At this stage, despite the noises of him being up for sale and Arsenal looking for a left-wing replacement, even Gabriel Martinelli being back is good news. With Leo gone, he’s now the de facto left winger. If Arsenal have a bit of a faceplant on the new left-wing signing, we have to look to him to up his output for next season. And whilst I am sure I am like you in thinking it’s probably best for him and the club to move on, I still have an affection for the player. I still want him to be successful. And if he has some pre-season games in which he performs well, maybe bags a goal or two, I think it helps all involved. It will help to put him in the shop window for prospective employers, might bump a fee up a little (as, we hope, will his winning goal in the World Cup knockout stages), but at worst it shows that he’s ready to be part of the team for the start of the new season. I’d have him playing this weekend against Girona – even though he’s only just checked in with the squad.

Hincapie is in there, Dowman, Big Vik, Ben White, Kai, Gabriel Jesus, Tzolis…heck, we’ve even been treated to a bit of Nelson and Viera. Getting the band back together boys and girls!

One person I will be interested to see a bit more of this summer is Ethan Nwaneri. I had a chat with Johnny about it on the recent crossover Dugout episode on the Arsenal Opinion Podcast (you can check the full episode out here), and it’s a curious case with young Ethan. I’m not sure any of us really know what to do with him. We all want him to succeed at The Arsenal; he’s a Hale Ender, he burst onto the scene with BANG BANG goal threat and an explosive dribble over 15 yards, but then last season became the forgotten man after he signed his deal last summer. The loan move to Marseille was a disasterclass in planning; anyone who’s anyone could have told you there’s an outside chance that De Zerbi could go thermonuclear at any moment, so whilst he’s a good coach, it was always going to be volatile. And so we didn’t get what we wanted, which was an Ethan Nwaneri with 20 games, five goals and five assists in France to his name, but rather a man that Habib Beye just said needs to train a little harder.

I’m not sold on Noni, and neither was Johnny on the pod, and I personally would give Ethan a go on that wing. The central spaces are just too congested, and if we have Bruno G landing on our doorstep any day now, then what does that say for Ethan? If Arteta only sees him as a central player, then his days look numbered. And that would be a real shame.

So what we need is for him to get hella minutes this summer, and maybe there can be a touch of the Saliba’s 2022 for him as he tries to wrestle a place in the squad from a more established guy. And why couldn’t he? Arteta has shown willingness with the likes of Saliba, because before that Ben White was our centre-half, plus we have a history of senior pro’s being displaced before we thought they might. Saka effectively ended Pepe’s career. Before him Bellerin took advantage of Debuchy’s injury. We have seen that if you are good enough, then you can push others out, and that’s what I’m hoping for Ethan. It might mean that somebody else sees less game time, but it is what it is.

I would try him at right wing, though. This summer, I mean, because Noni posted a picture of himself boarding a plane to get to pre-season training, which means he won’t be ready for Grona. Saka won’t be there; maybe Martinelli is just going to be able to do a 20-minute cameo, and besides, I already mentioned that he’s the left-wing guy, so why not Ethan on the right? I read/heard somewhere that internally at the club they don’t view Nwaneri as a winger; I would argue differently given what we saw two seasons ago. Try it again. He’s older, he looks like he’s filled out even more, he knows what Arteta expects from a pressing a defnesive duties perspective, so give him a chance to prove himself.

What I would say is that Arsenal shouldn’t feel the need to sell this summer. If there’s no space right now, let’s get him a good Premier League loan where there are clauses that mean he has to play 30 games. If he gets that, I think he could bang, and if he does, if we get another season of inconsistency from Madueke, then we have ourselves a ready-made understudy to Saka from 2027/28. It all feels too simple, right? That’s what happens when you play football on apps/PCs, I guess. But one thing’s for sure from my perspective: I really don’t want to hear that we’ve agreed a fee with another club for his servcies this summer. That would be the worst outcome for me as a fan.

Right, I’ll leave it there. I have to paint a brick wall and a back gate. Catch you all tomorrow. Think we’re going to do a Saturday morning Same Old Arsenal pod.

So, here we are again. Nothing. There’s no Bruno Guimaraes news – no bid, no “talks progressing”, not even a lazily-sourced “Arsenal are monitoring the situation” to chew on over a coffee. And then yesterday Sky went and confirmed the thing a few of us had already quietly braced ourselves for: Vinicius Junior is staying at Real Madrid. New deal, silly money, Mourinho wants him, Perez wants him. That’s that, then.

Three days ago I was making the case for him and recalibrating the dream XI like everyone else. Now the window’s gone flat again. So rather than bash out my four hundredth blog of the summer about how we need to spend some faaaakin’ money, I thought I’d do something a bit different today.

My mate Darren Berry has written a book – Arsenal – Champions Again Olé Olé, out through Legends Publishing – and he asked me to review it. I’ve read the lot. Here’s what I made of it.

He nearly didn’t write it at all

The best thing about this book is the reason it almost didn’t exist.

Back in November, with us top of the league and the North London Derby coming up, Darren’s publisher messaged asking if he fancied writing something about “the season you may actually win something”. His reaction was pure football supporter: absolutely not, because writing a book about the season would jinx it.

His rule, in capital letters, was: DO NOT WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THE FOOTBALL SEASON.

I loved that he opened with this, because it made me feel completely seen. We all do it. The lucky pants, the same pub, the same seat, the same walk from the tube. We know it’s nonsense. We do it anyway. As Darren puts it, logic and football supporters don’t exactly go hand in hand.

What he did instead is clever. He wrote it in what he calls “going all Netflix on you” – starting at the end, flashing back to August, then jumping forward to a present day that was actually last November. It shouldn’t work. It absolutely does, because you’re reading a bloke who doesn’t know how it ends, right up until the point where he does.

That’s the whole trick of the book. It isn’t a history written by someone who already knows we won it. It’s the nine months, in real time, with all the terror still in them.

The anxiety chapter is the best thing in it

There’s a section called “Moments” that I’d recommend to anyone, whether they support Arsenal or not.

Darren writes very openly about anxiety – the medication, the meditation, the lot – and how it taught him to stop and take a moment. Then he applies that to being an Arsenal fan in a title race. Football is supposed to be the escape from the real world, and somewhere along the way, for a lot of us, it stopped being one.

I liked where Darren talked about learning to appreciate the moments – Raya’s save against Brighton, the injury-time winner against Wolves, Rice chasing Harry Kane down and the whole ground going up – because it made me feel less mad about how much of last season I spent worrying instead of enjoying. He’s right. If we hadn’t won it, none of those moments would have counted. Because we did, every one of them was part of it.

His line about the Premier League trophy being a massive pair of noise-cancelling headphones is one I’ll be nicking, by the way.

The bit that got me

I wasn’t expecting a football book to knock me sideways, but there’s a chapter about his mate Gary Read – Gaz – who died last year at 46, before he got to see us do it.

Darren’s own tribute is lovely, but what makes it is that he hands the page over to Gaz’s mates and lets them all have a go. Some of it’s heartbreaking. Some of it’s exactly what you’d say about a bloke who’d taken the mickey out of you for a decade. One of them calls him the friendliest, most caring, funny, miserable so-and-so you’d ever meet, and you can hear him saying it.

I liked where Darren wrote about watching the 2014 FA Cup final with Gaz – every emotion a supporter feels in a lifetime, crammed into 120 minutes – because it made me think about the people I sit near in Block 5 and the ones I’ve shared this with over the years. That’s the actual thing, isn’t it? The football’s the excuse. The people are the point.

And then, because football is football, Eze gets paraded on the pitch on the very day Gaz’s family were there – and Gaz had a soft spot for Palace. You couldn’t write it.

The good, silly stuff

It’s not all heavy. It’s very funny.

Max Dowman is never just Max Dowman – he’s 15-YEAR-OLD MAX DOWMAN, then 16-YEAR-OLD MAX DOWMAN, always in capitals, and it gets funnier every time. There’s “Thursday’s Best Team in the World”. There’s a bit where he considers doing a North London Derby without a drink and concludes it’s like cutting your hands off to see how you cope brushing your teeth.

Best of all is the “Receipts Kept” box at the end of every month, where he simply prints what the pundits said and lets them hang themselves. Jamie O’Hara reckoning we invented the long throw. Joe Hart openly wanting City to win it. Martin Samuel crowning Liverpool in September. No commentary needed.

The chapter I didn’t expect

Darren worked as a stadium tour host at the Emirates for three years, and he writes about his last shift.

I liked where he talked about the fella from the States who sat in the dugout and burst into tears because visiting the Emirates was his lifelong dream, and about giving a terminally ill man called George the full VIP treatment – because it made me feel guilty about how easily I take it for granted. I moan about the queue for the tube. Some people save for years just to stand in an empty stadium.

Perry Groves – who also writes the foreword, drawing a neat parallel between what George Graham did in 1986 and what Arteta has done – tells him at the end of that last shift: “Don’t look back, Daz. No tears.”

Worth your money?

Yes. Easily.

If you want tactical breakdowns and xG charts, this isn’t it, and Darren tells you so up front. What you get instead is what it actually felt like to be an Arsenal supporter through those nine months. The fear, the pettiness, the daft superstitions, the hatred coming at us from every direction, the mates who weren’t there to see it, and then that Tuesday night in May when City drew at Bournemouth and 22 years just… stopped.

The last third, where he opens it up to Gooners around the world – a 75-year-old dad in tears in a pub, a woman refreshing score apps in California, a lass in a Brooklyn bar with Spike Lee – is worth it on its own.

Get it bought. It’s a proper Arsenal book, written by a proper Arsenal fan.

Right – back to refreshing the transfer news tomorrow. Something’s got to give eventually.

All jokes aside, whilst I have no problem with them bringing in elder statesmen like Henderson, we all love a bit of Welbz. Seeing him in the shirt of that reprehensible football club might sting a bit.

What we need is a bit of that good ol’fashioned transfer dopamine, but it doesn’t sound like it’s on the immediate horizon. And when it does come – possibly in the shape of Bruno G – we’ll have all been so saturated by the news and how it has rumbled on, that it doesn’t really ‘hit’ when it actually happens. I’m pretty sure every summer for the last five, maybe even ten, years I’ve written a blog like this. But that’s because every summer at some point it just feels like it. That time is now, and it’s with the Bruno G transfer, although I suspect the Vini Junior stuff might be the same if we don’t get some kind of black-and-white answer soon.

Supposedly that will happen this week. I think Arsenal just ned a call which goes something like “oh, ok, so you’re signing a new deal. Cool, we’ll move on”, or a Real Madrid WhatsApp sent to Berta saying “let’s start talking, because Vini Jr ain’t to us” type thing. Yesterday the news was that Real Madrid are looking at getting an answer one way or another this week. We all know how this works with these Spanish clubs; they set a deadline, the deadline is missed, they end up getting what they want anyway. I’m pretty sure it’s happened with a few of the Barca transfers, which is why I suspect Alvarez will end up there. Atleti say “no”, Barca set deadlines, but come August 31st, they’ll go back in and pay the money. It’s what just tends to happen.

John Stones was another one speculated on as a possible makeshift incoming whilst Saliba is out injured, but it looks like he’s off to Inter Milan, which makes a fair bit of sense. Slower league, less intensity, plus he’ll be more of a first-choice option than he would have at The Arsenal. The pitch to him from our side would have basically been “you’ve got until October mate, then it’s dead rubber Champions League, League Cup, or early-stages FA Cup games” – so I kind of get it.

It probably would have been higher wages anyway than we’d want to pay for a veteran England international who spends half the time on the treatment table. No, as I’ve said all along, we should not be looking at taking minutes off Mosquera. It’s time to give him the keys.

I do hope they are properly stress-testing both Timber and White’s robustness too. If both of those players even give us two-thirds or three-quarters of a season each, as long as they both aren’t out injured for the same period, then we have enough to cover. And besides, why not think Marli Salmon for some of those dead-rubber games, or League Cup, etc? He’ll be a year older; we all heard last season how the club rate him highly, so let’s have him in there as the third-choice understudy. I’d be cool with that.

I did read one rumour this morning which left a bit of sick in my mouth. Step forward, The Metro, with this abomination of a link to Christian Romero. Can you imagine? A complete nutcase, who isn’t even a great defender, is a walking yellow card, plays for ‘The Bad Guys’ of international football in Argentina, plus he has a really shit nickname – “Cuti”. Bleugh. Last night’s linguine feels like it’s coming back up to say hello.

Please – Richard Garlick, Mikel, Stan, Josh, and anyone who has anything to do with transfers – I beg you to not even countenance such a move. I can’t think of one Arsenal fan who would want this – even if he’s a third-choice option. The Scum probably wouldn’t sell to us anyway, but for £42million+? Give over.

I need a palate-cleanser after that. How about this interview with Szczesny saying that he’s still an Arsenal fan and loves The Arsenal. I know it’s in Polish, but you still get the gist. Why can’t we buy him off Barca for a couple of mil? They can have Kepa, then we can bring Moj back home to understudy Raya? That would be a wholesome move that, in an inverse of the Romero links, would have the nostalgia gland activated for any Arsenal fan.

Look at me, 800 words in and all I can talk about it a reserve keeper at Barcelona saying he loves The Arsenal. Shows how slow the news is.

Tomorrow I might do a book review I’ve been sent. Will come back to you on that. Until then, stay awesome.

We all already knew, in reality, because we’ve been hearing the stories from the French press. But as an Arsenal fan, you still await to hear about it via the official site, which is as expected in its vagueness. I get it though; they’re hardly going to say “we have no real idea of an exact timeline, but we’re saying around three months”, because if it’s more than that then the club will just get a pasting for misleading people.

The frustrating thing above everything else is that back injuries are notoriously difficult to predict. We all remember how his injury derailed any hope we had of winning the league in 2022/23. That injury sustained at home to Sporting Lisbon had him out from 16th March 2023 until 20th June – a solid 97 days – and had him missing 15 games in total. Now, I guess the good news out of this is that surgery is not needed, because if it was, I would be guessing that we wouldn’t be seeing him until February next year. Heck, it could potentially derail his whole season, so we have to look at some small measures of positivity here. But it is still a massive blow. He’s one of the world’s best defenders, and there is no way to replace him. But, much like with Kai last season, the club has to find a way to augment the squad so we can mitigate that loss somehow. Last season the club moved quickly to switch their thoughts towards Eze and getting the job done, when it was clear Kai would be out for an extended period too, so if we can do the same again here that would be useful. If Saliba’s back injury is similar to 2022/23, circa 100 days puts us at 31st October from today. So we’ll be needing somebody for the first nine games of the season the Premier League, plus League Cup and Champions League games.

I’m still a fan of giving Mosquera a go. And, as I said on Tuesday, if Timber and White are fully fit then I still believe we have the numbers. I also think that for some games last season – admittedly only one or two – Norgaard was an able third-choice centre half. So we have numbers. But many Arsenal fans will ask about quality. Personally, I can’t be having a 28-year-old Ezri Konsa for circa £40million. That sort of money needs to be reserved for the big purchase if you ask me. But what I could get behind is a deal for free-transfer John Stones. James from Gunnerblog reported that Arsenal would be looking at somebody like that, and the Standard has backed that up with words Arteta has talked previously about the centre-back here. If Stones can be persuaded – and I say that only because he’ll know that he isn’t first choice here – to join us, I think it would make perfect sense.

For Stones, he joins the Champions, reunited with somebody he knows well, playing right at the top level having left Man City.

For The Arsenal, they get a Premier League-ready centre-half, good ball distribution, a very accomplished player with plenty of experience of winning things, who can provide decent cover.

The questions that stop this from being a ‘no-brainer’, however, are:

• Will Stones get more game time at somewhere like Chelsea, with whom he is also linked?
• What does that mean for Mosquera’s pathway?
• What sort of shape is his body in at 32, given that last season he missed 24 games through injury, the season before it was 34, and the season before that it was 14 again.

That final bullet is the big one for me. It’s all fine and dandy if Stones starts the season and is fit for the first 15 or so matches, because that takes us into around October/November and hopefully a returning Saliba, but if he plays two or three games at the start and breaks down, we’re lumbered with another player on the treatment table and the same situation we are in now.

It’s a tricky one for The Arsenal, but I’d still be tempted to do it. If it’s low wages, he plays backup to Mosquera or he’s used in the ‘smaller’ games, then I’m kind of ok with it.

The other news was the leaked image of Christos Tzolis from HandOfArsenal, so I expect we’ll get something either today or tomorrow, because he appears to have done his medical and pictures, so we just need the announcement now. Will be interesting to see what he says about joining the actual biggest club in London.

There’s some stuff from yesterday about Newcastle being ‘frustrated‘ with the Guimaraes situation, which I understand if Arsenal still haven’t opened talks, to be honest. Last summer we loved a bit of Berta plate-spinning, but we’re at the stage now where he has to pick a plate and grab it. It cheeses all parties off by the sounds of it, not just the Arsenal fans. If the deal’s there to be done at £75million, just do it I say. Then let’s focus on that wide-left forward position to complete our summer stuff (after the centre-half replacement.

Right, I’m going to leave it there for today, as I have a busy one in the City. I may or may not blog tomorrow, depending on how sore my head is – if you know what I mean…

So catch you either tomorrow or Saturday. Have a grand one, peeps.

Argentina – you should be pretty disappointed with your national team players. They let you down. However, after some of the pictures and videos I’ve seen of Argentinian fans, perhaps some of them are not?

I’ll be honest, though, I was definitely thinking “bad guys do often win” when the game went to extra time. Spain had dominated possession; they’d had all the chances (Argentina didn’t even muster a shot until extra time – pathetic), they’d had a perfectly good goal ruled out for an invisible foul on Mikel Merino, and after Enzo Fernandez was sent off for doing Enzo Fernandez things, you just knew it would make Argentina retreat even further into their own box. England and Tuchel rightly got pilloried for the tactical disasterclass in the second half of the second half of the semi final, but Scaloni and team should also receive the same treatment, because it was clear even before Enzo was sent off in stoppage time, that they had no intention of having a go at Spain. It was all about trying to fein injury, fall to the floor, kick players, then if touched, fall to the floor and try to buy free kicks. To be fair to the referee, I think ultimately he managed to keep a bit of a handle on the game, although he probably could have dished out a few yellows a little earlier.

This was meant to be Messi’s last hurrah. The Argentinians all thought it was destiny; they were pre-ordained to win this competition. But you have to actually play football to win, and they did nothing of the sort, with the whole world watching. And as a result of their antics, I think everyone was a Spain supporter for last night. They certainly were after the game had finished and the shameful scenes that unfolded. I’ll come to that in a second. Because first, we should talk about how Argentina have basically sh*thoused their way to this final, they’ve ridden the coat-tails of some VERY favourable decisions, and as I’ve already said on this blog, have a team of very unlikeable players – bar Messi.

But even Messi was at it yesterday. I think Cucurella is a little rat bag, but asking for him to be sent off because he put his hand to his mouth to explain to Messi where the Spanish player was hurt…man, Leo, that’s low mate.

But don’t worry, others could stoop lower in that team. Simeone Junior was his usual twattish self, Enzo was ridiculous with his foul for his second (deserved) yellow to send him for an early bath, then Paredes…wow…what a Class A wrong’un you showed yourself to be. Grabbing people’s throats, throwing punches, plus you should have been sent off during the game anyway! The Argentinians will have made no friends based on their World Cup showing, and I couldn’t have been happier to see their team crying. You thoroughly got what you deserved.

As for Spain, you have to say congrats, as they’ve shown they are clearly the best team in the tournament, and we even got to see a bit of Zubimendi get on the pitch too. I watched a little bit of the trophy celebrations afterwards, but didn’t get to the end of the lift, because giving Unai Simon the ‘best goalkeeper’ award, when he’s not even the best one in the Spanish team, was laughable. Still, there’s a nice picture of Raya, Zubi and Merino all together, which I had to steal for today’s blog image. Nice stuff.

Now it is time for rest, and time for transfer pre season stress to kick in, in earnest. Because once the dust settles after today, I think globally there will be plenty of consternation on the faces and in the minds of Arsenal fans. We find ourselves just under two weeks from the first pre-season game away to Girona, and there still isn’t a new signing in (Hincapie doesn’t count, neither does Meslier – not really). Tzolis will probably provide a little transfer window injection when he arrives this week, but having listened to a number of the regular Arsenal pods that are out there yesterday on my run, there’s a lot of concern about the Morgan Rogers stuff. I still stand by the fact that I’m pretty calm about it, but we do need to start hearing noises about names that we’ve looked to pivot towards. I saw Fabrizio Romano talk about Diomande at Leipzig, which sounds cool, but all the noises so far are that PSG wants him. And that is apparently true in return, which all makes it seem a little Julian Alvarez to Barca-like; if we’re playing second-fiddle to these teams by players, it hardly sends that great message about how we only pick players who are 100% hot on Arsenal and Arteta’s project. Players who view us as a second choice? That’s something we haven’t had since the Wenger ‘Top Four is a trophy’ days, and I think we all thought we were beyond that?

Let’s see what starts to shake out now. Players will all be on holiday, but I suspect they’ve all kept their phones on in case they get calls from agents, so I expect we’ll start to see a concentrated period of noise as the ITKs go into overdrive with the season about a month away.

Back tomorrow. Enjoy your Monday, whatever you’re doing.

Last night’s ‘HandBomb’ was that Morgan Rogers is advancing, and talks aren’t expected to be a problem. Apparently, the two clubs are in discussion, as I was speculating about yesterday, it looks like Villa is making moves to get their replacements going, too. My view on it remains that how ‘good’ this deal is, is dependent on the fee we pay. There are people out there who will say, “Well, it isn’t your money so what do you care?”, but my contention that is that it should matter to Arsenal fans. We don’t have a bottomless pit of cash, the PSR rules are such that we can’t just blow £500million on players anyway, so if you go hard and heavy on one player, it could mean you aren’t able to secure a player on a certain fee in another position. The difference between a Rogers at £100million and a Rogers at £130million could be a young prospect we miss out on.

So yeah, the fees does matter, in my opinion.

There’s also the whole “£72million Nicholas Pepe” curse that we are all very familiar with. That fee we paid for the Ivorian was a millstone around his neck. If Elliot Anderson isn’t essentially Rodri 2.0, he’ll be deemed a ‘waste of money’ at £116million, rival clubs to City will ‘banter’ City for the figure they paid, and it heaps more pressure on a player. We all thought with Declan Rice that he might suffer from the £105million price tag, but that quickly was kicked into touch, with us now even mocking the fact we got him ‘half price’. So if the rumoured fee of £130million is true, then personally I’d hope Arsenal start to look elsewhere. Transfermarkt has his value at €90million, which is about £76.5million. If Villa were to get £100million for him, that’s more than a fair deal, I’d think.

I like Rogers as a player, I really do. I remember in the last two seasons against us, he’s looked particularly dangerous on several fronts. He’s somebody who will have a shot from distance, he’s a guy who can take on a player or two, and, I think, two seasons ago in particular at Villa Park, every time he picked up the ball, he looked like he could hurt us. But I am still a bit bemused as to how he’s being deployed if he signs. Centrally? If so, where? Left eight? Left wing? Last season, to be fair, he started 14 times on the left wing, and got five goals, so as opposed to Eze, where we thought he was going to be the left-wing choice and then nothing of the sort happened, perhaps you could see this as something he is deployed as?

He also got five assists there, and played left wing in Villa’s home win against us, although I must confess I don’t 100% remember how he played last season. He bagged two goals against both West Ham and Man United over Christmas as a left winger, and when Villa were running crazily hot last season over their xG, I’m pretty sure it was he who was a big reason for that.

I like his athleticism too, something called out in this video, which I watched earlier. I can see why Mikel would want somebody with the physical profile that he has; the Premier League is a very physical league, full of battles and duels that have to be won all over the pitch, so if you have somebody like Rogers, you know you’re getting a dual monster and battler.

I still can’t help but think about how this works with the team at the moment, though. Does this mean Martinelli goes? If that’s the case, then we don’t really have any touchline wingers anymore. Tzolis is about to arrive, he’s right-footed, but players on the left are going to be somebody who wants to come into the field more, but I guess the counter to this point is that Martinelli was never really massively impressive as a touchline winger as it is. He found his best form coming in from the left, and I think Arteta has tried to push that out of him when he’s played, so if we get both Rogers and Tzolis, it will be interesting to see what job Arteta asks both of them to do on the left.

The other final bit of news is that apparently Barca have set a deadline of the end of this month for their offer for Alvarez to join them. Honestly, that club are a bunch of pr*cks, with their ultimatum. If you want the player so bad, pay the money, instead of constantly trying to low ball teams. They did it for years with us, now they’re doing it with Atleti. I hope the Spanish capital side stay firm. Or better, sell him to us foir cheaper than barca offered. That would really piss them off.

But for now it just feels like that one is probably one in which Arsenal need to just have a ‘watching brief’ on. There’s no point in moving for him whilst the circus is in town and ringmaster Laporta is playing his games in the press. Just leave it be and see if Barca do indeed walk away.

Right, that’s me done for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with more thoughts. There’s that pointless ‘Bronze place’ trophy this evening. I just hope no Arsenal players see a single minute. Play all those that haven’t played much, except The Arsenal boys, thanks.

Catch you all tomorrow. Have a good one.

Sure, he faltered in Norwich, but given that he was 19 when he moved to Norwich, you can hardly blame him for not quite hitting the mark. It happens. What I do have faith in, however, is that Arsenal and Arteta have done a fair bit of work to make sure that he’s going to be given the best chance to succeed. Sure, there have been a few that haven’t worked out, like Fabio Vieira, but even he had some moments. Hopefully, Christos can hit the ground running, and we start to see some positive sparks in pre-season.

I think for him, too, having that pre-season with the team by virtue of the fact that he’s in through the door ‘relatively’ early, is a big plus point. He can get himself settled in, have a full Arsenal pre-season, then try to hit the ground running from day one of the proper kick-off to the season. I read somewhere that he’d already started his pre-season with Genk, so the fact that he’s maybe already into some form of training now can only stand him in good stead.

And if you believe what Fabrizio Romano says about Morgan Rogers, then Arsenal are going to chivvy that move along now too, with noises that Villa are lining up replacements for the England international as well. I guess that’s what needs to happen if this particular domino needs to fall, but I hope that if Villa do get their replacements in, that we can see Arsenal suddenly have a bit more of a position of strength in the bidding process. £130million – which is what I saw quoted as what Villa want a month or so ago – is ludicrous. If they’ve already made their signings and replacements, then Arsenal don’t have to pay that amount. They got a relatively modest fee for Tielemens, which won’t massively help their attempts at whatever they call PSR these days, if this article is to be believed, as well as this article too. Villa have apparently had an offer accepted (or will be) for £38million for Joao Gomes. They’re about to sign Manzanbi for £50million+, so if they do that and then they want to try and hardball Arsenal, they could just walk away and leave Villa with a conundrum to solve.

That won’t happen, I don’t think, but if we’re talking about a deal around the £100million mark, then Arsenal will probably do it. The transfers have gone crazy this summer, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all, and when Mikel Arteta is hot on a player, we know he usually gets him.

The questions will still remain where the hell he’ll play. He’s not a left winger. He played against Argentina as a right winger, but I haven’t seen that too often from him to suggest that wide forward is where he can take it to the next level. There’s no doubt he’s a quality addition to the squad, but I’m still doing a little bit of mental gymnastics on how this is going to work.

It feels to me like his arrival all but secures an exit from a central player. That ain’t gonna be the captain, I doubt it’ll be Eze after just one season, and Mikel Merino has shown this World Cup how he can be valued as a rotation option. All eyes are on Ethan then, unfortunately, and I suspect that when Rogers arrives, we all might have to face some hard facts about a player with whom we all had so many hopes would break into the first team.

I don’t know about you guys, but it does feel to me as though the wheels are now turning with regard to transfers. It was always going to be that case with the World Cup getting in the way, but all of a sudden the transfer window is springing to life and, with pre-season and friendlies still a few weeks’ away, that’s positive to hear. There was plenty of hand-wringing going on a week ago over our lack of signings, but personally, I always felt that we’d see movement once we get to this part of the summer. That’s how it’s played out and as long as we start rolling along in the next week or two, I suspect most Gooners will calm down a bit.

Right, that’s me done for the day – I’ve got a bunch of household chores and a weekend of golf to think about with the family, so better get myself prepped – I’ll be swinging like a rusty door when I pick those clubs up later.

Catch you all tomorrow.

So we have both Kai and newly confirmed Arsenal signing Pierro Hincapie both happy. Which is nice. On Hincapie, the club announced the deal for around £ 34.5 million. I think when you think about his impact last season, that sort of money is a real bargain. The reality is probably that we paid a chunky loan fee to Leverkusen first, so both parties will be happy; Arsenal get to (through back channels) parade this as a bit of a steal, but Leverkusen still get a decent fee and what they wanted for a player who helped them to win the Bundesliga two seasons ago.

The other games in the World Cup really haven’t piqued my interest enough to talk about in any great depth. But then again, that’s the problem with this expanded format. There are just too many ‘meh’ games, and the number of people that I’ve spoken to who have just said they aren’t bothering to watch until it gets to the knockouts really does show you just what a farce this competition has been. I’d love to think that it will force FIFA and that odious cretin Infantino to change their ways, but he/they have probably made so much money by ad breaks and more teams and games, that he really doesn’t care.

So instead, let’s turn our attention back to the Premier League, in which the big news was Elliot Anderson to Man City for £130million. Wow. That is just a mental figure. I bet Newcastle are kicking themselves, because two years ago Forest paid them around £35million, and they’ve just made a £95million profit. That weirdo Maranakis will be delighted.

As for the player, that’s a big move, a huge move in fact. And for mega money. And I have mixed feelings about it. That sort of money is Balon d’Or-level money; you should be getting a player who is going to completely change their world. When Rice signed for us, people questioned the deal, said the pressure was a lot, but Rice was a year older than Anderson when he signed, had been established in the West Ham team for about five years, had played multiple positions, was an England regular, and I think everybody knew what a leader he was. Anderson has some similarities; he’s seldom injured (picked up a big back injury for Newcastle in 2023/24, which kept him out for many months, but that’s it), but I’m not sure whether he’s as good as that price tag suggests. Sky Sports are running some articles showing how he was first in the Premier League last season for ball recoveries, duels won, fouls won, etc, but in a Nottingham Forest side who sit deeper and has to do a lot more defending than Arsenal, those numbers are obviously going to favour him a little more.

Man City have gone big, they’re clearly after a Rodri replacement, and he’s the best one out there to be fair. But that price is still a little mental to me. What it will do as well, which is the frustrating thing, is mean that every other deal this summer is going to be compared against this one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Morgan Rogers’ supposed circa £80million transfer now becomes Villa saying they want over £100million for the guy. There are also rumours about Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, who don’t want to sell, so they’ll also want that sort of money too. One of the things that Arsenal have been good at in recent years is finding Premier League-proven talent and bringing them on in the team. Ben White, David Raya, Declan Rice, and Leandro Trossard – all have been bought from within the league and have done really well. But whilst Arsenal aren’t against forking out big cash on players if they think they are the right fit, I don’t think we will be ‘had’.

It’s why I wonder if this Anderson move might have a knock-on effect for getting in talent from overseas. There’s no doubt not going to be the same premium that is paid for a Premier League player, and an English-taxed one too, so I can understand why there is plenty of noise about Berta putting his fingers in lots of pies over land and sea right now.

The good news for us is that we are in the market from a position of strength. We have a deep squad, we have a quality squad, we are the champions. We aren’t in a position like some of the times over the years where we’ve felt like we had to get a move on with massive upgrades in the squad to compete; that’s what everyone else is saying about us. That’s comforting to know. It’s also comforting to have trust in the manager and the whole club to make the right choices. The title win has now meant they have officially earned it. I think most of us trusted them before, going back the last couple of summers, but now it has been rubber-stamped. And that’s nice.

Right, I’m done for now, so I’ll catch you tomorrow – let’s see what comes out of another day of heat in the UK.

Laters.

Why am I telling you this? Well, obviously, because that’s what’s happened today, but it’s also a question I’ve played with in my head. That question is:

If you could only guarantee one signing this summer for The Arsenal, what would it be?

It’s the sort of ‘in the pub’ question that is always an interesting one to start a debate, and whilst I can’t exactly start said debate through this one-way medium, I hope that if you are reading this today, or any day, that you pop your thoughts in the comments. It’ll be interesting to know what you’re thinking.

First, some ground rules, though, like any good ‘in the pub’ chat. You have to pick a realistic player. Somebody that Arsenal might actually sign. We’re not getting in a DeLorean and signing peak Messi. We’re not going to pay Mbappe’s wages and fee (and, frankly, I don’t think Arteta would want him if I’m honest). We can debate over how much a player will cost, but it’s your choice as to who you’d like in that one position, as it is my choice to dump down my thoughts onto this page here today.

But, as I am my mother’s son (she was an A-Level maths teacher), I will endeavour to at least walk you through my thinking as best I can, exploring all my options, before finally settling on my one choice. I did this for The Same Old Arsenal podcast the season before last, in which I got my mates on the show to talk about one player they’d want to sign, one to sell, and one that they thought would ‘bang’ in the upcoming season. This is a bit of a shorter version of that summer series.

So, firstly, the position. Where do we need to strengthen the most? There’s no doubt that if Ben White disappears, we’ll need another right back. Mosquera is a good option, but it feels like a third-choice option, much like Myles is at left-back, now that he’s found his home in central midfield. Mosquera is number two at right centre-back, number three at right-back, and I think that means plenty of game time for him. And, if the noises of Kepa having a £ 5 million release clause are true, somebody might punt for him, and we might find ourselves needing a new ‘keeper. But these don’t feel like the most pressing problems. Remember the summer in which we only signed Cech? That’s kind of what I am thinking about, and if that’s the parameters of this game, I can’t be going for a backup right-back, even if the news about Jurrien Timber being sent home from the Dutch National team are true – we just need to get Ben fit and ready for the start of the season at this rate.

***As a quick aside from our ‘pub chat’, that is a bit of a concern, because if they don’t think he can play a part until the latter stages, which would be mid-July, Arsenal must be more than a little worried about his participation for the start of next season***

I think the emergence of MLS as a central midfield option secures that part of the pitch. I also think that Merino being back adds versatility across multiple positions, including in attack, so whilst my first instinct was that I think we need somebody to replace Gabriel Jesus and shift Gyokeres one notch down on the pecking list of strikers (I still think he gets plenty of game time, by the way), I can’t stop looking at that left-wing position and thinking that’s where we need to have our number one priority.

Which is why I’m still more than a little confused about the Morgan Rogers and Morgan Gibbs-White rumours that have emerged. Two fine players, Rogers particularly bagged plenty of goals for Villa last season, but neither of those players has spent any significant time in at left wing. We’ve seen that Arteta is unwilling to shift Eze there last season, and given he’s only one year into his Arsenal career, I doubt he’ll be jettisoned after a pretty decent season last time out. The only other option if you’re signing somebody like Rogers or Gibbs-White – who has not played left-wing at all last season – is if there’s going to be a big sale like Odegaard being moved on. I just don’t see that. He leads our press, he’s the captain, and whilst I know Arteta is a ruthless man in the pursuit of success, I just don’t see this being a thing this season. It feels more likely that Arteta would phase Odegaard out over time, rather than completely cold-shoulder him.

So for me, personally, I hope these are red-herring news reports, as Arsenal look to pull off some kind of mega deal on the left wing. But what are the options? Well, according to TransferMarkt, we’re looking at:

• Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
• Vinicius Junior
• Yan Diomande
• Kenan Yıldız
• Matheus Cunha

That’s the top five, for which I think, if we’re all honest now, we’re unlikely to get at least three of those. I don’t see a world in which PSG part with Mr Unpronounceable-to-an-Englishman, Vini Junior isn’t moving from Real unless pushed, whilst Cunha is at United and even they will fight to keep him. This fella Diomande looks good though. Rapid, good with the ball at his feet, 13 goals and 10 assists and a ‘Rookie of the Year’ award in the Bundesliga. My initial thoughts on somebody like that are that the Bundesliga doesn’t really fully translate to the Premier League, but at 19, he’s going to get better, and given we haven’t had an Ivorian for a few years, I’m starting to like that as an option. He looks – by his numbers, like he’s a dribbler and somebody who can beat a man, and it does feel as though we need somebody like that on that left-hand side. Martinelli seems to have lost that verve when it comes to creating a bit of chaos, so perhaps it’s time that we did look to somebody new, fresh, with a new approach and ideas.

The challenge we might have is that it sounds like Liverpool have been close to this for a while, so I suspect they’ve already done enough groundwork. It doesn’t mean we can’t ‘swoop in’, but Liverpool aren’t Tottenham, so it might be a little too late.

I’m somebody who always leans towards that younger talent that you can then mould and, if it doesn’t work out, sell on – which is also why I’m not as hot on the two Morgan’s. They don’t play in the position we need the most, they are a little on the older side, and it does feel like we might need somebody to stake a claim in that left-wing spot as their primary position. I do think one of Martinelli or Trossard might go this summer, so if you’re asking me to pick my choice, it’d be this fella at Leipzig.

But what’s your call? Who are you thinking might be ‘the one’ that you want this summer? Let me know in the comments.

And inevitably, things will now start to turn to “how do we go one better?” with regards to Europe, but also how we keep our rivals at arm’s length. It does feel like there is a massive opportunity for us next season, given the transitional state of so many clubs in the Premier League. I was asked to give my views for BBC Sport on what risks Arteta might need to take to ensure we remain at the summit next season. As I said in the piece, this doesn’t have to be a revolution. There will need to be some churn; we will need to lose some players that we all love, but we also need to have faith that those who come in could be even better.

What are the risks our rivals might be fearing, though?

Let’s go down the league by placement and have a look at where each team are, shall we?

Man City

New manager and uncertainty over whether or not key players will remain. Maresca is a guy who, I think, will do a good job at City, but will he be able to drive them as much as Guardiola? Will he instigate the same period of dominance that they had before? And will the players react to him the way they did with Pep? How does following arguably the greatest ever manager in the history of English football play out for Maresca? There’s no doubt he’s in the right mould; he was in Pep’s team for a few years and so clearly knows the infrastructure well enough, but IS that enough?

He’s also got players like Rodri – a key pillar in this team – talking about “Anything related to my future will wait until after the World Cup.” – that’s hardly a ringing endorsement that everything is tip-top, is it?

I haven’t even mentioned the 115…

Man United

A lot is being made about the resurgence of United under Carrick, but it is well documented that they played the least number of games a team could play in a season. They were knocked out in the third round of the FA Cup at the first attempt for them, and the same in the EFL Cup, meaning they effectively played on average one game per season for the whole season. That will surely not happen next season. Michael Carrick will have a whole season to deliver, not just the new manager bounce approach, and I know that there are some fans who are wondering whether this is a bit of Solskjaer going on. To be fair to him, I think he’s a little more tactically astute than the Norwegian, but let’s just wait to see what happens when the first couple of defeats pop up for United, after they’ve played in the Champions League and the Premier League and haven’t had any rest time. Luke Shaw played the most amount of games for them – can he stay fit? Will Bruno Fernandez have another stat-padding season at 31-years-old? Casemiro played 35 times, and he’s off. They have a fair few questions that need to be answered, methinks.

Aston Villa

Villa are a weird one, because they’re just as likely to have another storming season as they are to absolutely crash under Emery. Do they kick on from a Europa League win? Well, they’re in the Champions League now, and so the rotation of their squad will not be as easy as it is in Europe’s second competition. When they were in the Champions League last season, they finished sixth, although it was a final-day defeat to Man United away that stopped them from getting into the Champions League, as Newcastle took the top spot. But if the news of us sniffing around Morgan Rogers is true, then if they lose him, that is a big threat disappearing from their team. In all competitions this season, he got 14 goals and 12 assists from midfield. Replacing that could be hard, unless Villa can resist any team overtures (it won’t just be us interested). They reported healthy profits off the back of the Champions League last season, but the Europa League run won’t have given them as much (as this article points out). I don’t know enough about Villa’s financial position to know whether they will be able to resist one or two big names being picked up.

Liverpool

With Slot gone, they’ll pick up Iraola, who could turn out to be a really good move. I like him; I think he is a clever guy who has done wonders at Bournemouth, but does that translate to Liverpool? I actually think it is a better move than if they’d have gone for Alonso, because Iraola knows the league. But there is no Salah. Virgil van Dijk turns 35 in July and has played in every Premier League game. Time catches up with us all. Tony Adams retired at age 35. At 34-years old and in the 2000/01 season, he played 38 games in all competitions. In the 2001/02 season, he made 13 appearances in all competitions, as age and injuries caught him up. That might not happen to van Dijk, but I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I’d find plenty of examples to show that around that age, the pace, the injuries and other aspects catch up with players. Konate still has an uncertain future, Robertson is gone, Leoni had a long-term injury, Joe Gomez is injury-prone, as is Bradley, and Frimpong seems to be a guy the Liverpool fans don’t trust as much. Ekitike was a good buy. Isak may suddenly find himself not injured, but there are so many questions about Liverpool that Iraola is going to have to deal with.

I’m not going to go through the whole league, so I’ll leave it there for today, but Bournemouth have a new manager, Sunderland and Brighton have to contend with European football, Chelsea finished 10th for Christ’s sake! So when you look at where we are right now, you have to say it feels like we’re in a good place.

Let’s just hope the club makes the right moves this summer to put us in an even more commanding position.

Catch you all tomorrow.

I was genuinely blown away by the sheer volume of Arsenal fans who took to the streets of London.

From the moment The Management and I stepped onto the Met Line train at 10.40 am yesterday, the train was packed. Arsenal fans were everywhere. By the time we got to King’s Cross, the tube was standing room only. It was crazy.

Then, as we decided to walk from King’s Cross, we realised that everyone was making the same decisions. Arsenal fans were arriving from every side road, from every corner, more and more. I’ve never seen anything like it. All ages, races, colours and creeds took to the streets to celebrate that first Premier League trophy since 2004. It was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

We went for a lovely pub lunch, we celebrated with champagne, and we made our way to Upper Street. It was a festival atmosphere with cheering and singing, and that was something so nice to behold.

The parade itself, from my perspective, was a shambles, though. People on the street we were on broke a tree. By the time the bus came along, I was 100 deep from Upper Street. And everyone got their phones out. I got a glimpse of the bus for about 10 seconds. It was a shambles, if I’m honest. Some of that was on me; we’d thought that it wouldn’t be as bad, but where we were located was some of the busiest roads, and in the end, it felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

We did meet one of The Management’s old school friends, though, as well as go to her cousin’s new flat on Islington Park Road, so that was lovely. And we chatted to a nice couple who were bringing their three kids along, which was also really nice to see, as the kids all had different iterations of the Arsenal jerseys over the years. The youngest had the 1998 shirt, the next one had the 1999 one that always reminds me of Emmanuel Petit and those long flowing locks of his. So whilst the experience of the bus part was actually the low point of the day, the fact that this was a celebration of the Arsenal community, and a reminder of the size of our football club, was a really great spectacle to behold.

If I could have my time again I would probably do things differently, but there you go.

I’ve decided to keep today’s blog relatively short, because I am going to watch plenty of footage from other people and live vicariously through their pictures rather than mine. But now the work for Mikel Arteta goes into trying to do that all over again domestically next year, whilst also going one better in the Champions League.

Back tomorrow with some more thoughts. Catch you then.

Last season I actually went into the semi-final in a pretty confident mood. We’d beaten PSG pretty well at home, we’d already managed to vanquish Real Madrid in the previous round, so “why not PSG?” I thought. Of course, they showed us that they are made of different stuff and dispatched us in both games, scoring some pretty decent goals, to be fair. At the time, Mikel Arteta said we were the better side over the two legs, and I think you can certainly make the case for it:

• Merino’s offside goal was tight
• Dembele shins one in off the post
• Donnarumma made several fantastic saves, particularly in the second leg, where we had nearly 3 xG versus PSG’s 1.7 – of which they scored two goals.

I also think that our injury problems didn’t help. In the first leg, we played Trossard as a centre forward because we had Havertz, Jesus, AND Merino out injured, so it’s fair to say we were quite significantly underpowered for that semi. I mean, when you look at the bench, you get that feeling even more – youth team players like Butler-Oyedeji, Henry-Francis, and Kabia all made the bench last season. We were beset by injuries, and it took its toll.

This season is different, and different for a variety of reasons, for sure. Let’s start with the options Arteta has at his disposal. I’ve just mentioned that we had a bench of youth team players in that semi-final. That won’t happen this evening. We did the Same Old Arsenal preview pod last night, and Amanda and I couldn’t agree on the starting line-up, but one thing we could agree on is that it is great that we have such strength in depth. For example, this would be my lineup tonight:

Raya

Timber – Saliba – Gabriel – Calafiori

MLS

Odegaard – Rice

Saka – Havertz – Trossard

That would be my line-up, but think about who could still play a part from the bench:

• Mosquera
• Hincapie
• Zubimendi
• Eze
• Madueke
• Martinelli
• Gyokeres
• Dowman
• Merino

You can name ten players on the bench for the Champions League matches. That’s nine I’ve just mentioned there, let alone factoring in Norgaard and Gabriel Jesus. If you factor in that you have to name two goalkeepers, there are going to be three players from that list who can’t even make the bench. That’s strength in depth. It’s very different from last season.

What’s also different, too, is that I am not going into this one expecting us to win it. I said on the preview pod 1-0 to The Arsenal, that’s what my heart wants to go with, but PSG and their firepower in attack make them the bookies’ favourite. They are the ones that are expected to retain this trophy; they are the ones who took their chances against us last season, they are the ones the neutrals will expect to win. In some perverse sense, that makes me feel more at ease about the game. It takes the pressure off. I suspect part of that is because we’ve won the league. We are already champions and winners, and there will be a parade tomorrow regardless of what happens tonight.

And I hope that the fact that the players are already Premier League winners has also unlocked them, too. Rice and Saka spoke about the fact that they feel that the weight has been lifted. They can say they are winners now. They will feel a little taller. And that confidence going into this game is huge. I hope they can play with the freedom that will surprise PSG. I hope we get the best version of The Arsenal today. And I think we will.

I also think the fact that Arteta was able to rest players last week is huge. Saka, Rice, Odegaard, Eze, Raya, Gabriel, and Saliba – all have basically not played many minutes for nearly two weeks. Any potential fatigue we could be thinking about for the team, any emotional strain, was immediately lifted on 19th May after City dropped points at Bournemouth – 11 days ago. They’ve had 11 days to prepare and focus themselves, whilst also celebrating the Premier League win. They go into this game an inch or two taller.

So whilst PSG are the favourites, they probably do edge it in terms of quality, there’s enough there for these Arsenal players to suggest that we might be able to do something special tonight. And I have no idea how I would react if we did. The Premier League trophy celebration tomorrow was enough for me, so the fact that this could happen tonight, I’m not sure what I’ll do or how I’ll react. It’ll be crazy after the game if we do win. I’m going to the screening with The Management this evening at the Emirates, the party kicking off if we win will be immense. I’d love to be part of that. I pray I can.

That’s all that needs to be said for today. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be nerve-biting, but it is a chance for those players to etch themselves into Arsenal’s long history, to be woven into the fabric of the club for eternity.

Go out there and Make it Happen, lads. We’re all behind you.

Up The Arsenal.

But as the countdown begins, as I start to see more and more tactical preview shows, I guess it is time to put those game faces on and start to look at what lies ahead of us on Saturday evening.

It’s a scary prospect. I mean, sure, they play in a Mickey Mouse league that they’ve just won by six points and have been coasting for the last few weeks, enabling them to focus on the Champions League prep, but they are still a thoroughly impressive side. And we will – by the sounds of every European football expert out there – find ourselves as underdogs on Saturday. They have spent the season resting players at the right moment; they have the balance and blend to their season that enables them to do that, plus they have some of the most frightening attackers on the planet. In the knockout stages, they smashed Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate. They did Liverpool 4-0 on aggregate over two legs. Then there was that crazy 5-4 game against Bayern, which they followed up with a 1-1 draw at the Allianz. So they know where the net is.

But they also aren’t the tightest at the back either. In the Champions League this season, they have scored a whopping 44 goals across their 16 matches, nearly three per match. But they’ve conceded 20 – so they don’t always keep a clean sheet and they are going to leave space for us this coming weekend. We all know Arsenal’s impressive Champions League run, built on the foundations of a solid back line that has conceded just six compared to PSG’s 22, but have also ‘only’ bagged 29 from PSG’s 44. It’s also worth pointing out that we have played two games less, so perhaps that goal tally might be closer to them if we had.

What’s interesting, when you look at the numbers side-by-side, is that PSG averages a higher possession than us, which is not so surprising, but also more ball recoveries and tackles won. Because of the fact that they’ve played two games more, I looked at the ‘average per match’ on the UEFA website, and PSG averages 6.44 tackles per match compared to our 4.43. ON ball recoveries, they average 39.07, compared to our 34.86. The ‘saves’ are more similar – PSG have 2.82 to our 2.43.

So what does this tell me, the very poor data nerd in disguise? Initially, I looked at those numbers and just said out loud, “Well, they’re just better at us at most things, right?” Of course, that could be true, but it could also mean that they make more tackles per game because they put themselves in more compromising positions defensively. Teams towards the bottom of the Premier League often lead the way in things like tackles or blocked shots, because they have to do more of it by volume. Perhaps the same could be said for PSG? Or, perhaps I’m just injecting a little too much Hopium at a time in which we all might need a fair dose of it?

The number of ball recoveries, as I interpret it, could be due to a higher press from PSG. I do think they do press higher than us, and when you can force that from your opponent higher up the pitch, you get more turnovers. In the Champions League this season, we’ve tended to dominate games on possession, often just shutting down matches, so when you slow down the game, then perhaps there is a tendency to see fewer ball recoveries. I think.

There’s one more stat that I saw that I thought might be worth highlighting, which is a goalkeeping stat on the number of claims that Raya for Arsenal, or Chevalier for PSG, makes. In fewer games, Raya has made 38 claims and 19 high claims, whereas Chevalier has 18 claims and 11 high claims. Our goalie commands his box more than the PSG one – could this be an opportunity for us? Given our penchant for set pieces, I certainly hope so.

So there are a few titbits of opportunity for us, but the key will be to stop their constantly rotating and fluid front set of players. The news on Hakimi will be key, because like Calafiori (who I would play in the final, by the way), the Moroccan likes to roam and pop up in unusual places. If he isn’t available (and he’s been out since they played Bayern a month ago), then that’s a big plus for us. They also have Chevalier and Nuno Mendes, who haven’t played since then, but it wouldn’t surprise me if all of those players have basically just been given a month off to prep for this one.

So there is still a bit of team news and expected tactical set up to be concluded ahead of this one, whereas for us it is pretty much just Jurrien Timber who is the question mark. There’s no way he starts on saturday, but getting 20 minutes from him could be big, so let’s just hope for more positive updates. Apparently he was in training yesterday, so that’s great news.

Other than that, we play the waiting game as the build up to this intensifies. It was weird that Arteta did the Champions League presser last week, but I guess there will be more embargoed words that will come out from that one today or tomorrow, as the team make their way to Budapest for the last match of the season.

Right, that’s it from me for today. It’s going to be another scorcher for the UK, so I’m going to finish up here and make sure I have my set up all sorted for a day of work – outside in my garden.

Catch you all tomorrow. Have a great day.

But having seen Arsenal win the Premier League and lift the trophy? I’m still going.

The Management asked me yesterday “How long is that Arsenal flag in the lounge window going to stay up there?”, to which my retort was “A little while longer, love. We still have the Champions League”. I think she thinks that after that, it’ll come down, but if we win the darn thing…well, let’s just say, it ain’t gonna be moving for some time after that for sure.

Regardless of the result, the fact that we have that and a parade to look forward to, means that this week can just be a continuation of the party, so in a sense, I’m kind of glad the club didn’t go early by doing something yesterday. It meant I could spend more time consuming ALL THE CONTENT, messaging more friends who are Gooners, watching more videos, listening to more podcasts, all whilst soaking up the glorious sunshine.

It’s made me really reflect on how much this title means. I knew it would mean a lot, I think we all did, but I didn’t realise it would have as big an impact as it has. I didn’t realise that a full week after we learned our fate and the victory was confirmed, I’d still be revelling in it. I spoke to my brother (West Ham fan) after they won the Europa Conference League, and he was happy, but I remember him saying, “After the high of seeing and experiencing it, it’s a bit of a come down to realise that it was just a moment of joy and tomorrow is just another day”. He tried to echo those sentiments after I spoke to him last Tuesday, after the Bournemouth/City game. I couldn’t see it that way. I still don’t. This victory is amazing. It is phenomenal. It shows just how massive the club is on a global scale. There have been parties everywhere. I’ve seen clips of a preacher spelling out an acronym at a sermon, in which the acronym spells ARSENAL as he preaches the word of God, whilst also nodding to his team. I’ve seen the parties in Africa, America, and Asia. Arsenal are a truly global entity and a cultural beacon for so many people to identify with all over the world.

And as for those Arsenal players, well, they have written themselves into history. They will meet up 20 years from now and instantly have a bond that they can share and talk about. Bonded for life through the unifying force that is the football club. There’s something beautiful in that. Regardless of players who maybe haven’t played as much, like Norgaard or Gabby Jesus, they still have that bond, and there is something magical and wonderful about that.

It must be so weird for them to go to work today, though. In many ways, they’ve done the hard work, but after the parties on Sunday afternoon/evening, then probably having a day off yesterday in the sun, today it is back to London Colney, and game faces on. And I have to say I’m really intrigued as to what Arteta will do this week. I doubt we’ll get much intel, but he has to bring those players back down to earth, as well as prepare them for a huge game in just four days. A game which could take them over and above any of their Arsenal title-winning predecessors. Arteta will be focused on how PSG set up, what Arsenal need to do to counter their obvious strengths, as well as amplifying our own strengths against them. Will he lean in to some ‘revenge’ narrative from last season’s semi-final defeat? Maybe. Maybe he’ll use that as fuel?

I think there will be an element of it, but I also think that having a solid two or three days to prepare for this big opponent will be big for him. The players and manager often talk about not really getting time to do much training. Well, they will this week. I suspect they’ll leave London for Budapest on Friday morning, which means Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday can be spent running through scenarios, working out team strategies, and getting the players in a fitness situation where they are good to go. The likes of Merino coming back for minutes on the pitch on Sunday would be welcome, but so too would be Timber in training. I suspect his ability to play a significant part will be limited, but just having them there will be great for the players and coaching staff.

And I guess we as fans will need to get our game faces on too. This is the biggest single club competition game in world football. I’ve been approaching it as a ‘nice-to-have’; a ‘free hit’ if you will. But come Friday and Saturday, I wonder if the usual nerves have started to kick in? They aren’t here now, it is weird to think that they might not be there at all, because of the Premier League win. But I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, there’s more basking in the sun to be done.

Catch you all tomorrow for some more thoughts.

And yet, in the cold light of day, when you look at the numbers, think about the chances, and consider the overall match, it was actually a comfortable performance from a team now just one win away from the Premier League title. Our first in 22 years.

I’m not sure my nerves will survive next weekend.

Arteta named what I’d predicted in the morning, with a lineup that screamed ‘I’m going for it’ by having Havertz up top, Trossard wide left, Saka on the right, Eze and Odegaard as the attacking eights, and Rice mopping up. Mosquera was there as the third-in-line-to-the-throne at right back (despite Timber being spotted on the team walk earlier in the day) and I was bullish (albeit nervous) before a ball was kicked. And when Trossard hit the post on 15 minutes, it did feel a little as if “this is fine – it’s only a matter of time” was the phrase going around the stadium in my corner of Block Five. It was a great effort, ricocheted off the post and straight to a Burnley player in the box, which felt a little unlucky. Perhaps it was, but Burnley had not come to be expansive, merely to limit the damage, and throughout the night, there were far more Burnley players inside their box than outside of it. Or at least that’s what it felt like to me.

And then not a lot happened until the 35th minute. We had plenty of the ball, Burnley were content to let us have it, and we once again struggled to break down a low block. Until a great ball into the box saw Saka fouled – and yes it was ABSOLUTELY a foul, having watched the replay – and VAR said no. I’m sorry, but Saka is behind his man; he is winding up to take a shot which would be a tap-in, and his foot gets clipped. It’s a penalty. If Saka isn’t fouled there, then he’s touching it in. He has been denied a goalscoring opportunity. It doesn’t matter how minimal the contact is; if the player impedes Saka inside the six-yard box, it is a foul and a penalty. That goes in, and who knows, maybe we take the extra 10 minutes before halftime to get that second. Thankfully, just two minutes later, we were in front, so perhaps the point is moot, but it’s still frustrating that it wasn’t called.

But perhaps we should be grateful for non-calls last night? After all, Kai Havertz should definitely have been sent off. His challenge on the Burnley defender in the second half yesterday was nasty. There’s plenty of bleating from City-biased media and fans on that, whilst ignoring Foden’s worse challenge on Bassey of Fulham earlier in the season, but let’s not try to cancel this out from a title race perspective. Let’s call it for what it was: A red card, and Havertz was taken off almost minutes after that ‘tackle’.

He’d done his work earlier in the game, though, with a superbly timed headed goal from a Saka cross. Cue the inevitable “Set Piece Again Ole Ole” raucous chants from the crowd, and it felt like we were on our way at halftime. The second half needed to be where we stamped our authority on the game and made this a bigger score line than it should have been.

Except this Arsenal team has a real habit of not doing that. We were up against a Burnley side behind, not really creating anything, not having too much by the way of ideas, and yet too often we squandered opportunities. Whether it was not beating the man, taking too many touches, or just overcooking that final ball. Eze had a shot off the top of the bar – saved by the ‘keeper but not given for a corner – but that felt the total of the big chances in that second half. Eze was really poor; he just didn’t affect the game – that chance aside – and we just felt really wasteful with the ball in the final third. Arteta rang the changes on 73 minutes which, for me, was too late. Ultimately, we got over the line, Burnley didn’t (in hindsight) threaten a ton, but it was clear from about 55 minutes that we should have made changes earlier than we did. Gyokeres came on and instantly caused that Burnley back line to think about more things. I thought Hincapie’s cameo was decent (even if it was a little x-rated with his arse out after a fall inside the box), whilst Myles looked assured when he came on. But it shouldn’t have been a game in which we were so nervous.

And that, in itself, has made me even more nervous now, annoyingly. The 1-0 win means that effectively, goal difference isn’t going to become a thing when City win tonight – which I think they will. It will mean that at the weekend, when they rack up a cricket score against a Villa side that just don’t give a shit with nothing to play for, a draw at Selhurst Park for The Arsenal just won’t be enough. It’s in our hands, it is ours to lose, but I just don’t see a world in which this coming Sunday isn’t excruciating for us. It feels pre-ordained. And if we do draw, we’ll have lost the Premier League title on the final day, having led it for practically the whole season. That would be the cruelest of jokes to play on us Arsenal fans. And the players. And Arteta.

Would I have taken where we are at right at the beginning of the season before a ball was kicked? Of course I would. But right now, as I type this, I have a nauseating feeling in my stomach even thinking about that game. And it’s only Tuesday.

Who knows – maybe Bournemouth can do something tonight. But I won’t be holding out much hope, and I certainly won’t be watching it.

Back tomorrow. Have a good one boys and girls.

Just two wins.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, yes, the logic of it is. Arsenal start the first half of this two-part challenge tonight against Burnley, a side already relegated and without a full-time manager, who by all rights should be on the beach or at least feeling a little down about the fact they will not be in the Premier League next season. This is a Burnley side with four wins all season, nine draws and 23 defeats to their name. Only Wolves have lost more games. They have conceded 73 goals in their 36 games – an average of just over two goals every match, and have scored just over one per match with their 37.

Burnley have also allowed the most shots of any team in the league – 607 – as well as the most shots on target with 209. On a game average perspective, they have conceded nearly 17 shots in total (16.9) for every match this season, with the opposition also getting nearly six on target (5.8). To give some context, West Ham (sadly all but relegated now after their defeat to Newcastle yesterday) has given up 538 shots and 185 on target. So Burnley have had 69 more shots on their goal than any other side in the Premier League this season.

And yet…

We know that this is The Arsenal, and we never make it easy for ourselves, do we?

If there’s a way to make this difficult, Arsenal, of all teams feel like they could do that, although today I’m hoping that even the smallest fear any Arsenal fan has is extinguished early on. Get that first goal of the match in 15 minutes, and everything changes. Go in at halftime at 0-0, and the stadium might feel a little different than it will tonight before kick off.

I think the Arsenal fans at the ground will be big-time up for this one. The Atletico Madrid blueprint showed us just how much of an impact we can make, and, with it once again being an evening under the lights, with the team bus being greeted at 5.45 pm just like that game, this is set to be another fervent atmosphere that the players need to feed off. The noises coming out from the back channels of people with access to players on social media were that the staff and players were genuinely stunned by the pre-Atletico Madrid build-up. In a really good way. It helped to inspire them, and I think the same will happen tonight. I certainly hope it does. Red Action have done another great job in organising the pre-meet at 5.45 pm by The Bear roundabout in front of the Armoury, so the fans will do their early bit to lift the players in those opening salvoes, but then it needs to be the players that step out onto the pitch to carry those vibes and channel them into their boots.

There has to be a fast start. And for me, that means:

Raya

Mosquera – Saliba – Gabriel – Calafiori

Rice

Odegaard – Eze

Saka – Havertz – Trossard

I debated a bit about Gyokeres, and I’d be more than happy to see that too, but I just worry a little bit about a possible low block. Gyokeres is a tidy finisher, but this season in tight spaces, I just haven’t seen as much as I’d like when in those small spaces, and so for me, I think Havertz just edges it. But this isn’t to say that I’m going to be shouting on the internet if Big Vik plays. His 2026 record and goals scored are there for all to see, and if we’re going to be getting plenty of shots in this game, there are worse people to be having those shots. The challenge for him has been getting the space in these tight games, whereas Kai certainly is better at finding that space and is better with the ball at his feet.

The talk has been about who plays right-back, and it was lovely to see pictures of Timber as he arrived for training, but I can’t see him starting tonight. It surely has to be Mosquera. If we’re going to give Calafiori licence to drift forward more and find pockets of space, then having that guy who can operate as a third centre half feels like it could work well. Imagine Calafiori bombing forward, Gabriel shifting across to cover the space, Saliba shifting centrally, then Mosquera occupying a hybrid right-back/right-centre-half position. Just feels like it works, right?

In the middle of the park, I’ve gone with Rice as the lone six mainly because I want to find a way to get both Eze and Odegaard on the pitch. Martin to try to pick the moments in which it is tight and congested at the back, with Eze the ‘shoot on sight’ player – feels like, given the above context of Burnley, that has the right dynamics on it. It’s slightly harsh on MLS, but when we come to Palace next weekend, I would be thinking more about that game for him than today. Today demands specific skill sets, and I just think the captain and Ebs fit the bill better. The two guys on either side of the forward kind of pick themselves right now. It means that for me, this side has seven of your outfield players who are all quite attack-minded (I count Calafiori in that), which is absolutely what we need.

Burnley will get chances. The fact they have 37 goals this season shows that. But we just need to have 100% concentration at the back and be ruthless in attack.

Fast start. That is everything. Start with the intensity of a side laser-focused on a Premier League title. Game faces on, from the first kick, be at the Burnley players, make it happen. The time for talking is done. Now it is time to deliver.

I’ll be there, a nervous wreck, sure to be singing my heart out and losing my voice by full time. Let’s hope when that final whistle comes, we’re celebrating another victory and just one more cup final to go.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Firstly, we’ll have to watch City win their second trophy of the season, when they batter an absolutely turgid Chelsea side at Wembley today. Well, I say “we’ll have to watch”, but I’ll be doing nothing of the sort. I know it is the FA Cup, I know it is a footballing institution, but watching two financially-doped clubs with charges of cheating (one proven and shown farcial leniency, the other still dragging out the punishment for their crimes in the courts) duke it out, is not something I want to even remotely be part of. I’m going round my brother’s later, so he might put it on, but I might see if I can play with the kids or something.

The best we can hope for later is that Chelsea forget they are a basket case of a player trading platform and take City to extra time. Yep, let’s have all the minutes possible in those City players’ legs, before they travel to Bournemouth on Tuesday, who will have had 10 days off to prepare and rest for their game against City on Tuesday. Pep might bleat about it, the media might even show some kind of sympathy, but that pales into insignificance compared to the 22 days they had to prepare for when they visited the Emirates. I just hope their potential prize, which is probably predicated on Villa now winning the Europa League next week, is not lost on them, and they are supercharged for their midweek game at home. That final potential Champions League slot is still finely balanced, with Brighton just two points behind Bournemouth in seventh. Brighton play Leeds away tomorrow, and we sort of need Brighton to win that one, because if they do, it means they go ahead of Bournemouth, and it really does mean that the Cherries need to pick up something at home to City to get that Champions League spot.

I know, I know, lots of permeations there, enough to give you a headache on a Saturday morning. But motivation in football is everything. We saw how Palace went through the motions against City in midweek (I have no doubt that won’t be the same for us, but we’ll see), and at this stage of the season, certain clubs just don’t put their full into matches. We’ve seen it over the years with Arsenal, particularly in those years where we’d qualified for the top four with a game or two to spare, and we just didn’t care that much about the result. So I hope that Brighton get a Leeds team just happy to be safe, and they turn up to turn the pressure on Bournemouth and force them to go out there and get something against City on Tuesday. Play as your lives depend on it.

All of this talk about other clubs and not The Arsenal is, if we’re honest here, because there’s not really a lot going on. The club released the new kit, but we won’t see that on display on Monday night, I don’t think. It certainly won’t be on display away at Palace, as we’ll not play in red and white but probably the white kit (which I’ve seen far too much of this season, for my liking), but the fact I’ve even spent two sentences talking about kit colours shows that there really ain’t a lot to talk about.

Normally, I’d talk about how Burnley play and their set-up, but as I mentioned a couple of days ago, it doesn’t really feel like you can tell what type of Burnley are showing up, given the context of relegation and an interim manager. Chris Sutton did his prediction at 3-0, and he had Man City fans from a band on there too, one of which did a silly 3-0 prediction with a Kyle Walker hat trick, another one said he wanted to manifest a 1-0 Burnley, whilst the other said a 3-0 Arsenal. Merse thinks it’ll be a 3-0, Shearer goes with an Arsenal win, whilst Lewis Jones goes 4-0 on Sky Sports. That last one is an interesting one, because he’s normally balanced, he looks at the numbers and the betting markets, and sometimes he’s predicted shocks. I think he predicted that Bournemouth would surprise Arsenal and get something at the Emirates, so I do tend to pay attention to what he says and the way he thinks the wind is blowing on these things.

Having looked at the Burnley fans forums out there, there is plenty of gallows humour going on, which I totally get, because you know your fate and this is just one of two last outings you have before you start thinking about the Championship next season. For them and their travelling fans (for which I think there is less, as Burnley gave back tickets to Arsenal to sell – which is a good gesture I think given the circumstances and the fact it is a night game on a Monday) it will be more a case of hoping for a cupset-style situation I think, but that doesn’t mean Arteta or his players can be complacent. We all know Bournemouth are a better side than Burnley, but they showed that anyone can come to The Emirates and stun us. The focus and concentration will have to be tip-top on Monday night from those Arsenal players in red and white.

I think it will be. If you can’t be up for an evening game, when you have the title in your hands, then you shouldn’t be the one’s to call yourselves champions. We’ve had a week to prepare, to analyse the opposition, to rest up and be ready for the challenge. The atmosphere will be raucous, so all of the raw materials are there for those Arsenal players to put on a show. They just have to go out there and do it.

Back tomorrow with some more thoughts. Have a good’un.

The cynic in me says that, as we reach the pinnacle of the drama on this season, he wants to double down on his usual approach of leaving injury problems even more open in the air, by adding day before we play, as an extra bit of speculation. Indeed, the injury update was just that, with him saying “not much at the moment” when asked about the team news. So we’re nowhere closer to knowing if Calafiori is fit, or Timber, although I guess if you want to look for some crumbs of positivity on the injury news front, at least Arteta said: “he’s progressed a little bit in the last few days”. I don’t really think that will be enough for him to be in the squad, but if you’re looking at him possibly having some involvement on Sunday next week away to Palace, that might give us some hope he could play a part in the Champions League final too.

He was asked as to whether Calafiori could play right back, which I thought was a kind of bizarre question, to be honest. The way the Italian plays left-back is so niche that I’m not sure that you could just invert him onto the other side and away you go. I’m just not sure it would work.

As would be suspected, given Ben White’s injury, most of the chatter was about who he plays in at right back. He referenced the fact Rice played there against Brighton earlier in the season, then semi-acknowledged it didn’t work on Sunday, simply saying it was “something else”. You’ll never get Arteta saying negative things about any players, but that was a tacit admission of a bit of a cock up on his part last weekend, so I suspect he’ll go back to basics on Monday night with Mosquera in there. He didn’t admit that, he even said there were a few ‘options’ that he wanted to look at, but I’d be surprised if we see anything else this season other than the young Spaniard at right back. According to TransferMarkt, he’s played right back just once for a full 90 this season, which was at home to Sporting Lisbon. Now, that data might be a little out, because they’re saying he was a centre-half against West Ham, which we all know wasn’t right, but I’m trying to rack my brains on those times at right back and I’m not coming up with loads of examples. Again, according to TransferMarkt, he’s had a total of 211 minutes there this season, which feels like a slight worry, and with Summerville showing him a clean pair of heels last weekend, you do wonder about how viable it is for Palace and then the Champions league final. There’s absolutely no way that Palace and PSG won’t target him if Timber isn’t fit, so I hope this week in training has seen the defensive coaches give him a fast-track to right back crash course. It feels like he might need it.

A lot of the other questions he was asked were a bit ‘meh’ in my opinion. He was asked a few times about the City situation and the Bournemouth game, but he played the straightest of bats and simply dismissed the conversation, simply saying things like “focus on Burnley”, which is absolutely the right thing to do right now. We can’t have any hint of a team underestimating an opponent, regardless of the current situation they find themselves in, in the Premier League. He simply can’t entertain questions like “do you have one hand on the trophy?” at this stage; he and his players need to be laser-focused on Monday night, to make sure they do their job and just expect it to go to the final game of the season.

Other than that, I’m really not sure what else is worth talking about from the press conference. It looked a very bland press conference from where I’m sitting, which is kind of a good thing given how close we are to the end of the season. These kinds of press conferences have the potential to be journo fuel for a potential story, but Arteta did what was required as part of his media duties, and now it is about getting on that training ground and preparing for the Clarets.

I had to check myself for a second there, because I was about to say “Scott Parker will have his say today”, but then realised that actually it is Mike Jackson who is in charge. Plus, he’s already had his press conference! Their news is that Hannibal Mejbri could be fit, but the rest of the team is pretty much available. Which means that unfortunately we’ll probably end up seeing Kyle Walker take to the field, which isn’t ideal. Jackson’s general comments were pretty much as expected though; asked the players to ‘thrive’ in that kind of environment, admitted there would be some exits, said he was sad for Scott Parker. There’s not a lot else that I took from it to be honest, but then again, the guy is filling in for the last few games of the season, so I’m not really sure what else he is supposed to say.

And so I’ll toddle off for today, I think. I was asked yesterday to give some thoughts on the VAR debate after the West Ham game for BBC Sport, which you can read here if you want a bit of bonus reading. Other than that, I’ll catch you all tomorrow.

Laters peeps.

But as Amanda and I reflected on yesterday in the Same Old Arsenal pod yesterday evening, all of us Arsenal fans know there is still work to do. Burnley may be down, they may be out of the league next season, but that doesn’t mean they are turning up to have their tummies tickled. There will be professional pride at stake for them, so I am convinced it won’t be a walkover. I hope it will be, but Wolves away a few months back should have been, as should Wolves at home, and yet we left it late at home, and were desperately poor in the dying seconds away.

And even though the Callum Wilson goal never stood on Sunday, they did still get the ball over the line in the dying stages of a game. And that has been something that we’ve seen a bit of this season for this Arsenal team, unfortunately. I’ve mentioned the Wolves goal, but there was the 87th-minute Man United winner at home, Ollie Watkins’ consolation goal for Vill at the Emirates, the Buendia winner at Villa Park, Liverpool’s free kick was in the 83rd-minute, and Sunderland snatching a draw at the Stadium of Light. So we’ve had a few of these over the course of the season, and that is something to be mindful of, I do think. When you have games like the Villa one, you can hand-wave it, but too often this season, there has been a very tight margin for us. Which makes moments like those we had on Sunday, where all of our hearts were in our mouths.

Palace away will also be a weird one. You would hope they would rotate and let us just have the game, but it will be in the sun (hopefully), their last home game, plus Palace always give a good account of themselves, so I don’t see that as a walk in the park at all. That sort of performance is likely to come from the likes of Unai Emery and his Villa team. We saw them against the Scum; we’ve seen it when he was Arsenal manager. If there’s one thing you can rely on, it is that Unai will roll over for City. Especially as he hates Arsenal too.

So it isn’t done, there are still far too many nerves, we have two hurdles to overcome, and nobody should count any chickens.

Which is why I, and several people I was talking to yesterday on social media, are pretty cheesed off with that absolute pleb who brought along a shirt to the West Ham game with ‘Champions’ on the back. Of course, the Sky Sports cameras caught it, and of course, he got top billing. What an absolute idiot. There’s always one that has to tickle the chin and goad the football gods. Well, I tell you now, if he’s spotted around the Emirates after the season has finished and we haven’t won it, then he’s not getting a warm welcome by any stretch of the imagination. Think of the ridicule that we gave that tosser City fan who brought along the Arsenal water bottle to the Chelsea game, then how suddenly he got filmed the next day by Sky, as well as being pictured dancing in the concourses after they beat us. He’s an idiot, too. I wanted it to be us that had the last laugh, but now City fans have a poster-boy with whom to direct their ridicule. Just keep it locked down, you absolute tool. Bring your ‘Champions’ shirt out after everything is finished, not before.

I guess that is just the social media age now. This guy brought along that shirt purely so he could get filmed. It has nothing to do with anything other than wanting to be on camera. That is the age that we’re living in. No more Andy Warhol ’15-minutes of fame’ anymore. Now it’s five minutes, but unfortunately, it means you have more and more idiots who want to do things like that. You could have tempted fate too much for all of us, my friend.

Of course, the stress we’re all still feeling, even now, is because we know that we’re nearly there, but not quite. I was having a chat with The Management about it last night. She said to me, “It’s funny how you all become expert mathematicians at this time of the year!” as I tried to explain to her that if Palace get anything tomorrow, we could win the Premier League on Monday night. I don’t think any of us expect that to happen, but if we do our jobs against Burnley, then it means that even Bournemouth away is essentially a ‘must-win’ for City.

And I can tell you now, with absolute certainty, that I have no qualms about winning the Premier League without kicking a ball. I wonder if there is any Arsenal fan who feels that way? I think even those who might have preferred to say “I want the joy of living that moment in the ground” will probably, after the West Ham game on Sunday, be thinking “nah – can somebody just confirm us now please?”, such was the stress we all went through. Palace doing us a solid, and even getting a draw would be nice, but I can’t really see that happening. So I won’t be watching that. I’ll just have a flick on my phone as full-time ticks over to see if goal difference is also going to be a ‘thing’. We shall see.

Right, I’ll park any more thoughts for now. We have a nice free week ahead of us, so I’ll be back tomorrow with more musings as we start to look at to Burnley next Monday.

Catch you all then.

How is this becoming MORE stressful each week?

How on earth are we STILL being put through the wringer?

Honestly, my nerves are shot to pieces. My heart rate has been getting up to cardio-load levels during games. Then, when you have an ending like that yesterday, it goes up a notch even further.

Those last 15 minutes or so (including stoppage time) were the worst/best that I can remember. And when it finished, I was trying to put out social media messages, but my hands were shaking. I was an absolute mess.

But we did it. Somehow, we did it, getting over the line, albeit in somewhat controversial fashion, against a West Ham team fighting for their lives.

I have my family connections to West Ham, so I am not happy that, to all intents and purposes, they are probably going down. And to get what you think could be a vital point in the dying seconds against a team at the top of the Premier League, only to have that taken away, is a gut punch.

But it was a foul. If David Raya doesn’t have an arm across the front of his shoulders, he’s catching that ball that was put into the box. If he isn’t having his shirt pulled behind him, he is catching that ball. And as Trossard said afterwards when interviewed, Raya himself was very calm when the decision was being reviewed. Because he knew it was a foul.

And in that moment, you have to say, it feels like we got some kind of football god-intervention happening for us. Because I’ll be honest, I thought exactly the opposite when Wilson struck that ball. And I wonder what the players would have felt like, too? You’re leading, you know that if you win this tough away game, you are just two victories away from the first league title in 20+ years, and it is taken from you right at the death in stoppage time. It would have been a mental hammer blow (pun intended) that would have given Man City players just as much of a boost as it would have been a blow for our players. The psychological toll that it would have taken could have been huge. The title would have still been in our hands, a big win against Burnley would still put Arsenal in the driving seat to do it on goal difference, but you just feel like City would have used this result as a fuel to go on and absolutely smash Palace in midweek to call the goal difference into question, too.

And now, with Arsenal having got over the line, the pressure for City is massively ratcheted up. They know they basically have to beat Palace, AND beat Bournemouth in the middle of next week. It isn’t done, we still have to win against Burnley and Palace, and despite what anyone says, those two teams are still Premier League sides with decent players, but the momentum has swung back with The Arsenal, and that is huge.

It has come at a cost, though. The Ben White injury is such a shame. He hobbled off; it was a problem with his knee, and if we see him this season, I will be surprised. It’s compounded all the more by the fact that Jurrien Timber might not play again this season, meaning our young centre-half Mosquera, becomes the de facto fullback for the foreseeable future. He’s an able deputy, but he isn’t as good as White or Timber, and it’s a problem for us when you start to think about the Champions League final, for example.

It’s also a shame because with Ben in position, we absolutely dominated the opening 15-20 minutes of the game. Sky Sports showed some stats saying that we’d had nine attempts on goal in the first 15 or so minutes. Calafiori (also apparently injured – no surprises there, though) was linking well with Trossard, we were getting in behind, we hit the post and bar and had one off the line from Calafiori that could have made the complexion of this game look very different. But the White injury changed everything, because Arteta decided to go a bit left-of-field with his subs for the White injury. I think in the cold light of day, when he re-watches this game, he’ll hold his hands up to say sticking White in at right back just wasn’t the right choice. It meant we not only lost our right back, but the control in the centre of the park, and West Ham found themselves with a little more space. Arteta did, of course, course-correct his decision at halftime, but that second half felt stodgy and disjointed overall anyway. Zubimendi suffered the ignomy of being a sub that was subbed off, but he’d hardly had a blinder of a game, plus Arsenal needed to change it because, from a tactical perspective, it wasn’t working. We weren’t finding space in between the lines for those passing lanes, and Havertz felt like a natural choice because he’s going to stand in between the West Ham defence and midfield, rather than where Zubi stands as a deeper lying midfielder. You feel for the Spaniard, but needs must at a time like that.

And those needs were rewarded by Leandro Trossard, who has – quite handily – decided to find some form in recent weeks. I thought he was good again yesterday; lively, looked good in partnership with Calafiori, and whilst his finish had a touch of fortune about it with the deflection, I think on balance we’d deserved that little bit of luck given the chances we created earlier in the game. We also need to tip our caps to Martin Odegaard, whose introduction in the second half as a sub was massively significant. He gets the assist for the goal, his Platoon-style celebration I particularly enjoyed after it went in, but he was central to a lot of the progressive stuff we did when he came on. At a real crunch point in the season, we needed a captain’s performance from the bench, and I think we got one.

And points, well, we got all three. With 20 minutes to go, I didn’t think that would happen. At 96 minutes, I didn’t think that would happen. But here we are. It’s still in our hands. And we have two more wins needed to achieve something magical.

Amanda and I will be discussing all of that and more on the Same Old Arsenal pod later on this evening at 5.45 pm if you fancy joining us – here.

Arsenal need to do their job, though. It is still in our hands. A win today and it will feel like we are nearly there. But this one will by far and away be the most difficult one, I suspect, because West Ham are fighting for their lives, and when you look at their recent home form, it’s actually pretty good. They have two wins and three draws, with their last outing being that late 2-1 win over Everton. Before that, they beat Wolves at home 4-0, and before that, they drew 1-1 with City, 0-0 with Bournemouth, and 1-1 with Manchester United. So this is a West Ham team that gets up for these big games on their own patch, and they will certainly be up for it today.

Mikel Arteta has several decisions to make, specifically on the line-up and tactical approach. I have to say, the ‘finding’ of Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield feels to me like an approach that we should probably be continuing today. The adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes into play in my opinion; the system has been set up to enable us to find players in between the lines and when you are going to have to break down a probable Nuno low-block West Ham side, you need to be able to have that ability to find players in tight spaces who can wriggle out of danger. Myles certainly has that, and so I would be picking him today.

So my starting XI for this afternoon’s game at The London Stadium is:

Raya

Mosquera – Saliba – Gabriel – Calafiori

MLS – Rice

Odegaard

Saka – Havertz – Trossard

My thinking on the selections are:

1. Mosquera for White – because I think there’s a question on how much we can play Ben White before he breaks down. With Arteta confirming that he’s not sure if Timber will play again this season, we do need to make sure we’re not overplaying White. I also think Mosquera has proved himself more than capable, and as such, it makes sense to use these players to keep squad harmony too.
2. Calafiori instead of Hincapie – I think the fact that West Ham will sit deeper in a lower block means we need a little more chaos than Hincapie offers. Calafiori stepping into those zones in which West Ham players aren’t sure whether to track or not gives us another option in the attacking third, which I think we will need today.
3. Odegaard instead of Eze – this is the one I wasn’t sure of the most, if I’m honest, because Eze has been playing well of late. He wasn’t amazing against Atletico, and Odegaard did eventually come on, but I just wonder whether Arteta will want a player who has a bit more ball dominance and control. I could happily see it the other way, however, with Arteta favouring that kind of player who will pull out a finish from nowhere, a la Newcastle at home a few weeks back.
4. Havertz for Gyokeres – again, this move for me is based on the fact that we are facing a team who will sit a little deeper and I don’t think they’ll be looking at giving us much green grass to run in behind, so I want my striker to be a bit more of an ‘on the ball’ guy, because I think today will be more of an ‘on the ball’ game for The Arsenal, rather than one that will find us with lots of space.
5. Trossard and Saka stay – Saka has been nursed back into this team and played just 58 minutes against Atletico. You’d hope that means he’s good for at least 70 today, and with Trossard also looking like he’s found a little bit of form, I think you have to start him. You could argue that Eze could play there, but I don’t think Martinelli gets the nod, for the same reason that I wouldn’t play Big Vik.

The nerves are starting to kick in now. Finding out about West Ham’s home form has me a little nervous now, and I’ve just had a look at when they last tasted defeat on their own soil – it was on 6th January against Forest. They’ve been knocked out on penalties against Leeds, but that game in itself was a draw, so teams are finding it difficult to beat West Ham in East London. We are going to have to go and do something that only one team has done in 2026 so far.

It’s going to be edgy, it’s going to be tense, there are moments that none of us are going to like, but I have hope that we’ll get over the line on this one. We need to. A draw still leaves us with the ability to win it on goal difference with a big score against Burnley, and then a win against a hopefully rotated Palace team preparing for the Europa Conference League final, but sending a message by winning this game could be absolutely massive.

Let’s hope the boys are up for it.

I think we’re podding straight after the game on the Same Old Arsenal podcast today, so if you are around and want to dive into it – with delight or disdain depending on the result, subscribe to the pod channel here and you’ll get a notification when we go live.

Otherwise, I’ll catch you all tomorrow, with a debrief on what went down.

So, what of West Ham then, eh?

Well, there are plenty of Arsenal fans who don’t like West Ham, on account of a section of their online fans who, frankly, were a bit weird about the whole Declan Rice stuff. They have a long history of booing/hating some of their ex-players, like Paul Ince back in the 90s, but I sort of get that one. Ince was still a West Ham player officially when he was pictured wearing a Man United shirt, as Sir Alex tapped up the former England international in a move that, these days, would earn United a certain hefty fine. But Arsenal’s situation is different. Everyone knew Rice was off. He had one year left on his deal, and Arsenal came in with a mammoth fee that smashed our own transfer record for Pepe into smithereens. We sing and joke about getting Rice “half price”, but the reality is that it was, and still is, fair market value.

I personally have a bit of love for West Ham. Half my family is from East London on my dad’s side (if you’re a regular reader, you’ll already know that), and I have been holding out hope upon hope that they would get out of this slump. That amplified more when we all saw that it was The Scum they were fighting against, but it looks like the Scum are going to just limp over the line. With Leeds now safe, they might be a bit on the beach on Monday night at the Scum, so I suspect they might win that to secure their safety.

Annoyingly for us, we will have to play a part if we are going to win the league, because I think we HAVE to beat West Ham on Sunday. We are going to need to pick up maximum points in our remaining games because I think when Brentford lose tomorrow, and the gap is two points with three to play for us, we can’t really afford to give them any leeway. I had previously joked with my brother that I was hoping City would drop points and we could field a team of kids against them to give them the best possible chance of them staying up whilst we win the Premier League this weekend, but I think deep down we both knew that wasn’t going to happen.

My brother is pessimistic. He thinks we will all but relegate West Ham this weekend, which makes me sad, but I can see why he’s saying that. And he’s not alone amongst their fanbase; you don’t have to go far online to see how unhappy they all are. Here’s one I found within seconds:

I have followed this club over 5 decades and seen many ‘typical West Ham’ wins against all odds.

Sunday will not be any such thing.

It is a mismatch.

And:

I hope we give them a fight maybe even get a draw and scupper their chances.

But if we go a goal down I fear either it’ll get toxic (especially if there’s Arsenal fans in the home end) or there’ll be a mass walk out.

And:

No point messing about:

West Ham 0 – 4 Arsenal
Tottenham 3 – 0 Leeds

All done and dusted.

And:

we are down and the players know it or certainly will after this latest pumpoing by arsenal at the bowl. championship here we come !

a lot of the players will start thinking of the WC and transfers away.

hopefully sullivan has a lively afternoon ! should be a good protest on 16 mins ! the highlight of the match for hammer fans !

There is a smattering of fans who are hopeful of getting something, but the majority think this will be a pumping. I’m not so sure. We are buoyed by the result in midweek and an excellent performance against Fulham, but this is a West Ham team fighting for its life. Their players won’t go down without trying to lay a few jabs and swipes at us, and with the likes of Bowen available and having scored against us plenty of times over the years, as well as Summerville, who looks a very good and tricky player on that left-hand side. I liked the look of Dioud earlier in the season on the left of their defence, but my question is whether or not we’ll be able to get at that West Ham back line. If WhoScored are right with their probable line-ups, you have to be hoping that Mavropanos and Disasi can be got at, as well as Walker-Peters at right back.

From a numbers point of view, it doesn’t look amazing for West Ham. They’ve conceded 61 goals this season (third-worst). They have an xG against of 55.14; they’ve had the second most shots of all teams against them this season, with the same number of shots on target. On average, West Ham concede nearly two goals a game, 15 shots, with at least five on target.

They also have the second-highest concession of goals from set pieces, with 17 this season in 35 matches. That’s an average of a goal conceded every two games. With a team down there, you’d expect the number of tackles they’d be making to be high, but perhaps that shows some of the deficiencies, because for the number of tackles made this season, West Ham are seventh in the Premier League; it’s hardly Sean Dyche “Backs to the wall, lads, Ben Mee on the line” stuff, is it?

On the attacking front, they fare a little better, in at 15th in the league for goals scored. Their xG puts them 14th, with their total number of shots they have at 16th. So, whilst as Arsenal fans we can look at their defensive problems as a cause for optimism, the attacking threat they have can’t be dismissed. Last season, we may have scored five at their ground, but they bagged two, so Arteta needs to be reminding his players today and tomorrow that they need to have their heads screwed on. In that regard, Man City’s 1-1 draw there can be a cautionary tale; I had a look at the stats from that game and it was a proper battering in all but the scoreline. City had 21 shots, six on target, 71% possession, 670 passes to West Ham’s 294, 15 corners and yet mustered just the one Bernardo Silva goal on 31 minutes, countered just four minutes later by a Mavropanos header from a corner. West Ham, by the way, sit comfortably mid-table when it comes to set pieces, and we all remember Mavropanos doing us a dirty at the Emirates a couple of seasons back.

I’ll talk more about the team news and what the pundits are saying tomorrow, as we get a little more intel from the managers, but this is going to be a tighter game than I think a lot of people (who aren’t Arsenal fans) might envisage. More on thoughts about that, then, but for now, have a great Friday, and I’ll catch you all tomorrow.

Last night was one of them.

In anyone’s life, there are lots and lots of things that change. School, job, friends, where you live, your health, your money situation – loads. But some things are constant. For me, my family is obviously the biggest thing in my life, but a constant that I have also had since I was eight years old was The Arsenal.

And, as such, when big milestones happen for The Arsenal, I tend to mentally ‘bookmark’ them. I remember those big moments years after they have passed. Winning the League in 91. In 98 and, Tony Adams was against Everton. 2002. My first FA Cup final in 2003. The Invincibles in 2004. Plus, of course, the Champions League final of 2006. I was one year into my professional working career. I was at a local newspaper, and I remember the joys of getting to the final, as well as the low I felt the next day. There was a Spurs fan who worked in the office who came down first thing just to laugh and gloat. That is etched into my memory like it was yesterday. But as I am older now (not sure how much wiser), I recognise the feat just to get to the final is huge for the club, the manager, and the players.

That shows through not just in the response on the final whistle from the players, or the reaction of the Arsenal fans, but also in the history that Arsenal have in this competition.

Only twice in our history have we got to a final.

That is the most important context this morning. We know that Arsenal have won nothing yet. We all know that this weekend, unless we beat West Ham, we still could come away with nothing. And if that happens, we will need to ask some serious questions. But after a night like last night, now is not the time for ‘yeah but’s. Now is the time to celebrate and recognise what this Arsenal team has achieved by getting to a final.

This is a 71-year-old competition, and this is the second time Arsenal have reached it. Those Arsenal players deserve so much credit. They have bettered their efforts by one from last year, and they have done it with easily the best defence in the competition so far. The 1-0 victory last night, against a decent, albeit slightly limited, I thought, Atletico Madrid side, was done based on a strong defensive foundation. Now, that’s not to say there weren’t moments in the game that had us worried, and the Saliba mistake header that allowed Simeone junior to round Raya for what I thought was the equaliser. But, as if to underline the defensive prowess of this Arsenal team, Saliba was bailed out by some superb work from Gabriel to save his bacon.

Phew.

But that chance aside, as well as a little more territory and ball from Atletico in the second half (which was always going to happen given the fact their season was on the line in that second half), I thought Arsenal pretty much snuffed out anything the Spanish side had to offer. I’ve just had a look at the stats from last night; we out-shot them 13 to five, we had more possession (54% to 46%), we had more passes (443 to 388), and we had a greater xG (1.58 to 0.58). By all accounts this was a close game, but it was one that Arsenal were very much in control of from start to finish.

Now, scratch that, because Arsenal were in control from about two hours before kick-off. Because the fans who went yesterday absolutely smashed the brief for being the 12th man. I was there, I saw it with my own eyes, my mouth is scratchy this morning through so much singing and shouting, but we made the start of this game electric through the fans welcoming the team buses, the early entrance and packed concourse with 30-minutes to play before kick off, as well as the opening tifo and then way in which North London Forever rang out just before kick off. The players have subsequently said they could see and feel it in the ground, and afterwards Arteta referenced the impact it had on him and the players. Football is sometimes a sport in which the perfect symbiosis happens between fans, and that’s what it felt like last night. We were there for them, then those players were there for us.

And of course, the ‘franchise’ player would be the one to be the eventual match winner, wouldn’t he? Bukayo Saka will score many more visually impressive on the eyes goals in his career; he certainly has already done so, but that one will be long remembered by him. He was a mere child when we got to the Champions League final the first time – he’s just done his part in history to put us through last night. I don’t know about you, however, but I thought the chance had gone. It was one of several superb runs into the channels that Gyokeres did on the night, his chipped cross finding Leo’s feet (who was also very good, I thought), before Leo seemed to want an age to set himself for the shot. Oblak managed a decent save, to be fair, but when Bukayo crept in front of his man to tap home from inside the six-yard box, the limbs in block five were everywhere.

And then it felt like it would be a case of holding on to see what Atleti would throw at us. But here’s the thing, and I am clearly saying this in hindsight, but the team set up and performance of those players to a man was absolutely spot on. Arteta had named an unchanged team, which was a surprise, but it was absolutely the right call. Ben White was good, I thought Calafiori played well, the inclusion of MLS was a surprise master stroke and I thought his performance was really great, too. He strikes me as a kid who is so unfazed by this kind of occasion (in fact, given how he was interacting with the crowd, I’d wager he might be one of those ‘big game’ players), which was perfect on a night like this, and alongside Declan Rice they absolutely bossed that midfield. It was a quieter one for Eze, but today is not a time for picking holes, so let’s move on and talk about Big Vik, who followed up his good display against Fulham with another impressive outing. He had his defender pinned all night and never stopped running. He emptied the tank out there and the home fans recognised this and showed their appreciation. He was also unlucky not to score after a great cross from Hincapie. It would have been a goal that his performance merited and although he won’t get the numbers on any official charts or tallies today, there won’t be many Arsenal fans who aren’t saying very positive things about the Swede this morning.

I think Amanda and James are going to do a post-match pod this evening (I’ll be at work) so look out for that one later. But for now, have a great day Gooners, and enjoy this one.

Catch you all tomorrow.

But here we are this morning, on the eve of a Champions League semi final, and our Premier League fate is back in our hands.

I always liked David Moyes.

Those mini celebrations for that draw last night have now been superseded by the small matter of Atletico Madrid at The Emirates at 8pm this evening.

Mikel Arteta had his press conference last night and he gave us the further good news that both Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard are with the squad this evening, which is also a massive boost. We’re still missing Timber, but I think we’re all getting used to that, so there’s a decision to be made in a few positions tonight.

I do think he will rotate a little bit from the weekend. Simeone basically gave his whole team the weekend off by playing a completely rotated side, so they will be back and fresh and we need to be ready for that. Arteta will shuffle his pack a little too, so my gut feel on the starting XI for this one is:

Raya

Mosquera – Saliba – Gabriel – Hincapie

Zubimendi

Eze – Rice

Saka – Gyokeres – Martinelli

I personally wouldn’t be starting Martinelli, but I think Arteta will lean in to the ‘vibes’ of how the Brazilian likes this competition, so I think that’s what Mikel will plump for. I also think he’ll be wary of White having played a lot of football and got a fair few minutes in on Saturday against Fulham, so I think the Spaniard gets the nod. It’s the same with Calafiori; we can’t be having him break down by playing back-to-back games in such a short period of time, so I think the Ecuadorian comes in to stabilise and battle whoever plays right wing for Atleti tonight.

I think Kai has a role to play tonight, but not from the start, so there will be a job-share with Gyokeres this evening I’ll bet. That situation will also be mirrored for Eze and Odegaard too, I suspect, although Arteta will need to be mindful of Saka’s minutes. He got 45 against Fulham and at halftime we had the luxury of being able to bring him off. I suspect tonight the manager will be looking at an hour for our Starboy, so there will need to be some minutes for Madueke too.

But the good news is that we have options all over the pitch. If the team I’ve selected above does indeed start, we’ve got White, Calafiori, Odegaard, Trossard, Lewis-Skelly, Havertz, Madueke – all able to come on and impact the game. That’s a luxury Arteta hasn’t been able to call on too much this season, but I’m glad he’s able to do it in one of our biggest match ups.

The prize is there for all to see. It’s a Champions League final in Budapest. It’s the psychological boost of knowing that’s in your back pocket as you try to then win your first Premier League in 22 years.

The atmosphere tonight should be rocking. The home fans, buoyed by the weekend win and City also dropping points, will be well up for this. We’ll get the usual histrionics from the likes of Simeone, but after the outrageous performance of the Atleti manager in re-refereeing the game, I think the home fans are going to bring the noise and howl for absolutely everything this evening. Every foul. Every tackle. Every decision against Arsenal. Everything needs to be treated as an injustice and should be met with howls of derision. I know I will be where I stand.

From a tactical perspective, it feels like we probably need to start fast again like we did in Madrid last week. Simeone made reference to the fact that they speculated that Arsenal would tire in the second half, and inevitably they would get chances. They will get opportunities – with players like Alvarez, Griezmann and Lookman, there’s no way they wouldn’t – but we have to assert an early control on the game. That has often manifested itself this season as Arsenal slowing the game down and keeping it at the back. I don’t think we can afford to do that this time. We need to move the ball quicker, with poise, and get the ballers in our team on it. Feed Eze in between the lines, get the ball to Saka quickly to isolate his man, then look to the channels for the early runs of Gyokeres. That’s how we overcome a formidable opponent in the shape of Atletico Madrid.

They might try to replicate their three man defence and pushing their fullbacks high, but I’d be surprised if they do that from the off, because it will leave a fair bit of space. In the first leg they were one down at halftime, on their own patch, and needed to chase the game. Tonight they can probably afford for the game to start off a little more cagey. The more the sting is taken out of this match, the more it suits the away team, and the more the crowd might start to get nervous and antsy.

I’m making my way back from Portugal this morning, so will be spending the early part of the day on a flight with nothing more to do than worry about what’s going to go down tonight.

I hope it’s an Arsenal win. That would be massive.

Catch you tomorrow for some post match thoughts on how it all played out.

With Unai Emery going ‘Full Unai’ with his team ahead of their home game against Forest on Thursday, Villa put in the kind of performance you expect from an end-of-season team that really are mentally on the beach. That was frustrating from an Arsenal fan perspective because:

1. The Scum won and will probably now stay clear of relegation
2. West Ham will now be doubly motivated next Sunday when we play them.

That second point will be one to worry about. Over the years, West Ham have given us tough games on their patch, and with the threat of relegation now very real with just three games to go, they will be more fired up for this one than we could imagine.

West Ham got battered by an improved Brentford side on Saturday, which had mixed blessings for us overall, because:

1. It means that Brentford are closing down a European spot and next weekend they will go to City, knowing a win could be huge for them
2. West Ham are probably going to need to beat Arsenal next weekend – their heavy defeat doesn’t help the goal difference either.

Before that match yesterday, we also saw Bournemouth pick up a big win at home to Palace, which was certainly a better scoreline for us, because:

1. Bournemouth will be buoyed, and to qualify for Europe, will probably need to beat City in a week and a half at home on their own patch
2. Palace losing heavily shows us that there’s a team that has all eyes on a possible European final, which will happen just after they play us on the final day, when hopefully we are fighting to win the title.

The complexities and permutations of this season are not lost on a single Arsenal fan, I don’t think, and in pubs and homes all over the Arsenal-supporting world, we’re all doing the mental gymnastics to see chinks of light or opportunities to build out a little more hope, through the actions of others.

But it will be Arsenal’s actions that define this season. If we beat West Ham, then we hopefully have two games in which you’d hope Arsenal can rack up plenty of goals. If we do that, then the goal difference thing would swing from City’s favour to ours. I can’t see City hammering all of the teams they are playing by fours and fives. So there is a chink of light and hope that we might have a bit of an advantage.

Tonight, all eyes will be on Merseyside. Can Everton do something against City? I’m not so sure. They’ve lost their last two games to Liverpool at home and West Ham away. Before that, they picked up a 2-2 draw away at Brentford, but before that, they won at home 3-0 against a shockingly bad Chelsea side. Their record at home this season is mixed; I just had a look, and there are defeats to United, Brentford, Tottenham, and Newcastle, whilst also draws against Leeds, West Ham and Villa. They are a patchy side. But the good thing about tonight, one would hope, is that today’s game means that if they lose it, their outside chance of Europe is basically gone. That’s what most Arsenal fans will be hoping for this evening – that this ‘last chance saloon’ inspires them to do something special in front of their own fans.

Mind you, the same could have been said about Fulham at the weekend, and yet we absolutely rinsed them in that first half on Saturday. To be fair, that was at home for us, whereas this is away for Man City, so perhaps that swings the balance back a little, but I still think that Everton probably won’t have too much for a City side who are in form at the moment. Despite their bitching through the back channels about their impending fixture congestion, they’ve also just had over a week off, so they will be fresh now, too.

As for us, we have our eyes trained on that Champions League semi-final, and Arteta will be making his way to The Emirates this evening to deliver his pre-match press conference ahead of the game. The noises we’re hearing are that Kai is pushing to be fit to play a part, which would be massive not just for tomorrow, but also in the context of the remainder of the domestic season. Having him as an option when we’re facing a low block in the league might be very important, although tomorrow night I think you do still have to go with Big Vik, given his two goals and confidence will be up after one of the best performances for him this season.

The big question I have is around Timber. Like, are we actually going to see him this season, or nah? I really would love to have him back, or even news of him back, but what we’ve had over the last couple of weeks is Arteta saying “a few more days” and yet not even a sniff of a return. Odegaard too, we need to get a good update on, but I suspect his absence from the weekend was precautionary and there to manage the knocks he’s had that have kept him out of that difficult period of April that we’ve just overcome. If he’s back, if Timber can even just be seen in full training this week at some stage (even if it is not possible to be in the squad for tomorrow), then I will take that as a big positive. Having him available at right back for a game like West Ham feels like it would be a huge boost, although at this stage, given how long he’s been out, I’m not sure even then how viable it would be.

Let’s wait and see what Arteta says later. As for me, I’m going to take the opportunity to enjoy the rest of my bank holiday weekend in Portugal, before I fly back tomorrow morning. I hope whatever you are doing you have a great day too. Catch you all tomorrow.

I’m in Portugal and, to try to completely forget about the stress of football, I asked the parents and The Management if we could go out and have a lovely lunchtime meal in Tavira, where my parents’ place is. They obliged. Two bottles of white and a couple of large Super Bocks later, and I’m heading back to their house to watch what was to transpire in N5 yesterday evening. The stress was such that the need for alcohol to dumb the senses went too strong, and I ended up drinking well into the night. Before the game, it was nerves, during the game it was nerves, after the game, it was drinking in celebration.

Because Arsenal were superb yesterday. This was easily the best performance of 2026 so far I think, and I include the win at the Toilet Bowl against The Scum, because they are terrible. Fulham are not. Marco Silva is an astute tactician, and I don’t think there would have been many Arsenal fans putting their pennies at the bookies on a 3-0 victory before the game yesterday. But here we are, the day after, and we get to talk about an Arsenal performance that will have every Arsenal fan merrily skipping their way through today as they go about their business.

Arteta rang some changes, as we expected, but I think the inclusion of Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield was not one that any of us thought we’d see. The absence of Odegaard clearly meant that Arteta needed somebody who had the technical ability to keep the ball, so he turned to Myles, and boy did our young Hale Ender deliver. I thought he was superb yesterday. He was able to wriggle his way through the Fulham midfield; he rotated with Rice superbly, he was controlled and calm in possession, and he fully deserved the big hug he got from his manager at the final whistle. We’re at a crunch point in the season, and at these times, sometimes you get performances from players you didn’t expect, and this was certainly one of those from MLS, for which I think we’re all very grateful.

But it wasn’t just Myles who stepped up against a Fulham side who had an outside chance of qualifying for Europe. Many players stepped up, I thought. As I talked about with James on the Same Old Arsenal pod this morning, Trossard was really good yesterday, getting an assist for the third goal and as James reminded me, he could have had more if Gyokeres had’ve scored when in on goal when Leno saved his effort. Calafiori was back and unlucky not to score to make it 2-0, and Rice was his usual imperious self. But the two goal scorers will take most of the headlines at the top end of the pitch today.

At the beginning of the season, I always said that if Gyokeres gets 20 goals in all competitions, then he’s done his job. For £55million you aren’t going to get a Thierry Henry regen these days. It just doesn’t happen. So for that kind of money, you need a guy who will put the ball in the back of the net against a mid-table team, which is something we just didn’t do enough of last season, so his goal that set us on our way was exactly what the doctor ordered. It was a fine ball in from Saka, and what you want from your striker is to get in front of his man and into those spaces. The pass from Saka did all the heavy-lifting, but Gyokeres was there to profit, and boy, weren’t we all glad.

When the two combined for the second goal, I did sense this would be a good afternoon, so to have Gyokeres be the one assisting Saka felt right to me. There’s been a bit of talk about how these two players don’t seem to pass enough to each other, maybe that Saka doesn’t trust Gyokeres, but yesterday it felt like their combination together was enough to dispel any such rumours. Saka’s finish felt very ‘on brand’ for the forward. He’s a guy who sometimes makes the very difficult look so easy. When Gyokeres reversed-passed the ball into him, he still had plenty to do, but his finish to Leno’s near post was cool, calm and collected. And needed.

And although Saka wasn’t involved in the third goal – from Leo to Big Vik for the header – there was something in the commentary that Alan Smith said that has stayed with me: “he’s had such better service today”. Both Trossard and Saka put chances on a plate for the Swede, and he reacted exactly as you want your centre forward to – with goals. That’s 21 goals this season, with a few games still to play, and if he gets himself to 25 goals, you have to say this has been an excellent season. There are times in which he looks a little rough around the edges, his control sometimes lets him down, but when he’s put in the penalty box with opportunities to score, he does it. Last season, we missed that and our title challenge never really materialised. This season, we’re going to take it to the wire, and ultimately, you have to say that Gyokeres has done his part.

Three goals in the first half meant Arteta could rotate out some key players, which will have been music to his ears to see those players all doing the business early, so we could bring the likes of Saka and Rice off to preserve their legs for Tuesday night. On a weekend in which Diego Simeone has basically given his players the time off, Arsenal couldn’t afford that, but the fact they could afford to bring guys off with 30 minutes still to play is huge. And I think we’re all relieved ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final.

There’s still more work to do. We all know this. But waking up this Sunday morning to a comprehensive Arsenal win feels good. Real good.

I’ll be back tomorrow as we start to look ahead to another big one in just 48 hours.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, boys and girls.

I read comments like “Fulham have never won at The Emirates,” and that only makes it worse. Because you just know there is a first time for everything. And unlike our situation at City, in which we basically NEVER win up there, today could very easily end up with Arsenal dropping points and opening the door to City having a clear path to the Premier League title.

Arsenal, Arteta, and all of those Arsenal players simply MUST be ready for today. Fulham have had a week off, we have been in Madrid on Wednesday, then have a huge game on Tuesday night, but if one single eye is on that midweek match-up against Atleti, you worry that it will be enough for Fulham to get something from today.

They are not in what I call “Charlton territory,” unfortunately. Back in the 90s, I think there were about four or five seasons in which Charlton, under Alan Curbishley, would get to a set number of points, then the foot would come off the gas, and they’d coast their way to the end of the season, losing pretty much most of the games they played. That is not the case this season for a side that sits in 10th with four games to go. The concertina’d nature of this division means that Fulham very much have everything to play for and, having beaten Villa last weekend to give them a sniff of Europe, they have a little bit of confidence going into this game. They will be up for it. They will be looking for a scalp.

And as I talked about yesterday in the blog, Marco Silva will be looking to use every tactical and emotional advantage he can get his hands on. He’s said as much in his pre-match preview, alluding to the potential worry of the home crowd and how he will be hoping they can draw on that tonight. I think that means his approach today is about keeping things tight for the first 45. He’s done this in other games, but Silva is not against a tight back five with his central midfielders tucking in to a lower block, then relying on diagonal directness to spring forward. His ‘utopia’ football game today is Arsenal dominating possession and territory, which creates space as we look to penetrate a stubborn back line, for his players to spring traps when the ball turns over.

My hope is that Arteta has an idea for that. My hope is also that this idea finally involves dropping the Madueke-Gyokeres-Martinelli approach. Don’t do it, Mikel. You need technical security on the ball in attack. This ain’t gonna be no ‘green grass and space’ game. This will be tight, cagey, and will require ballers who work in small spaces.

So for me, my ‘hoping for’ lineup is:

Raya

White   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Calafiori

Rice

Odegaard   –   Eze

Saka   –   Gyokeres   –   Trossard

That team has an attacking line-up of players who are all good with the ball at their feet. They are not runners in behind; they are more suited to quick interplay. I’ve gone with Ben White, despite the fact he played in midweek, because I look at that right-hand side with Saka back in (I think given he’s now been in training over a week, played a part against Newcastle, as well as Atletico Madrid, he should be able to do a solid 60 minutes) and I am hoping for a “We’re getting the band back together” automatism or two between White, Saka and Odegaard. White overlaps to create space for Bukayo, with Martin gravitating towards him.

I’ve suggested Rice as the six because he was really good there in midweek, so why not lean in to it more, whilst allowing Eze to float into those left-hand spaces, where Trossard and Gyokeres overlap? You have yourself a right-hand side ‘pod’ that is familiar, but how about stocking a left-hand side one too?

And then, for good measure, get Calafiori in there to cause a little bit of chaos in those pockets on the left-hand side? Yes, please, ma’am.

I also think that lineup helps Gyokeres. He can’t trap the ball. He won’t be able to run in behind of a deep-lying defence. But if he’s got players who have the eye for a pass and the ability to thread the needle with their distribution, maybe he can find pockets to get some shots off. The alternative would be Gabriel Jesus, which would be interesting, but we just don’t get enough from him these days for me to think he’s anything other than a 20-minute cameo player.

Do I think Arteta will go for that? Possibly not really. You could potentially see Mosquera instead of White, as Arteta looks to split the minutes between some of his fatigued players, plus he’s played Zubimendi basically every time he’s fit. So my gut tells me that he’s going to play the Spaniard once more. I also wonder whether Trossard is on the naughty step and Eze might play again on the left-hand side. I think it’s more likely that Eze starts and Odegaard is rested, given he started in midweek and Arteta will want to be careful with his captain’s minutes. So the likelihood of me getting my wish today is probably slim.

But it would make for an exciting opportunity to see if we can recapture some more technical control, ball dominance and chance creation, plus trying something a little different, wouldn’t it? And given some of the performances we’ve had at home, maybe leaning into something different could just be the ‘unlock’ that sees Arsenal ‘click’ at the perfect moment in the season.

G’wan Mikel, give it a go. I dares ya.

Let’s see. I’m in Portugal today visiting the parental units, so it’ll be a watching brief from the sofa for me this evening. I just hope I’m smiling by the end of today.

Back tomorrow with a blog and pod first thing. Let’s hope it’s a happy one.

Until then.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”

It’s a grind right now, eh? But a lot of that has been because of the performances. The City game gave us hope, the Newcastle game gave us more fear, so what will Fulham bring to the table tomorrow?

Well, they’ll be without Sessegnon, who limped off injured in their win against Villa, having scored the goal in the first half. I have just watched the highlights of that game, and Villa certainly created enough chances for it to be at least a draw. So his being out, I guess, is a plus point for us, but so is the fact that Iwobi is out. We have enough things to worry about without having an ex-player cause us all manner of headaches tomorrow evening.

**Emile Smith Rowe enters the chat**

Their main man this season, however, has been Harry Wilson, who has 10 Premier League goals to his name and has racked up the second-highest goals vs xG metrics, which means when he gets chances, they tend to be lower quality but higher conversion.

As a team, Fulham sit mid-table for xG, they’re 12th for goals scored, 12th for total volume of shots, 14th for shots on target, 11th for touches in the opponents’ box, and 14th for ‘fast breaks’. By all rights, this is very much a ‘mid-table’ side based on the stats. And yet they find themselves in 10th, and because of this mad Premier League this season, they are just two points off Brighton in sixth position, fighting for a European slot. So last weekend, in hindsight, we could have done with Villa probably winning that game against them, as it might have meant they pretty much know that their chance of Europe is gone. Now they will be looking at this match as one that, if they can pick up a win on our patch, then they have a good chance of hitting that target.

That’s why this is a mad season, because Everton are only just one point behind them, and we’re hoping that on their own patch they can do us a favour against City on Monday night. But Fulham are just as likely to cause an upset as Everton are, which is why Arteta and his players need to be wary.

We’ve had a couple of recent memory slip-ups against Fulham at home, too. Two seasons ago, it was the 2-2 in which we contrived to drop points having been 2-1 up and a man to the good after Bassey was sent off in the 83rd minute. We went one down in one minute, then had two goals on 70 and 72, and when their man was sent off, you’re thinking that we’ll coast to the final whistle. But an 87th-minute goalkeeper mistake from a corner (Ramsdale) cost us three points, and I remember being very grumpy that bank holiday weekend in August, away with friends all weekend.

Two seasons before that, it was Eddie Nketiah rescuing a point for us after they’d scored on 59 minutes, after a Maja penalty was converted. In fact, since Arteta took charge, he’s had two narrow 2-1 wins and two draws against Fulham. We haven’t had it easy against them for seven years. I don’t expect that to start tomorrow.

And in Marco Silva, they do have a tactically fluid manager, who will shift their approach. I suspect we’ll see a side that will build up with a back three, stretch their fullbacks to make the pitch as wide as possible, and see if they can get runners and dribblers disrupting the middle. They rely on the ability of their full-backs, and I seem to recall Antoinee Robinson always has a good game for us in that left-back spot. On the left-hand side, if we had an attacker in any kind of form, I’d fancy them against Castagne, but unfortunately, we don’t, unless Arteta leans into Eze there again. That will be one to discuss tomorrow when we have an update (of sorts) with the team news.

Fulham’s style this season – having read a few articles – is to leverage those full-backs, but also make diagonal passes as two or three runners try to get in behind the opposition defence. They will sit in a compact back five out of possession, then try to spring traps on us. We have to be ready for that.

I hope we are. Arteta pulled Odegaard off in midweek, presumably to protect him for tomorrow, as well as not starting Eze. He gave Saka 20 minutes against Atletico Madrid, having given him 10 minutes against Newcastle, so one would hope that he might be ready to play. The big question is over Kai, but I suspect the club will be cautious, and we will get told he’s not available. That means he’ll most likely turn to Big Vik, who hopefully has a little bit more confidence after a decent performance against Atleti in midweek, as well as a goal, albeit one from the spot.

I don’t expect anything other than a coy Arteta to give nothing away, but I hope that we at least get some word on Timber. It’s getting to the point where I’m wondering if we will ever see him again this season. I really hope so. He is such a key component of that back line and their defensive stability. A fit Timber, along with Big Gabi, Saliba and Calafiori would be huge for these final games.

It is unlikely to be tomorrow, but even having him in the squad would be a big boost, so let’s cross our fingers for some good news today.

And with that, I’ll toddle off for now, with some pre-match thoughts tomorrow. Catch you then.

Laters people.

I am convinced of it.

Diego Simeone was waving his arms around like a lunatic. He was encroaching on the referee. He was barking and hollering, and so was the crowd. And last night’s referee just played to that gallery.

Let’s look at the facts here, boys and girls:

1. Eze gets to the ball first
2. There is contact by the Atletico Madrid defender
3. It is inside the box

It. Is. A. Penalty. Now, what you could argue is that the contact was, indeed, minimal. And because of that, if the referee doesn’t give it, you’d have me saying things like “tight call, but it’s not a stonewaller of a penalty”. And then you go with the on-field decision. But when the referee gives the penalty, there is ZERO chance that it shouldn’t be given. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. No way should that have been re-refereed in the way it was.

And yet here we are. Simeone is a prick. Afterwards, he supposedly (can’t find the exact quote but some journalists mention it on social media) laughably tried to claim Gyokeres’ penalty shouldn’t have stood because he backed into the Atletico player. Utter deflection, because his side had been edged out in the second half, and I thought we’d played really well to go one-up in the break. Their home fans were loud and raucous for the opening exchanges. Atleti started well and fed off that, but once we rallied and started getting on the ball, I thought we looked composed and in control. You could tell that Atletico Madrid were going to show us respect; this is a swashbuckling Spanish side who bag a lot of goals, but they were remaining tight and compact in their shape, and at times I was watching this game seeing a back five from the home side. That is a compliment to what we were doing in possession, and I thought the back four, particularly, were good.

Arteta changed it a bit, and I think it is a blueprint we need to think about moving forward, because Rice was playing the deeper of the two midfielders, with Zubi just in front of him, and that also enabled us to move to a back three at times and give us more passing lanes. It was good from the manager, and even though we still had that dreaded front three, we had a few chances. I still think between them, Martinelli and Trossard, when he came on, didn’t offer enough on that left-hand side, but Madueke was better.

And so too was Gyokeres, who notched his 19th of the season, and never in my life have I been more convinced that a player would score penalties than the big Swede. We all have our issues with Gyokeres; he’s been frustrating at times this season, but when it comes to finishing and penalties, the ball stays hit, and you know we are going to score.

That’s why the Eze penalty is also such a disgrace, because Gyokeres absolutely would have tucked it away to win us the game, and then you’re talking about bringing a one-goal lead back to your own turf. We’ve been robbed of that, and it’s a real shame because although Atletico were better in the second half, there was still so much positive to take from the way Arsenal handled the game overall.

On the Ben White penalty, I think Arteta handled that perfectly too, afterwards, admitting that it isn’t given in the Premier League, but it is in Europe, so we have to stomach it. Atletico had other chances too. Raya made a couple of good saves, Griezmann hit the bar, plus big Gabi made a tremendous block to deny the Frenchman. We rode our luck at points, but there’s no doubt in my mind, the luck was more with the home side than ours by the time the final whistle came along.

So where do we find ourselves now? How am I feeling this morning?

Actually, pretty good, if truth be told. We went to a tough ground, with a partisan home crowd and a barking manager, we came away with a draw. We can all be annoyed by the end, but before a ball would have kicked, I’d have taken an away draw to turn our home game into a knockout. Away goals mean nothing anymore, so this match next week is effectively one in which all is decided on the night. And having home advantage has to make you feel more confident.

I also think Arteta has some ammo now. We got minutes into Saka’s legs, Calafiori is available, Eze also got on the pitch so he should be fine for Saturday, Rice and Zubi had great games. The only question is with Odegaard, who came off and I read that he was getting some treatment on the sideline. We have to just hope that it’s nothing massive and he can have a day or two off and be ready for the game against the Cottagers on Saturday evening, because we need everyone now.

Arteta can use this injustice on the Atletico game, but he can also use the performance for Saturdaay too. The team can take confidence from the game and given that Saturday’s game is an evening kick off and hopefully the weather is good like last weekend, the home fans might just be feeling a little more boistrous than we would have done if we’d have lost last night.

We didn’t lose. we played pretty good. There is some confidence that can get built back up now. And so on to Saturday, in which another big match looms and Arsenal simple MUST win.

Back tomorrow as we start to prep for that one. See you then.

And at this stage in the season, when we’re all looking at how neck-and-neck this is, we’re looking at teams like Newcastle and saying things pre-match like “out of form, lost their last four matches, few players out injured, plus ours have had a week off – we should be having a go at them today.

But on what basis, and by what evidence, did we think that would be the case yesterday? It was always going to be a tough one, a grind, separated only by that moment of magic as Eze swept the ball home in 10 minutes. The timing of goals often impacts games, and I remember turning around to those around me in block five and saying things like “no, we need to go on and make this a big win”. But the stage of the season we are at, the fragile nature of some of the psychology, I believe, is in this Arsenal team, meant that this was always going to end up being a nervy one. These sorts of games always happen when you don’t get that second.

I hear there were some comments from Sky saying that the Arsenal fans were nervous, edgy, and that was impacting the atmosphere. Nope. Sorry, not for me, because what I saw and heard was a collective of Arsenal fans who were loud and vociferous and were behind the team from the first minute. Of course, when you get down to the last 10 minutes of a game, and there’s still only one goal in it, there will be some tension. That is natural. But this wasn’t a day in which the crowd supposedly played their part in Arsenal dropping off.

I think the drop off in performance in that second half had something to do with the fact that we had to once again endure Madueke, Martinelli, and Gyokeres as an attacking trio. And as we all know, we’ve all talked about, we’ve all listened to various Arsenal fan-focused media, and heard that trio doesn’t work. There are too many runners, not enough ballers, evidenced at the end too, when Gyokeres had the simplest of passes square to set Saka in on goal, to which he couldn’t even execute. The Sweded is somebody who is essentially a bit useless unless he’s able to get a shot off or is in the right space inside the penalty box. I tell you now, if that was Havertz in that position, or maybe even Gabriel Jesus, they’d have found Saka in on goal, and we’d be talking about a late goal to prop up the performance.

To give him some props, however, I thought Gyokeres did ok when he came on. He hassled, he harried, he chased, and he held the ball up well. He was fine. He didn’t get into the kind of positions you want your centre-forward to get into, but there was one moment where he’d peeled away on the left-hand side, and instead of slotting him in, Odegaard just squared the ball backwards to Zubimendi, who tried a little flick/dink that didn’t come off. Odegaard should have gone to the Swede the first time, but I think some of those Arsenal players just can’t work out where to get him the ball, probably because, unless it’s in the centre by the penalty spot, they know he can’t trap it.

But, like I say, he wasn’t too bad, unlike Madueke and Martinelli, who I thought both had poor games overall. But that’s par for the course this season. Madueke did show a little more to his opposing fullback Dan Burn in the first half, but I thought once he got him on a yellow, he should have had more of a run at him. He didn’t, and when Saka’s number came up to come on, I think we all couldn’t be happier. And he almost instantly made an impact, forcing a deflected shot out for a corner. He’s clearly not fit enough to start, but hopefully he gets more minutes in midweek against Atletico, then we can look to start him against Fulham for the home game next Saturday evening.

And hopefully both Kai and Eze are fine too. Both came off, Eze seemed to be ok afterwards and said it was just precautionary, but I’d be wondering whether or not he’s at risk in midweek now. Arteta gave his usual “we will have to see” commentary, but he didn’t seem too worried about either player. Kai would be the one I’d have more concerns with. I think a lot of us probably suspected that it might be Kai starting yesterday, with maybe Gyokeres in midweek against Atletico. I think you certainly have to think about that now.

One other player that Arteta is going to have to think about in midweek is Martin Odegaard, as well, because I thought he faded in the second half. In the first half I thought he looked lively, I was pleased to see him getting on the ball and dictating play, but he was hardly mentioned amongst the gents in Block Five in that second half, which I think speaks to how he was probably feeling the fatigue of only just returning. He played the full 90. Can he go again in midweek? If we’re not going to risk Eze, he might not have a choice.

It’s similar to Zubimendi too, who came off on 81 minutes and who I read had been sick at halftime. If that’s a bug, then you wonder why he didn’t play, but it was interesting to see that Myles came on for him, although I suspect it is only because Norgaard hadn’t made the match-day squad.

And so we saw out what was a really nervy 1-0 victory. If we do four of those in the Premier League between now and the end of the season, we will all have aged quite significantly, I suspect, but for now it is good enough, and we move on to a big game in Madrid on Wednesday night.

I’ll be back tomorrow as we start to look ahead to that semi-final.

Quick P.S. on the Pope non-sending off. I know Arteta was insistent on it being a red card, but I’m not so sure. I think it probably is a little closer to a red than a yellow, but I can’t be saying that I 100% agree hand on heart – hence not really going in to much detail on it for today’s blog.