Feed on
Posts
Comments

Tricky Test Awaits Against Atletico

Oct 21st, 2025 by


Images courtesy of Visionhaus & Getty Images. Our cannon points conveniently at the unfortunate bear!

The Arsenal take on Atletico Madrid in the latest voyage of our Champions League qualifying odyssey this Tuesday night in what looks, on paper at least, to be one of the tougher games among our scheduled eight. The Bilbao and Olympiakos hurdles have been tidily taken 2-0 so far but Simeone’s Atletico are a step-up in class and will provide a useful European yardstick of our current level. Beating them would undoubtedly set us up nicely for other tricky tests to come – Bayern Munich at home and Inter Milan away spring to mind – and would also no doubt see us firmly settled in the CL Top 8.

Much to play for then, but now is as good a time as any to play for it. After all, we have won 5 in a row after our latest victory at Craven Cottage, there seem to be no new injuries, and our very own Starboy, Bukayo Saka, looks to be getting back into form. Player of the Match against Fulham, he was even denied as clear a penalty as you could wish to see – surely only a man in cheap Japanese spectacles would have missed that one! We are also, in case anyone might have missed it, still top of the league.

Who will play this time then?

Well, firstly I must say our new improved squad a la Berta means that I really don’t know who will play as I cheerfully scan our 3-star Michelin player menu full of chef’s recommendations, nevertheless, even in these days of miracle and wonder it is still possible to identify a few of the very likeliest among our likeable likely lads. No Terry or Bob but putting in David, William, Gabriel, Martin, Declan, Viktor and Bukayo gives us a sound seven probables, mix in Justin and Riccardo as the currently favoured full-backs based on this season’s latest form, and we can then reduce our “problem positions” to attacking midfield and left wing – then pick two from five out of Eze, Merino, Martinelli, Leo and Ethan.

That is a very, very nice problem to have. Or at least that has largely been the shape of things so far this season. However, a word of caution to anyone who believes my suggested XI below – Mikel has regularly thrown-in an extra change or two this season to keep things fresh.

Raya

Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori

Zubimendi Rice Merino

Saka Gyokeres Martinelli

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you and I do believe that we will see the Zubi, Rice, Merino midfield triumvirate even at home, or at least to start the match. It gives us a solid base, a potentially highly productive front three, and a lot of powerful players for the inevitable set pieces. I understand the instinctive preference of many Holics for a more creative AM like Ethan or Eze but I don’t think Mikel will jump that way for this particular match. Atletico and Simeone have whole busloads of experience in this type of situation and I believe Mikel will choose to reduce the risk of being suckered as far as possible.

No doubt the situation will change as the game evolves but The Boss has been a touch canny so far this season to start most games and I’d imagine a little more of the same for this one. Other than that, I expect a similar squad to the Fulham game, a few more subs obviously as it’s the CL, and also Piero Hincapie is now available according to Mikel’s presser “he will be available, that game (Fulham) came a bit too quickly for him” I expect most of us would like a look at him though it may not come tomorrow. Patience is reputedly a virtue and the season is long.

Touching on the opposition

Atletico Madrid have been among the top Spanish sides for many years now, not quite seen in the same bracket as Barcelona and Real Madrid I suppose but nevertheless a top side. Over the decades,they have won all the major trophies in Europe except the European Cup / Champions League and since Diego Simeone’s appointment late in 2011they have been in the Top 3 in La Liga in 12 of his 14 seasons, winning it twice, the last time in 2020/21. They have I think it’s fair to say fallen away slightly from a high point of two Champions League finals in three seasons (both lost to Read Madrid) in the mid-2010s but even so Simeone has guided them to the knockout stages in six of the last seven seasons.However, I guess you are asking yourself in that case “has the ranty, cheaty man finally lost his fire”? That burning desire to win no matter the cost to his or his team’s integrity. Who knows but of course we can certainly hope so.

Talking of Atleti’s management – a heads up for those Holics around 40 and above (hmm I wonder what that % is?) there will be a vaguely familiar face in the Atleti seats – Nelson Vivas, once of this manor, around the turn of the millennium, is now among Simeone’s assistants. Although, a wee word of warning to any feisty Holics thinking of engaging Nelson in witty badinage…..he once waded into the crowd in a match in Argentina and delivered a thumping to a fan he thought had been less respectful than he ought. He did have to resign as manager the next day but I suppose it does in its way send a clear message.

Enough of their management, what of their team. They have had a slow start to this season, losing the opening game to Espanyol in La Liga and in the CL as well, to Liverpool at Anfield. Sadly, things have picked up recently and they have beaten Real Madrid 5-2 and Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the last month. On the brighter side their away form remains spotty, no away wins this season and draws against some La Liga sides they would certainly expect to beat. They come into the game 4th in La Liga on the back of a 1-0 win at home to Osasuna (think Burnley if you are looking for a football comparison, not location obviously as Osasuna hail from Pamplona, a beautiful city in Northern Spain, whereas Burnley hail from, well, Burnley).

They have several players that we will know well and even if it isn’t the famously ferocious rearguard of a decade ago, they did still had the 2nd best defence in La Liga last season and the capable Oblak in goal. Midfield may include Koke and Conor Gallagher, of one good season at Palace fame, and up front they usually pick two out of Griezmann, Sorloth, Julien Alvarez and Raspadori. Alvarez is the main threat these days and has been scoring far more freely than in his so-so spell at 130ty.

Atleti don’t have a particularly good record in the UK, never having won a group stage match away and continued that record with that 3-2 defeat at Liverpool in their first CL match this season. They uncharacteristically let in a couple of early goals that night, chased the game to equalize and then lost it at the death. It was the only time they have let in three in a game this season. They will line up 4-4-2, sit back, and look to hit us on the counter, they are good at it but Mikel knows all about them I’m sure. So what will happen?

Is 2-0 the new One Nil to The Arsenal?

Yes, it is! Come on down 2-0! Our excellent defensive record so far this season encourages a not unreasonable belief in another clean sheet but……Atletico have scored in every game so far this season so something’s gotta give. My hoped for 2-0 would ideally feature a goal for Viktor but as usual I’ll take two own goals if that’s what it takes. It’s been seven years since the only time we played Atletico, they dumped us out in the Ropey League semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate. We owe them one in that case and now we have just the team for payback time. All in all, it’s big European night with an Arsenal team built to go deep in this competition, it’s even better than good to be a gooner!!

Wherever you may be and at whatever unDennisly hour, enjoy the game Holics one and all

Posted in Match Preview | 55 Drinks »

I Like Winning After The Interlull

Oct 19th, 2025 by

Leo steers it home – Courtesy of Arsenal Football Club

I am sure I am not the first to make this point but a few years back I became heartily sick of patched up Arsenal sides shipping points in listless performances directly after the interlull. I have no evidence (and I suspect it probably seemed worse than it actually was) to back up that particular perception on my part, but it certainly looked that way to mine own eyes. This season’s first opponents after the thrice-damned interlull were Forest at home but they were led by Agent Ange and we couldn’t really read too much into that 3-0 stroll – alas poor Ange by the way, we knew him well, though he wasn’t in all honesty a man of infinite tactics, he probably deserved better than the discourteous second-hand sacking he reportedly got from the Forest owner whose name I forget (I know, I know, but even a seasoned pro like myself can’t be expected to remember the name of every shifty crook who owns a football club these days).  Anyway, I digress.  Yesterday evening UK time, we faced Fulham away, a somewhat sterner test of late than of yore. How would it go?

Well, I must say that I much prefer this new, improved version of Post-Interlull Arsenal. It gets those difficult to shift stains three points and keeps the sheets clean! So, it’s no thank- you to two boxes of my old powder the old and in with the new! Yesterday at the Cottage it was the turn of Fulham to experience our ariel threat and once again our masters of the lower skies were bold enough to clinch a good though admittedly not quite dazzling win and make it five on the spin for Mikel and his merry men. How on earth did they do it you ask?

Well, first things first, the team news at kick-off showed only one change from the side that started against West Ham in early October. Captain Øde will be out for a few weeks yet and so Eze came more central and Zubi dropped into midfield, 

Raya

Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori

Zubimendi Rice

Saka Eze Tross

Gyökeres 

The First Half

The first 10 minutes passed fairly uneventfully, we were controlling the game in our now customary manner, until our first misplaced pass led to a quick attack from Fulham and a deflected shot from Wilson going out for a corner. Cairney had a shot blocked by Zubi from the corner and then a minute or two later Wilson steered the ball wide of Raya’s far post. Fulham had announced their presence, though Cairney’s shot was going wide and Raya had Wilson’s effort covered and realistically they were far from the very good chances that a straw-clutching Silva tried to claim afterwards.  Our own marker was thrown down with far greater aplomb on 15 minutes when a long diagonal from Timber found Leo on the edge of the box, his nicely cushioned knock-down was rammed home first-time from the edge of the box by Cala. It really was a superb finish by our wandering minstrel marred only by the mean-spirited application of some obscure rule I believe to be called offside.  Much probing followed and we looked to get Saka more involved, never a bad plan, but little to report in terms of clear-cut chances. We did finally manage to get Gyökeres in on goal at one point but our former glove butler Leno was out quickly to manage the angle and saved well. Fulham, who in fairness had a couple of important players out, lost another when Andersen limped off on 40 minutes. Declan flashed a shot across a goal and that was it for the first half. Really, I couldn’t say I was particularly anxious at the 0-0 as we generally find a way and have a variety of options but of course it is always better to be in front. 

2nd half

The loudspeakers knocked out London’s Calling and the 2nd half of our own clash got under way. An encouraging start saw Leo with a chance, quickly followed by a goalmouth scramble in which ball nearly sneaked into net and then a couple of corners. Journalistic integrity (eh? Is that some new-fangled thing? ed.) compels me to admit that after the 2nd corner I thought we’re not going to score with this near post corner lark. Then, just as I was forgetting Fulham actually had an attack, they broke well and a decent Iwobi cross was volleyed over by Wilson, a half-chance but about as close as they got. Then we scored.

Fulham 0 The Arsenal 1

Just before the hour mark we won a corner on our right. Saka pinged in a cross at a better trajectory to the near post and Gabriel, as is his wont, won a header amongst a throng of players competing for the ball. The ball flashed across the largely deserted six-yard box to a waiting Leo who thighed it home ahead of the just too slow Fulham defender. We had ‘persil’-vered and finally Saka’s skill, Gabriel’s athleticism and Leo’s speed of thought had given us the lead. A good and deserved goal for a largely dominant first 15 in the 2nd half.

The immediate aftermath of the goal saw Merino come on for Eze and another of own, ESR come on for Fulham. A defensive change by us? Not really as it turned out, we simply controlled the game even more. Our supporters were in good voice by now too, knowing perhaps that with a defence of this calibre the game was no longer afoot for Fulham. 

That was pretty much it in truth, Saka and Gyökeres both had chances, Taylor gave us a penalty, which VAR overturned (rightly I thought after about 5 seconds watching but take 5 minutes if you want lads). Saka was given man of the match – he certainly had a good 2nd half. Nørgaard came on for his PL debut. Fulham had huffed and puffed, I suppose. Taylor blew his whistle. The End. 

Round-up

We played well enough for post-Interlull and got a deserved three points

It would have been nice if Viktor had scored but I thought he played fine again

Our defence was outstanding and from memory Raya didn’t have a save to make

I thought Declan was very good too

Mikel made me laugh after the game when he said “three weeks ago the league was over if we lost at Newcastle, now we’re top of the league”.  A pint of perspective anyone?

Not sure if any of my fellow Holics had made the journey but the away support looked very cheerful after the game, hope you had a nice time!

Another challenging game up next, home in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, however we go on in seemingly good heart and need fear no one these days. 

We are Top of the League!

Posted in Match Report | 27 Drinks »

A Good Day For A Stroll By The Thames

Oct 17th, 2025 by

And so to Craven Cottage, the throw-back Thames-side home of our hosts for Saturday’s ultimate Premier League game of the day.

Fulham will have resided there for 130 years come next year — and the ground came close to being our home, too, in the 1910s. There is a bare-bones version of the story on the club site. Still, the full tale of the grand ambition, mischievous intrigues and general skullduggery then afoot will make for a story here for another interminable interlull.

Craven Cottage is the oldest continually operating football club stadium in London. With Everton having vacated Goodson Park, it is now also the second-oldest in the Premier League after Molineux.

The old-school, timbered cosiness of the stadium, designed by Highbury’s architect, Archibald Leitch, is slowly giving way to modernism. The old Riverside Stand has been redeveloped into a deluxe steel-and-glass edifice that overlooks the river on one side and the pitch on the other, with abundant hospitality opportunities in between. Yet the 30,000-seat ground retains sufficient charm and intimacy to remain a favourite of travelling faithfuls and, to others, becomes a refuge from high prices (not any more in the Riverside stand – tickets are £160 a seat for this match, Ed.) and ticket ballots elsewhere.

The opposition 

With a sprinkling of our old boys and the appointment of Marco Silva as manager in mid-2021, Fulham has established itself as a mid-table Premier League club after a spell oscillating between the top tier and the Championship. Silva is enjoying his longest and most successful spell in management since being at Olympiacos a decade ago, whence he trudged an unglamorous path to SW6 via Hull, Watford and Everton.

He favours 4-2-3-1, although he went with 3-4-2-1 at Bournemouth immediately before the interlull, a formation he had not used since visiting the Emirates last season. As those games resulted in 3-1 and 2-1 defeats, a return to familiar form seems likely, especially as it secured the 1-1 draw against us at the Cottage last season.

Bernd Leno, formerly of this parish, should be between the sticks. The German glove-butler’s 126th appearance for Fulham would take him to one more than he made for us.

Denmark international Joachim Andersen, buoyed by scoring his first international goal in 47 appearances on Sunday, will be at the heart of the defence alongside Nigeria international Calvin Bassey. However, first-choice right back, Netherlands international Kenny Tete, is probably off games, and the indefatigable Milton Keynes-born US international left back Antonee Robinson definitely is. 

Ryan Sessegnon, who lost the distinction of being the youngest scorer for England’s U-19s to our very own Max Dowman this week, and Belgium international Timothy Castagne will probably flank Andersen and Bassey. Silva can also call on utility defenders Spaniard Jorge Cuenca, formerly of Villarreal, for the left side, and French-Moroccan ex-West Ham man Issa Diop for the other, either as substitutes or should he decide to go with a back three after all and play Sessegnon and Castagne as wing-backs. 

All mostly in their late 20s and well-established in their national teams, Fulham’s defenders make for an experienced, battle-hardened Premier League unit that tends to raise its game against top sides and has yet to lose this season at home.

Another PL stalwart, Norwegian international Sander Berge, will provide one half of the defensive midfield pivot. His partner, Serbian international Sasa Lukic, is struggling with a muscle injury that will likely rule him out of the game, opening the door for a first league start this season for club captain Tom Cairney.

In front of them, Silva has ESR and Alex Iwobi, neither of whom needs any introduction. Promising 18-year-old attacking midfielder Josh King is having a breakthrough season and has just made his England U-21 debut. Wales winger Harry Wilson and Adama Traoré, who has yet to start a game this season, offer guile and power, respectively. 

Two other wingers arrived in the summer and are being worked into the team. One is Kevin, a 22-year-old Brazilian bought from Shakhtar Donetsk for €40 million — a rich price for an uncapped forward, although competition for places in Brazil’s attack is fierce. Just ask Gabi Martinelli. The other is AC Milan loanee Samuel Chukwueze, who, like compatriot Bassey, has some 50 Nigeria caps, but, Silva says, is an injury doubt.

Silva has more injury problems up front. Senior strikers Rodrigo Muniz and Raul Jimenez are ruled out and less than 50/50, respectively, the latter having pulled out of the Mexico squad this interlull past. King was pressed into service for the Bournemouth game. Silva’s other option is another 18-year-old, Jonah Kusi-Asare. The Sweden U-21 striker, on loan from Bayern Munich, has six minutes of Bundesliga experience and made Fulham’s bench for the first time for the Bournemouth game.

The Cottagers go into this game 14th in the league, with two wins, two draws and three losses from its seven league games, two of the losses coming in its two most recent games, at Villa Park and the Vitality Stadium. It has scored eight goals and conceded eleven. Neither prolific nor porous, its eight points leave it equidistant from the European places and the relegation zone.

The Arsenal

The injury list has shrunk with Piero Hincapié now available, but Jesùs, Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke remain off games. 

Almost every fit player was on international duty, as were many of Fulham’s, as Bath chronicled in the previous drinks. All ours seem to have returned unscathed, but Arteta will be assessing until the last possible moment how much the travel and minutes played have drained them. 

Both big and medium-sized Gabi travelled to Seoul and Tokyo for Brazil’s friendlies, for example, and Declan Rice played two games for England with a sore back and did not last past 70 minutes in either. Reading the runes of Arteta’s pre-match press conference — always a fool’s errand — I posit this XI to start:

Raya

Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori

Zubimendi, Merino

Saka, Eze, Trossard

Gyökeres

I expect plenty of early rotation and a cameo debut for Hincapié. Arteta will need all his squad to be tan, rested and ready for the sterner test of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League next Tuesday.

Fingers and thumbs

This will be the 66th competitive meeting with Fulham, the 65th if you don’t count (remarkably) the solitary cup tie—an FA Cup first-round match in 1904 that Woolwich won 1-0 on a waterlogged Manor Ground. You can count the games we have lost since on the digits of two hands with a thumb to spare. Use that to count the number of times Silva has beaten Arteta in six attempts, although he did beat Arsenal with his Olympiacos, Watford and Everton teams.

Yet, last December, we suffered a draw at Craven Cottage, in a game ably described by C100 that we should have won. It was doubly infuriating because VAR chalked off what would have been a last-minute Saka winner. We did not know it that day, but it would be the first of three draws in a month against mid-table teams that would prove costly at the end of the campaign.

The previous season, we had lost 2-1 at Craven Cottage during a mid-season mini-slump that cost us another six points, triple the final gap between ourselves and Manchester City. 21CG reported the details of an insipid performance. It was the sole defeat in 18 away games against other London sides since the start of the 2022-23 season.

We cannot allow either outcome to repeat. 

At the time of writing, we sit atop the league after seven games. By kick-off late Saturday afternoon, Bournemouth and Man City could have dislodged us. Liverpool and the neighbours play on Sunday. Three points will keep them all below the salt. 

I doubt it will be a high-scoring game and Fulham are resilient at home, but a stroll by the Thames to a routine 2-0 win for the Arsenal would be the thing, with Gyökeres scoring. His record against Fulham is played two, won two, scored three.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far,

Posted in Match Preview | 59 Drinks »

Our New Signings: First Report Card

Oct 7th, 2025 by

Andrea Berta, our very hard-working, and one must say effective, Director of Football spent a very busy summer improving our squad. During the recent game with Olympiacos it was very impressive to be able to point to a bench that contained the likes of Saka, Rice, Timber, Eze and child prodigy Max Dowman whose Mum allowed him to sit on the bench provided he wore the scarf his auntie knitted him for Christmas. A couple of months in, I thought it would be reasonable to start to assess how well our eight new signings are doing. The sheer number of quality players brought to the club was staggering, but how are they faring? 

Kepa Arrizabalaga – Goalkeeper 

Signed from Chelsea for £5million 

Thankfully, Kepa is known by this name rather than his surname which earns 42 points in Scrabble! In the 24/25 close season we made what could have been a very serious mistake. Our attempt to sign Joan Garcia of Espanyol on the cheap failed (he may have got wind of Barcelona’s long-term interest as he has become their first choice keeper now) and on deadline day we had to pivot to Neto at Bournemouth, a man with great experience but very much on the decline. In addition, one of the roles of the back-up keeper is to deputise in the League Cup. Neto was already cup-tied for this competition. This was just before Edu announced his departure and it is interesting to note that Neto was a client of Edu’s close friend, Kia Joorabchian – he was very much a fall-back option and fall back is what Neto did on the one occasion we started him. It looked to be a risk to play him again and we didn’t! 

Berta was faced with the back-up keeper conundrum. Can you get a goalkeeper willing to sit on the bench, especially behind one of the best goalkeepers in the world, but who would be able to deputise for the number one for a long period if necessary, without a significant drop off in standard? He solved this seemingly effortlessly with the signing of Kepa. Experienced Premier League keeper – tick, International experience – tick, Champions League experience – tick, suitable age – tick and sensible price – tick . This last element is particularly important. Joan Garcia was going to cost £25 million if we bought him in 2024. Kepa had a release clause in his contract of £5 million. He is also very good with his feet and appears to be able to work very impressively with Raya based on training videos.

Assessment so far: Kepa has played one game, had a shut out and looks an ideal understudy. 7/10

Cristhian Mosquera – Centre back 

Signed from Valencia for £17 million 

Cristhian Mosquera was a player I had never heard of before we began negotiations for him. He seemed very keen to join Arsenal, notwithstanding the fact that we have possibly the best defence in Europe, and he came with a very good reputation in Spain. As luck would have it, he got early first-team experience when Saliba was injured early on at Anfield. We held our breath but he was faultless and one slight mistake against Newcastle apart, he has made a terrific start . He is poised, distributes well and seems able to play on the right and the left in a centre back role. He looks a superb capture and his price already looks a steal.

Assessment so far: We have unearthed another top defender with the quality and aggression to play regularly in the Premier League if necessary. 7.5/10

Piero Hincapie- Left back and centre back 

Signed from Bayer Leverkusen on loan with an option to buy – price £45 million?

This signing was something of a surprise. I at least knew of Hincapie, who had the reputation of  being one of the best young defenders in Europe. He had been part of the all conquering Bayer Leverkusen team that carried all before them in 2024 and has a host of caps for Ecuador. We wondered why we needed another left back, albeit one who has a great ability to overlap spectacularly and we have yet to find out what the fuss is about. My enquiries of German friends are encouraging. He was rated an incredible player by one Hamburg fan and another Bayern Munich-supporting friend thinks he was possibly the best defender in the Bundesliga. We await his first meaningful experience at Arsenal but suggestions are that he is a fine replacement for Kiwior and adds yet more depth to our defensive resources. 

Assessment so far: Too early to tell.

Christian Nørgaard – Central midfielder 

Signed from Brentford for £10 million 

This signing went very much under the radar, partly because it was another surprise and partly because Nørgaard is clearly likely to be a squad player. A good business contact and friend is a Brentford season- ticket holder and believes we have committed grand larceny having first signed Raya and now taken the club captain at the Bees, Nørgaard. He rates him very highly, saying he was very positively regarded by Brentford fans. Apparently he never goes missing, can play across midfield almost anywhere and is a very strong aerial threat. This move is a huge opportunity for him but as soon as he arrived he was injured in training and is only recently fit enough to play a part. His first start was against Port Vale but he is the sort of excellent professional that helps build real squad strength.

Assessment so far: Too early to tell.

Martin Zubimendi – Holding midfielder 

Signed from Real Sociedad for £67 million 

In the 2024 Euros, England faced Spain in the final. It was the season in which Rodri dominated the Premier League and he threatened to do the same in the Final until he went down injured and was replaced at half-time by the Basque, Zubimendi. Most English fans sensed a real opportunity, only to see Zubi play extraordinarily well and together with Ruiz and his club colleague, Mikel Merino turn the game in Spain’s favour. He was described as a holding midfielder but he put out fires all over the pitch, linked effortlessly with attack and defence and used the ball superbly. It looked likely that he would be nabbed by Liverpool but he decided at the last minute to reject that move. Edu and Jason Ayto leapt in and deserve great credit for negotiating the agreement to bring Zubimendi to Arsenal.

Zubi is one of those players who is a delight to watch. He links play effortlessly, has great ability to spot and end danger and I read he is apparently the winner of more headed duels this season than Virgil Van Dijk! In our game against Nottingham Forest he scored a superb volley and then out-jumped the Forest defence to notch a second. In the recent game with West Ham he entered the fray halfway through the first half replacing Ødegaard and ran the game thereafter. He is a very high quality signing indeed.

Assessment so far: Martin Zubimendi is possibly one of our best signings for many years. 8.5/10 

Noni Madueke – Winger 

Signed from Chelsea for £47.5 million plus add-ons 

Of all our summer signings this one was possibly the most surprising and seemed to be concluded most rapidly. It was also the most controversial. Apparently angered by yet another signing from Chelsea, albeit one who is a current England international with experience in the Premier League and EreDivisie and who can play on either flank, a group of highly insensitive fans ‘welcomed’ Noni with a petition imploring the club not to sign him! Fortunately, Andrea Berta is not deflected by idiots and having brought Noni to the club, we were able to enjoy his ability to take on full backs on either side, cross to great effect and although he wasn’t famed for working back at Chelsea, his work rate with us has been admirable. He has also starred for England where he is putting pressure on Bukayo Saka for his place! Sadly, in the Forest match he injured his knee and looks likely to be out for a number of weeks which has interrupted some very satisfactory progress. Having bemoaned the lack of a deputy for Saka, we now have an exciting alternative. Hopefully those creators of that stupid petition have repented their behaviour . 

Assessment so far: A very impressive beginning. Come back soon Noni! 7.5/10 

Eberechi Eze – Midfield player 

Signed from Crystal Palace for £67.5 million 

It seemed inconceivable that having apparently concluded a deal with the player, Arsenal cooled their interest in a man who played the major part in Palace’s FA Cup victory. Worse than that, he seemed to be headed for Tottenham! Then Kai Havertz was injured and seemingly in a few hours Ornstein was reporting that we had concluded a deal for Eze, self confessed Gooner and a man who looked like the cat that got the cream when he was paraded to the crowd just after signing. I was delighted by this deal and believe it will be one of the main reasons why we will win the Premier League this season. He has begun to establish himself in the team, although his long- term role may be coming from the left or one of two number 10s as was the case against West Ham. He is a superb talent and a match winner 

Assessment so far: A good start but much more to come. 7.5/10 

Viktor Gyökeres – Striker 

Signed from Sporting Lisbon for £57 million plus add-ons 

Of all our signings Gyökeres is probably under  the most pressure, so desperately have we craved a striker. We were strongly linked with both Viktor Gyökeres and Benjamin Sesko but Berta exhibited a strong preference for Viktor and he showed a huge desire to play for us, a feature that all our summer signings had in common. His introduction has been mixed. He has shown encouraging signs, works extremely hard but is still a work in progress. But it is hard to find another striker who would represent better value and his physicality has definitely given us greater attacking impetus.

Assessment so far: Some good moments, three goals but surely more to come. 7/10 

Arguments will rage about my comments and my suggested scores but I think they are fair. It is very early in the process of attempting to build a trophy-winning side but I’m not alone in not only being thrilled by the introduction of so many great players but also the willingness of KSE to invest heavily in the squad. We raised very little by way of sales proving that it wasn’t just Edu who couldn’t raise large sums for our players! 

This is a great time to be an Arsenal fan and we have begun our season well. Do you agree with my assessments and is there still work to be done? Hit the Drinks and let us hear your opinions.

Posted in Analysis, Interlull, Opinions | 86 Drinks »

Easy Like Saturday Afternoon

Oct 5th, 2025 by

Courtesy of the author

Storm Amy was blowing along Holloway Road as we strolled up to the Emirates on a warm but blustery autumnal day. Transport links were affected up and down the land. I bumped into BtM desperately in need of sustenance after his train from Bishops Stortford was cancelled due to the weather and he had to take an Uber to Epping. Never leave a Scotsman with an empty stomach!

But we had a job to do. To avenge the desperately disappointing home defeats to West Ham of the last two seasons. The team news was out and it was exciting. 

Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Calafiori, Rice, Ødegaard, Eze, Saka, Gyökeres, Trossard

A midfield with two 10s and Rice sitting. Clearly no handbrake. The crowd were buzzing. How would the team respond after a week which had two tough matches since the previous Sunday, a tough physical battle with Newcastle and a slightly tense CL win over Olympiacos, both games resolved with goals in injury time?

Away we went. One of the questions we had been asking ourselves was how would the swirling wind affect the game? We got an early answer when West Ham won a corner and it soared, very unusually, over Raya’s head. We cleared it but it had been a danger (spoiler – probably the most dangerous moment in the game from our opponents).

Although we didn’t have the very high tempo start of the last two games, we slowly got into gear. A typical Nuno low block faced us and we had to unpick the lock. Rice chipped a lovely ball to Saka and he smashed it in. Unfortunately he was just offside. The dose was repeated and after a scramble on the goal line the ball fell to Eze six yards out. Amazingly, he blazed it over the bar.

Then came a key moment. Ødegaard had a clash of knees with Summerville (no fault of the West Ham player). He went down, he got up and tried to run it off. He went down again. He got up again and went down again. Finally, for the third time he went down and was clearly in pain. He had to be subbed. Zubimendi came on and dropped in at 6, Rice moved up to 8 and Eze continued as the solitary 10. Poor old Martin. He had just come back into form and again was cut down by injury. We await the medical diagnosis.

So we were back in a more familiar formation and the admirable Zubimendi began pulling the strings. Patrolling along the horizontal axis, he was constantly scanning, either for an interception or for a progressive forward pass. A Swiss watch of a player whom I love watching. On 39 minutes, after another Saka attack on the right wing, he received the ball maybe 20 yards outside the penalty area and spotted Eze making a run into the box. He played a delicious slide rule pass between two defenders right into Eze’s path. The latter hit a fierce shot which was going into the far corner. Areola did very well to save it, parrying it into the path of Rice who smashed a controlled half volley into the roof of the net. Lovely goal. One nil to the Arsenal. 

Calafiori hit the post. The ball cannoned back and hit Areola on the back. Just for a minute I thought we had a replay of one of the funniest goals ever when Jorghino did the same thing to Martinez away at Villa, when it hit his head and bounced in but no, this time it fell safe. 

One nil at half time, with Arsenal dominant.

We began the second half in similar attacking style. Trossard sent a lovely arcing ball over the defence to Rice marauding down the left wing. He slid in a lovely ball towards Gyökeres charging towards the six yard line but he missed it by a toenail as he fought off a defender. Then, on 67 minutes, Zubi the creator struck again. He sent in a beautiful ball to Timber on the edge of the area where he had the step on his defender. He moved forward, was fouled and the tussling continued into the area. Timber went down. Peter Brookes pointed to the spot. Michael Oliver on VAR tried to find a reason to deny the penalty but it clearly started outside the box and continued into it. Penalty.

An interesting discussion ensued between Saka, who was Captain after Ødegaard went off and Gyökeres who was clearly suggesting he’d like to take it. It ended amicably, they fist bumped, Gyökeres stepped back and Saka stepped forward. That familiar stuttering run up, then he smashed the ball into the top corner. Two nil and probably game over. 

That made it 100 goal involvements for Saka in his two hundredth PL game. It was interesting to see on MOTD that in Arteta’s first game as manager he had started at left back. Afterwards, Saka praised Mikel, saying he had developed his game so much. Amen to that.

That was about that. Declan went off with a back problem. A raft of substitutions saw Nwaneri, Martinelli, Lewis-Shelly and Merino come on. 

A regular, comfortable, tension free win. We had 21 shots to West Ham’s 5 and Raya didn’t have a save to make. The quality of the subs we brought on was superb, showing the value of the club’s summer transfer work. The crowd were not raucous, but there was no tension and nothing really to complain about. It was just a regulation 2-0 win and a further three points gained against last season. 

So who played well? I thought Zubimendi was superb once he came on for Ødegaard. A Swiss watch of a player who defends the back four by his intelligent reading of the game and a player of top passes vertically which can unlock a packed defence. Jurien Timber, once again was brilliant. Such a strong player who is developing his attacking play every week to go with his strong defending. Timber never lets you down and always seems to have at least a strong player rating of eight every game. There is news that he will be the latest player to begin negotiations on a new contract. Pay the man! Declan had a really good game, taking his goal well and going easily from a 6 to an 8. He is equally strong in each position. I thought Saka had a great game, looking right up for the fray. He had a good right back up against him in Diouf but, even when he couldn’t get past, was able to recycle the ball positively (the first goal came from such an occasion). Calafiori is clearly feeling the heat of MLS behind him because he has raised his game. He was all over the pitch from defending his own corner area to being the most advanced player. His heat map for the game must be ridiculous.

Finally what of Gyökeres? I thought he had a very good game, almost always with two defenders on him (making space for others), playing well with back to goal and laying it off well. He is never going to be the most elegant of players, and can look clumsy but he is having a real impact. Don’t follow pundits’ agendas. Give him time, as we urged here when we bought him. I, for one, will be very surprised if he doesn’t finish the season with 20+ goals. 

So, as we go into another interlull, how are Arsenal doing? We have played 10 games, won 8, drawn one and lost just one. We have scored 20 goals (boring, boring Arsenal!) and conceded just 3. We are top of the league, well placed in the Champions League and through to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup. I call that a very satisfactory start to the season, especially with injuries in 6 of the 7 league games so far and visits to Anfield and St James Park out of the way. 

Up next before the next Interlull is Fulham (A), Atletico Madrid (H), high flying  Palace (H), Brighton (H – CC), Burnley (A), Slavia Prague (A) and Sunderland (A).

Me? Well I’m off to watch the slightly stuttering Women’s team play Brighton at the Emirates next Sunday. Enjoy your Interlull, whatever you’re doing.

Posted in Match Report | 38 Drinks »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »