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00:00 It goes down the wire this weekend, the Premier League title race will climax on March week 38
00:06 over the divisions. Quite an interesting season. We share our thoughts and also preview what is an
00:12 important week ahead including the big game against Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester City.
00:18 My name is Iyam Deshioswa and this is The Nutmeg on Garden TV.
00:27 So it's going to be an exciting one final one for the Premier League season and James Zagbeirebi
00:33 will join me one more time. It's been a long while anyway but good to have you back James.
00:38 Thank you very much. So I would like to first take your thoughts about the Premier League title race.
00:43 It was a race of three at some point but now it's all down to two and it's down to the final day of
00:48 the season. What are your thoughts being around it? Well it has been an exciting journey so far.
00:56 Just like what you said we thought it was going to be three odd races but now we have
01:00 just two teams Manchester City and Arsenal and we all know that it's not in Arsenal's hands anymore.
01:07 At this point yes. Exactly so they are looking for favours from their North London rivals.
01:12 The club that they so hate. Exactly now you need favours from them. So I think looking at it I
01:22 think Manchester City still edge the club. You know that when it gets to this stage
01:26 they've been doing it for like how many times now? The last seven years. And you know they've always
01:33 come out to up to Canhax, Liverpool. Those ones only came out to up once. Exactly. But I really
01:39 want us to talk about Tottenham because it's a thing of there's two sides of the coin to this
01:47 really. Tottenham and Oxburgh are still in the race for Champions League football. Some may argue
01:53 it's not in their hands or of you. Just like Arsenal are still in the race. Tottenham and
01:57 Oxburgh at this point in time are four points behind Aston Villa. We're going into the final
02:02 week. Now Tottenham and Oxburgh will play Man City and that's quite dicey because Man City will need
02:08 to win that game and if they win that game it feels like the title is all sealed on the night.
02:14 Meanwhile if Tottenham loses on Tuesday night it's also a catastrophe for their season because
02:22 they won't be heading to the Champions League where they want to be. Yeah it's all about
02:28 I don't know everything is still open somehow and teams now have to rely on other teams for
02:34 them to get the job done. Just like Arsenal they know that for them to really land this
02:42 trophy they need the support from their neighbours. Tottenham and Oxburgh being the champions
02:49 because they are still mathematically still in the race. What they need to do now is to
02:54 play that and Liverpool defeat Aston Villa so that they still have a chance going into the final
02:59 fixture next weekend. So everything is still open. It's going to be a tough,
03:04 tough exciting moment in the last day of the league. Let's talk about how exciting it is
03:12 because what we've had in recent years although last year was a little bit similar to this year
03:18 only that I didn't get to the last day of the season but it's not every time in the last seven
03:24 years that you've had two teams battle it down. But really we love the Premier League
03:31 because it's this sort of race that determines the title. I'm talking about the backlist years,
03:38 I'm talking about many many years ago when the likes of Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea they
03:43 would slog it out until the end of the season. So I want to ask you which would you prefer?
03:48 Would you prefer one team dominating like we've seen and we still have other teams playing good
03:54 football as well or would you prefer this sort of battle? You've seen the sort of thing that happens
04:00 on both sides but which would you prefer? I think I prefer when we have two or three teams
04:05 battling it out because you don't know where it's going to end up. I remember it was like
04:10 last two seasons when Manchester City had to come from two goals down against Aston Villa that was
04:16 how Liverpool lost out on the last day. So I think we enjoyed that in this case now I think City are
04:22 just slightly ahead because you know that once they defeat Tottenham Hotspur in the game against
04:29 West Ham you're going to give 100% guarantee that they're going to win it. But it's still good that
04:34 at least going into the final day of the season anything can happen. So that's the exciting thing
04:41 about the Premier League compared to other leagues where they're already through with the league.
04:46 Most times more often than not. So let's look at the final day now. I mean you've already told me
04:52 what you prefer but let's look at this final day. Arsenal will play everything. That's their last
04:56 game of the season. Arsenal's not going to play in the midweek and Manchester City will play
05:00 West Ham United. You have to put it in perspective. Whatever happens in Tottenham's game will also
05:06 make this just as important. But let's say in the event that it's important now West Ham United have
05:12 only won one game in several matches whereas playing Everton in a title decider is not going
05:19 to be an easy thing for Arsenal even though they're going to be at home now. Now do you think that if
05:25 for instance Man City defeats Tottenham in midweek or let's say Tottenham gets some points
05:32 off Man City, do you feel that Man City have what it takes on final day or would you favour, I think
05:40 the right question to ask really is, would you favour if it happens that City drop points and
05:45 it still goes down to final day to determine who has the advantage? Would you favour between Arsenal
05:51 or Man City? Well it's a dicey one. I think the most important game for Arsenal now is the
05:59 Tottenham-Man City game. They believe that going into the final game they have what it takes to
06:03 see out Everton but you know football you can't predict. By going to that game needing to win
06:11 outrightly and it becomes a problem. Tension and everything. Remember what happened to Manchester
06:16 City in the 2012 title race between them and Manchester United when all they needed to do was
06:23 beat QPR and you saw what they went through. This is a team that has been blowing other teams away
06:31 but when it got to that final day the tension got into it. I won't rule out that happening to Arsenal.
06:37 They've been flying and they lost to Arsenal in the final and nobody saw that coming so
06:42 the pressure would be too much. If what they need in that game is just to win and seal the title
06:48 but pressure. They've not won the league since 2004 and they've come this far. They will win
06:54 but Everton will make life very difficult for them. Okay one final question on the show today
06:59 for you James. Now I want us to talk about Mikel Ateta. Arsenal folk believe that they've had a
07:06 successful season. I don't know where you stand in that side of the argument. I don't know which
07:12 side of the argument you stand but for me I think that Mikel Ateta is just another trophyless season
07:19 again if they don't win this title and it'll have been what now five six years without
07:24 significant trophy. Maybe you want to call the FA Cup. Yes FA Cup is an important trophy but for
07:30 Mikel Ateta and the process that Arsenal fans have been trusting from day one. If they don't win
07:37 the title do you still think that's a successful season for them? Well that's a tricky one because
07:45 look at a club like Manchester United. They can go on and win the FA Cup. You know you saw
07:50 we've all seen how they perform badly in the league but they can end the season with a trophy.
07:56 For Arsenal, you can look at it both ways because they are against a monstrous team like
08:03 Manchester City. There's no shame if you lose the title and for them to have dragged Manchester City
08:08 all this to this level. So that's a two-way thing. If they don't win because you expect
08:15 the big club like Arsenal to win something significant but because of the team that's
08:22 in front of them, Manchester City, I mean it's a tough call. So would you say Arsenal have been
08:28 successful or not? You want to win the major trophies and for Arsenal you can't say you are
08:35 still... Pronounce the word. Pronounce the word. Why are you not pronouncing the word? Pronounce the word.
08:39 Well for me I won't call it a successful season. I think I agree with you. They have the players
08:45 they've I think they just showed themselves on the foot when they lost to Arsenal so you can't
08:50 call it a successful season for me. What would you call it for you? Let us know in the
08:58 comment section. We have to end the show somewhere around here. Thank you very much for watching and
09:02 for being the consistent follower of the show and to be part of our community here at Garden Nigeria
09:08 all you have to do is subscribe to this channel and also tap the notification bells to get all
09:12 our latest content. Thank you very much James for making the show once again. We hope to see you
09:17 even more in future and thank you very much for watching. My name is Ayomede Shutzboa. I'll see you next time.
09:25 [Music]