Man Utd Jumps To Third In Premier League | Has Michael Carrick Earned Permanent Role?

Ultimately not the result that Manchester City needed and wanted in the title race. So the gap is now five points to Arsenal. They still have that game in hand but are unable to put as much pressure as they would have hoped on the Gunners. Let's have a quick look at the games remaining for the two teams. Arsenal, they've obviously got that game next up against Atletico Madrid, the eagerly awaited Champions League semi-final second leg at the Emirates. In midweek, they've got West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace, the three games in the Premier League after that. Manchester City have got Brentford, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Villa to come in the Premier League. We've also got that FA Cup final against Chelsea in the middle of it. And JD, I think it's fair. We have criticised Arsenal, haven't we, openly in the last few weeks about feeling the pressure in the title race. And even though they got back and they drew the game and it did look like they were going to lose it, we have to be critical of They crumbled under the pressure there, didn't they? They crumbled under the pressure. They didn't understand the assignment. And more importantly, they were very lucky to win this or to actually get anything from this game because I was screaming at the screen while we were sitting here enjoying this, they should blow the whistle like two shorts. At this moment, they were deep into stoppage time a minute and a half later. And no matter what Pep Guardiola might have given that fist pump, but he knows a massive moment of momentum has now swung towards Arsenal. Think about it this way, Adam, when I look at those pictures, yes, I see Crystal Palace, yes, I see West Ham and yes, I see Burnley squeezed in between. But what I also see is Arsenal not leaving London. That also could make a massive difference in terms of the travel, the requirements at this stage and the exhaustion, just the recovery. You're balancing two competitions. You have five games potentially now to close out your season. And now you've been given the extra edge of knowing that if you win or achieve all of those achievements, you are going to be creating a moment in history that will never be rivalled again for this club. We'll talk more about the implications in the title race in a second, but let's focus on the game. To start with, it was a cagey first half, as we said, Manchester City just weren't able to really assert themselves in it until maybe at the end when they came back into it and got the draw. It was a game with two halves and I'm so glad that we're bringing the momentum chart up because even though it shows that little spell of maybe, what, 10 minutes where Everton were just entering the game, that first 25 to 30 minutes was complete and utter dominance by Man City. Everton sat deep, they were containing, they were very rigid and hard to break down on the low block. But at the same time, Man City really was showing their elements of brilliance. You see where the goal came and it really did sort of change the trajectory of the game. Everybody sort of took a deep breath and relaxed. And we thought at that moment, it was just going to be typical poetry in motion, like Man City are now going to go on and it's one, it's two, it's three, it's four. But I really have been speaking about this a lot throughout this season. This is not the Man City of old. This isn't the team that was the Centurions. It might have the same leadership, but it's not the same quality. And they do go through spells where they lapse concentration. And that's exactly what that was today. And that's not a meaning to associate him with that because he's actually been really good, but I've seen it throughout the season. They have moments where they're in control. And yet again, they lose control in the second half of games because they're not focused, they're not concentrated or they're complacent. And any one of the three could cost you an attack. Who's to blame here? Who didn't show up today? I think there was only one change. Ain't Norrie was in the side for the last game. He moved out Gonzalez into the team. Who are you pointing out that didn't show up for Pep today? I think there's a number of players that will probably look in that change room and say they didn't turn up. I think the whole back four have looked great in spells this year, especially while they've been on this momentum in 2026. That was the back four that more ended 2025. The nervousness, the mistakes, the riddle, the high line that seemed a bit disjointed at moments. Everton weren't really supposed to cause problems in terms of Man City in their final third, in terms of Everton's final third. I just didn't see the element of control in the second half of the game. That's usually associated with this Man City team in the first half of the game. But then I look at that quality on the bench and I look at Mammouche, I look at Ain Norrie, I look at Savini, I look at Foden, I look at so many rinders. I look at so much potential they have to change a game and yet once again they've fallen up short. Because I've spoke about this a number of times. What's going to win this title chase, what's going to win this Premier League is going to be depth. It's got nothing really to do in terms of the quality. There's quality on both sides in terms of for Man City and for Arsenal. But what's going to really be the decider is who can keep fit and who can utilise their squad. And right now, across the 35 games or 34 I've seen, I believe Arsenal have utilised their squad better. Hence why I always say, the table never lies. The interesting thing as well is when you compare Arsenal and Manchester City this weekend. Arsenal played Fulham, they won 3-0 and then obviously what Manchester City have done today. They were quite similar opponents, weren't they? Fulham and Everton, mid-table teams, not completely on the beach. They still potentially could make it into Europe but was unlikely. So I felt like it was fairly even going into these games. Arsenal showed up, particularly in the first half scoring those three goals and City didn't, did they? It was so interesting. If you look at the first 45 minutes on both of those two teams, it really does showcase in terms of the control that Man City had at Everton and what they demonstrated in terms of possession, in terms of territory, in terms of chances created. That was a typical Man City performance that Pep would have probably clapped when he went in at half-time. Arsenal did exactly the same. The energy was high. The way they asserted themselves, implemented their game onto Fulham at the weekend and I thought that was a great 45 minutes for them, especially from a confidence perspective. Now look at the difference in the second half. I thought Arsenal controlled the dynamics in the second half against Fulham. Minimised the opportunities in terms of from Fulham offensively. Yeah, they shut it down, didn't they? And shut the game down. Where they were able to take off Bakaio Saka, able to take off Declan Rice and manage that squad better. Man City showed no control in that second half. They were high lines. They were disjointed. There was no continuity in terms of what we've seen in the first 45 minutes and it led to Everton growing into the game. That in-die chance, I'm really happy that our producers were able to cut it and put it in because it seemed like that was a turning point. All of a sudden it was, oh, we can actually get involved here. We can get involved in this game and once you give a David Moyes team an opportunity, just a sniffle, just a chance in terms of opening that door, oh, they're going to kick it wide open. They're going to showcase a robust style and create chances in their way and boy do they utilise it. I mean City, you could say that they've, I know they scored three goals today, but two of those came late on when they were chasing the game, lacking cutting edge and they scored one goal against Burnley and we have said in this second half of the season that ultimately Erling Haaland and his performances, his goals would decide the title race. If he keeps banging in two, three a game, then it's hard to see City being stopped. But I know he scored late on, but he doesn't really look like he's playing at the level that we were seeing a few weeks ago where he was scoring plenty of goals. I'm always going to put Erling Haaland in the upper echelons of conversations around world number nines. I've always said it's Kane, it's Mbappe and it's Haaland and it doesn't really matter which preference you have in terms of those are the three, those are the leading figures in world football. But what comes with that is responsibility and it's not to try and quote Peter Parker on here, it's the truth of it though. When you have that level of responsibility on your shoulders and you're required to show up every game, we see Harry Kane and what he's doing in the final stages of the Champions League and obviously delivering a domestic trophy. Killing Mbappe, no doubt about it, he's going to want to do an international stage this summer and regardless of what Real Madrid did, his individual performances were fantastic. Because of the standard that Erling Haaland has set for himself beyond Man City, I'm talking back from his Dortmund days all the way through, we expect it, we expect there to be a goal a game and 2026 has probably been one of the roughest periods in his career. That doesn't take away the brilliance that you saw towards the end but I'm expecting, I'm talking about inhumane numbers, numbers that only are generational. A goal a game is a minimum, it's what I expect from him because it's what he's delivered and unfortunately we're not finding that consistency in form. I do believe that there's going to be a massive change because Kevin De Bruyne leaves your changing room, who he had an incredible connection with, it's going to be hard to kind of resemble that or replicate that in any which way. But it does rely, there's an onus still on you, you are the highest paid player on that team, you have signed a ridiculously long contract because you see yourself as arguably the franchise player, well you need to deliver franchise performances. Your team requires you in these final five games to really deliver and this is one that was short. We saw the standings there, obviously it's not mathematically but do you feel like the title race is over? How close are we to it being decided? Are you going to sleep easy as an Arsenal fan? We're going to go back and forth again, it's going to happen, there's going to be ebbs and there's going to be flows. I've stayed consistent all year in saying that Arsenal would be crown champions, I did also say that 85 points would probably be enough to see it out. If my maths is correct, 85 points in terms of winning those last three games do deliver Arsenal the title. So I look at it this way and I will say it over and over again, going to West Ham only from North London to East London and going to Crystal Palace only from North London to South London, people will be sitting there saying well what does that matter? It matters hugely when you're talking about at this stage of the season where everyone is mentally, physically and emotionally tired. Those extra days you get at home, not having to necessarily stay in a hotel for one or two days extra, trust me it adds up at this point of the season. So that's going to be very favourable for Arsenal. Burnley, I'd expect that to almost be a write-off because Burnley are already down, change of manager, I thought Scott Parker did a great job but you know changes was necessary at that club at that moment. But going forward, I cannot tell you how much this performance from Everton could have inspired Arsenal's last five games potentially to be a surge in terms of a completely double. Do you think both teams drop points between now and the end of the season or do you see Arsenal winning out from now on? I think both teams lose games, I don't think Arsenal drop points and I'll give my context, I don't necessarily, I've never tipped Arsenal to win the Champions League because I do believe the two teams on the opposite side of the bracket are better. Do I tip Arsenal to make the Champions League final? I do, I expect them to handle their business tomorrow night at home to Atletico, however I don't expect them to drop any more points in the league. Nine from nine, if I've given you this position Adam and if you're Mikel Arteta leading this changing room and you say win your last three games and you're not going to play a team that's in the top half, there's no excuses. And I made that point on scoreline a couple of times, actually even with all of the negativity swirling over the last few weeks when it looked like Arsenal were stumbling in the title race, if you'd offered them this at the start of the season, I'm not an Arsenal fan, but if we'd offered them this position at the start of the season they would have bitten your hand off. You have to put yourself into the position to have it in your hands, potentially be able to win it and they did that, so I think all of the negativity was a bit premature for my feeling. Media noise, outside noise, do I feel like it's infiltrated and impacted this team? I do, I think around the question marks and we'll reflect on the season no doubt about it on this desk at some point, but the noise around set pieces, the noise around how robust or how attractive their style of football was, the noise around whether or not they were good enough, fluid enough, winning games in a typical Arsenal manner or how champions should be. I tell you now, all of that noise goes out the window if you lift that trophy and that is the only thing that really matters. At the end of the day, no one remembers any of the teams from yesteryears not playing attractive football or not playing the best style of football. I'm telling you as someone who's lived through it and been in the media for this long, I can tell you they spoke about Leicester the same way, only winning 1-0. They spoke about that United team, the turn of the century of only winning a league title by 70 or points. I can remember yesteryears even before them, the Invincibles and saying that they only had 12 draws. There is a narrative around every title. What's going to separate those that are crown champions and those that are forever looking on are those that can hide out the noise, ignore the noise and the chatter around them and make sure they deliver and Arsenal now have a golden opportunity to make sure they do that. If Manchester City aren't able to do it and at the moment it's looking like they aren't going to, will it be a case of they just left it too late? They did manage to improve their level, I mean if you compare the Manchester City we're seeing now compared to the level we saw at the start of the season, obviously they have improved. They put themselves at least in the title race but they just gave themselves too much of a mountain to climb late on in the season. I'm only going to quote Pep Guardiola a number of times in different press conferences after disappointing results, he's quoted and saying the title was over. I truly believe that he is a little bit surprised that his team is still in contention, especially how close it was when you're talking about the beginning of this game week. So I believe that in his mind he was always thinking a couple of domestic trophies and we can really still kick on next year because this is going to be a building block. In terms of the transitions for the players that's come in and come out of City over the last couple of seasons, they haven't done well in terms of recruitment in as much as the quality that's left that changing room and the experience of winners. But what they will recognise now, if you give them an opportunity to win, this is still a designated one, arguably and still have Phil Foden who's won trophies in there and a number of other players who have been in and around it including Bernardo and all the rest of it. There's still enough quality and experience sprinkled in that changing room to recognise but I think upon reflection and we'll have this conversation in a few weeks, no doubt about it, City will be disappointed in this season. There's a number of opportunities they've had where they had chances like today. I think back automatically to that Spurs performance. Remember Dom Solanke scoring that double? They were completely in control. You're talking about a team that's contesting for relegation right now, contesting for their status in this league. Those are drop points. That's when you lose league titles. We wouldn't have circled the Man City defeat. If Arsenal don't win this title, we wouldn't have circled Man City away as the game in which they lost it. You would have circled Bournemouth the week before being at home and saying that was your opportunity to demonstrate that you deserve to be crowned champions. I just believe when it's all said and done, like I said, the league never lies. Over 38 games, you play each team once, home and away. The proof is in the pudding. There's a reason why Arsenal are leading right now. I don't think there's quality in terms of the league season. It's been fantastic. It's been riddled with a lot of mistakes, but it's been very, very entertaining. Direct answer, yes or no, do Arsenal win the title? I've said the same thing since August. The second that they signed Eberiche Eze, that was enough of a good quality squad to win this title and I believe that they will.