⚽️Championship Sunday (Feat. ROBBIE EARLE)
The title race goes to the final day with Man City in the driver's seat. Arsenal need a win—and a favor from West Ham.
When he came on the show to preview MAN CITY vs ARSENAL in March, Robbie Earle mentioned he might like to come back at the end of the season. Now we’ve reached the final weekend and those two teams are still locked in battle, even if they won’t be playing each other directly. City are two points clear of the North Londoners at the top of the league, and a win will see them claim their sixth title in seven years. Arsenal need a win at home to EVERTON and an improbable performance from WEST HAM at the Etihad Stadium if they’re to take the crown.
What better time, then, to bring Robbie back? Things have and haven’t changed at the top of the table since we last spoke, and there’s plenty more to digest from this Premier League season besides. Earle is in London because the NBC crew are headed to the Emirates Stadium for Championship Sunday—just in case Arsenal can get their hands on a first league trophy for 20 years. You can find full coverage streaming on Peacock from 9am Eastern. But first:
You can also check out the show on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Amazon, and Acast.
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This weekend’s match map…..
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THE HEADLINES
➡️ Manchester City defeated Tottenham in league play for the first time at Spurs’ new stadium to move into pole position for the Premier League title. The talk among some Spurs fans that they’d prefer not to help hated rivals Arsenal towards the title by beating City more than rankled manager Ange Postecoglou.
➡️ The Athletic dropped some added context for Postecoglou’s rage in midweek, reporting that some club staff were joking about losing to City and one even quipped that the manager should play a youth side.
➡️ Juventus won the Coppa Italia on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over Atalanta, the latest of many narrow victories this season. Star attacker Federico Chiesa took over coaching duties after manager Massimiliano Allegri was sent off, while U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Weston McKennie grabbed his third medal with the Old Lady (and went public on his new relationship with Chiara Frattesi, sister of Inter’s Davide).

➡️ Chelsea defeated Brighton 2-1 at the Amex on Wednesday to continue the Blues’ fine run to wrap up 2023/24. After a season largely spent mired in midtable, Mauricio Pochettino’s young team could still sneak into the Europa League.
➡️ Cristiano Ronaldo tops the Forbes list of the world’s highest-paid athletes with $260 million in earnings this year. Lionel Messi is third on $135 million, Kylian Mbappé is sixth with $110 million, and he’s followed closely by Saudi leaguers Neymar ($108 million) and Karim Benzema ($106 million).
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FRIDAY
SOUTHAMPTON vs WEST BROM
3pm ET, 8pm GMT
A trip to Wembley is on the line at St. Mary’s, with Southampton favorites to advance to the Championship playoff final where they’ll have a chance to book their ticket back to the Premier League. The first leg ended 0-0, but so did the equivalent between Leeds United and Norwich and look how that second leg went.
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SATURDAY
BAYER LEVERKUSEN vs AUGSBURG
9:30am ET, 2:30pm GMT
It’s another chance to bear witness to Leverkusen’s world-historical unbeaten run. This would make it 51 games without defeat, and Augsburg could play a Washington Generals role here. They’ve lost four in a row in the Bundesliga.
BOLTON vs OXFORD UNITED
11:15am ET, 4:15pm GMT
It’s the League One playoff final featuring two teams on the rebound from some disastrous fortunes. Bolton were playing Premier League football as recently as 2012 but crashed down to League Two in a series of relegations that ultimately spelled financial disaster for the club. They avoided expulsion from the Football League and got back into League One in 2021.

Now they’re trying to climb back into the Championship at the expense of Oxford United, who were flying high in the First Division for a brief period in the 1980s—and even won the League Cup—before they fell out of the Football League altogether. They won a Conference playoff to get back into England’s fourth tier in 2010, and by 2016 they’d won promotion from League Two. With victory here, they could get back into the Championship for the first time since 1999.
CLUB AMÉRICA vs GUADALAJARA
9:30pm ET
We’ve delved into this one before, and Mexico’s most historic rivalry goes by many names. Univision’s Ramses Sandoval went with El Clásico Nacional on the podcast, and in this case, they’re meeting in the Liga MX playoffs. This is the second leg after the first ended 0-0, and there’s a place in the final on the line. América have been the cream of the crop throughout the season and have not tasted defeat in eight matches, while Guadalajara have had to scratch their way into this semifinal with a series of narrow victories.
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LEAGUE TWO SUNDAY
CRAWLEY TOWN vs CREWE ALEXANDRA
8am ET, 1pm GMT
For those looking to pregame their Championship Sunday with some lower-league fare, check out the League Two playoff final. These two barely got into the playoffs in the first place, finishing seventh and sixth respectively, but they’re here now with a chance to get into League One. Crawley have spent most of their 128-year history in non-league football, but they did have a brief stint in the third division from 2012-2015 and are one game from a return.
Their opponents were founded back in 1877 at a cricket club named for the Princess Alexandra, daughter-in-law to Queen Victoria. They were a founding member of the original Second Division in 1892 and have spent their history zipping up and down the English football pyramid.
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
All 10 Premier League matches will kick off simultaneously at 11am ET/4pm GMT.
ARSENAL vs EVERTON
The hosts must win to give themselves a chance to win the Premier League title if Manchester City drop points.
MAN CITY vs WEST HAM
The Citizens’ task is straightforward: win and secure a fourth straight Premier League crown, six in seven years. Anything less could prove fatal: if Arsenal win and West Ham somehow manage to secure a draw at the Etihad, the Gunners’ superior goal difference would see them through to a first league title in 20 years.
CRYSTAL PALACE vs ASTON VILLA
If you’re entirely unmoved by one of the closest title races in recent years, there’s always this meeting between two of the league’s most entertaining sides. Palace are one of the form teams in the division, behind only City with 16 points from their last six games. (City have taken a perfect 18.) Villa have safely secured Champions League football for next season, so they could be a bit out to lunch, but they play some hugely entertaining stuff when they’re on it.
This could be the Eze and Olisé show, however: the two riveting Palace stars have been dancing all over teams for the last month or so.
LUTON TOWN vs FULHAM
For the romantics, there’s always the last Premier League match at Kenilworth Road. The only newly promoted side who proved themselves remotely worthy of a place in this league are going down. Maybe the Hatters can pull one more out.
LIVERPOOL vs WOLVES
And for the real romantics, it’s Jürgen Klopp’s last match at Anfield. Goosebumping renditions of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” will be followed by the biggest fist pump of all time in front of the Kop.
INTER vs LAZIO
12pm ET, 5pm GMT
If you’ve forsaken the Premier League completely, one of Europe’s best sides is hosting a Lazio team with plenty to play for. Inter have lost just twice in the league this season and could rack up 98 points. Their opponents are seventh, which as it stands will send them to the Europa League, but if Atalanta win the final of that competition next week, sixth place in Serie A could be good enough to play Champions League football next season.
(Italy is guaranteed five spots as it stands, and Atalanta is fifth. If they win the Europa League final, they get a ticket to the UCL that way, so the fifth Serie A ticket could go to the sixth-place team.)
ROMA vs GENOA
2:45pm ET, 7:45pm GMT
And who sits in sixth place but Lazio’s neighbors, Roma. They were reborn under Daniele De Rossi following José Mourinho’s departure, but their form has fizzled a bit in recent weeks. They’ll want to hold onto sixth and the possibility of the Champions League next season, but more than that, they’ll want to finish above their eternal rivals in the Eternal City.⚽︎