How Monday Night Football pundits prepare: Sky Sports release behind the scenes footage of Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher rehearsing for the show before the Arsenal legend’s appearance earlier this week

Sky Sports have released behind the scenes footage of their pundits preparing for Monday Night Football.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright made an appearance on the show for Monday’s Premier League clash between Chelsea and Newcastle at Stamford Bridge, which the Blues won 3-2.

Either side of the match, a number of topics were discussed and analysed by Wright and Sky Sports regular Jamie Carragher, and a previously unseen clip taken from Sky’s new matchday series SCENES has now given an insight into how much work goes into the show beforehand.

The 65-second clip shows Wright and Carragher both standing in front of a huge projector looking at Darwin Nunez‘s movement during the second half of Liverpool‘s clash with Manchester City on Sunday.

The Uruguayan forward was caught offside on multiple occasions at Anfield, and the clip begins by Wright calling for Nunez to ‘make sure he’s onside now’ after he had strayed beyond the final defender once more.

The clip shows Ian Wright explaining how Darwin Nunez could improve his movement

Wright and Jamie Carragher discussed the clip to ensure they were on the same page for the live show

The ball was still inside Liverpool’s half with young defender Jarell Quansah, but Wright insisted that Nunez should have been looking to start a run already, as he claimed ‘now, I’m gone, I’m making my run over there’ as he pointed for Nunez to bend his run and move in behind City’s back line down their left-hand side.

Wright highlighted the time Quansah had on the ball as he called for Nunez to be more proactive with his movement, before Carragher stepped in to ask for the footage to be taken back, ensuring that the pair got their analysis of the situation spot on.

As the clip rolled on, Wright explained to Carragher how Nunez was giving Quansah ‘nothing’ by standing still, which Carragher agreed with as he stood with his arms folded listening to Wright’s break down of Nunez’s shortcomings.

Quansah eventually played the ball out to the right wing, but Nunez still didn’t attempt to run in behind, despite Wright believing the situation was ‘made for him’ to do so.

Nunez finally edges forward half-heartedly, but when the ball is clipped over the top he is offside again and the pass is overhit through to the City goalkeeper anyway.

Wright and Carragher then discuss Nunez’s body language in that moment, suggesting that he ‘switched off’ when he didn’t receive the ball earlier.

The clip gives a fascinating insight into how Monday Night Football pundits work together hours before the programme gets underway to keep them on the same page when they go live on air.

Carragher is a regular on the show and has impressed over the years with his in-depth analysis

Wright also shone on Monday night, and earned praise for speaking freely about topics while also reflecting on his illustrious career

Wright made a positive impression during his long-awaited appearance on the show, with fans praising him for speaking about ‘the elephant in the room’ as he raised the issue of City having 115 charges hanging over them.

He also backed his former club Arsenal to win the Premier League for the first time in 20 years as he hailed Mikel Arteta’s men for being ‘ruthless’ this season. 

Wright is Arsenal’s second-highest goalscorer in their history behind Thierry Henry, but opened up on how things could have been very different as he came close to joining Chelsea in 1996 after falling out with manager Bruce Rioch.

The show finished with Wright reflecting on his glittering career, but there was plenty of analysis of the weekend’s action in the hours before, and the behind the scenes footage has now revealed the attention to detail required from pundits prior to the live prorgramme.