Eze & Gyokeres at the double as Arsenal hammer Tudor's Spurs 4-1

0:00Peter Drury:Welcome everyone to the Gary Neville podcast which comes to you over this long weekend in two parts. Tomorrow evening after the game at Everton, Gary will deal with all of the other issues in the Premier League, principally around the chase to be in the Champions League. But tonight we're going to deal with the race to be champions. We're at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where Arsenal have taken a big stride in that race with a big win against their neighbours Tottenham. There was a lot of jeopardy around it, Gary, to start with. We know all the noise. Noise has been a pertinent word this week after what happened at Wolves.

0:31Peter Drury:How did Arsenal deal with it?

0:33Gary Neville:Really well in the end. I think at half-time, you maybe look back at that first half and think, how are we in this position? 1-1, we're so dominant in the game. Tottenham had only had one touch in their box. And just little things. There was a hincapié little mistake. There was a little Gabriel and Saliba one. And I think Timber made one with a little pass into midfield. Then Declan Rice goes and makes the ultimate one, which gives the goal away. and you're thinking, you're causing your own problems here, and where's this coming from? Because these are the ones that have been the best defence in the league, the most reliable characters.

1:06Gary Neville:They've been brilliant all season. David Ryer makes the mistake on Wednesday night, so you're starting to think, is it becoming contagious, these little errors that are going to cost a team who are dominant in football matches? But if you do make individual errors in moments, then you're still going to cause yourself a problem. But in the end, it was really important what happened today because, look, it's too early really for that real title pressure. We're not quite in the home straight. You know, it's 10 games to go, so there's no doubt games are, you know, eroding fast. But I think, to be fair, this is going to get really hot when it gets into April, as we know.

1:41Gary Neville:But you're now getting to a point whereby where games really do count and when you drop points. And Arsenal have been on a difficult run. So you're looking at them today and thinking, right, OK, we signalled out, or I did, David Rea before the game because I think he's been absolutely incredible. I think everybody thinks he's been incredible. What a goalkeeper he's been this season and for the last couple of seasons for Arsenal. But you're thinking he's had Thursday and Friday to think long and hard and listen to that noise about what happened on Wednesday night and what is he going to do in this game?

2:11Gary Neville:Is he just going to be a little bit more tentative? Is he going to be a little bit more wobbly, a little bit more shaky? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. You look at his body language, the way in which he had authority, Tidaway in which he came out and dominated his area and caught every single cross that came in, even ones that you thought he didn't really have to come for that one, we wouldn't have been having a go at him if he didn't do, but he came for ones that were brave, so he, I think, was really important for him today to make sure he gets back to his sort of what would be mistake free best, and in the end he makes something really special there, doesn't he, where he sort of reaches back, I mean, we sometimes slow the sort of what would be replays down which is the right thing to do so everyone can see it at home but it doesn't do it justice of the reactions of how quick goalkeepers are off the mark.

2:54Gary Neville:They're like lightning, they really are. I think I might have said this story before, but the goalkeepers were always the quickest over five yards when we did the sprint test because just the ability to get there quickly and just off the mark and you could see that was brilliant with Raya. At that end of the pitch and then at the other end of the pitch, I think it was so important what Jokeres did today. I like him as a centre forward in the sense that, I like a centre forward who's imperfect, who's a bit rugged, who's a bit of a handful. I'd hate to play against him. Sticks his body in, sticks his backside in.

3:25Gary Neville:Doesn't necessarily do everything in the sort of more smooth or perfect way. And there's times this season where you've thought, is he a hit or is he a miss? Is he good or is he average? You're almost from week to week balancing a little bit about what this guy is. But if you could actually encapsulate and package up a performance of what you'd want from him, you got it out there today again in a really big game. I thought that from the very first few minutes, he was running down the side. Sometimes he gets involved a little bit too much in battles and scraps and muscling with centre-halves, but he made movements down the side.

3:59Gary Neville:He was a little bit more elusive. I thought that he held it up and was quite clever at times. He was a nuisance. He did run the channels. He always works hard. I actually thought he looked leaner and fitter. I don't know how that happens, because obviously we've seen him a lot in the last few weeks, I just thought he looked a little bit more like he had legs and like he had a bit more power rather than him looking a little bit sort of what would be heavy and ungainly and sort of looking like he's running in treacle. You know what I mean? Sometimes when you watch him, you think... And then today I thought he was really good and then he gets his goals.

4:31Gary Neville:The first one's a really good goal. Eze, I think, being up there alongside him, taking Dragasen away and taking a centre forward, just means that he gets a yard and he finishes. He misses his couple of chances in the first half, but he finishes in that second half. And then he gets his what would be almost like a glory moment at the end where he can sort of go up there and celebrate to your heart's content. The second one I said, don't celebrate too much. There's a job to do. Switch on. Declan Rice did that after the first goal, didn't he? If you remember, he's going to his teammates. Switch on.

5:01Gary Neville:That's definitely a switch on moment at 2-1. We're not making a mistake here. This is where we go and see it home. Arsenal have really done that today, but it was a good day for David Raya. who's been brilliant all season. Jokeres, who's not been brilliant all season, I thought it was his best moment of the season. Not just because he scored two in a game against the biggest rivals and had a wonderful celebration over there with the Arsenal fans, but because his general performance from start to finish is what you would expect from him. He needs to kick on from that because he set himself a level there today.

5:30Peter Drury:I wonder, this is a slightly mischievous question, I wonder whether it was nice for Arsenal to play here. You know, there was a lot of talk about Tottenham feeding on Arsenal's nerves, But obviously, Arsenal's kind of tense performances, one or two of them have been in front of their own supporters who are feeling the history of these 22 years without the title and so on. And you didn't get the same sense of panic here at all, did you? Even when Tottenham did equalise?

5:54Gary Neville:No, I don't think you heard it, but the stadium announcer before the game, he did a massive impassioned speech and address to the crowd probably about five minutes before kick-off, where he said, they're worried, they're nervous. You know what I mean? They don't want this type thing. and that was the sort of feeling in this ground mix. Tottenham fans, the ones I spoke to before the game, always when I'm coming up in the lift, say, what do you think today? And they say, I think we'll get beat. You know what I mean? So I think the reality was there that they thought they could get beat. But the bit of hope that I think they had was probably Wolves.

6:24Gary Neville:And they were probably thinking, if we can make them nervous, if they show a little bit of anxiety through the fact they're in a title race and there's been a lot of talk about wobbling in the last few days, then they could potentially do something in this match but it didn't emerge and I think playing here I think look they got a grip of the game early to be fair to them by the way what about the nonsense with the sound issues with the referees that needs to stop by the way I don't know if someone listens from you know PGMOL or Premier League but that is absolutely rubbish that that we've got to stop a game for how long today 11 minutes 12 minutes maybe 5-6 in the first half and then before half time before the second half starts another 5-6 but you know today big question marks of Arsenal at the start of the game they handled it, they played well, they dominated the first 20 minutes they then go and get the goal, really good and then they have the one sort of mistake in the game the one blip is when obviously they let Tottenham back in it within 30 seconds so you're thinking, oh ok so there's another big question coming at half time when they come out for the second half but they've answered it the big question at 2-1 then is can they go and kill the game off?

7:31Gary Neville:are they going to let Tottenham back into it? and they've answered that So there's a number of questions throughout this match that Arsenal have answered. Can they score goals? They've done everything right today. So playing here was perfect for them. We've seen Tottenham two or three times here in the last couple of months. And they've been, I mean, they came back against Manchester City, but they were hopeless in the first half, weren't they? They have got so many injuries. But I think when teams have so many injuries, you can look at it one of two ways. is if they're freak injuries that just happen all at once, then you can maybe have some sympathy.

8:06Gary Neville:But when you've got persistent and constant injuries in large numbers over two seasons, you've got to start to ask a bigger question. It's not unlucky anymore. You can't, you know, the recruitment has got to be questioned. Are they resilient? Are they robust enough? The training programme's got to be questioned. What are they doing out on the training pitch? The grass, the pitches have got to be questioned. Now, you can't believe that that's the case because these desol pitches are everywhere. But, you know, the medical department are going to start to get put under pressure. The sports science, you know, we all talk about sports science, having massages and sports science.

8:37Gary Neville:But these players are getting injured on a constant basis. So what is it? It's one of those three, four things that we're mentioning, but Tottenham not having their best players out on the pitch, not only damaged Ange Postacoglu last season, it's damaged Thomas Frank this season. If they had Madison out there, Kuliszewski out there, all the other players that they've got missing, you know, Romero's obviously missing for a different reason today. I mean there's that many of them missing Benton Coeur's missing there's 12 of them isn't there there are 11 of them

9:02Peter Drury:yeah Danso Madison Udogi Bergvall Romero Poro yeah Kudus Kulusevsky Poro Odaber Benton Coeur Ben Davis yeah and actually as I mentioned in the commentary the second goalkeeper's missing as well

9:15Gary Neville:so I mean look if Tottenham have those players available then they're not going to be that easy to beat they're going to be a far better team in every sense but they're in trouble Tottenham are in trouble I mean, last season, they really, they skirted with it a little bit, relegation. There was a little bit of a sort of, but they were always sort of clear of it. And they were managing the sort of Europa League games and just getting enough points. And you never really felt they were going to go down. This season, they've got some real work to do. And they better do it quickly, by the way, because I watch West Ham and I watch Nottingham Forest.

9:52Gary Neville:And they've got something about them that you think they're going to pick up points. so it's not going to be a case that Tottenham can just sit there and think that this is just going to happen they're going to have to work bloody hard to get out of this mess and it's unthinkable, I mean you're in this stadium I've been to their training ground when I was a coach for England we used to train there a lot and you just can't think of this amazing, great football club but on the football side of it they've under-delivered for a number of years they've never found the right sort of what would be formula to get it right and this is the second season on the trot that they're in this type of position so it's not a fluke anymore.

10:29Gary Neville:This is a pattern of what you are and it would be the shock of the century, wouldn't it? I mean, it would be absolutely mind-blowing to think that they could disappear out of this league but I don't think they will. I don't think they will. They've shown an attitude in this game today for 55, 60 minutes and even to be fair in the last half an hour they were just beaten in the end by a better team but they have shown a little bit of ruggedness in this game that you need and they will need we've just got to make sure that if they're playing a team here that doesn't get the crowd up as much and doesn't get these players up as much that they show that same ruggedness because it's easy to show it sometimes in a North London derby where you have to, you're almost forced to in a manager's first game but when the cameras are off you and they're playing against the team in mid-table next week and the week after and maybe it's a little bit less motivation maybe it's a little bit less fire because of the fact of what this fixture is.

11:25Gary Neville:Are they going to be as rugged, as dogged and as hard-working and as pressurising? Because they're going to need to be. Because if you're just 2%, 3%, 4 % off it in this league, you will get done.

11:36Peter Drury:Yeah, well, that is going to be something clearly to watch. They were relegated, by the way, in 1977, Tottenham. A team that had Pat Jennings in goal, Glenn Hoddle in midfield, Steve Perryman, some Tottenham greats went down. But anyway, that's a different era. Back to the Premier League title race. A lot of the talk was on whether Arsenal might collapse to some extent, psychologically, after what happened at Wolves. That didn't happen. So I suppose the onus is back now on Manchester City. What did you make of them last night?

12:05Gary Neville:I mean, I watched... I was coming back from watching Salford at Cheltenham, so I got, I think, in 15 minutes late. But watched the game. I mean, City are dangerous. They're dangerous with the fact they've got Marmoush, they've got Haaland, they've got Turkey, they've got Semenyo, They've got Fordham. So they're really dangerous. If they can keep the centre-backs fit, then they've got a chance. The goalkeeper's good. The manager is exceptional. The celebrations at the end from Haaland and from Pep Guardiola were meaningful, I felt. They were sending a message. That was mind games at play. Pep Guardiola will say it's not.

12:41Gary Neville:But it is. Every time you speak now for the next two months, every time you do something on a pitch, it's going to be transmitting to the opposition team. That's vulnerabilities, that's strength, whatever it is, celebrations, sometimes over-celebrations. So what Arsenal had to cope with today, which I've mentioned before, and the questions that they've had to answer, I missed one of them out. And that was the fact that Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland, probably the two most significant figures in the Premier League on and off the pitch, have sent a message last night after that game that we're coming for you and we're going to be breathing down your neck.

13:14Gary Neville:Arsenal have withstood that today and they're going to have to withstand that for another six to eight weeks. Arsenal were never going to get this Premier League title handed to them on a plate. It doesn't work like that, particularly when you're going for your first one. If you win in three, four and five and six, you can sometimes win by 10, 15 points and you can take it in your stride. That's very, very rare. It's a struggle. It's a battle. It's a fight. And this City team, to be fair, that you're watching now, aren't quite the team that were going through those fights with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool for three or four years.

13:42Gary Neville:But there's still some characters in that dressing room who understand it and know it, and particularly the manager. So they're going to be so dangerous. I think Arsenal will get there but it doesn't surprise me that they are making mistakes and that City are coming back at them but I think they will just get there I think they'll get there and just almost crawl over the line maybe in the end it's going to be a massive struggle I feel I don't think it's going to be easy and that game is going to be monumental at the Etihad

14:09Peter Drury:How much, as a matter of interest because obviously we're all looking at that how much does the League Cup final play into the psychology of it all or is that, can you box that off? I think you can box that off.

14:22Gary Neville:I think you can box that off. I mean, look, it'll be a... It depends how you lose. It depends how the game goes and how you lose. Look, if it's a tight game and you lose on penalties, I think you can box it off. But if you get absolutely battered in the game, if City were to go and beat Arsenal 3 or 4-0 in that game, that would send a big message and vice versa, if Arsenal were to go and beat City. But I have thought for a number of years when Arsenal have been going for this title that they're going to have to go and win at the Etihad. I've just thought it for a number of years. Go and win. That's the only real way.

14:55Gary Neville:I mean, the Carabao Cup final is a chance to send a message because you're playing directly against them and you can cause them some real pain by taking a medal from round the necks. But what you can do is go and beat them at their own place. I always think when Arsenal came and won titles, the Overmars goal in 98, the Viltord goal, was it? No, 2002, 2001. 2001.

15:18Peter Drury:Two, two maybe.

15:19Gary Neville:Yeah, I mean, they're killer. They're goals that still make me shiver. They're goals that make me shiver. I was playing in the game against Overmars and then the Will Tord when I was actually in the stand, I was injured. But they make you shiver because they silence a city. They don't just silence a ground. You know, you're going to Manchester City on that day and you're absolutely going to silence them and rock them to the core if you win. but on the other hand if City go and beat you and beat you up like they did two or three years ago when Arsenal had those problems defensively I think towards the end when Saliba was injured again it rocks you the other way so that's that's in the far distance it's not to start thinking about that tonight but we know it's coming the Arsenal fans know it's coming the City fans know it's coming and it's about jostling for position and making sure maybe if you're Mikel Arteta who's doing his interview here now on this screen if he can just have a cushion going into that game it gives him a bit of comfort but my feeling is, I don't do predictions, in fact I'm pretty poor at them, my feeling is that this is the moment this year where Arsenal might be a couple of points in front, they might be near to level, might be three points in front, I think they'll go and win at City, I think they'll go and win and I think that'll be where you really do recognise that they are champions but that's a wild prediction about a game that's coming in five or six weeks and by them a lot will have happened but that's how I see this season going, and I've seen it going like, I thought it would go like that for quite a while.

16:46Gary Neville:I thought City might come back at them. It may even go past them momentarily. You mentioned during this game, they could have gone past them next Saturday night if they beat Leeds away, but City will drop points. They're not quite right themselves. You asked me about the game last night against Newcastle. They weren't hanging on in there at the end, but it was a little bit close for comfort for them and they're not quite as dominant as they were. They're not as dominant as they were. Forget the quiet. They're not as dominant as they were. They're not as controlling as they were. They're not as exceptional as they were, but they're still very, very dangerous.

17:16And I think that Semenyo, Marmouche and Haaland up front, they could cause real problems for every team.

17:24Peter Drury:What's the reality in the dressing rooms? You say you've played in those sorts of games. Are they going to gradually, as no doubt we will, become obsessed with that game on April the 18th, 19th? Is there a danger that one game could become kind of too important in the heads of players?

17:41Gary Neville:I think what Pep Guardiola will have liked about, I mean, forget the fact that they dropped points at Wolves, he'll have loved that. But what he'll have liked about this weekend and next weekend is that they get the ability to go and put pressure and get close. That's the real sort of, I used to think if you can get your points on the board and then sit back and watch, which is what Arsenal have had, what City have had the luxury of doing today. But Arsenal have sent the perfect message tonight. City at home tonight, they've won. Okay, let's go again. so what City will be looking towards next week is a really difficult game away at Leeds on the Saturday that they go and do it again and then Arsenal play Chelsea on the Sunday now Arsenal have got to go and do it again if obviously City do that but playing first I think is a big advantage if you can go and get the points on the board and that's what I think Pep Guardiola will be looking at right now there's too much to go on there's Champions League games there's Carabao Cup finals before that game into the distance we're talking about it purely because we know it's coming and it's looming and it won't go away but the managers and the players in the dressing room won't be focusing on that at all.

18:40Gary Neville:You know, both sets of players will recognise that they've got this league in their own hands, which is a good place to be. They both have. If they win all the games, you win the league. That's it. That's what Sir Alex Ferguson would have said to us back in the day. By the way, it's in your hands. If you win every game, you win the league. And so they'll feel good about that in the City dressing room, but Arsenal will feel good about that as well, that they're in a good position. So a long way to go. A lot of injuries to happen, a lot of losses to happen Champions League potentially joy or defeats to deal with you've got that Carabao Cup game which will again bring joy or unhappiness to a certain dressing room so there's a lot to play for I love this point in the season I love it when there's a title race there's nothing worse when you sort of see a season peter out last season it seemed to peter out all ends up didn't it the relegation was sorted the title was sorted the Champions League places felt like they were mainly sorted sort of well before the end of the season and I don't think we're going to get that this year.

19:37Gary Neville:I think we're going to get a bit of a blockbuster, and it's going to, I think, be exciting. The Champions League, I'll cover that tomorrow night after the Everton United game, and what Liverpool have done in the last minute today. Burnley getting a point at Chelsea. These things, Villa, just wobbling a little bit, aren't they, at the moment, but they've got injuries. So, so much to play for, so much, I think, at stake, but I think it's going to go to the death this year. I don't think it's going to be a case of it being sorted with three, four weeks to go, and that'll be exciting. You're giving me butterflies, Gary.

20:08Gary Neville:Thanks, Peter. Well done, thank you.