Chelsea & Arsenal share spoils, Isak delivers + can Frank turn Spurs around?

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0:43hello everybody it's sunday the 30th of november hi to you if you're watching us do this live on youtube and equally if you're listening to the after effects on podcast hey tim spears how's it going James? Pretty good. You've had a busy weekend haven't you? You've been at a rave in an abandoned Ikea. Yeah in North London in Tottenham. I didn't realise we'd enter the post Ikea age. Was it kind of with the vines creeping over it? Was it? I feel it's like in a dystopian future video game type scenario. It did feel like that when you were in there. It's quite hard to navigate as well. It did get lost a couple of times.

1:21Of course and they don't have those kind of yellow arrows on the floor anymore. They don't miss the trick there really yeah all right good for you matt davis adams is here hi james i do just trying to always worry about my posture now we're on youtube a bit of a sloucher normally so try to keep on top of that okay you're also warming up because you were on the gantry at the bridge just like less than an hour ago red hot game chilly in the stands was it red hot in the stands was it it felt that way in the stadium i was just looking at some of the reaction online as i came back and um some and people didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did.

1:54But I thought it was fascinating. It was a dramatic game. Broadly speaking, I think Saturday's games, geometrical symbol indicates better than Sunday's games. But we'll get on to that. Also with us, of course, Daniel Storey. Daniel. Good evening, James. Good evening to you, Daniel. Daniel, what were you doing this weekend? So I was... That was you. ...Cudisphere's town's mascot, Tilly the Terrier. Tilly the Terrier. Yeah, I kind of had planned this piece for ages and Huddersfield were really good enough to let me do it. It wasn't that the mascot was laying the ankle and they said, is there anyone in the crowd who could...

2:32Is there a guy who is prepared to make himself look like an idiot on a regular basis? No, it was, I just, I don't know, mascots sort of fascinate me. And it's one of those, I mean, as the piece, the conclusion of the piece, I'm going to do a kind of 17 different things I learned about being a mascot for a day. But the main thing is really that you don't realise how much joy, particularly kids, obviously, but also weirdly adults, get out of seeing a massive, fluffy dog blowing them kisses and doing heart emojis to them until you are behind the mask in the suit at about 42 degrees, sweating, desperate for a drink.

3:11I was going to ask actually how smelly it is inside the costume. It's not smelly, but it's really hot. I mean, I think, again, spoiler alert, one of my conclusions is that anyone that does that in August deserves an MBE, quite frankly, because it was cold and wet and miserable in Huddersfield. And I was still, I think it was about 35 degrees, they said, inside. And you're doing it for five. I did it from 12 to five. It was five hours of that with occasional breaks. But, yeah, it was everything I wanted it to be. And I didn't injure a kid. So those are the two main things. That's amazing because you're right.

3:43in the middle of summer and they will often have races and the like. Yeah. What happens with, again, spoiler alert, drinks, toilet breaks? Head removal was the thing I was thinking. Yeah, so you go inside during the game. Yeah, you go inside generally during the game unless the team is winning second half quite comfortably you might go out but yeah, generally you are inside during the game until half time and full time. In summer, what they have to do is they have to stick those, you get those freezer cold pouches They have to stick those to their forehead to stop them passing out, basically. Because no one really wants to see a dog with a perma smile crashing to the floor having passed out.

4:23It's a shame that there wasn't a... Was there a minute's silence at the game you were at? There was not a minute's silence. Do you know what? I don't know, and I might be talking Huddersfield down here, but I don't think they'd have let me do it if it was Minute's Silence Day. Okay. It was quite a dramatic match, wasn't it? Huddersfield against AFC Wimbledon. Huddersfield coming from behind three times. urged on by the Tilly the Terrier inspired roar of the crowd. Yeah, absolutely. And I got to watch the second half, half dressed as a female dog with Huddersfield town legend Andy Booth, which is one of those things that if it had been a dream, I'd have probably gone to see a psychotherapist, but it was real life, so you just kind of move on.

4:59Excellent. Well, that sounds like a really liberating weekend and quite possibly a lot of guys, I mean a lot of people, but I'm going to see a lot of guys could get a lot out of going around and making people smile dressed in a furry costume. Anyway, Premier League match day 13, Saturday. Well, Saturday was busy, actually. We had the two fastest Premier League goals of the season from Malik Chor and Phil Foden. We also had the two longest distant goals of the season from Adams and Wilson. We also had two of the three teams who had yet to win an away game in this campaign winning an away game. That was Fulham, who did theirs at Spurs for the 2-1 victory, and Newcastle with that thronking 4-0 at Everton.

5:48The other Saturday games, Brentford beat Burnley 3-1. Sunderland came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to Bournemouth. Same scoreline at the Etihad where Leeds almost held Man City to a draw, but a Phil Foden goal in the 91st minute. He'd also scored in the first minute. Saw City take all three points and move into second spot. Sunday important scorelines here well Arsenal with that 1-1 draw away at Chelsea in the late game before that you had Liverpool doing what experts are calling a win they say it could earn them three points Man United had a 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace Brighton won 2-0 at Forest to move into fifth and Villa had just a 1-0 win at home to Wolves the bottom of the table Wolves of course still in 20th spot Burnley leads with them in the bottom three.

6:40West Ham only goal difference and Nottingham Forest only a point above those three though. Up top, Arsenal are now five points clear of Manchester City. Chelsea are in third place, level with Villa. Brighton fifth, as I mentioned, and Sunderland are behind them on goal difference alone. We begin our roundup at Stamford Bridge. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network. Saka. It's another go-to-cooker-rear. It's Saka's course. Marino's in there!

7:20And they've got a strike back. Mikkel getting Arsenal out of a pickle there. Yeah, the equaliser after Clever Trevor Chalabar's fine header from the corner. Shortly after the start of the second half, Matt, you were there at this game. So one team had a man advantage for more than half of this match, but it was quite hard to tell which. It certainly was, yeah, and it was the game that was billed as who does it best, Rice or Kaiseido, and it turns out the answer was Rhys James. Rhys James. Which was interesting. Yeah, I thought actually Arsenal played better with XI than they did with XI. First time I've watched them live this season from the viewpoint that we have, bang on halfway, last row of the East Stand at Stamford Bridge, perfect opportunity to see just how baffling their movement is of players popping up here, there and everywhere.

8:11You know, Calafiore will be on the right wing at some point and people will be where you're not expecting them. They started with Eza and Marino as kind of two false nines, which was pretty baffling to get a handle on. But yeah, then the red card seemed to flummox Mikel Arteta a bit more than it did Enzo Maresca, I think. And Chelsea played really well in the game throughout, I think. A lot of standout performances. James was the best player on the pitch for me, but also thought that the aforementioned Chalibur was really good. I think Robert Sanchez, who's actually been pretty steady for a while now, was excellent as well.

8:46I think Kukare did well to rein himself in after that early yellow card as well. They'll only let Saka get away from him on one occasion. Arsenal were good, but sort of never really got out of third, fourth gear at times as well. Slightly disappointed in their performance, as I say, once they got the man advantage. But overall, I think they draw probably a fair result. Third season in a row. It's finished all square between them at Stamford Bridge. And Arsenal will be happy with that overall, I think. I mean, they'll be annoyed that they haven't managed to make the extra man count. but a draw was a fair reflection of the game and keeps everybody, including Chelsea, at more than arm's length.

9:25Well, I feel you summed it up very nicely there, Matt. I'll just throw in that that's the few shots Arsenal have had in a Premier League game in over a year, just eight, as you say, against 10 men. But then this Chelsea team is so well-practised at playing with a man disadvantage. This is true, but not when it's Moises Caicedo who is the pivotal player in the team. And there was a lot of chat, he spoke in the build-up to this game about the fact that he had been linked with Arsenal before he joined Chelsea. I've never seen him so wound up for a game before. He's usually pretty good at keeping his head.

9:55It's usually left to Enzo Fernandes to be going around losing his. But it felt inevitable that somebody was going to get sent off from very early in the match. I was surprised that it was Caicedo. I think that, you know, there's no doubt, clearly, that it was a red card defence. And it will enforce arrests, which many have wanted for him, for three games now, which is tricky for Chelsea because one of them is at Leeds, who are their other great rivals, really, at Ellum Road in midweek. But reason for Enzo Moresca to feel that they can cope without him, I guess. And another big tick in the box for Moresca.

10:28I mean, you even go back to Old Trafford earlier in the season and how he panicked as his team were having players sent off here, there and everywhere. There was none of that today. He came up with a great plan midweek to beat Barcelona and he kept his head here to make sure that his team didn't get beaten. Excellent. Daniel, were you able to see this game? Yes, I was. Yeah, I mean, Matt has summed it up absolutely beautifully. I mean, one of the things we should say is one of the great pieces of acting for Moises Caicedo on the touchline when he was sent off. And he didn't just say, like, am I really being sent off?

11:00He seemed to say like, oh, you mean me getting sent off as if it could have been someone else, as if Mourinho had injured him in some way. He also stayed down fairly theatrically. I'm not sure he was that injured Caicedo. So, yeah, a shout out to that. But Chelsea were magnificent. and as Matt says about Mureska there was a courage in it as well to bring on De Lappe made some sense in terms of holding up the ball and being a focal point up front having Garnaccio on the pitch as well to try and stretch the game I'm not sure that's a change he would have made or the type of change he would have made when he was under serious pressure at Chelsea it felt like a change of a manager who feels like he's kind of got to grips with things a bit and the team looked exactly like that and yeah just to reiterate Rhys James was phenomenal We seem to have sort of accidentally created this brilliant midfield player by making him play full-back quite a lot.

11:52That taking a toll on its body and him realising that maybe just playing in central midfield means you can do quite a lot of running but not as much and cover far more of the pitch for Chelsea and be more of an impact and that's what he's doing. Brilliant. I don't want to tempt fate but it feels like he's been present. He's been consistently available for a good spell of time now. Yeah, I think it's over a year since he's been injured. And certainly amongst the Chelsea contingent, there was panic when he was subbed off at half-time at Burnley last week. And you think, oh, no. But that is the management that he will require for the rest of his career, I would imagine.

12:27I mentioned a few weeks ago on Straight Outta Covem, the Chelsea podcast from The Athletic, that it used to give me the ick a bit when you'd see him in midfield. I just think this is a bit of a waste of Rhys James, really. But given the way that Mareska plays, the full-backs always end up going into midfield for quite a lot of the game anyway. And actually he started there against Barcelona and against Bayern Munich. So these are kind of the biggest games. And this is where Maresca seems to trust him. It's interesting that Thomas Tuchel still sees him as an out-and-out right-back, clearly. But it's helped by the fact that Malagusto has stepped up the quality of his performances of late as well.

12:58And I think that gives license for James to play in midfield. And it's helpful because it doesn't mean that you're burdening Caicedo with everything. Labia can't stay fit. Enzo Fernandes wants to be further up the pitch, etc. So, yeah, he's a brilliant player, you know, and it was really encouraging to me looking at my monitor and our commentary position in the tunnel. It just occurred to me that you had two academy graduates captaining two top Premier League sides, which feels like a real rarity to me. And particularly for one that's spent an exorbitant amount of money, as has been well documented.

13:30And then one puts a corner in for the other one to nod in the goal. So something quite heartening about that. Very nice. Tim, Arsenal facing the world champions without their two first choice centre-halves Yeah Is it actually quite a good point for them? I think it's a really good point in all circumstances because you look at that game half an hour in their second best Chelsea really took the game to them it's a real shame that Kayseri got centre-halves I'd have loved to have seen how it would have unfolded and they drew Arsenal into a scrap I thought Mascara being the sort of prime example of that you know you look at for Chelsea's goal instead of trying to head it clear he's like grappling with Enzo Fernandes for sort of no reason and the ball just drops over his head and then he's also doing that ridiculous play acting just for half time when he gets shoved in the chest and goes down holding his face just sort of encapsulates how Arsenal just got sort of sucked into that really and I think yeah like you say without their first choice centre-backs in what's the toughest game in the Premier League right now other than playing Arsenal themselves themselves would be going to Chelsea away.

14:36So, yeah, I think getting a point from that is, you know, considering it was basically sacker or nothing in terms of their attacking output, you know, Eze was anonymous for most of it. So considering all that, it's definitely a really good point. It was a fixture that I think a lot of people were looking towards to give a measure of Chelsea's prospects, whether they have a role in the title race. They dropped to third now with Manchester City moving up into second, five points back from the Gunners. City with a 3-2 victory over Leeds that was not entirely convincing is that a fair summary? Yeah absolutely they're on the brink of a disastrous week with 90 minutes on the clock having lost to Newcastle last weekend and Leverkusen in the week albeit Leverkusen was a bit of a one-off having dropped 10 players and then yeah Phil Foden finds this incredible goal probably the goal maybe the goal of the weekend Do you think?

15:25I don't know it's just I don't know how many players in the league would even think to try and score that There's no angle on at any point, really. There's no road for him to go down. He finds a gap somewhere by taking on two players. There's not even a gap to find the back of the net in when he has his shot. But somebody jumps over the ball. I can't remember who now. Just a remarkable sort of finish from nothing, really. It's a single-handed goal, the epitome of it. And, yeah, some genuine sort of scenes that the Etihad with a late winner, which you don't get very often with them because when they go 1-0 up in the first minute against a relegation candidate at home, and it could be three or four by half-time.

16:02Those comebacks don't really happen too often. So, yeah, it was an exciting game from nowhere. So what sparked the comeback from Leeds here? A couple of substitutions from Daniel Farker, a lot of people pointing to his proactiveness. A bit of whiffy defending from Leeds as well, from City as well, rather. It struck me as odd that Mateus Nunez is still Man City's right-backer. It's obvious to pick on him when he makes a mistake, but that feels like a bit of an oversight that that's still the case. And yeah, just emboldened by the first one, I think. I wanted to say on Foden, something that struck me in this game, I wonder if he might end up being City's greatest ever player.

16:38That's quite a big shout. But by the time he retires, if he stays there for his whole career, he's got about 250 games to go to be their record appearance maker, which is not out of the question, right? He's 25, came through the academy, won six Premier League titles. He's won the Champions League, won everything that there is to win, essentially. Stick a couple more of those on the bill by the time he goes. Great to see him back in form. I mean, I'm really reaching there, given that he's probably got another eight years of his career left at the top level. And who knows what can happen in that time.

17:10But from where he was a year ago, he went from Premier League Player of the Year to Anonymous to being back again. It's quite heartening to see him do that, I think. He's bookending this fixture, which could prove to be a very important one for Man City. He scored first. Guardiola were the second. City in the first half had the highest XG of any side in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game this season. But then Calvert-Lewin, a couple of substitutions at halftime, Calvert-Lewin comes on and immediately scores. It was lovely to see him finding the net. Daniel? Yeah, and I thought Daniel Farker finally, overdue, found the recipe that potentially will keep Leeds up, which is just embracing that physicality, which I think they deliberately form the backbone of their recruitment in the summer.

17:58And then cut to the beginning of August and Leeds are trying to play their way out the back with Nonto and Daniel James as nippy wingers. And it just doesn't really make any sense. So he took off both of those wingers at halftime, brought on Calvert-Lewin and Bijou and just sort of beefed up the team. And that's how Leeds will unnerve opponents who have more quality than them. And it worked with City. I think City didn't have a shot, I think, between halftime and the 88th minute or had one, I think. and Leeds had six and scored twice. And as I say, that's how they have to do it. They're not going to be able to, you know, they're not going to be able to pass teams apart.

18:32They're probably not going to be able to do them with wingers into the box because I don't think they've got enough creativity in the middle. But they can be really physical and press teams high at the pitch and get at them. And it's sort of, not unforgivable, that's too much, but it's unfathomable that Farker abandoned that in early season. Because I remember the game against Newcastle in the season they drew nil nil and that's what they were they were just game spoilers and it wasn't particularly pretty to watch in fact it was awful to watch but it was effective and it feels like they'd almost assumed that they played like a team that was sat in 10th and they could try and play a different way and they don't need to they need to earn that right first and hopefully for their sake this is the start of that again well as you say the second half saw it all leads for a long long period until Man City had a chance to get together with their manager and work on some new approaches.

19:24As a fan of play acting, did you have strong feelings, as strong perhaps as Daniel Farker's, on Donnarumma's injury? I mean, those injuries during the 92 last year became, I think it was one of my conclusions from that project, is that I saw it at 30 different grounds. It is an absolute epidemic across all leagues. So I think it's been noticed because Donnarumma did it in a big Premier League game and Man City then scored in added time. and then Farker makes a big deal of it. It's on programmes like Match of the Day and it's on Sky. But it happens all the time because there's nothing really a referee can do.

19:58You can't make the goalkeeper go off for treatment because he's the goalkeeper. Once he goes down, you have to stop the play. Otherwise, you're in a situation where a team might just shoot from range and score and then you've got a massive controversy on your hands. So as a referee, you haven't really got a choice. You have to stop the game. But the sort of goalkeeper feeling a little bit sore and going down and then a team going over and having a two-minute team talk with their manager, it's just everywhere and I don't really know I don't really know how you stop it other than stopping the players going over to the touchline I guess but then I don't know you still probably have the delay and the manager is still able to get a message on so I don't really know what you do There's something from Dale Johnson on the BBC about potentially IFAB discussing a rule change whereby if the goalie goes down you have to take an outfield player off to kind of level things up a bit that sounds like a reasonable work around So hang on you take a the goalie goes down If your goalkeeper needs treatment, football lawmakers, blah, blah, blah, where am I looking?

20:55Outfield players, da, da, da, da. So, yeah, you take an outfield player off. And send another keeper on for a place. So your goalkeeper can't go off, obviously, once he's had treatment, but another player does have to go off. No, but the goalkeeper needs treatment, so they have to go off. So another goalkeeper comes on. No, if you're getting treatment on the pitch is the thing, right? So a player has had treatment on the pitch. Yes. after the treatment has finished they then go off the pitch for 30 seconds but you don't do that with your goalkeeper you take another one of your outfield players off so you are still sacrificing a player for 30 seconds so it's not entirely without consequence but it is still you can still go okay well the left back is off for 30 seconds that's less consequential than the goalkeeper being off for 30 seconds and I've managed to get this vital piece of information across my team so there'll be a work around somewhere won't they so Arsenal play Brentford midweek Man City five points behind Arsenal are at Fulham and Chelsea who are just a point behind Pep's side are at Leeds do you have strong feelings about how this weekend has moved the needle in terms of the Premier League title race Tim the title race I don't think much has changed really the middle has bunched up yet again yes way because so Brighton have won a couple in a row and who else has won a couple in a row?

22:18Fulham have won a couple in a row so it's now 5th place at Brighton on 22 and 15th place at Fulham on 17 last season, exactly this point last season, the gap between 5th and 15th was 12 points, it was more than double so now it's 5 points, we're like a third of the way into the season now and you're still, every single week there's one team that's like, they're doing pretty well, it was Bournemouth a few weeks ago then it was Sunderland or Palace and now it's Brighton are in 5th It was Villa last week. There's just one team that's just sort of constantly in the top five on a rotating basis. It's great.

22:53It's good fun. One day, will it be Forest? Will it? Okay. Does anybody have strong views about the title race? Chelsea, for example. Matt? I think race is a bit generous, isn't it? I think the reason why we're looking to the middle of the table and going, oh, that's tight is because there's one team that are probably going to walk away with the title. Obviously, big for City, that they managed to get the win. but it's difficult to see where Arsenal are going to drop as many points as they're going to need to drop, isn't it? Because the thing that you would normally point to is, well, what if they get a load of injuries to key players and they've already had those and managed them?

23:25So very true. So very true. All right, we'll move on then and touch next on Sunday's early games.

23:38This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Olly Kay and the very best football writers around. If you're listening to this on podcast rather than watching us live on YouTube, can I just say that we look absolutely sensational as we do this live, sitting here talking about football, quite an electric and dynamic spectacle. If you'd like to witness more of that kind of thing, there'll be an opportunity on the 23rd of March. Leicester Square Theatre is the venue.

24:13Tickets are still available. Many tickets, producer Charlie? Not many. So not many tickets are still available. Grab yours by clicking on the link in the episode description. If you want to come and see Totally Football's show, talking football on a stage with things. Sunday's early games, Liverpool went to West Ham Sunday at five past two and beat them 2-0. So it was a win. It was a first Premier League goal for Alexander Isaac and it was a clean sheet as well. Daniel, what was the difference then for Slott's side? I mean, I think there were two things. One is that Slott made a brave change in leaving Mohamed Salah out of the team.

25:00I think it was probably the easiest week to do that, not only because they've lost the last two, but also because there's a midweek schedule coming up this week. So you can kind of sell it as resting and see what happens and then bring it back in if it doesn't go so well today. But just making that change in the front three and sort of shifting the shape of the team. So Wurz was able to come centrally, felt like Ezek was getting a few more touches in dangerous areas. The midfield felt more solid as a result. So actually doing that change itself and it working is a big thing in and of itself. Even if we over-diagnose that Mohamed Salah not being in the team equals Liverpool finally winning, even if that's hyperbole, it doesn't really matter because he did something and it worked.

25:43The accusation against Slott recently has been that the team's always the same, the shape's always the same, the subs are always the same. You know, you joke about Chiesa comes on for Canati because we're desperate for a goal and all that stuff. So that was different. He's kind of changed that narrative, which is good. But also, I think the defence looked more solid, partly because they were playing West Ham and partly because they didn't feel like they needed to overcommit to help the forwards. Because the forwards looked better, because it looked more logical. Virts was getting on the ball a lot more in dangerous areas, playing good passes.

26:15I think it was probably his best performance for Liverpool so far. It was almost like the defenders were thinking, right, we only have to focus on defending for a bit. and it was just a kind of clarity of mind that meant everything looked more logical. It looked a little bit more last season Liverpool. Now, I'm not saying everything's fixed. You know, you drop Salah and it'll all now be fine. But the only way to getting better is through baby steps and this was one of those baby steps. And they deserved their win. They scored at good times. They took the chances. Izak was a lovely finish. He obviously needed that to get going.

26:49So, yeah, good day for them. Intriguingly, the only other game that Salah had been on the bench, or started on the bench for Liverpool in this run, was when they took on Frankfurt in the Champions League and Liverpool won that 5-1. What does it mean? I don't know. It's like Portugal without Ronaldo, isn't it? Is it? I guess we won't get the chance to find out, or maybe we will. West Ham, slightly underwhelming from them. Matt, you probably didn't see too much of this. Well, I just watched the highlights on my way in and saw there was a big chance for Jarrod Bowen at the end, which could have changed things.

27:23But I'm just looking at the stats and they didn't have a shot on target. So perhaps they wouldn't have deserved anything from the game. It wasn't a great game. Well, yeah. And there'd been three unbeaten before this, hadn't they? But a home win against Newcastle up until this weekend was kind of routine for most teams in the Premier League this season. Probably ditto Burnley. So, yeah, maybe that late new manager bounce wasn't quite as springy as we thought it was going to be. It's difficult for Nuno, isn't it? They've got a really, really poor squad and not many goals about them. That's a difficult thing to fix.

27:54You miss him. I understand. Yeah. Liverpool's second goal came from Cody Gakpo after West Ham had gone down to 10 men when Lucas Paquetar got booked twice for descent in a matter of moments. This, you'll recall, was Paquitar's first game back from suspension. I'm not sure how long will you have? Does that get kind of added to your score? What do you think, Daniel? And were you impressed with his impassioned defence of his behaviour on social media? I think it's one of the thickest things I've seen in the Premier League in terms of, not just from him, I mean super thick from him, obviously, and his non-apology on Twitter is, he talks about things that are relevant to a situation but not the situation he's talking about, i.e.

28:45getting sent off for consistent, persistent dissent over a period of 30 seconds and then clapping the ref sarcastically as he refuses to go off. And he was super thick. But also, I just don't get how any of his teammates, that the two people that seem to try and stop him from getting sent off by carrying on arguing, were Liverpool players. They weren't West Ham players. There was no West Ham player that went over and was like, yeah, maybe stop for a second. Maybe concentrate on the football. Maybe keep it in your head for 10 seconds and just get on with the game. But they didn't. They all just stood aside while he did it, as if they didn't realise you could get two yellows for dissent by carrying on doing it, which they should know.

29:24And even then when he went off, it was like Van Dijk started walking him off. Alisson sort of had a bit of a word with him. Jared Bowen sort of went within the same postcode, but didn't actually talk to him. It was just a weird vacuum of leadership from West Ham in general. Well, words that you might find yourself applying as the season progresses. As it is, Paquitao will be missing when West Ham visit Man United, which is their midweek fixture. Man United, who continued their decent recent form, obviously they didn't win Monday against Tam Mount Everton, but they did win at Crystal Palace early Sunday, becoming the first team to actually do, the first visiting team, to actually do that this season.

30:08In fact, you have to go all the way back to February to find a visiting side emerging from Serhers Park triumphant, Tim. What do you make of that? That is interesting. But I guess it had been coming. I mean, this is Palace have only earned one point, I think, at post-Europe matches this season. You know, we've all looked at their squad and thought that it wasn't sustainable to fight on two fronts and Glasner hasn't been making sort of many changes to the team. and he's been pretty damning of the clubs, I think, post-match today, kind of saying, this is what happens when you don't invest. And yeah, it wasn't the most thrilling games, to be honest.

30:42Maybe not help by the early kick-off time at midday, but the sort of two 3-4-3s cancelled each other out a bit, I thought, and United were very blunt in attack. And it's a couple of moments of ingenuity, really, from Bruno Fernandes, which has sort of got them a win, both from set pieces, both sort of quick thinking you know laying the ball on for teammates who maybe weren't even looking for the ball on both occasions Do you think Mason Mount genuinely was caught about by that? Yeah oh yeah he was on his heels wasn't he and then but Bruno Fernandes has spotted that Dean Henderson is still trying to sort his wall out or isn't happy with his wall and also that the wall is doesn't look too solid anyway and then just sort of disintegrated as soon as Mount hit it but full credit to United who did defend very well thereafter I thought didn't really give Palace many chances at all and were just much more aggressive everywhere on the pitch in the second half and Boomer up front leading the line really well pressing very hard they're all pressing quite hard Luke Shaw with a couple of really good blocks just basic things that they weren't really doing a few weeks ago they're playing as a unit which is exactly what that sort of formation relies on once a couple of players don't start doing their jobs it falls apart very quickly but you're not really getting that at the moment so yeah they look pretty solid Not the best game, but a really, really good win.

32:01Excellent. But Thursday night fatigue, probably a factor here. Certainly you could make a case for that being a similar factor in Forrest's defeat and maybe Villa too. Villa, they did beat Wolves 1-0, but against the bottom side in the league, they'd maybe hope for a better performance than that. What about Forrest, Matt? Yeah, I think probably this was slightly unlucky. I mean, what it showed to me was the value of Murillo though Morato actually has been all right for Forrest this season, but he had a real stink here and that was a big problem for Forrest. But their numbers in the game didn't seem too bad.

32:39They had a really terrible start to it. They could have been a couple of goals down, 10 minutes gone. They could have been 1-0 down after seconds, essentially. So Brighton had nine shots in the first 20 minutes. Those numbers don't sound great. No, they don't. And I think it speaks to what Brighton, Manchester United and Bournemouth ought to be doing this season, which is finishing quite comfortably within the top seven, eight of the Premier League because you've got so many teams in European competition and they are not. And that ought to give them a massive advantage. And particularly Brighton, they were second season under their coach who seems to have something about them and have done that thing where they just regenerate with a bunch of players you've never heard of one week and then three weeks later, they're being talked of as some of the most underrated players in the league.

33:24So, I mean, from Forrest's point of view, hopefully, and from my point of view, just a bit of an aberration. Maybe on a different day, it goes a different way. Morgan Gibbs-White's chance at 0-0, which was a very difficult one, but he engineered brilliantly, goes in. Maybe things are different. But yeah, a wake-up call as well, that it's not all going to be 3-0 wins at Anfield and glorious celebrations and reminiscences in Europe for the rest of the season for Forrest, who look better when they have Murillo in defence and will be troubled by the fact that Gibbs White went off injured. But it should be a good season for Brighton.

33:57There's not really a reason for it not to be. OK. The game that was more important, perhaps he won anyway, the Thursday night one against Malmo? I think with the position in the table, I'm still more Premier League-y. I can still hear Daniel saying that there is no floor. I think the floor has been put in, but there is still a relegation zone in the Premier League table, which worries me a bit. But I was at the game on Thursday and that was a no contest. There's obviously a massive difference between the Premier League and the Alspensk and the best of times, but Malmo weren't even the best team in there.

34:27And it's such a disability for teams whose leagues finish early. I've done a lot of Irish sides in the Conference League commentary this season. And you just think, oh, your season was done three weeks ago and you get called back to play a game you're probably going to lose anyway. I don't know where the motivation for that comes from. I think it's a real raw deal that they get, not that there's much of a workaround. But yeah, that was not a test for Forest and the team was very different to the one which started today. So not really an excuse. Probably need to start Amari Hutchinson every week and not Nicolas Dominguez on the wing at home.

35:00And that would be my analysis. All right. Well done, Brian. Anyway, De Kuiper and Tsimas with the goals for them. Wolves season was done several weeks ago, at least I thought so. but there they were looking the much better side of Villa Park Tim and having a goal then it was disallowed for the very fashionable player in an active offside position thing I know all sorts of goals goal disallowed, hit the bar big improvements only a 1-0 defeat at Villa for the first time this season I thought Wolves played like a football team you know it's been a while I was interested Which football team did their play there?

35:44Derby count Yeah I was you know this is the first time that Rob Edwards has really had a chance to sort of get hold of them and put together a tactical plan obviously this first match was just after an international break so he's had a full week with them and you could tell you know I thought they defended really well nice and compact shut the game down it wasn't a great game to watch to be honest and then just sort of you know created some good chances on the break playing to a pretty clear tactical plan yeah disallowed goal hit the bar a crazy good save from emmy martinez from mosquera's header really one of the saves of the season and then uh a big chance for jordan strand last and after the break which was defended very well and then this yeah just sort of ran out of steam really after an hour and the problem that wolves have got is because their recruitment was as bad as it gets there was sort of nobody to come off the bench so rob edwards has sort of already dispensed with a a couple of their sort of higher profile, expensive signings.

36:39So he sat down on a couple of kids instead who didn't really do much. And Villa, as has been their sort of way in the last, well, for most of the season, scored from outside the box with a bit of a screamer. 56 % of their league goals have come from outside the box. That's a lot. That's a lot. Duncan actually on Thursday's pod, Duncan Alexander, was pointing to the fact that the underlying numbers aren't great. They are wildly overperforming their XG and that kind of thing. Scoring lots of worldies. and a similar case here. So if you're looking at a team that's up there that might not be up there, Villa might be the one.

37:13Yeah, maybe. I mean, yeah, obviously you've got to say, fantastic goal from Kamara, 20 yards out. It was really unfortunate from a Wolves point of view because Jao Gomez was down injured in the opposition half and there was a nice big gap just in front of Kamara, 20 yards from goal, where Jao Gomez would probably be trying to close him down. And no one else did. And yeah, fantastic strike. And Villa, yeah, dropped Oli Watkins, who's only scored one in 20. and, yeah, they had a bit of like a 4-2-2-2 shape with Rodgers and Marlon sort of up front, which didn't really work very well, and it was just a really sort of sticky game for Villa.

37:45They were struggling to play through Wolves, but they found a way to win. Two home games coming up, I noticed, this week. Home to Forest, and then home to Man United. Yep. OK, then. Yeah. All right, then. Very shortly, we'll get on to Saturday's action, which was pretty much entirely terrific.

38:08you're listening to the totally football show with james richardson now we do four times a week keep up to date with us on insta and enjoy us in glorious technicolor on youtube at the totally show totally football show european edition is out first thing on tuesday we'll be discussing psg getting beaten by monaco and what that means romanapoli which is taking place as we record right now, listener. Big top of the table clash in that Serie A. Might touch on Flamengo winning the Copa Libertadores. That's their fourth. Wasn't a classic game, just 1-0 over Palmeiras, an all-Brazilian affair. But it was a significant addition to the CVs of both Jorginho, can add that to his Euros and Champions League, won his medals, but also the Flamengo boss Felipe Luiz, who has now won the Libertadores as manager just three years after winning it as a player.

39:04Ay caramba. I enjoyed the first half of that game immensely because it was as South American football should be to me, which is that the best way I can describe it is that players think that they've been told that borderline red card challenges are worth more than goals because some of the tackling was just... There was actually one after half-time where someone shoulder barged someone else's knee, which is a sort of mad challenge to watch. It was like watching a rugby tackle, but in reverse. It was so weird. So, yeah, there was just the right amount of aggro. And also shout out to those fans who were up on one of the mountains behind the stadium, probably the best stadium vista in the world football in Lima, I think.

39:48And, yeah, they were gathered on the mountain to watch the game, which is one-ups on English fans in the FA Cup, sat and climbed up trees watching an FA Cup first-round game. There was a bus route, I think, past the Britannia Stadium that from the top deck you would be afforded a view of whatever was going on. And then perhaps be thankful that the bus was whisking you away. Were there mascots at the Copa Libertadores final? I don't know. I think I'd had enough mascotting for one day, so I didn't spot whether there was or not. All right, then. Saturday's action in the Premier League was all pretty exciting.

40:24Game of the day, probably at the Stadium of Light. which saw Sunderland come from two goals down to beat Bournemouth and preserve their unbeaten record at home. What a cracking atmosphere. It's the first time, by the way, that Sunderland have ever come back from 2-0 down to win a Premier League match. So that's pretty good. There were 30 shots in the game. There was also, Tim, you were calling it. Which goal did you say was your favourite of the weekend earlier on? Probably Phil Foden, but yeah, Tyler Adams. Tyler Adams was amazing. Oh, no. A gifted Bournemouth possession Adams goes for goal He spotted Rusev It's line!

41:01I'm going to say Harry Wilson was maybe mine The visual of Adams rain belting down flailing keeper going into the net just, just Pip Wilson but it's ever so close Daniel? I would go for Nick Voltemar to finish actually He's chipped it forwards Alanga the target Alanga's got there behind him Raboonham and Valtemar is in. Valtemar over Pickford and scores! What a first half for Newcastle United. I knew it was just about the finish but the scoop over Jordan Pickford I thought was lovely. That's true. That's true. Anyway, Tyler Adams from just inside the just inside the Sunderland half but we're seeing a lot of goals.

41:47I don't know. Is there a tactical or technical reason for this that we're suddenly seeing a lot of goals? Are keepers coming more off their line? I think keepers are coming out of their penalty area more, aren't they? It's probably a factor, isn't it, would be my educated guess. But yeah, Adam's almost as far from goal as Bournemouth is from Sunderland. You did feel 700-mile round trip in those conditions. And then, yeah, to lose 3-2. Big win for Sunderland, though, I think. First in four, next home games against Newcastle. And again, look at their summer business. and I've been spoken about before that the model for promoter teams, now if you can afford it, is to basically change your entire squad and that comes with risk, right?

42:31But here, Brobby wins it. Riff's one of the best goalkeepers in the league this season. Jack are absolutely transformative. It's really impressive the way that they've been able to upgrade in almost every position and look where they are in the league and they can look forward to that Newcastle game. Next time they're back at the Stadium of Light and Bournemouth kind of doing Bournemouth things, right? They're quite streaky under Iriola, it seems. It does, doesn't it? The next two games for the Black Cats are away at Liverpool on Wednesday and then Man City on Saturday, which certainly sounds arduous.

43:04Daniel? Just on Sunderland, so last season in the Premier League, the three promoted clubs trailed in 93 of their combined matches and from those 93 games, they took a total of 18 points. Sunderland this season have trailed in nine of their games and they've already taken 12 points from those games it's just absolutely ridiculous it's like the only teams that normally do that are Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City because they have really deep squads they don't expect to fall behind so the teams they play then sit back and they pick them off eventually for a promoted club to be setting that sort of pace they've got more points from behind than any other team in the league so to trail in nine games that's like nine out of 13 games they've been behind in that's sort of bottom three stuff and yet they're sixth in the Premier League because they just, they will not lie down.

43:50It's amazing, isn't it? What do you say to people who point to Hull or Blackpool as previous examples of over-performing promoted sides that then fall away dramatically and disastrously? I think, and this is none more than an educated guess really, but I think that with those teams, it was the momentum of promotion that had them doing really well in early season. They certainly didn't do what the norm is now, as Matt said, which is buy half a new squad and spend 200 million quid. There just wasn't the finances to do that. So I think there was a momentum thing that when the defeats then set in, the managers particularly sort of struggled to know how to deal with that.

44:29But Sunderland have got Granit Xhaka who's been there, done that. They've got players in that squad who will keep them going, moving forward, and clearly do so in game whenever they trail. So I don't know. I don't think, I mean, even if they fall away from where they are now, they've got 20 more points sorry Tim but a promoted team after 13 games has got 20 more points than one of the non-promoted teams it's like it's just absolutely ridiculous so they just won't fall far enough even if they do fall Bournemouth next up for them is a visit from Everton Everton who themselves were visited by Newcastle on Saturday segue slowly creaking towards the next game which was Everton Newcastle Saturday tea time and saw Newcastle winning 4-1 in what was pretty much a perfect day for them as well they had an actual away win they had a goal from an academy boy, they had a centre back actually outscoring Alexander Isaac they had a mistake from Sunderland fan Jordan Pickford choice helps and it was all on Eddie Howell's birthday as well Daniel, you loved Walter Marder's goal Paul, what else did you love about the Magpies' performance?

45:45I mean, Antti Lange was good, which they've needed. He's not really been great this season. I mean, Malik Thiau looks phenomenal. And not just because he scored goals. I'm not kind of Garth Crooks-ing Team of the Week this. But he just looks ready-made for the Premier League. He's really athletic. He's super confident on the ball, sometimes too confident. He looks like he'll Cruyff turn in his own box all day. But his positional sense has been really good. And he's massive. So he wins his fair share of headers as well. He looks, I mean, you might know more than me than this, Jimbo, but he wasn't getting in Milan's team all of last season.

46:17So something's clearly happened there to give him a jolt in the right direction because he looks absolutely fantastic ever since his first Newcastle start. He was brilliant and he looked fantastic from the start of this game as well. The fastest goal scored in the Premier League so far this season. Yeah, and a shout out, by the way, to Lewis Miley as well, who's had a bit of a weird career over the last couple of years. I think he was a man of the match against PSG in Paris, November 2023. And he played 300 Premier League minutes last season, just couldn't get in the team because he plays in midfield and Newcastle's midfield was really settled.

46:50But he's got a couple of starts recently and he was fantastic in this game as well. Scored and assisted, takes a mean set piece, which makes you every manager's favourite these days. So yeah, shout out to him as well. OK. Six changes Eddie Ham made from the defeat that Newcastle had suffered midweek in the Champions League in Marseille. amongst them Aaron Ramsdale coming in for Nick Pope who was very definitely injured. And I think they were sort of lucky weren't they Newcastle because we mentioned with Palace and to a lesser extent Forest that difficulty in juggling post-European exploits but of course Everton only played a day before and played for most of the game with 10 men for reasons of their own making so you suspect that might have been slightly negated.

47:33I know Everton were three unbeaten before this having won two of those, but I do feel like they've been bigged up a little bit beyond their actual qualities so far this season. But this was a really oddly dismal defensive display, which is not something that one sees particularly often from a David Moyes team or one that has some generally quite capable defenders in it. Missing, I guess, the suspended is just a gay amongst other things. They did have, by way of consolation, the best first touch of the weekend from Kinn and Dewsbury Hall, Tim? Sure, yeah. I guess, yeah. But the problem with Everton is...

48:12You don't sound convinced by that. No, no, no. Sorry, I was just thinking about something else. But they just haven't got a goal score at Everton. That's the problem. I was just looking at Beto's record. He's got one in 15 this season. Tiana Barry, he obviously was slightly unlucky to have a goal disallowed for handball in this game. But not only has he not scored... I struggle to believe this is right, but I have checked it on a couple of different websites. He hasn't had a shot on target yet. which you know I know he's young and he's very raw and he does a lot of other stuff but you know don't want to go all Brent but that is your job you know so that's if you haven't got a goal scorer then you're going to get results like this and I think Greedish I think is an assist since what week two or three why is that no one to assist for I guess that makes sense not much by the way consolation for Spurs, meanwhile, in their late, late Saturday defeat at home to Fulham.

49:08This game kicked off at eight o 'clock, at which point Spurs fans were probably settling down to put a bad week behind them. They had seen their team show signs of life midweek against Paris Saint-Germain, and they were probably ready for a nice three points against a Fulham team that hadn't won away this season, hadn't won away at Tottenham since 2013. five and a half minutes later Spurs were 2-0 down we've seen all kinds of flavours of disastrous from Tottenham this season this was a particularly bad one though yeah Vicario bless him for the supporters to have turned on him to that extent was a difficult watch wasn't it I'm not really sure what you're hoping for when that happens but I feel like for Thomas Frank the worst thing that could have happened to him with Spurs winning the Europa League because it really masks the fact that they finished 17th in the Premier League last season and that's what he's trying to improve upon whereas it's like, well, we're a Champions League club, we should be better than this but it's the same squad and the same problems largely it seems.

50:09The problems that Marco Silva's been facing with Fulham, in fact he may not have European competition but he has got a very limited squad. What did he do to achieve Fulham's first victory of the season, and first won for absolutely ages, away to Spurs. I think it was the performance of the weekend in the Premier League. I really do. I think they were fantastic. It was weird. If you'd have watched Fulham and this was the only away game you've watched, you would not believe they'd not won away this season because it all just seemed really logical. You had Calvin Bassi as the action centre-back and Joachim Andersen as the passer.

50:46You had the two full-backs getting up and down and making loads of tackles on wingers. You had Sander Berger sitting and Alex Awebi driving from midfield. You had Raul Jimenez as a kind of hold it up linking striker and then two quick wingers in Chuck Wawesi and Josh King. You kind of, yeah, that's all you need when you play away from home. It's certainly all you need when you play away from home against Tottenham at the moment because, yeah, Silverwood obviously told them we have to start really, really quickly because they're creaking, they're struggling, they've played away in Europe. There's no excuse not to do that.

51:19and it was so obvious. I mean, I say from minute one, they almost scored within that time anyway. But from almost the first kick of the game, it just looked like Fulham really, really knew they had to kind of squeeze 90 minutes of effort into 45 minutes and then ride it out. And that's exactly what you do. Brighton did the same again against Forest. You win away games twice. You get ahead, you win it by getting ahead and then you win it by riding it out in the second half and they did it so, so well. I mean, Tottenham were awful, bar the late kind of flurry. But I thought Fulham were absolutely superb.

51:51I thought, yeah, best performance of the weekend. I wonder if the DJ was doing it on purpose at full time. I noticed he immediately spun. I think it's called Munich by editors.

52:13I thought your goalkeeper having been booed mercilessly for 90 minutes, was he thinking that wasn't very good? And Frank, yeah, you know, I said, difficult job for him to come into, given that they won the Europa League but were terrible in the Premier League. He really hasn't helped himself the last couple of weeks. I think for him to make that comment about these people aren't real Spurs fans, They're not really on your side already. I think he could have straight batted that. And coming off the back of, I think he was promoting a book or something, but the other week when he was saying how amazing it was and he couldn't believe that he'd been interviewed by Man United and Chelsea on the same day.

52:45And yeah, I didn't get either job, but isn't that fantastic? Come on, read the room a little bit. For somebody who I once said described as having the most high performance energy of any Premier League manager, you think you would be a bit more savvy with that kind of people management. But yeah, maybe a sign that the pressure is getting to him in a way that I personally didn't think it would. Well, but I guess we didn't know how he'd handle it because this is the biggest job of his career by a huge margin. And I think that's the issue. Can he turn it around at a big club? The scrutiny on him and the pressure on him is enormous now.

53:20And he's showing signs that he can't handle it. I mean, the sight of Spurs 2-1 down at home to Fulham and it's stoppage time. And you're enlisting Kevin Danzo to chuck terrible long throws into the box. I mean, he was sort of flinging them to the near post. They were awful. And then Xabi Simmonds did like a 50-yard up and under trying to launch the ball into the box. And that's, you know, Spurs are a different case to other Premier clubs. It's just not how you win the fans over at all either, really. But I think it's too soon to say to get rid of the guy because you've got to remember why they brought him in.

53:57You know, he's a project manager. He's not a guy that's going to... But what's the project that he's equipped to manage, I guess, is the question that a lot of Spurs fans are now asking themselves. Jack Pitbrook actually making the point in his piece on the athletic. If you have a season ticket at Spurs, do not travel away. You probably spent about one and a half grand on it. You will have seen only one league win under Frank against Burnley on the opening weekend. That was more than three months ago. One of the replies underneath that, essentially from Marco S, suggests that Frank is the Danish Graham Potter, i.e.

54:27an overhyped manager from a well-run club with modest ambitions. Marco S was that? What's Marco S? Yeah. Do you know him? Well, he was in the opposition dugout, wasn't he, on Saturday. Yeah, so true. Very nice. But, I mean, you could say a lot of things behind the lines with your own name or somebody else's, but that's essentially the charge, that Thomas Frank, for a club with limited ambitions that is set up to provide managers with the tools that they need to achieve those limited ambitions. We're seeing with Keith Andrews now how well they're doing without him. Maybe that doesn't give you any indication of him having a vision.

55:07And I don't think that Spurs fans would say they've seen at any point an idea of what Thomas Frank, what's his team to do. Is that fair? Certainly borne out by the results and the performances they're in so far, isn't it? We're still sort of clutching at that Super Cup performance against PSG. that they did all right. And the Copenhagen game, but as you see. But then, you know, people say he doesn't understand the club necessarily. You know, I see that leveled at him quite a lot. But what is the club? You know, they've undergone so much upheaval in the summer. You know, since Levy's left, you know, who's running things?

55:39Who's in charge? What's their sort of ambitions going forward? What's the plan? You know, they've prioritised buildings over football for a decade or two now. You know, are things going to change? You know, to come in and expect him in three months as a head coach to sort of revolutionise. As Matt said earlier, they finished 17th last year. There's a losing culture at the club. Right. With the injuries that they've had as well. Yeah, no, absolutely, yeah. So it's not a stable football club in a football sense. Right. And I don't think you fix much by getting rid of him and replacing him with the next guy.

56:09You know, those problems aren't going to go away. Okay. Spurs midweek are at Newcastle and then their next home game is against Thomas Frank's old club, Brentford, on Saturday. Yikes. The same Brentford that this weekend moved above Spurs. into 10th spot with a 3-1 victory over Burnley. Tim, you were literally at this stadium. The GTEC 4, they clash with the Bees, with the Clarets. They both have Bees as mascots. They both have Bees. You're right, yeah. Oh, do they? As mascots, yeah. So why would Burnley have Bees as their... He's called Bertie the Bee. We talked about this on the preview, which I know you're a fan of, James, on The Athletic on Friday, about them both having Bees as mascots.

56:49That's the kind of insight you get on that show. He's quite scary. I mean, if you've ever seen B on B action, it is full on. When rival hives collide, you don't want to be in between those avian warriors. Anyway, on the football field, Brentford's 3-1 winners over Burnley. Tim? Sure, yeah. So I was sort of there pitched as this kind of least glamorous sounding fixture in the Premier League, probably. I think, you know, that's obviously quite subjective. you could throw Bournemouth in there but Bournemouth are quite sort of hipster I would say Brentford Burnley is as least glamorous sounding as it gets OK as a Wolves fan you're absolving your own club from that hang on the three time league champions formerly one of the best football clubs in the world don't get me wrong I speak as a man whose history of the club means a lot more than the present but in the present we are both sometimes quite dull to watch I'd say Well you can head to the comment section of my piece on Monday Daniel S Oh I will But yeah it's this picture is League 1 or League 2 in historical terms but now it's like 15 different nationalities, 14 internationals squads cost a combined sort of 600 million and it's sort of the epitome of brand Premier League that you know we care about Brentford v Burnley and here we are talking about it and it's on Match of the Day and what not Anyway, it's an interesting sort of juxtaposition.

58:23And the game was terrible for the most part. 80 minutes of nothing, really. Burnley defended pretty well, sort of came for a point. And then the last 10 minutes plus stoppage time, yeah, four goals from nowhere and a bit of sort of a thriller. Broke out, exchanged penalties, and then Brentford, a couple of late goals. And you've got to sort of pick out one, Jordan Henderson. Two assists in all but name. He's only credited with one, but he's basically set up two goals in this sort of advanced midfield position, which I don't think anyone would really expect of him this season. You think he's going to come in and be sort of a deep-lying sort of captain fantastic in there.

59:02But he's providing a lot in attack for Brentford. And Igor Thiago's been the beneficiary of a lot of that. And yeah, he's now scored 11 goals. Showed good character with his penalty after missing last week against Brighton. and yeah him, Damsgaard, Henderson all very influential and Brentford's winning games in different ways again really and sort of looking at the table rather than down they had like one of the sort of underrated success stories of the season so far 10th in the Premier League, Daniel? Just on Thiago I think in midweek Keith Andrews said that Brazil had he'd spoken to the Brazil camp about potentially being called up before the World Cup and I didn't know this.

59:45I think it was Opta that pointed it out, that he's the top-scoring Brazilian in Europe this season, which seems remarkable. And he's also incredibly efficient. So Haaland's 14 goals have come from 50 shots. Thiago's 11 goals from 26 shots. I mean, it's absolutely ludicrous. 13 shots on target for 11 goals, which is probably unsustainable. But then, I don't know, Keith Andrews might say, maybe if we get it in more service, he could score even more goals because, yeah, he's kind of raising the whole ceiling of the club. I actually don't think they're playing that well at the moment, Brentford, but his goals are sort of basically just lifting everything.

1:00:24He'll be in action at the Emirates on Wednesday as the Bees travel to Arsenal. Two of the last three meetings between those two sides of the Emirates have finished 1-1. How about that? Tuesday's games are Fulham against Man City. Oh, City have won their last 18 meetings with the Cottagers in all competitions. So that looks like a tough one. Bournemouth are up against Everton. Bournemouth without the suspended trio of Lewis Cook, David Brooks and Marco Sanese. Newcastle hosts Spurs, with whom they have a terrific record. On the Wednesday then, apart from Arsenal-Brentford, you've got Brighton Villa, Burnley Palace, Wolves-Noddingham Forest.

1:01:03Leeds against Chelsea in a 1970 FA Cup final rematch. A game you probably know well, Matt, I'm guessing. Have you ever been tasked with dusting this one off and revoicing it? I haven't been asked to revoice it, but I was told to learn of its rancour. And yeah, it's quite remarkable. I mean, the ill feeling between the two sets of supporters certainly lives on. And yeah, what an occasion it was. Was it Michael Oliver who re-refereed it? So Michael Oliver in 2020, I guess during lockdown, was asked to re-referee it. I mean, virtually. Sadly, they couldn't tron-like inject him into the cap. After cutting his own hair and doing it over house party or whatever, yeah.

1:01:49So, yeah. Banana bread for everyone. Banana bread, thank you. Anyway, so, yeah, he said he would have shown 11 red cards. Anyway, it does go down as one of the dirtiest games in history. 1970 FA Cup final leads against Chelsea and they're playing again on Wednesday. The other game on Wednesday will be Liverpool hosting Sunderland who haven't won at Anfield since 1983. Luckily modern day Chelsea don't have a problem with red cards so that shouldn't be an issue on Wednesday. So true. On Thursday there's one more game from Premier League round 14 and that's Man United against West Ham. So that will be an interesting one before that on Thursday morning we'll be doing a totally football show.

1:02:33Before that, on Tuesday morning, our European show will be out. So if you fancy catching up on all the latest news, then there's an opportunity for you to do that. And I'll just flag up quickly that at the end of this week is the World Cup draw, which I'm excited about. A lot of other people are as well. The number of previews and permutations I've seen online is, well, Daniel's actually going to be there. Daniel, you're going to Washington for the World Cup draw. Yeah, I mean, yes, for the World Cup draw and also to do some reporting on... Are you the mascot for it? Is that what this is all leading up to?

1:03:10No, that would be the ultimate reveal, wouldn't it? All right. I mean, yeah, I think there's... Yeah, I'm not going to make a Donald Trump mascot joke, but I think there is already enough bumbling around on that stage for one World Cup draw. So, yeah, I'm going on Tuesday morning and back on Sunday for Totally Show next week because I never miss it. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Daniel. It's going to be quite the evening on Friday. We're going to find out who wins the FIFA Peace Prize and who's going to be playing whom at the World Cup. Yeah, the only thing we know is that Ronaldo has probably ruled himself out of the Peace Prize, but I think we do know who's going to win it anyway.

1:03:51All right. Well, Saturday morning, Totally is going to have a roundup of all the big news from Washington. so listen if you want to have a listen to that that would be great we've got Natalie Jedra I think and Duncan Alexander on so yeah and no doubt lots of other guests as well but anyway lots is going to happen between now and then in Premier League terms so I hope you have a great week everybody many thanks to Daniel, to Matt to Tim, to Jake Bruce Charlie and you listener stroke viewer thanks for being with us we'll see you soon you've been listening to the totally football show part of the athletic fc podcast network for more great podcasts just like this one including the athletic fc and our dedicated club podcasts search for the athletic on apple spotify and all the usual places we're also at the totally football show on insta and at the totally show on youtube the totally football show is an athletic media company production

1:04:55The Athletic FC