an enormous influence on that Sunderland team. So for me, I went for him. What did you carry a goal for? Ryan Cherky. I think I'm right there. Well, you're coming from very different directions, Yeah, look, I love Cherky. I think he's been... He's comparing apples and pears, really. He is, yeah. And look, Cherky's been wonderful this last few months. I don't think he played for a large part of the season, though, did he? Not as much as he has in the second half. Yeah. No. So, yeah, have a look at his appearances, Gary, if you can. Thanks. My problem is I haven't prepped these, Gary.

14:26You had a chance to think about it. So I'm not really doing, Gary, a good service here. Your most improved player? Most improved player I named... I always have bias towards full-backs.

14:39Gary Neville:And I nearly put him in my team. I think Cara did put him in his team of the season. It was Matthias Nunes. Matthias Nunes. I thought he looked like a... I'm going to be quite disrespectful here, but I think City fans will know. He looked like a bit of a flimsy midfield player that didn't really have the presence. And then when he went to full-back, you're thinking, oh, they're trying to shoehorn him into full-back. the classic sort of midfield player, can't play midfield, so put him at full-back. I've seen it before. And when I saw him in his first few months, I saw him last season there, and I thought, I tell you what, they'll give you a chance, City.

15:17Gary Neville:And then when you watch him this season, with the growth in him, he's athletic. He looks stronger. He's obviously got his confidence, which comes with playing. And Pep Guardiola has a habit of getting performances out of players that you think maybe are not as good as they look. And this season, he looks like a brilliant right back. Someone who's aggressive, who goes forward, who actually at times understands the position, defends his back post reasonably well for someone who's probably not played there his whole career. And for me, there's been big improvements in him. So if he was the one that, you know, I had him down here in terms of the standards that City are at as a fullback.

15:58Gary Neville:We think what Kyle Walker's done there for years and Zabaleta before, two absolutely outstanding fullbacks. and Mateus Nunes has done brilliantly, so yeah, I'm putting him as my most improved player, even though I did pick Timber in my team of the season as the right-back, just felt overall, and though he's not played the last month or two, that he's been fantastic. And Caro went for Jeremy Doku. Most improved? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fair. Yeah. Again, very different types of players. So, manager. Manager of the year. I think I went Arteta, didn't I? No, Jamie did. Oh. Who have I gone for? You've gone for Daniel Farker, according to the list I've been given.

16:39Gary Neville:Manager of the Year? Yeah. Is it Most Improved Manager? It just says Manager. Oh, I think, no, that wasn't the question. It was Best Coaching Performance or something like that. There's another one that says Coaching Performance, for which you've gone for Iriola. Oh, right. I think I've got my stuff mixed up. Oh, dear. Well, tell us who you think the Manager of the Year is. I'm like I'll stick with Farka I think I've probably misunderstood the questions as it's been sent to me do you know the reason I put I thought it was the most improved manager no no I'll tell you what I did I know exactly what I did it was most improved and I put player Mateus Nunes and Farka manager so I've put the most improved manager and most improved player is Nunes and Farka Farka because basically he was done and he's been relegated a couple of times before so for him to keep Leeds up and I remember going back to Leeds sort of in those games, middle of the winter, and they were on the brink of sacking him.

17:36Gary Neville:So for me, yeah, that's why I've got mixed up there. I've meant most improved manager and most improved player are Farker and Nunes. And then on the manager, coaching performance, I've put Iriola, just losing his three defenders and then getting them to where they are. But manager of the year, I think, is Arteta. So, look, you can work out that, Cara. You can whinge about my answers if you want. And in amongst all of that, and this could play into any conversation about Manager of the Year, actually. Your overachievers. You've come with the same answer, the two of you on this one. Bournemouth.

18:08Oh, Brentford. Brentford, yeah.

18:10Gary Neville:Brentford we went for, I went for, yes. Oh, well. I have Brentford as being potential strugglers, having lost, obviously, Thomas Frank and thinking that that would be a hammer blow to them. So for what Keith Andrews has done, from what I thought they would do, absolutely they're my overachievers and they've had a sensational season and deserve great credit. And your underachievers. I think everybody's underachievers of Spurs, aren't they? Except Jamie. He's not gone for Spurs. No, it won't surprise you to hear he's gone for Liverpool. Yeah, but he had his ambition or his aspiration for what he thought they would be was too high.

18:46Gary Neville:So he started, I mean, I had them as potentially missing out on the Champions League. I suppose it's a calculation against expectation, isn't it? It is. Yeah, and I did have them winning the league. I think I did have them just in the Champions League. but I'm not surprised that they're in fourth and fifth and that type of position. So, no, I mean, that's not right. Tottenham have got to be the underachievers in everybody's book, I would imagine. Although they actually have had a very similar season to last year, as it turns out. I know, but they're serial underachievers. They're really good at underachieving.

19:22OK, your goal of the season.

19:25Gary Neville:I think I went Chobas-Lyda, the free kick. Against Arsenal. Yeah, it was a special strike, that. I'm trying to think of others. Can you challenge me on that? Well, because I'm doing this blind, so I haven't really had any thought. I like Jamie's one. He's gone with Harry Wilson's goal against Crystal Palace. Okay. Which was great. I find very often in these things, Gary, it's scored in a game which we don't remember. Not necessarily one of the big games. You get a brilliant goal, don't you? Yeah. You might have picked any of Sobber's lives. Three mighty free kicks, might you? That one against Arsenal just fell on that day.

20:00Gary Neville:It was big, wasn't it? To beat Raya. I just think as well, the one thing I thought of this morning was the goalkeeper that you're playing against. I mean, you can't get anything past Raya. It's difficult. So to get it past him from there, I think, yeah, I'm comfortable with my selection on that one. And your favourite game. And oddly enough, both of you have gone with Manchester United wins. He has gone with a Manchester United win. Against? Here at Arsenal. and I went with the City one you went with the Derby win at Old Trafford yeah I just that was the first one in Michael Carrick's tenure wasn't it the City game at home and then the second one was the Arsenal game I just thought the City performance was breathtaking in a time whereby United had been knocked out of the FA Cup the week before they'd drawn at Burnley maybe and then obviously they had the desperation under Ruben Amren before that those two games I just mentioned then Brighton and Burnley were under Darren Fletcher there was just no expectation that Manchester United would go and play like that, forget the result I mean anything can happen in a game, you could win a game, but just the performance and I just remember screaming when that second goal went in sort of very loudly and sort of being told off after the game You never learn do you?

21:13Gary Neville:You can't help it, that's just a moment of absolute bliss, it was like where's this come from? It wasn't just like you say, the 2-0 and the result, it was the performance that day I thought it was a brilliant it was the turnaround moment for Manchester United so that was my favourite game for the season I mean Cara's game here the week after where you think they're coming to Arsenal let's see what they can do and then they win at Arsenal was fantastic but for me it was the City game that really I enjoyed most I wonder from the point of view of sort of crazy entertainment whether you're 4-4 Man United Bournemouth Bournemouth yeah they've been a very good watch haven't they oh I mean that game was crazy and yeah I mean that game was madness but what you were watching from United around that time was madness full stop yeah but it was and Bournemouth have just yeah they've just got that ability to go and not care and whoever they're playing they don't care who they're playing they don't sort of what would be bow to anybody and that's the way in which English football should be where teams think they can come and have a right go and Burnley tonight have actually at Arsenal they've come and done the very best that they can I think we've just seen the Burnley coach here now talking and I think he'll be proud of the way in which his team have set up tonight and the way in which they've approached the game I mean we can sit here and say be a bit more creative but the Hannibal shot from 25 yards in the second half and then there was another one wasn't there near the edge of the box where they had a sort of half chances and maybe from set pieces and corners they had a couple that you think well we could have done better but yeah Bournemouth do have a right go and that 4-4 was pretty special to watch I wish I'd been better equipped to challenge you Gary I'm sorry I wasn't you've had a clear ride here if you'd like to say anything else to abuse I've had enough challenge over the years Peter from people I don't need any more challenge we're past that I mean at the start of the season you make predictions and you really haven't got a clue about a lot of things but I did predict that Arsenal would win the league and I predicted that Manchester United would get into the top four with Liverpool I think I did put Chelsea in there which ends up looking like a mistake but for good reason so I think I had Villa in there maybe no I had City, United Liverpool and Arsenal and then I had Chelsea rather than Villa but anyway it's yeah we're on the brink of the end of the season now and like I say this is what really matters this next few days we'll sort out the Premier League champions and I think it feels like the right moment doesn't it for Arsenal they've waited long enough they've been on a journey of stages and steps and disappointments and ups and downs, but lots of downs at the end of the season, of being mocked, of being laughed at, of being ridiculed, of told that they're never going to get there, that told that they're sort of always going to be the bridesmaids and never the bride.

24:07Gary Neville:But this is a game changer for this football club, an unbelievable football club, 22 years without a Premier League trophy. And on Sunday, I think that they'll go and finish the job off if they've not already in their minds celebrated tomorrow night. There were many times where we won the league when we weren't playing and other teams dropped points and they were really good surprise nights, those ones. Effectively, it's a weekend off. Effectively, training was cancelled the next day, all of a sudden. We were all rounding each other's houses or in Manchester and it was the greatest night of your life.

24:40Gary Neville:If Arsenal tomorrow night, if their players are there, I know they've got a game a week on Saturday and they might do it differently than we used to. But we would go out. We would always go out and celebrate it. How did you celebrate the one in 99 when the Champions League final and the FA Cup final were still to come? Did you have a nice out then? We went out that night with some form of curfew placed on us that wasn't adhered to. But it was a Sunday and we had the FA Cup final the Saturday after. So it was six days and he gave us the Monday off. so we were coming in Tuesday so we did have a good night but wasn't the blast that we ordinarily would have done I mean if you win the league you don't go to bed fact simple as that you don't go to bed if you win the league now Arsenal to be fair can't do that unfortunately because if you drink for that length of time and then go and train two days later you are at real risk of injury and they can't afford that before a Champions League final it wasn't quite a scientific 27 years ago you know 27 years ago you thought six days recovery before an FA Cup final was more than enough and it was but we did go out on that Sunday and rightly so and Arsenal players tomorrow night they should go out in my opinion maybe to a house or to a private place but they should enjoy themselves and maybe stay up until 2, 3 in the morning and then just relax the next day.

26:15Good advice from someone who's been there.

26:17Gary Neville:Okay, brilliant. Lovely stuff. Thanks, Gary. Good on you.