The Totally Football Show with James Richardson
Can Arsenal do the Champions League + Premier League double?
07 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: How did Arsenal secure their place in the Champions League final?
Totally Football Show. Today, I can't believe it's Budapest. Tuesday, Arsenal's bottled up emotions bursting out as their side book their place in the Champions League final. Wednesday, PSG book theirs after handling Bayern and the ball a fair bit in a brilliant performance in Bavaria. From Godfather to Weekend at Bernie's 2, how was Wednesday's sequel to last week's giddy nine-goal classic?
And Ben Boy against Kfarra, etc. What awaits in the final? Plus, in a good week for the Gunners, after Monday's Man City-Merseyside meltdown, we look at that game and put out a missing person on that funny Man City fan with the bottle.
Chapter 2: What were the highlights of the Bayern vs. PSG semi-final match?
He was everywhere. Hope he's all right. All that and much, much more in this totally football show. Thursday, the 7th of May, and it's an all-athletic, in every sense, crew here in the Totally Football Show studio with Duncan Alexander. Hi, Duncan. Hello, James. Also with us, Mark Carey. Good morning, James. And Jay Harris, also. Good morning, James. Good morning to all of you.
We've got lots to talk about, hence the collective response from me. With Monday, possibly the Premier League title being decided, that game at the Hill Dickinson, and then Wednesday, certainly the Champions League final sorted. On the 30th of May, Arsenal will be facing Paris Saint-Germain at the Pushkus Arena in Budapest. Boy, things move fast, don't they, in football?
It seems only a week ago that Arsenal were a bunch of bottlers who were fumbling their way to a disappointing finale on all fronts, Jay.
Yeah, and I think one of the biggest differences in the last four or five days has been Marcelo Ischelli playing in midfield.
Chapter 3: How did Arsenal perform against Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals?
It was a really big gamble for Arteta to do that against Fulham at the weekend. I think it was only his first midfield start at senior level, but he did play there in Arsenal's academy. And it's just given Arsenal a bit more energy in midfield, something a little bit different. I think he's really good at driving forward, but also has the confidence to play some...
very progressive passes between the lines and it's just given them a bit of energy but we also can't overlook the significance of Saka being back in the starting line-up and what that does to the crowd at the Emirates just gives them a massive lift every time he's on the ball Alright crowd at the Emirates with no further than Duncan Alexander you were there on the horns you rode round about waving your red flare
Yeah, definitely. What was it like, Duncan? It was an experience. I think, you know, for a long time, the Emirates was seen as a bit of a sort of, you know, corporate bowl with not much atmosphere, particularly when Arsenal was struggling. You know, you'd often look at games at the end, there'd be a lot of red seats.
Chapter 4: What is the current state of the Premier League title race?
But I think this was a sort of authentic, you know, almost Anfield-like European atmosphere. I mean, there was... There were flares before the game, as you mentioned. There was singing in the concourse, which sounds pretty trite, but actually you don't really get at Arsenal. But people were in their seats like 20 minutes before the game, again, unheard of.
And then, yeah, the atmosphere from kickoff all the way through was extraordinary. And I think the... To Jay's point, I think, you know, the players certainly fed off that. There were a lot of, you know, Dan Byrne-style fist pumps to the crowd after a throw-in and things like that. And, yeah, it kind of showed the... I mean, we saw, you know, the atmosphere that Atleti fans could make last week.
And I think Arsenal fans, you know, did the same. And it definitely did make a difference. You know, I think the second half was a lot more comfortable than... It could have been in a European Cup semi-final. And that was, yeah, sort of fans and team in tandem.
It's been a huge week for Arsenal with that and the Man City draw on Monday. The final week of May could be even bigger. They've never won the Champions League.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the relegation battle in the Premier League?
They haven't won a Premier League title in 22 years. They could sort both in the space of seven days.
Absolutely and they could do with obviously they could do with winning all of their games but they could wrap it up or at least go a really long way by winning against West Ham which would then allow them I think if they were to it depends on I suppose how the results go if they were to maybe get to the final game of the season be able to rest and rotate some players that would then allow them to have greater freshness in the final.
Chapter 6: How are Arsenal's recent performances impacting their chances in the league?
Right. But obviously I suppose we would have to wait to see how Manchester City get on it in that regard.
A lot of waiting and seeing. Well it's still a week which I think is fine.
you know I mean in the old days obviously the European Cup final was on Wednesday I mean Manchester United had to rest players in the FA Cup final in 99 ahead of the before completing the treble um so there is a bit of time and I suppose you don't want to leave it too long in terms of resting players for the final game they're not having that freshness because the other example would probably be Liverpool against Spurs it was June the 1st if I recall three weeks and it was three and it was quite some time and the game itself was quite stodgy I think because not
all of the players were really kind of conditioned. So it can go too much the other way, I think, at times.
I think your point about the Everton game on Monday was key as well. I mean, I must have heard the words Tiano Barry mentioned 50, 60 times.
So that was part of what lit the fire at the Emirates, was it?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, people were talking about it constantly before the game. It was almost like...
the the door had opened up and suddenly everyone was in this kind of state of euphoria whereas i think we've seen arsenal games in recent weeks uh the bournemouth game particularly where everyone's kind of nervous and funny conversely were they to go to budapest having not won the title what would that mean for their chances mark you came in going does anyone seriously think arsenal have a chance i'm paraphrasing slightly against parasite demand we'll we'll answer that question in a bit perhaps should we start off by looking at what psg got up to on wednesday
This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Paris is at the rendezvous of Budapest. Paris defeats Arsenal.
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Chapter 7: What strategies might Arsenal employ against PSG in the final?
This is for another time. That doesn't work because Phantom Menace is the first of a new trilogy. You can't have that.
But it came out afterwards.
You can have Attack of the Clones.
I can't have Attack of the Clones, only if I'm calling the first game Phantom Menace, which I am most assuredly not. The only thing I could do then is have The Empire Strikes Back.
That would be the... But are you saying that last week's game was more entertaining than a trade alliance?
fine not for me to say that favorite expression i hijacked that sorry no no no no but mark what age were you when you saw phantom menace um i would have been six yeah there you go okay i've seen it since yeah yeah but you know it's something yeah there's an association with darth maul redeems it but otherwise does he though i like that fight at the end how about you when you saw it
When did it come out? 99? 2000, I think. Well, I was four when it came out, so I probably saw it same age as Mark. Yeah.
Anyway, we don't need to go into all of that, eh?
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Chapter 8: What are the upcoming fixtures that could affect the title race?
What did you make of the game?
I actually really enjoyed the game because everybody was expecting a goal fest and what we got was still really entertaining. Two teams... with lots of attacking talent on show. I do think commentary said at one point there were more shots in this game than there were in the game last week. Really? Yeah.
And certainly, I don't think Desiree Douay, Michael Alisse, they both had great opportunities to score and either Neuer made a good save or Safanov made a good save or it just went wide. But I was just really taken aback by how well PSG defended, like Karat Skelly in particular.
There were just so many times, especially in the second half when legs would have been tired, minds would have been tired, where he was just busting a gut to... to get back and help out Warren Zaremeri or Nuno Mendes on the other side. And it was just a real complete performance.
You know, the build-up to these two games was all about, you know, PSG and Bayern Munich, these irresistible attacking riches versus Arsenal's stubborn defence. Whereas I think PSG actually went, well, when required, we can defend determinately as well. So really, really interesting that they showed that other side of their game.
And they were helped by the fact that they took the lead just three minutes in.
Yeah, that's always useful. I mean, you can obviously score too early in games, but I think in that context, when you're already a goal up, it's perfect. I mean, just looking at the stats, they had 15 shots, but they only made 212 passes with a 70% pass completion rate, which is, that's more League 1 than League 1.
But it was what the situation required, and they never really looked... I mean, yes...
by an equalizer but it was way too late right that was in the I think 94th minute or something 35% possession PSG had but as Duncan says they didn't need to do anything else
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