Arsenal’s Title To Lose, Liverpool’s Problems Continue & Sensational Sunderland 

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1:43I sold my car in Carvana last night.

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2:22Hello and welcome to The Rest is Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and me, Gary Lineker. It's been a busy week, or midweek I should say, of Premier League football. We saw an extraordinary victory for Manchester City just on Tuesday night. We're doing this just after the games have finished on Wednesday. Arsenal had a victory against Brentford. Chelsea dropped points. Liverpool dropped more points. Let's start Not with the overall title race Because obviously City and Arsenal have both won But defeats for Chelsea Was quite a big deal But Arsenal I thought Brentford pushed and pushed and tried And huffed and puffed But they're tough to break down Despite being one or two injuries at the back Before we go into Arsenal I just want to say to Alan How does it feel to have your record broken?

3:14I know you guys spoke about it But Haaland in 111 games. So he's officially the top dog, isn't he? If he stays in the Premier League, he's going to beat your record easily.

3:27Gary Lineker:Well, he's a top dog in 2025. Absolutely, yeah.

3:33Gary Lineker:Oh, he's awesome. He's awesome, man. He's brilliant, isn't he? It's an amazing achievement, actually. Yeah. And it's quite enjoyable to see as well, in all honesty, isn't it, Michael? Really.

3:48It's brilliant. Anywho, Arsenal. Arsenal. Wasn't the most scintillating performance, but... It wasn't, but I thought the link up between Ben White and Madweke down that side was very good. Madweke looks like a new player. Now he comes from Chelsea, a lot of question marks. Maybe because everyone expected him to get a striker in and they went for him early doors. But he's really playing well now. Saka can actually have a rest knowing that Medweke can do the business. I thought Ben White played really well in the overlap. Great link up for the goal for Marino. Another injury though, wasn't it? Mascara, another injury.

4:33Timber comes on to centre half. Declan Rice as well hobbled off. Yeah, Declan Rice. But that reports that's not too bad. Not much, no. No, it is not much. But they're just getting it done. Efficient. and that's all I need to do. Rea pulled off one of the saves of the season. I don't know if you guys saw it. Yes, incredible. Off the bar, but you know when in slow-mo, it doesn't look that great, but you're playing real speed, real time. The reactions from that were sensational. But yeah, Arsenal just getting it done, but I thought Brentford put up a really good fight actually.

5:10Gary Lineker:Yeah, me too. I thought they'd give a good account of themselves, Brentford. not many people thought they would go there and do anything and yeah I think Arsenal were I mean it certainly wasn't comfortable for Arsenal it was a hard earned three points for them he made one or two changes Arteta but they do they are the best team and they are the most consistent and they deserve to be at the top where they are and they're the team that are going to take some beating because even when they didn't play that well tonight it was just about getting the victory and we know you can't play well every game who sometimes just got to get the result.

5:45Gary Lineker:And that was the case for Arsenal tonight. It's theirs to lose. Yeah, a quick word on Keith Andrews, though. Done well, eh? I think he's done a really, really good job. From being a pundit to then going a set-piece coach and then being head coach, to do what he's done this season, losing the players he's lost. How many times have you said, look at Wolves, they lose some big players, Aiton Horry and Cunyar, and they're not the same. you know, Brentford have lost Visser you know what I mean Tony, okay was before that but Sharder comes in and does really well you know I just feel like the manager needs a lot of credit for I think we all had Brentford may be struggling this season but they're competing they're competing every single week they might not win but I think he gets his tactics spot on as well in terms of what he wants to do I think we need He's playing Watara and Sharder up front, the way they wanted to press Arsenal as well and try and nullify that threat when they were playing out from the back.

6:48I just think tactically he's very, very good. And I feel like he's doing his business quietly without him getting recognition. You know how hard it is to manage in the Premier League so young and little experience. So, yeah, he's doing really well at the moment.

7:05Gary Lineker:I think he's done really well after a bit of a... It was a bit of a slow start, wasn't it? A couple of games. I think he's settled in really well and doing a good job. Again, I thought they pushed Arsenal all the way tonight. They play fairly directly, as a lot more teams are tending to do at the moment. Obviously, very good on throw-ins, corners, free kicks, etc. Very well organised. But when you consider the fact, and you've said it, they lost Mbouma, they lost Visser, and they lost Thomas Frank and Thomas' head coach as well. Hence the fact that Keith Andrews got the job and they had a tough start and you thought, hmm, but I think they've been in every game pretty much that they've played.

7:48Tough to play against. And even in this game, it certainly wasn't an easy ride for Arsenal, not at all. No, it wasn't. And don't forget, Brentford left two of the best players out today. Thiago, who's been playing really well, scoring loads of goals. Yeah, and Damsgaard, who creates everything for Brentford as well. Also, being able to go to Arsenal and rotate players and still stay in the game, hats off to them. Even though it's a 2-0 defeat on paper, you think, oh, that's... Yeah, but it's the eye test. It's the eye test, isn't it? We always say that. If you've not seen the game, look at the XG.

8:23That's the time XG I think works, probably. It probably wouldn't back me up because you definitely don't need XG when you watch a football match. You can see it for yourself. Chelsea, we said, would they be consistent enough to keep going? Mureska made a couple of changes obviously I think Fafana was injured because he wasn't on the bench either so you lose one central defender and then Chalabai who's been playing really well with Fafana was moved to right back he brought in Tosin and Ballya Shield and it was a funny thing to do you'd have thought and it didn't really work out did it firstly Micah I know Leeds is obviously one of your teams I forgot about that for a second go on do your normal when Leeds get a win marching on together we want to see you we are so proud we're shouting out loud we love you and it was excellent and it was really good against Manchester City as well wasn't it

9:26Gary Lineker:why weren't you singing that at the weekend when City beat them well because of last Alan he was singing a city song at the weekend wasn't he city city blue moon you saw me standing alone without a dream in my heart without a love on my own I've got a ball don't you worry why do you think Netflix was so keen to get us on for the world it's all about the vocals all about the vocals No, on a serious note Leeds were outstanding And Daniel Farke I know it's weird saying that But he's a tactician in terms of He will change depending on what the game needs From the start He doesn't always react to think Okay, Chelsea are going to play this way This is what we're going to do We're going to put Nemecha up front with Calvert-Lewin We're going to press them really high And use the energy from the crowd Ellen Rhodes always been one of those stadiums Similar to St.

10:30James' where the noise is electric and they just didn't give him a minute's piece on the ball. Yes, when you make that many changes, Chelsea really missed Rhys James because against Arsenal, he was the best player on the pitch. But again, it's that question mark and Alan's totally right. I always say Chelsea can beat anyone on their day, but it's a consistency over the season while Al rightly said that he doesn't think they're strong enough. We've given Mareska a lot of credit. Should we criticise him for what he did tonight or not? Or is it understandable?

11:05Gary Lineker:I think what happened at the weekend when you're dealing with 10 men and you put that much effort in, I guess a few days later. But it's difficult when you're changing that many in the back four. I always feel as if there are the system or positions that should be playing on a regular basis as much as possible. It has to be the back four. And when you're making that many changes in it, and obviously that's on him tonight in terms of he decided to do that and it went against them because they were terrible at the back. Can I just ask you guys, not back in your day, not that sort of thing, but you know a lot of teams made a lot of changes, haven't they, in recent weeks.

11:52back when you guys were playing, did you guys just play all the way through no matter what? I know you guys didn't have many subs. You just had one sub you've mentioned before. But, you know. One at the very start of my career and then I think it went to two and maybe three by the end of it. But, yeah. But it's amazing, isn't it? All these squads and everyone, everyone's rotating everything. And you're just thinking, they've had some good results and then they changed things. It's like, you know, the Premier League is really intensive. Managers are having to do that. Yes, you've got to use your squad, but all the managers changing players throughout.

12:34Yeah, I think there are fundamental differences between now and back then. The squads are way bigger. So therefore, you know, a lot of quality within that squad. Whereas, you know, a squad when I probably played in the mid-80s would have been 15, 16 players probably. And you'd rely on, I mean, go back to the Everton team that I played. I could name the 11 that we started with every game. And then there were two or three players, four players that would come in if there were injuries and stuff. But you basically played the same team all the time. They didn't have, obviously, the medical science that they have now.

13:12they can check where players might be close to an injury and stuff. There was none of that. You just got on with it. And if you got injured, you got injured and you're out and someone else would come in. You very rarely got substituted because there weren't many substitutes to have. So, you know, the game was clearly, the game has moved on massively. And so you understand, you know, I'm not saying that they're wrong now not to make changes and rotate because they've got medical backup and they've got so much football. They're playing way more games. The big teams I'm talking about here in Europe and stuff like that.

13:50If you played in the European Cup, which unfortunately when I was at Everton, we were banned from doing because of what happened with Heysel. So we were banned from Europe. So we didn't have that extra experience of having to play European games. But even if you did in the European Cup back then, you'd win, what, three, four games and you're pretty much in the final. So it has changed a lot. So you have to accept that you can't go, well, in our day, we were really macho and we did all. It's complete bollocks, obviously. But there's just much more of a squad thing. Although there are certain players that do play more than others, the players that hardly ever left.

14:35Gary Lineker:The best players. The very best. And they don't seem to break. You know, you take the greatest two players of the last 20 years, Messi, Ronaldo, they play pretty much every single match. Now, they don't necessarily work back as much as perhaps some of the other players do, but you allow that because of their brilliance. Take Mo Salah over the last few years until the last couple of weeks. he's always played he'd pretty much nearly always play 90 minutes and he'd cope but you could also say that well he doesn't necessarily always you know trap back all the time so it has changed but I don't think it's changed for the you know for the worst we've seen a lot of very good footballers and you need opportunities and if if you want to be a more regular player when you get that opportunity you have to take your chance yeah I wouldn't argue with any of that and I guess you are guaranteed a lot more games now because of the format of European competitions.

15:32Gary Lineker:You're guaranteed the games rather than you could get knocked out after one or two more. As Gaz said, if you play four or five games and you're perhaps in the final. And international games and more and all of those. So for the top players, there's more football than ever. I sort of understand it and get it. And also, I mean, from a very, very early age now, you are told, and if you're told enough, you eventually think and believe it's true. You're told you can't really play three games a week, aren't you? That's what I was alluding to a little bit. because every time I played at the third game in a week, I would break down, you know?

16:04Emotionally or?

16:11Sorry, Michael. My body, it was, I don't know if it was subconsciously or whatever it was, but I don't know about you guys, but I always needed two days to rest. If I had to train, say we played Saturday and then it was off Sunday, I couldn't train Monday. And if I trained Monday, I would break down if there was a midweek. So it's just intriguing to see how teams are using their players because of that and how much it's changed since you guys' days. Is that because you went out Saturday night and didn't get in until Monday morning? To be honest, that was probably part of it.

16:53I think on that note, we'll take a little breather and when we come back, we'll see if Micah can handle playing the second half. This episode is brought to you by Barclays. That's right, because this year they're celebrating 25 years of supporting football and let me tell you, they truly have made a difference.

17:15Gary Lineker:And don't forget, they ended up being the biggest ever commercial investors in UK women's sport when they started sponsoring the Barclays Women's Super League. But it's not all about the big leagues, is it, lads? There's no football without grassroots football. Well, that's right. I mean, we wouldn't have had the careers that we've had, guys. Not one of us, would they, without grassroots football? That's where it all started, the love of the game. I went back to Aylston Park Football Club, which is where I started to play, and all the lads were playing and the girls were playing all across everywhere.

17:45And it was so beautiful to see all these young people. One little lad came up to me, must have been about nine or 10, and he came over to me and he went, my granddad used to play with you. Now that really is grassroots stuff. It's why Barclays has invested millions into grassroots programs and community initiatives to give opportunities in football to those who need it most. Search Barclays football to find out more. This episode is brought to you by Wise. It's only when you start moving money between currencies that you really think about the exchange rate, the fee and what might be hidden away in the small print.

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19:42It is not known if ZepBound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop ZepBound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia, if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills.

20:18Taking ZepBound with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbounce.lily.com. Welcome back to The Rest is Football with Mike Allen and me, Gary. There were a couple of other games we're going to talk about. I mean, there's a cracker between Brighton and Villa. I think we should probably mention Liverpool again and Sunderland again. I mean, they were close to winning it. Brilliant. I mean we thought they won their game at the weekend and then they went again but I thought Sunderland were really I think what summed up the game in many ways for Sunderland's perspective is that it looked like they were clinging on at the end clinging on then they got it was an own goal good work from Verts but he clearly sliced it and it wouldn't have gone in but they're hanging on hanging on thinking Liverpool are going to score it and they're going to score and then the keeper Roof gets it and he hit that volley kick and you're thinking, what are you doing?

21:28Don't just give it them back. Hold on to it for a bit. And then you look up and you go, oh my God, what a ball. And then it obviously Gaze brilliantly cleared it off the line. But yeah, quite exciting stuff, but it's just not happening for Liverpool, is it? So before you go and talk about Liverpool, is that a half volley or is that a volley from Rufus?

21:45Gary Lineker:It was a volley. It didn't hit the ground. Didn't touch the ground at all. Oh, okay. I'm just asking. Okay. Okay. I'm just asking. Sorry to interrupt, Al. You go, sir. I'll tell you what, if they'd have scored from it, the roof would have come off. It was an unbelievable pass, I tell you. Sunderland were absolutely outstanding. They were brilliant from the first minute. I just thought the way they were organised, how tough they are, and they all know the system, they all know what they're doing. And Sunderland were absolutely outstanding. Perhaps we'll maybe go away from Anfield disappointed, thinking we should have taken all three points there.

22:22Gary Lineker:and it was only a fluke goal from Virts. He did slice it. Liverpool, my God, they were terrible. I mean, you know, after the weekend, you're thinking, because we said, didn't we, or I said, that it didn't really matter about performance. It was just about getting the result at the weekend and hopefully you get a little bit of belief and a little bit of confidence. They were worse than they were at the weekend. They were worse than they were the previous week. They were terrible. They were so flat. Isak never had a kick, was awful. Van Dijk and Canate were terrible again, all over the place. I mean, you can go right throughout the team with Liverpool, but it's not looking good at Liverpool, I tell you.

23:02Gary Lineker:It's not looking good for Liverpool. When you look at someone like Virgil van Dijk, who has seemed to be brilliant for years, and obviously he was massively at fault for the goal. I mean, first he gave it away, and then he didn't really press, and then he came off his backside and went in the corner. When things are not going for you, they don't go for you. Although he did do a brilliant header near the end where he managed to get it out to his credit. They just haven't got any ideas. It just shows you how I'm put. They just look as if they've ran out of ideas. I'm looking at players this season, I'm thinking that you're a shadow of yourself, what you were showing us last season.

23:38Gary Lineker:You were outstanding. Whereas I'm looking at these players now thinking, goodness me, it really, really is incredible, the drop-off from Liverpool. You can hear the moans and groans in the crowd. and obviously their confidence is at zero level and the belief in everything else. And as I said, it's not one specific area. That's all over the pitch. How did Isak, he did the analysis on match of the day, didn't you, Alan, about finding his runs? Was any of that happen? Nothing at all. Nothing at all, Micah. He offered nothing. They offered him nothing. He wasn't even in the game. In fact, they took him off for five minutes to go and brought Chiesa on.