Firstly, a tip of the cap to the Arsenal Women, who beat Real Madrid again in 2025 in the Champions League. Nice work ladies! Always good to see.

As for the men, well, they’ll all be back now and the countdown is well and truly on to the North London Derby on Sunday. This is the kind of game where EVERYBODY has their say and, as a result, you get a proliferation of opinions, ‘hot takes’ and general vibes of how the game is going to unfold. I’ve already listened to the AOP guys talking to the Athletic bloke who covers The Scum, watched a tactical TikTok on social media (can’t find the link now) about how they need to leverage Kudus as their runner on counter, as well as checked out what Wrighty had to say with Neville on the prediction for the weekend.

I think the story of this weekend is going to be started to be told tomorrow, when the managers give their injury updates. Here’s me, all worried that we’re going to be decimated and we have a litany of problems, but then I started to have a look at them and it turns out they might have their own issues they have to deal with. You only have to have a quick look at the EPL injury table here to see how they’re getting on. We’re up to seven injuries with Big Gabi’s knock, but The Scum have supposedly 13! Maddison be know is a confirmed absence (which is good for us because we don’t have to see that annoying darts celebration if he scores). Kulusevski was one that was touted as a possible return but as of the end of October it was ‘he hasn’t started running on grass’. But you only have to look at this update (sorry) to see that actually, a lot of those 13 might be back for Sunday. That could also include Solanke, Davies, Dragusin, Bissouma, Gray, Bergvall, Kudus, Romero and Sarr. So suddenly you’re looking at 10 of that 13 possibly being back for this weekend. Whether they’re fit enough to start remains to be seen, but I suspect The Scum and Frank have been spending a fair bit of time behind closed doors putting those players through their paces so they are as close to being match fit as you can possible get.

But that could also be the same for us. We probably won’t even fully know tomorrow, as Arteta never rules anything out and will probably just give us something cryptic like “maybe we might have good news” or something like that. We know that Big Gabi is 99.9% out given the news. We know from Nagelsmann that Kai is probably also 99% out. Madueke feels like the one most likely to return and we got some noises before the international break that he could have potentially have played against Sunderland but they didn’t want to risk it. Gabriel Jesus is training, but I’ll be stunned if he even makes the bench give all the time he’s had out. I have a feeling and a hope that Gabriel Martinelli might be back, so immediately if you’ve got Madueke and him in, that gives us attacking options and depth on the flanks. But it’s through the middle that I worry, as Hand of Arsenal has already said:

See, now this worries me, because as admirable as Merino has played up front, we have seen his limitations compared to Gyokeres and if Kai is out, Arsenal aren’t risking him, so I think we’re going to end up having to use that as a solution on Sunday and I don’t think that stretches Romero and Van der Ven enough. That’s where I have my initial big fears ahead of this game. I fear that those two will have an easier afternoon if it’s Merino than if it’s Gyokeres, although perhaps that’s just me with my inherent and traditional biases? After all, what type of game do those two defenders like? They like a channel runner in attack like Big Vik because they can keep pace with him, do battle with him, win their duels against him. Merino dropping in and vacating space they normally occupy could force them to think differently and if that creates space for the likes of Saka, then great.

I’m also building up my irrational fear of the Scum away from home. They haven’t lost yet! It comes to something when part of me wishes we were playing this at their ground, because they’ve really struggled on home soil this season. Historically I always think of that game as the worst in the season and I hate it, but given their away form and propensity to sit in a low block and counter, I have some very real fears going on in my head.

It’s a little too early for the pundits predictions to start filtering through, which I suspect will be from today, as well as some of the forums in which there isn’t too much bubbling along just yet. That will all start kicking off and I’ll have another look along enemy lines tomorrow to see what that filth are talking about. But until then I’ll put a pause in today’s proceedings and I’ll be back tomorrow with some Friday feelings.

See you then.

***Quick post blog publish update***

Forgot to talk about the ending of the ‘Visit Rwanda’ deal. Jolly good stuff. It never quite sat well with me or a few of my match-going mates, so hopefully Arsenal do a better job in finding a more brand-aligned partner when that ends in the summer of next year.