In our exclusive interview, the former England international also discusses the Carabao Cup Final, Mohamed Salah's Liverpool exit, Nottingham Forest's relegation battle and England's World Cup squad.
Stuart Pearce believes England manager Thomas Tuchel has never favoured Trent Alexander-Arnold for the right-back position, and that has been made clear with the recent call-up of Arsenal’s Ben White.
England are currently 11/2 in the football betting to win the 2026 World Cup, but there is still some speculation as to who will be in the starting line-up once they kick-off their first game on the 17th June.
In our exclusive interview, the England and Premier League legend also discusses the Carabao Cup Final, the relegation battle of his former club Nottingham Forest, Mohamed Salah’s departure from Liverpool and the fight for selection in England’s upcoming World Cup squad.
How big of an impact do you think the League Cup final will have on the title race?
Personally, I don’t think it’ll have an effect on it. I’ve always felt as though Arsenal would win the title comfortably, and I’ve felt that for the last few months. There’s nothing that’s happened, certainly at this stage of the season, that’s suggesting to me that Arsenal won’t win it by a good number of points.
I think they’ve got the ability to go to City and get a result. So I think they’ll be comfortable in that respect, but from the cup final, my expectation was that Arsenal might be too strong and too committed for them. But Man City were fantastic, especially in the second half.
Should Arsenal be concerned given how City dominated them? What tactical solution can Mikel Arteta find for the way they were beaten in the second half?
I saw it in a slightly different way. I thought there were certain players missing from each team, so replacements had to come in. Both teams obviously decided to change goalkeepers. One made a mistake that cost his team, the other was outstanding, making a triple save early on.
The head-to-head on goalkeepers coming in fresh was big. I felt that it wasn’t a big call because I’ve been a manager myself, and if you make a promise to rotate your team, you have to stick to that promise.
But there was a little bit of me that thought before the game, to leave David Raya out, who I think has been the best goalkeeper in the league this year, might be costly and it turned out that way. The other side of that is City lost their two centre-halves in Marc Guehi and Ruben Dias, but the two that came in were outstanding.
There was also no Eberechi Eze playing for Arsenal and I thought that Havertz was really poor personally. So, the like for likes on both teams, City came out on top with all of them. But you’ve got to give Pep Guardiola credit as well. He went into the game, probably second favourites for the first time at Wembley in a long time and they found a way.
They stayed in the game the first half. Second-half, once they got their nose in front, they dominated the ball really well with the likes of [Bernardo] Silva and people who understand the game brilliantly.
Do you think Arsenal lack the world class attacking players that could make them a great side?
It would certainly make them a more effective team, no doubt about that. I thought [Viktor] Gyokeres led the line quite well. He chased in behind and did a lot of things right. But the bottom line and the difference between the teams is, your leading striker has got to be scoring 20 odd goals a season potentially if you’re going to win the league. Unless you get fortunate and be very good at set pieces and other elements of the game.
Rayan Cherki was doing keepy-uppies during the second half – did he cross the line, and how would you have reacted to an opponent doing that?
Personally, I think it’s poor professionalism. And when he did it, the first thing I did was look down at Pep – who was shaking his head. That’s not what you do when you’re winning a game. What you need to do is try and silence the opposition.
By doing that, it sharpens the focus of the opposition and a little bit of venom goes through their veins – as you saw with the challenge that came in shortly afterwards. He should know better.
Liverpool and Arne Slot have come under fire due to recent performances – do you think Slot’s future is in jeopardy and could you see Klopp possibly coming back?
I think there’s the love of the supporters for Jurgen Klopp, and he understood the ethos of Liverpool Football Club. So from Klopp’s point of view, he left the football club on a real high.
I don’t see Liverpool as a team that hire and fire particularly quickly. I think that they’ll want to give Slot every opportunity. So I think he’ll lead the team at least into next season, there’s no doubt in my mind.
Where there’s been a massive drop off, there are circumstances that have led into Liverpool’s bad form this year. The arguably two best players last year were probably Salah and Van Dijk, and they’ve not replicated the form this year that they did in the title winning season.
On top of that, they went into the transfer market and it’s taken the new players a little while to settle in, it’s fair to say. They’ve spent £125 million on a centre-forward that’s not really kicked a ball for them this year. And Diogo Jota as well, that situation hung over the club in pre-season.
So there’s a lot of variables that dictate why things haven’t gone well. That’s why if I was Liverpool, I would want to keep Slot in place and give him at least the start of next year to get going again and let those new players bed in.
Mohamed Salah has confirmed he is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season – what do you make of his decision and the timing of the announcement?
He’s obviously thought about it a great deal. There’s been a little bit said about him and Slot not getting on. But you’ve got to understand as well, I was in the West Ham stadium when it looked like he fell out with Klopp after being brought off the bench. There was a little standoff and a bit of niggle there.
He’s been brilliant for Liverpool during his time there, one of the top-class players and class acts that they’ve ever had at the football club. He’s 33 years old and on a fantastic contract.
So for both parties, he might need a new challenge and the club will relieve the wage bill a little bit that can be invested elsewhere. His form’s also not been good this year, so I think both parties will actually benefit from this.
Are you surprised he is going to leave on a free transfer given that Liverpool rejected a bid from Saudi Arabia for £150m less than three years ago?
I would say yes and no. I think the club have probably rewarded his loyalty by freeing up his contract. I think he’s got a year to go, if I’m not mistaken. That year to go, he could sit that contract out. I don’t know what he’s on, but it will equate to a lot of money, make no mistake. So the club will see it as rewarding him and letting him go for nothing. But the other side of that is they’re getting him off the wage bill.
What do you think is next for Salah – could you see him at another European team?
I don’t think he’ll be in this country. There will probably be a clause in the contract that says you can’t play in the Premier League next season. But if he turned up in Italy or Spain, it wouldn’t surprise me. What a free transfer Mo Salah is.
He’s 33 years old, but very fit and dynamic as well. Wherever he goes, if it’s maybe the United States or the Middle East, he’ll be a major benefit to team he joins.
The battle for European spots is very interesting considering how recent results have gone – which teams do you think will get the job done to secure Champions League football?
Aston Villa’s victory was a big one that has put them points ahead. The top two without a doubt are secured. Villa I would throw in the mix there. To be honest, all the others have shown a level of inconsistency in many ways.
So it depends how they finish the season. I think Liverpool will be one of the top five. I think maybe this news about Salah might just galvanise or steady the club a little bit. And then anyone’s guess is as good as mine after that.
How confident are you now that Forest will stay up after their win against Spurs?
I can’t underestimate how big this victory or defeat was for either team. It was enormous, especially Spurs getting beaten on their own pitch as well. When I look at both squads, the way they’re playing and their demeanour on a football pitch, I would be very fearful if I was Tottenham.
I think they have players playing way below the standard they should be playing. It’s a strange word, but the honesty of some of the players in their actions, their recovery runs, that type of thing really would worry me if I’m a Spurs fan.
But it’s wide open. There’s a couple of head to heads. The one thing in Spurs’ favour, or that might count against them, I think their run of games is probably easier on paper. But it’s at home where they have a problem, the pressure is on them. Games that look like they should be comfortable, don’t look that way now.
I always worried about Forest with the lack of goals that they might be able to score and then they get three goals at Tottenham and win a massive game. So that will give them a big lift.
It’s a difficult one. West Ham are in the mix as well, don’t write them off. It’s any one from three, I would say. I think Leeds have got too much and a couple of points advantage.
Vitor Pereira has turned things around. What has he done right that Igor Tudor has got wrong?
I think he’s [Igor Tudor] come into a squad that look every inch a team that are not particularly reliable, so I feel half sorry for him. He’s not got them going in any way, shape or form. They certainly look like a team that think they’re too good to be where they are, but they’re not contributing with their performances and their togetherness.
That is the biggest problem. It’s easy to say, get Tudor out. But they’ve just moved on, I thought, a fantastic manager in Thomas Frank. But for me, the questions would be in the dressing room, more so than the management level at Tottenham Hotspur.
Do Spurs need a new manager to give themselves a chance of staying up – who should they turn to if so and should it be another interim until the summer?
I think it will be an interim situation. If I was Spurs, I wouldn’t be looking to put anyone in full time. The way they’re looking right now, it will be panic stations.
There’s no doubt a lot of money gets lost if you drop out this division and a lot of rebuilding would need doing. They need to bring someone through the door on a short-term basis. As bizarre as it sounds, someone like Harry Redknapp who knows the club would give the fans a lift. He’s got the charisma and the personality to lift that dressing room over a short period of time.
It’s looking more and more like it’ll be Spurs or West Ham for the drop. Who has the edge in your opinion?
Tottenham on paper have got the slightly easier games, so they should get away from it. But West Ham has got a bit of ascendancy. They’ve got a bit of momentum and the results are slightly better.
I’ve also got some serious question marks about the attitude of one or two players in the Tottenham ranks, and that’s not just recently I’ve picked that up. That’s from me doing commentaries before Christmas.
When I look at some of the some of the performances of one or two individuals that are supposed to be key players for them, I would probably say Tottenham.
Should Forest cash in on one of their crown jewels like Elliot Anderson or Morgan Gibbs-White?
The answer to that question is no. Why would you? They had a really good season last year and they’ve lost Chris Wood, so they’ve lost some goals from the team. But they sold [Anthony] Elanga, who has not been the same player at Newcastle that he was at Forest – and it’s cost them, I think.
Forest has gone from being a team in the top half of the league to a team flirting with relegation. I think the loss of Elanga has been bigger, and obviously Chris Wood as well, has been a bigger stumbling block than they thought it actually might be.
That would send a message out, you hang on to your better players and don’t let them go. If they drop out this division, that might be a different matter altogether. The players themselves might dictate that.
But if you stay in the division, you need to hang on to your best players without a doubt. Unless you can really go into the transfer market and for one leaving, you can get two that are just as good.
After Chris Wood’s impressive season last year, do you think Igor Jesus will ever be a good enough replacement?
No, I don’t think so. He’s got a bit to do. You’ve got to bear in mind as well that Chris Wood probably had the best season he’s ever had in his career. He was absolutely incredible. Whether it was the style of play that suited him really well, I don’t know.
But it’s not as if Chris Wood has been a 20 goals a season for 10 seasons type of centre forward. He had a spike last year on his goal scoring performance, which was brilliant for the club. But I think you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got someone, at Forest’s level, that you can rely on getting 15 Premier League goals a season.
What chance do Forest have of winning the Europa League – and what would it mean for a building a Champions League squad in the transfer window?
All of a sudden playing in the Champions League, they go from potentially selling their best players to needing to add three or four top-quality English players, or top-quality international players so they can run a campaign in Europe at that standard – otherwise you’ll get absolutely decimated.
But I think it’s brilliant with Forest, you can’t lose track of the fact that they’ve been outside the Premier League for 23 years. They’re now playing in Europe at a quarter-final level, that’s fantastic. But they need to make sure they secure Premier League status next year.
Personally, I think there’s better teams in the Europa League and Forest have not shown enough consistency. Their consistency has probably been better in Europe more so than in the Premier League. So I worry whether they’ve got enough goals in their ranks to actually win.
Bearing in mind what happened at Wolves, should Forest continue with Pereira if he keeps them up in the summer?
I think if he keeps them up and has a run that goes beyond the quarter-final in Europe, I think that would dictate that they would have to stick with him.
After his recent performances and particularly the League Cup final, would you pick Nico O’Reilly to start for England?
There are two different threads to it. I would say he’s got the opportunity to score a goal and is a threat. He can also play other positions on the pitch, whereas Lewis Hall I see as an out and out left back or left wing back. So he might supply goals, but he won’t get you them.
But it’s a real bonus with O’Reilly, the fact that he does get on the score sheet for his team. At this moment in time, it’s very difficult to choose between them. We’ve got another month and a half of football to play. I think it depends on who else is in the team and how O’Reilly or Hall might supplement the players playing in front of them.
If you’ve got an out and out winger in front of you, you might not want a full-back to surge on. You might want a full back that is happy to tuck inside slightly and that is O’Reilly’s forte a little bit. I think we’re fortunate to have two really good ones that have come on form at this moment in time.
What do you think of Trent Alenander-Arnold being left out?
It’s a real blow for him. I don’t think he’s played consistently enough this season at Madrid, and I don’t think Thomas Tuchel fancied him from the outset, if I’m being honest. I also think the fact that he’s brought Ben White into the squad when we’ve had an injury in that position probably tells you everything about his chances of getting in this summer and maybe beyond this summer as well.
But that’s life as a footballer in many way, and that was always a worry for me whenever a new manager came in. You always wonder, would he fancy me as a player or not? I lost my place in ‘94 when Terry Venables came into the squad and he wanted Graeme Le Saux in the team in front of me. He fancied him more than me and he might have been right. He was younger, he was playing well for his club.
So you’ve got to be fortunate. But if you’ve still got a burning ambition to play for your country, he’s got to do good things. If you’re doing good things for Real Madrid, you’re certainly on the radar well and truly. So it’s down to him to fight for a place, whether it be this summer, which I don’t think it will be, or beyond.
Ben White is back in the squad. Are you surprised that he’s accepted a recall and has he got a chance of being on the plane?
There’s two ways of looking at it really. The first is, I’ve obviously never met the boy, but I always like to see my international players dead keen on representing their country. Not just when they’re on the up, but certainly when they’ve got a few caps to their name and they’ve got to sit in the stand and supplement somebody else – that shows an unselfish mentality.
I’m not surprised that Thomas Tuchel’s picked him because there was this situation in Qatar where he went home, maybe he fell out with Gareth [Southgate] or Stevie Holland. But that’s their problem and that’s history, nothing to do with Thomas Tuchel.
As all managers will tell you, every new player comes in with a clean bill of health and a clean slate, so you’ve got to try and get a reputation built up with them. But do I think that he’ll go to the World Cup this summer, the answer is no, I don’t.
England have so many options at No. 10 – Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer. How many realistically could Thomas Tuchel select, and which would you choose?
I think he’s [Tuchel] worked out that if you’re going to play Harry Kane up front, whose forte isn’t running in behind and running the channel, you need two wingers that can actually go past somebody. So that tells me that you can’t play Foden or Palmer out wide, they’re not that type of player. You’ve got to look at them as central players.
The beauty of it is, it’s not like years gone by when it was a 22- or 23-man squad. Now it’s a 26-man squad. You’ve always got a bit of wiggle room to put one or two players in, and that for me might be where the likes of Palmer or Foden all get into the squad.
If we’re talking about Foden at this moment in time, I can’t see him playing a big part in the tournament this summer because if you’re still thinking, where is your position? It’s probably the number 10, in this tactical formation. If it’s number 10, I think he’s behind Bellingham and behind Morgan Rogers to start with.
I also think there was talk about Phil Foden maybe playing as a false 9. But the form of Anthony Gordon playing as a centre forward for Newcastle has really impressed me. I think we’ve got a player there in Gordon that can play as a centre forward and be a better option than the false 9 with Foden, so that puts him further down the pecking order.
But never lose track of the fact that Foden’s a quality player. I hope he goes to the World Cup, and I hope makes a good contribution. The more of our quality players on form and playing well, the better it is and the tougher the team selection is – and that’s ideal for us.
What would you be looking to get from the team in these upcoming fixtures – will these games solidify the team or is there room for change in the starting XI?
If it was me and when I prepped teams, I probably knew circa 16 to 20 players that might be going at this stage. I think you’ve got that in your mind already. What you want to have a look at are those players from 20 to 26.
I think Tuchel’s going to juggle the team. There’s almost going to be two teams played in these games. Barring maybe injuries at the end of the season for those odd players, once you get to Florida for the two friendlies, I think your squad’s intact and not much will change.
So Tuchel is going to want to see the fringe players or the ones he’s unsure about. That might even fall into the likes of Palmer or Foden, who will really have to put a performance in that says to the manager, you need to take me in the summer.
