The Romantics Are Backing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final
Jon Champion joins The Football Weekend to preview CRYSTAL PALACE vs MAN CITY before he calls the game for ESPN.
IN THIS ISSUE:
SEVILLA DOWNFALL / PREMIER LEAGUE FRIDAYS / THE LAST MATCH AT GOODISON PARK / FREIBURG vs FRANKFURT / INTER vs LAZIO / ARSENAL vs NEWCASTLE / 2025-26 KIT DROPS
The FA Cup final is no longer the capstone to the English football season, the last match on the calendar with a weekend all its own. This one will have to share real estate with the Premier League, the promotion playoffs in the Football League, and of course everything going on beyond the shores of Great Britain.
But this remains a showpiece match nonetheless, and this edition has its narratives. There’s MANCHESTER CITY in their third-straight final, looking to salvage something from a season that’s been almost unbelievably poor by Pep Guardiola’s high standards. And then there’s CRYSTAL PALACE, a club without a trophy in its history besides the hardly major Full Members’ Cup. Twice the South Londoners have appeared in this final, and both times the Eagles took the lead. Both times, they ultimately lost to Manchester United.
Now they’ve got a chance at redemption against the other Manchester side, and here to preview it all ahead of kickoff on Saturday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Jon Champion, who will be calling the game for ESPN in the United States:
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Or check it out on APPLE PODCASTS🍎
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LONG READS
⚽︎ On Substack, digs into Brighton’s highly successful transfer strategy — and whether it is truly sustainable.
⚽︎ Over in The Athletic, Dermot Corrigan and Guillermo Rai have an astonishing look at the downfall of Sevilla, who sunk from mid-table to near-relegation from La Liga, creating an atmosphere of “fear and terror” around the club.
⚽︎ And in The Guardian, Leander Schaerlaeckens explores how Wrexham’s success proves “that content is now truly king in football.”
⚽︎ More on it below, but Everton (men) will play their last match at Goodison Park this weekend. If you haven’t already, check out The Football Weekend’s feature on this grand old ground!
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MORE MATCHES
PREMIER LEAGUE FRIDAYS
Fri @ 2:30pm ET, 7:30pm UK
There are two juicy matches kicking off Friday that pit contenders for the Champions League places against the two Spiritually Relegated sides. First, it’s ASTON VILLA vs TOTTENHAM, and CHELSEA vs MANCHESTER UNITED kicks off 45 minutes later.
In the first, Villa simply must win to try to leapfrog Chelsea or Man City and get themselves into the Top Five. Spurs will just try to avoid their 21st league defeat of the season, though they’ll have one eye on the Europa League final next Wednesday.
The second is an erstwhile title clash in the Premier League context. United and Chelsea spent most of my football-watching life duking it out for silverware, but now the Blues are just trying to get back to Europe’s top table and the Red Devils are just trying to win a league football match. They’ve taken two points from their last seven matches, losing five of them, but they may have the Europa League on their minds just like Spurs.
WIMBLEDON vs NOTTS COUNTY
Sat @ 7:30am ET, 12:30pm UK
It’s the League Two playoff semifinal second leg between two teams looking to ride a wave of Narrative into League One. We covered all that last week ahead of the first leg, which Wimbledon won 1-0 away at Meadow Lane. Now they’ll welcome the Magpies to Plough Lane — currently d.b.a. Cherry Red Records Stadium — to sort out who’s going to meet the winner of WALSALL vs CHESTERFIELD in the playoff final.
FREIBURG vs EINTRACHT FRANKFURT
Sat @ 9:30am ET, 2:30pm UK
This is fourth hosting third in the Bundesliga, and the home side need a result to secure Champions League football next season. It’s an unlikely state of affairs for Freiburg, who said goodbye to manager Christian Streich last summer after an astonishing 12 year reign. He was a cult figure, a significant force in German football culture, but Julian Schuster has come in to replace him and done the business. If they can equal whatever result Borussia Dortmund get on this, the Bundesliga’s final matchday, they’ll be in the big time next season. If they lose here and Dortmund draw, they’ll be out.
EVERTON vs SOUTHAMPTON
Sun @ 7am ET, 12pm UK
Americans will have to be up early for Everton’s last-ever match at Goodison Park, but it will be well worth it. This is "the last of the great signature old stadiums,” Jon Champion said the last time he joined the podcast, a football cathedral that’s seen everything and traveled through all the eras of the game without losing an ounce of its character. In fact, it’s one of the only stadiums left that’s built in that piecemeal fashion that tells the story of how all those eras unfolded. (You should read our story on Goodison!)
We learned this week that Everton women will continue to use the ground from next season, but the men giving up their home since 1892 is still a major occasion. The only shame is that there isn’t a better opponent for this final day at the Old Lady, though Southampton did battle Manchester City to a draw last week. The Saints celebrated the point like a league title.
AJAX vs TWENTE
Sun @ 8:30am ET, 1:30pm UK
It’s an incredible situation in the Netherlands, where Ajax are hard at work botching the Eredivisie. They were nine points clear at the top, but a string of poor results have allowed PSV back into the title race. Two dropped points in midweek against Gronigen saw Ajax slip a point behind their rivals heading into this final matchday, when the Amsterdam outfit will need a better result against fifth-place Twente than PSV get against Sparta Rotterdam if they’re to rescue their dignity here. The signs on Wednesday were not good: Gronigen snatched an equalizer in the 99th minute as Ajax crumbled.
INTER vs LAZIO
Sun @ 9am ET, 2pm UK
It was a treble campaign for Inter, then it looked like a trophyless one, and now they’re once again trundling towards two trophies. The strain on the Nerazzuri squad has shown over the last month, but they survived Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals and they’ve just about stuck around in the Serie A title race. They’re one point short of Napoli at the top of the table with two matches to go, and the first is against a team with everything of their own to play for.
Lazio are even on points with Juventus, who are still holding onto the fourth and final Champions League spot in Italy. Their goal difference is seven worse, so they’ll likely need to beat Juve out on points. They need to go to the San Siro and get something, which could mean there are plenty of goals in this one.
ARSENAL vs NEWCASTLE
Sun @ 11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK
This has quietly developed into one of England’s more bitter encounters. There’s some sort of cultural rivalry here, a genuine resentment between the cosmopolitans of North London and the traditionalists of the Northeast. That’s simplistic, maybe, but here’s something simpler: Arsenal and Newcastle do not like each other, and now they’re second and third in the Premier League with two matches to go.
Having at one point flirted with a title race, the hosts here are on 68 points, just two clear of Newcastle. The Magpies would relish the chance to hop over the Arsenal into second, and they proved in the League Cup semifinal that they’re more than capable of punishing the Gunners when they’re not at it. Alexander Isak is a particular threat here: his movement bewitched the Arsenal centerbacks in that semifinal. Now Gabriel is now out for the season, and William Saliba has not been in his best form over the last few weeks. I will be triple-captaining Isak in Fantasy Premier League as an emotional hedge.
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GEAR
👕 Is this Juventus 2025-26 home kit sacrilege? Adidas and the Torino outfit have been experimenting with the famous black-and-white stripes for some time now. Is this a welcome innovation? You can vote with your wallet. And how about those Adidas Arsenal kits for next year that dropped Thursday?
👕 When the sponsor makes the shirt. To be fair, there’s a lot to like about this 2023-24 Chiangrai United home kit, not least that you’re probably the only one you know who will have it. Also, $22.99 ain’t half bad! But if you’re looking for a more low-key off-beat kit deal, try this one from Club Brugge or that one from Dinamo Zagreb.⚽︎