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Table of doom update Arsenal Now 53 Max. 95 Manchester City Now 47 Max. 89 Aston Villa Now 46 Max. 88 Manchester United Now 41 Max 83 Chelsea Now 40 Max. 82 Liverpool Now 39 Max. 81 Fixtures Arsenal: Chelsea H Man City A Man City: Liverpool A Chelsea H Arsenal H Villa A Aston Villa: Chelsea H Man Utd A Liverpool H Man City A Man Utd: Villa H Chelsea A Liverpool H Chelsea: Arsenal A Villa A Man City H Man Utd H Liverpool A Liverpool: Man City H Man Utd A Chelsea H Villa A A good start Man Utd may be looking for a win here to cut the deficit So now we are the only team in the top three to get 3 points leaving us six and seven points in front of the next two. Man Utd were lucky as were Chelsea. Liverpool, after a shaky start won comfortably. We can now afford to lose 2 from 14 as long as a loss is not against City. There is currently 8 points between the chasing bunch which is tight enough. Man Utd will be aware that if they can keep up their strong run when they play Villa on 14th March they can cut the deficit to two points and that is not impossible. Not losing against City could be key In essence the lower chasing bunch only need City and Villa to wobble and they have a chance. But they need Arsenal to collapse with realistically the equivalent of at least 5 defeats from 14. A win against Sunderland would be very welcome, particularly as Liverpool play City. One or both have to drop points. Utd, home against the Spuds, would be favourites and Chelsea, away to Wolves also. Villa away to Bournemouth looks a bit trickier with Villa’s injuries but again favourites. If Liverpool, Utd and Chelsea win and Villa drop points, the chasing bunch will be more bunched. If the main thing they need is an Arsenal collapse, then one of the five could sprint, even Liverpool. But even so, they must pretty much win all, surely, to have any chance? Can we win 4 trophies? In our favour is that probably only one of those teams can win all as they all have games against each other. Chelsea can do themselves the most favours by winning all. They have 5 six pointers to come. That is a match we could really do with winning as surely Chelsea will not lose all against them? I believe our two matches against Chelsea and City are must not lose and a great bonus with two wins. Beating Chelsea again would be very significant After beating Chelsea we are now in the Wembley final and 27 matches to win all. We could potentially lose 3 in the CL and still win it. I would guess around 4 in the Premier League and still win it. 20 wins between now and the end of the season could see us producing a miracle that will never be seen again. Or we could get nothing. Ah, what it is to be a football fan. We can win it early No Collapse this year Once again, I reiterate what you are all thinking, City can catch us, they win one, we lose one and they are right behind us. Villa similar. The bottom three have a far tougher task. But we may need those bottom three to get points from Villa and City, if we wobble, and I think they will. We can afford 4 losses and a draw and still get to 81 points and that was the revised target I set last week. That would be more like a bad wobble than a collapse. It is in our hands, now we must show the character and win, win win. We have 4 matches in May, starting against Fulham. We could, and I believe should have won it by then. 4 victory marches would be nice.

В днешната последна част на поредицата, посветена на синдрома "Arteta Out", ще си припомним последните два сезона на Арсенал под ръководството на Микел Артета. Приятно четене! Някои хора биха казали, че Артета и неговият Арсенал са избрали много лош момент да се надпреварват с Манчестър Сити в сезон, в който „гражданите“ спечелиха всичко, каквото можеха да спечелят и завоюваха исторически за клуба требъл, след като най-накрая добавиха към витрината си дългоочакваната купа от Шампионската лига. Въпреки това инатът, упоритостта и жаждата за успехи на Артета не стихваха и това си пролича още с летните трансфери през 2023 г., след привличането най-вече на Деклан Райс, в допълнение с Юриен Тимбър, Кай Хаверц и Давид Рая. За съжаление сезонът за Юриен Тимбър не започна никак добре, след като се контузи още в официалния си дебют на старта на сезона и пропусна всички мачове до края. Това най-вероятно обърка и първоначалните тактически планове на отбора. Арсенал започна колебливо сезон 2023/2024 и още в началото се препъна срещу градските си съперници от Фулъм и Тотнъм, като и с двата отбора завърши при резултат 2:2 на свой терен. Странното е, че в първите три мача от сезона Артета реши да започне без Габриел Магаляеш в титулярния състав и това някак като че ли разваляше баланса в отбрана. След като върна Магаляеш в стартовия състав, испанецът направи и още една промяна, като след четири мача в първенството смени Рамсдейл с Рая на вратарския пост. Предстоеше мач срещу Манчестър Сити в Лондон, в който за първи път изразително си пролича залитането на Артета към дефанзивния и по-сигурен футбол с къси хоризонтални разигравания по терена. Двубоят всъщност се превърна в шахматно тактическо надиграване и този път Артета излезе победител, а единственият гол беше умело изработен в четириходова комбинация от влезналите като смени футболисти. Този успех предизвика злобните коментари на тръгващите си гостуващи фенове от стадиона, които питаха на висок глас: „За какво ви е тази победа, като правите Тотнъм лидер в класирането“. Този сезон се превърна в състезание между три отбора, като в борбата за първото място се включи и Ливърпул. След колебливи игри лидерството се променяше почти във всеки кръг и с наближаването на заключителната фаза на сезона напрежението се покачваше. През декември, преди мачовете по Коледа от „Boxing day”, Арсенал водеше в класирането с точка пред Ливърпул и пет пред Манчестър Сити. Последваха равенство на „Анфийлд“ и отново препъни камък в лицето на лондонски съперници. Загуба у дома от Уест Хям и на винаги негостоприемния „Крейвън Котидж“ след обрат от Фулъм. Така Артета загуби набързо преднината пред останалите, както и доверието в най-взискателните фенове, които отново започната да надават вой за неговата оставка. Арсенал се отдалечи на пет точки от временния лидер Ливърпул, но през новата година последва зашеметяваща серия от десет победи и едно нулево равенство на терена на Манчестър Сити, с голова разлика 38:4 и победа над прекия конкурент Ливърпул с 3:1. Така „артилеристите“ си върнаха лидерската позиция до злополучния 33 кръг, когато едва 5 кръга преди края на сезона допуснаха домакинско поражение с 0:2 от Астън Вила, в ден, в който Ливърпул претърпя загуба на свой терен от Кристъл Палас. В този ден Ливърпул и Арсенал направиха съвместен подарък и своеобразен шпалир, като едновременно освободиха пътя на Манчестър Сити към рекордната четвърта поредна титла. След претърпяното поражение лондончани бяха безупречни в оставащите си пет мача до края на сезона, но и Манчестър Сити не сгрешиха след предоставения им шанс и записаха девет поредни победи. Така Арсенал остана в битката за титлата до последния кръг и завърши на две точки от „гражданите“ в сезон, който статистически беше по-успешен от предходния с 89 точки, постигнати 28 победи, 5 равенства и 5 загуби, отбелязани 91 гола и допуснати 29, срещу 84 точки през миналия сезон, 26 победи, 6 равенства и 6 загуби, отбелязани 88 гола и допуснати 43, но усещането за разочарование сякаш беше по-голямо. Неуспехът като провал Мнозина смятаха, че сезон 2024/2025 вече ще бъде сезонът на Арсенал, но уви дори и не искаме да си припомняме за него. След проваления опит за привличане на нападател още преди сезонът да е започнал, започнаха и серията от проблеми с контузии на основни играчи. В различни периоди от отбора отсъстваха капитанът Мартин Йодегор и т. нар. starboy, определян за звездата на отбора Букайо Сака. След няколко грешни стъпки на Арсенал и Манчестър Сити, Ливърпул натрупа комфортна преднина, която успя да запази през целия сезон. И когато изглеждаше, че „артилеристите“ няма да отстъпят лесно преследването на лидерската позиция, дойдоха и следващата серия от травми на Габриел Жезус и на останалите единствени представители за върха на атаката Кай Хаверц и Габриел Мартинели. Това наложи пренареждане на позиции и преквалифицирането на Микел Мерино в ролята на централен нападател, в която се оказа, че се представя никак нелошо. Стилът на проповядвания от Артета футбол ставаше още по-предпазлив и неатрактивен, тактически Арсенал залагаше все повече на ролята на статичните положения в мачовете, което никак не се нравеше на част от феновете. За капак в този неприятен за тях сезон „артилеристите“ загубиха общо 21 точки в 10 мача, в които водеха в резултата, превърнало се в негативен рекорд за клуба. Може би единственото хубаво нещо, освен достигането до полуфинал в Шампионска лига през този сезон, е налагането в отбора на младите таланти Итън Нуанери и Майлс Луис-Скели. Тук стигаме отново до момента на разочарование, в който всеки неуспех на отбора се превръща в личен провал на Артета. Безмилостно атакуван за липсата на трофеи вече шести сезон с клуба, очакванията към него се повишават с всяка изминала година. Може би много от критикуващите забравят момента, че трофеите не са даденост, футболните турнири са състезания, в които няколко отбора се надиграват кой от тях е по-добър и по-устойчив в дългия път към върха. В тези надпревари винаги има само един победител и няма как винаги да е този, който най-много ни се иска. Да бъдеш шампион изисква много време и усилия и кандидатите винаги са няколко, които също отделят време и полагат усилия в безмилостна конкуренция. Все още неразбиращите могат да изслушат набралото популярност интервю на звездата на Милуоки Бъкс в NBA Янис Адетокумбо след отпадането на неговия отбор през миналия сезон, в което дава логично обяснение на въпрос от журналист провал ли е това, което до голяма степен кореспондира и с представянето и пораждащите се настроения към Артета. А скандиранията „Arteta Out” се превърнаха в синдром, защото колкото по-рядко Арсенал губи, толкова по-шумни стават те, когато това се случи. Видяхме това след загубения полуфинал в Шампионска лига, видяхме го след поредното второ място в класирането на Висшата лига, видяхме го след привличането на Нони Мадуеке, дори още преди да е тренирал с отбора, а го видяхме и след изравнителния гол за Съндърланд, равенството срещу Челси с човек повече на терена и загубата от Астън Вила с гол с последното докосване до топката на терена. Въпреки победите в последните два мача от Висшата лига този сезон, недоволството към Артета не стихва заради неубедителната игра на отбора, скромните победи с едва гол разлика и крехката преднина от две точки на първото място в класирането. Ще го виждаме и още при всяка удобна възможност, но се надяваме, че все по-рядко ще има поводи за това. Може би сега отново трябва да си зададем въпроса: когато създадеш очаквания и върнеш отбора в борбата за първото място, провалил ли си се, можеш ли повече от това или трябва да го оставиш на някой по-добър от теб да го довърши? Едно е сигурно и то е, че предстои да разберем! А още по-интересно и показателно за добрата работа на Артета е, че във Висшата лига статичните положения отново са на мода. След като Арсенал бяха яростно критикувани, че вкарват повечето си голове от статични положения, сега головете след центрирания от ъглови удари и фалове, както и дългите тъчове в наказателното поле, се превърнаха в редовна практика за почти всеки клуб от лигата. Практика, наложена от Артета и заимствана от другите като добре работеща. Накрая ще завършим поредицата с думите на Деклан Райс в негово интервю, в което казва за Артета: „Не го съдете сега. Съдете го, когато е спечелил всичко….“. Надяваме се всички ние феновете на Арсенал да имаме тази увереност, както очаквания, а още по-важното е момчетата на терена да я имат повече от всички останали, защото най-важното е да не забравяме, че Арсенал не е просто отбор, той е семейство!

В този епизод от поредицата за синдрома "Arteta Out" ще си припомним един приятен сезон с не толкова приятен завършек. Целите пред Микел Артета за сезон 2022/2023 вече безспорно бяха да класира Арсенал в Шампионска лига за първи път от седем сезона извън турнира. Испанецът успя да подсили отбора на някои от позициите, за които имаше нужда с привличането на Габриел Жезус и Олександър Зинченко. След като вече беше изградил основа от футболисти, които са негов избор в състав Аарън Рамсдейл, Бен Уайт, Габриел Магаляеш, Уилям Салиба, Олександър Зинченко, Гранит Джака, Томас Партей, Мартин Йодегор, Букайо Сака, Габриел Мартинели и Габриел Жезус, Арсенал изигра може би най-добрия сезон под ръководството на Артета. Отборът играеше атрактивен и резултатен футбол, амбициран за успехи и жаден за победи, съставен основно от млади момчета, с което влязоха в статистиката като най-младия отбор във Висшата лига през този сезон. Отборът вече имаше нов капитан в лицето на наложилия се в клуба Мартин Йодегор, а Уилям Салиба най-после получи своя шанс за изява още от самия старт на сезона и даде началото на уникалната симбиоза, превърнала се в може би най-стабилната двойка централни защитници в световен мащаб, заедно с Габриел Магаляеш. За Салиба кариерата в Арсенал започна впечатляващо, след като беше избран за играч на мача още в дебюта си. В едва втория си мач си отбеляза злополучен автогол при домакинството на Лестър, който предизвика изумителна реакция на подкрепа по трибуните, защото след допуснатия гол Салиба беше надъхван и аплодиран при всяко свое докосване до топката. Французинът се реваншира подобаващо още в следващия двубой срещу Борнемут, като наниза забележително попадение от границата на наказателното поле, провокирало невярваща реакция в съотборниците му. Може би мнозина от вас все още помнят изражението на Зинченко, който падна на колене, хващайки се за главата след фамозния гол. Сезонът се развиваше чудесно и за Габриел Жезус, който реализира две попадения още във втория си мач, докато не се контузи на Световното първенство в участие с националния отбор на Бразилия и отсъства от терените в продължение на три месеца. Това не попречи на доброто представяне на Арсенал, който нижеше победа след победа в първенството и личеше, че Артета сякаш е напипал правилната формула за успех през сезона. След продължаващото добро представяне и откъсването на първото място, изведнъж Арсенал се превърна в претендент за титлата. Нещо, което и в клуба и сред привържениците беше позабравено като усещане. С това се завърна и тръпката да бъдеш част от борбата за трофеи и удоволствието сред феновете да се наслаждават на играта на отбора. Целият сезон изглеждаше като една красива приказка, но за съжаление, без щастлив край. „Артилеристите“ поставят рекорд от 248 дни на първо място във Висшата лига или от 3-ти до 33-ти кръг. Любопитното е, че втори са Нюкясъл с 212 мача през сезон 1995/1996, след което са отново Арсенал със 189 дни през сезон 2002/2003, година преди сезона на „Непобедимите“. Преди това са Манчестър Юнайтед през сезон 1997/1998 със 187 дни за една от най-сладките и първа за Арсен Венгер титла на Арсенал. Началото на сезон 2022/2023 започна ударно с 5 поредни победи, злощастна и незаслужена загуба на „Олд Трафорд“, след което поредица от 13 мача без загуба, от които 11 победи и 2 равни мача. Арсенал дори успя да победи Ливърпул за първи път от 6 сблъсъка помежду им, като изключим една победа след изпълнение на дузпи за купата на лигата. Всичко вървеше добре докато „артилеристите“ не срещнаха Манчестър Сити, предшествано от тежко гостуване на „Гудисън Парк“ и първа загуба от пет месеца, последвана от разочароващо равенство срещу Брентфорд у дома. Последвалата загуба от „гражданите“ не успя да разколебае устрема на младия отбор на Арсенал, които направиха следваща поредица от седем поредни победи, докато не дойде гостуването на „Анфийлд“ през април. Момчетата на Артета поведоха с два гола след силно първо полувреме и сякаш не си повярваха, че могат да спечелят. Двубоят завърши при резултата 2:2, както завърши гостуването и на Уест Хям седмица по-късно, отново след пропилян аванс от два гола и пропусната дузпа при резултат 1:2, след която две минути по-късно Джаред Боуен отбелязва за 2:2. Всичко това беше последвано от домакинско разочарование срещу Саутхямптън след измъчено 3:3 и развяването на белия флаг на терена на Манчестър Сити. Всичките тези разочароващи резултати бяха предвождани от контузията на правещия уникален сезон Уилям Салиба, което сложи край на мечтите за така бленуваната от „артилеристите“ титла. В другите турнири Арсенал не постигна нищо запомнящо се, след ранни отпадания в домашните купи и в първия кръг от елиминационната фаза на Лига Европа след дузпи от Спортинг Лисабон. Най-голямата загуба в този мач всъщност се оказа контузията на Салиба, което до голяма степен коства и борбата за титлата в Англия. Като цяло за феновете сезон 2022/2023 не беше приет като провал, но въпреки че според мнозина Арсенал надскочи развитието си, очакванията се вдигнаха до такава степен, че отборът вече беше спряган за претендент за титлата през следващия сезон. В следващия епизод ще разгледаме накратко представянето на отбора през последните два сезона и най-после ще сложим край на превърналата се в толкова дълга поредица. Дотогава се надяваме нашите момчета да ни зарадват след гостуването си в новия дом на Евертън, където ситуацията не е благоприятна, предвид четиримата отсъстващи основни футболисти в халфовата линия на "карамелите". За контузиите в Арсенал няма да споменаваме нищо, защото те станаха неизменна част от почти всеки мач на клуба, но със сигурност ни очаква напрегнат сблъсък в негостоприемната синя част на град Ливърпул. Пожелаваме им успех, за да ни е приятна съботната вечер и неделния ден!

В разгара на завърналите се съмнения в качествата на Микел Артета и способността му да изведе Арсенал до значим трофей, ще ви представим следващата част от посветената на синдрома "Arteta Out" поредица, в която ще си припомним кои футболисти си тръгнаха от отбора след идването на испанеца и ще обърнем внимание на неуспешните трансфери от началото на неговото назначаване до момента. Голямата чистка Една от първите дългосрочни цели на Артета беше да подбере необходимите му изпълнители, които да отговарят на неговите изисквания за морал, достойнство и футболни умения. Първата жертва на тези промени се оказа една от т. нар. звезди на отбора Месут Йозил, който изигра няколко мача под ръководството на испанеца и след принудителната пауза така и не се завърна в игра, тръгвайки си заедно с ограниченията за COVID-19 епидемията. До края на сезона германският национал беше изваден от отбора по дисциплинарни причини и си тръгна тихомълком след като разтрогна договора си с клуба в средата на следващия сезон през януари 2021 г. Тогава като свободни агенти клуба напуснаха и Шкодран Мустафи и Сократис Папастатопулос. През лятото на същата година като свободни агенти си тръгнаха още и двамата бразилци, привлечени от Челси, Давид Луиз и Уилиан, Дани Себайос се завърна след края на наема си в Реал Мадрид, а кадърът от школата Джоузеф Уилок беше преотстъпен на Нюкясъл срещу нелоша трансферна сума от близо 30 млн. евро. Междувременно през лятото на 2020 г. от отбора бяха трансферирани Хенрих Мхитариан и Емилиано Мартинес, който направи силен завършек на изминалия сезон, след като замени контузения Бернд Лено и си тръгна, защото в клуба не можеха да му гарантират титулярно място в отбора. През януари 2022 г. като свободни агенти напуснаха Сеад Колашинац и Калъм Чеймбърс, а бившият капитан и голмайстор на отбора Пиер Емерик Обамеянг беше принуден да разтрогне договора си с клуба, след като също беше изваден от състава по дисциплинарни причини през декември 2021 г. А като си припомним как всички очаквахме с нетърпение да подпише нов договор с Арсенал през лятото на 2020 г. След което обаче рязко разочарова с представянето си. Всички тези действия бяха категорично послание, че в клуба няма да се правят компромиси за лични своеволия и неспазване на наложената дисциплина, независимо за кого. Photo by Bleacher Report През лятото на същата 2022 г. ,което бележеше края на втория пълен сезон на Микел Артета в Арсенал с първия реален прогрес на отбора и завръщането му в европейските клубни турнири, бяха освободени още ненужни за градения от испанеца състав играчи. Като свободни агенти си тръгнаха още Александър Лаказет и Ектор Белерин, а след серия от наеми бяха завършени трансферите на Константинос Мавропанос, Матео Гендузи и Лукас Торейра, както и на… забележете! Даниел Балард в Съндърланд! Говори ли ви нещо това име сега след последния мач на Арсенал срещу Съндърланд? След налагането на Аарън Рамсдейл на титулярното място под рамката на вратата беше ясно, че времето на Бернд Лено в Арсенал е вече приключило и той беше преотстъпен на Фулъм за скромна сума от няма и 4 млн. евро. В края на сезон 2022/2023 и последвалия летен трансферен прозорец като свободни агенти напуснаха едно момче от школата на клуба Ейнсли Мейтленд-Найлс, който така и не успя да се наложи в отбора след изиграни немалко мачове, и може би най-спорният трансфер в Арсенал на Никола Пепе, който така и никога не блесна, но все пак Артета търсеше повече качество на терена. През този трансферен прозорец си тръгнаха още неуспели да се докажат като Пабло Мари и Мат Търнър, а най-тежка беше раздялата със стожера в халфовата линия и истински лидер Гранит Джака. Отборът напусна също Роб Холдинг и обещаващият талант Фоларин Балогън, чийто трансфер предизвика недоволство, при положение, че в Арсенал се нуждаеха от чист нападател. Въпреки едва десетте си мача за първия отбор „артилеристите“ прибраха в касата 30 млн. евро от Монако по тази сделка. През следващия сезон и трансферното лято на 2024 г. като свободни агенти си тръгнаха Седрик Соареш и Мохамед Елнени, а поредният талантлив нападател Мика Бирет беше трансфериран в Щурм Грац, както и недоказалия се за първия отбор Чарли Патино, преотстъпен на Депортиво Ла Коруня. Най-болезнено беше напускането в посока Фулъм на още едно момче от школата - Емил Смит Роу, което успя да спечели любовта на феновете през последните сезони преди чести травми да го изваждаха редовно от игра и да му попречат да се утвърди в титулярния състав на „артилеристите“. Едва преживели това, за привържениците следваха още две тежки раздели с Еди Нкетия и винаги усмихнатия любимец на публиката Аарън Рамсдейл, който беше изместен от вратарския пост от Давид Рая, след едва два сезона в клуба. През последното лято на 2025 г. от отбора като свободни агенти си заминаха Жоржиньо, Киърън Тиърни и Томас Партей, който не поднови договора си, а впоследствие срещу него беше започнато разследване за посегателства над жени. Такехиро Томиясу разтрогна договора си с клуба, след като беше измъчван от непрестанни травми, а недоказалите се в отбора Маркиньос, Нуно Тавареш и Алберт Самби Локонга бяха окончателно продадени след няколко сезона отдаване под наем. На фона на всичките трансферни прозорци до момента Арсенал определено изпитват проблем при изпращането на своите ненужни футболисти в други отбори и поредното доказателство за това е напускането на много играчи като свободни агенти, осъществени трансфери за минимални суми и често отдаване под наем. Все пак на новия спортен директор му се носи славата на добър продавач, но понеже през първия му трансферен прозорец беше прекалено зает да купува, остава да разберем как ще се справи с продажбите през следващия. Проба-грешка Първите трансфери, които Арсенал прави през януари 2020 г., едва месец след назначението на Артета, са привличането под наем на Седрик Соарес от Саутхямптън и Пабло Мари от Фламенго, които лятото на 2020 г. биват взети за постоянно съответно със свободен трансфер и за 6 млн. евро. Тогава като свободен агент към отбора се присъединява и бразилеца Уилиан от Челси, който е упорито налаган в първите няколко мача на клуба през новия сезон на десния фланг, но без особено добри резултати. След това бразилеца е изпробван и на други позиции, които отново не дават добри резултати, докато не бъде оставен трайно на резервната скамейка с продължаващи слаби включвания при влизанията си от пейката и стигането до бърза раздяла с него през следващото трансферно лято. През същия трансферен прозорец е привлечен и обещаващият млад вратар Рунар Алекс Рунарсон от френския Дижон, който записва общо 6 мача и едва 15 минути във Висшата лига, след което следва поредица от отдавания под наем и освобождаването му като свободен агент. През лятото на 2021 г. към отбора се присъединяват Нуно Тавареш от Бенфика и Алберт Самби Локонга от Андерлехт. След неубедително представяне португалецът започва да бъде изпращан под наем в други отбори още от следващия сезон, а белгийският състезател не успя да се наложи в Арсенал в цели два последователни сезона, следваха периоди на наеми в други клубове и реализирани трансфери едва през последното лято на 2025 г. Може би най-голямото разочарование на трансферния пазар се оказа Фабио Виера, който беше привлечен като обещаващ халф от Порто срещу 35 млн. евро. през лятото на 2022 г. Португалецът се оказа прекалено неустойчив физически за играта във Висшата лига и след два неубедителни сезона така и не намери място в титулярния състав на отбора и вече втори сезон е изпратен да играе под наем първо в родния си Порто и след това в Хамбургер. Същото лято от Сао Пауло беше трансфериран младият бразилец Маркиньос, който записа гол и асистенция в първия си мач като титуляр за отбора в турнира Лига Европа, след това не успа да се наложи в първия отбор, за който има записани минути в едва шест мача. Има изиграни пет мача в отбора до 21 години, след което още през януари 2023 г. е преотстъпен под наем и след поредица от наеми в няколко различни отбора в крайна сметка е продаден на бразилския Крузейро едва през последното трансферно лято на 2025 г. Във вероятно най-слабия трансферен прозорец откакто Артета е наставник на Арсенал се превърна лятото на 2024 г. И то точно може би в най-важния момент, когато трябваше да бъде направена последната крачка за пълното окомплектоване на състава и привличането на офанзивен футболист. Вместо това в последния ден на трансферния прозорец в отбора се озова Рахим Стърлинг под наем от Челси. За изиграните 28 мача във всички турнири, предимно като резерва, приносът му е едва колкото на Маркиньос в неговите шест мача за отбора, като единствено направените асистенции са с четири повече от бразилеца. Така това трансферно лято за мнозина ще си остане пропусната възможност за Арсенал да бъдат конкурентни в битката за титлата през сезон 2024/2025, спечелена изненадващо от Ливърпул още в първия сезон на новия им наставник Арне Слот. Вероятно именно заради тази пропусната възможност клуба се раздели с бившия си спортен директор Едуaрдо Гаспар. И така на фона на сполучливите трансфери, изглежда неуспешните не са чак толкова много, освен може би нереализираните такива в точния момент, а феновете са все по-безмилостни за грешните решения. И все пак нима има безгрешни хора или треньори? Да припомним ли отново изказването на собствениците при назначаването на Артета? Да, едно е ясно със сигурност и то е, че в развитието съществуват грешни решения и ще продължава да ги има, но се надяваме с времето да бъдат все по-малко и да не се оказват решаващи за крайния резултат.

The sweet number 16 Well, hello once again dear readers, After a little break, here I am once again with a new episode of this series. Today’s history trip will take us back through the players that wore the aforementioned “Sweet 16” for The Arsenal. As a quick reminder these numbers get picked by a random generator, as you already know that it’s a bit difficult to choose one by yourself. So, let’s dive in through the years. 1995-97 - John Hartson The first person to wear the number 16 in the Premier League for Arsenal, was former Welsh striker, John Hartson. He joined the club from Luton Town in January 1995, for a then record transfer fee for a teenager, £2.5M. During his first season at the club, he was the preferred partner in attack for Ian Wright, taking the place of injured forward Alan Smith, and being selected in favor of Kevin Campbell. One of his highlights for the season was the equalizing goal in the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup final against Real Zaragoza, but Arsenal eventually lost the game after a spectacular finish by Nayim. In the summer of 1995, Arsenal and manager Bruce Rioch, secured the signing of Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp, who instantly took Hartson’s place upfront next to Wrighty. Despite that, the Welshman still managed to play 19 games this season. After Arsene Wenger was appointed as head coach in October 1996, he continued to use Hartson, and even wanted him to stay, but the Welsh forward left in February 1997, after West Ham offered £5M for him. A few days after he was sold, Nicolas Anelka came to the club from PSG. Overall, Hartson played 53 times in which he scored 14 goals. 1998-98 Stephen Hughes The next bearer of the number 16 was already mentioned in the previous episode of this series. During the summer of 1998, Stephen Hughes was handed the number 16 shirt after he wore 28 in his two previous seasons. The young centreback was mostly used as a substitute during the season and featured 25 times in all competitions. Before the start of next season, Hughes switched his number again, and took the 23 shirt as you probably already know, but he left the number 16 in the hands of this guy. 1999-2001 Sylvinho Commonly known as the first Brazilian to play for the club, Sylvinho joined us from Corinthians for around £4M. He quickly managed to take the place of club legend Nigel Winterburn at left back. Sylvinho, like most Brazilians, provided lots of dynamics which was preferred by Arsene Wenger. His runs through the wings and constant link-ups with the forward were a joy to watch. During his first season, he helped the team reach the UEFA Cup final against Galatasaray, which was lost on penalties. Sylvinho played 46 times in all competitions. In the summer of 2000, Winterburn left the club, which made Sylvinho the first option for the left back position. However a new face emerged as competition for the Brazilian, and that face turned out to be none other than young Ashley Cole. The two had an intense battle during the season for the left back position, and eventually Cole managed to overtake Sylvinho as a starter. That pretty much signaled the end of the Brazilian’s career in North London. He was sold to Spanish side Celta Vigo on Deadline Day the following summer for £5M. Overall Sylvinho played 80 times for the club, and while his time was cut short he is still remembered as a cult player. Additionally he and the next player that wore the number 16 both faced Arsenal in the 2005-06 Champions League final against Barcelona. 2001-03 Giovanni van Bronckhorst The Dutch midfielder was signed in the summer of 2001 from Rangers for a fee of around £8M. His transfer was viewed by Arsene Wenger as a replacement to Emmanuel Petit, who left the club the previous summer to join Barcelona. Van Bronckhorst started strong and played a number of games before a knee injury sidelined him. He still managed to win the Double in his first season at the club. During his next season the Dutch midfielder played a similar number of games and won the FA Cup. His time at the club was cut short after Barcelona expressed their interest in him and he joined the Spanish side on an initial loan deal during the 2003-04 season (which means that he missed the chance to be part of the Invincibles). After the end of the season, he joined the club on a permanent transfer for around £2M. Overall van Bronckhorst played 64 games in red and white in which he scored twice. 2004-08 - Mathieu Flamini “He’s French, he’s free, He’ll break your f’n knee Flaminiii, Flaminiii” The next person with the number 16 shirt can also be considered as a cult hero, and as you can see he has a quite interesting and fun chant. Mathieu Flamini joined the Arsenal from his boyhood club Marseille in the summer of 2004, after he rejected their contract offer. During his first season. he was mostly used as a rotation player in midfield. In his second season, his role was changed a bit, and Flamini was used as a cover player for others that were injured. That led to him playing the most games in a single season for his entire career, 49 (49 undefeated). He even covered the left back position during this time, which saw him as an option there for the future. Despite playing regularly, Flamini said that he is not satisfied with his role as an utility player and expressed his desire to leave in mid 2007. However only Birmingham offered him a chance to play more, and the Frenchman eventually decided to stay in London. During the 2007-08 season, Flamini and Fabregas made up a good partnership in central midfield which kept another club icon, Gilberto Silva out of the squad. He even scored a screamer against Newcastle at the end of January 2008. After losing the ¼ final in the Champions League against Liverpool, Flamini decided that it’s time to leave the club and try his luck elsewhere. Eventually in the beginning of May, he reached a deal with AC Milan and moved to Italy on a free transfer. Five years later, Flamini returned to London, only to train and keep his form with Arsenal in search of a new club in England. Eventually he signed with the Gunners at the end of the transfer window, and was given the number 20 shirt as his former one was taken. Now even more experienced, Flamini stayed at London for 3 more seasons and took his overall tally to 246 games for the club. One of his last memorable moments was a double against Spurs in a third round fixture of the League Cup, including an outrageous goal from outside the box. 2008-2016 Aaron Ramsey One of the most popular and well recognised names that wore the number 16 in the club's history. If you go to the Man Utd website, you can still see the article that informs their fans that a fee for the young Welsh midfielder has been agreed with Cardiff. All jokes aside, Ramsey joined the club in the middle of June 2008. During his first season he featured occasionally in all competitions and even scored his first goal in a 5-2 away win against Fenerbahce (which was visited by a big group of Bulgarian supporters). Ramsey showed that he has massive potential and started to feature more regularly in the 2009-10 season. He developed himself and his confidence, which led to Arsene Wenger to compare him with Irish legend Roy Keane, even though he said that Ramsey was a more offensive minded version of the Irishman. Then came that game at Stoke, which put a big brake on Ramsey’s development. A mindless tackle by Ryan Shawcross caused a double leg break for the Welshman. Ironically it was similar to Eduardo’s leg break two years prior. It took Ramsey around 6 months to heal from the injury and return to playing. Two quick loan spells at Nottingham and Cardiff to maintain match fitness followed, and Ramsey finished the 2010-11 campaign with seven league appearances, in which he even scored a winner against Manchester United at home. The following two seasons were ups and downs for Ramsey in terms of form, even though he was fit and managed to play 91 games in all comps during this period. Fans started to criticize the Welshman here and there as he seemed scared to take risks in his game, which to be fair is completely normal after a horrific injury like his. The club however showed their belief in Ramsey and he paid back for it in the following season. His 2013-14 campaign was superb, and alongside the arrival of then record signing Mesut Ozil, Arsenal’s 9 year trophy drought was ended as Ramsey scored an extra time winner in the FA Cup Final against Hull City. He maintained his goalscoring form during the next season in which the club managed to retain the FA Cup, this time in dominant fashion against Aston VIlla. The 2015-16 season was Ramsey’s final one with the number 16 shirt. His goal contribution was not as prolific as the previous seasons but he still was an important part of the squad. At the end of the season, current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta retired from football and Ramsey took the vacant number 8 shirt. His former number wasn’t alone for long as a new face emerged and took it. In total, Ramsey played 369 games and scored 64 goals for the Gunners. 2016-2023 - Rob Holding During the summer of 2016, one of Arsene Wenger’s signings in the transfer window was Rob Holding. Having been signed for around £2M from Bolton. Although he was brought to the club as a squad player, injuries forced him to start a couple of games in which he did quite well. Wenger even had a famous interview after a game against reigning champs Leicester, when Holding played a tremendous game in which he took a dig at his transfer value stating that “since he didn’t cost £55M, he’s not allowed to be good”. This was a dig towards Man City and their transfer of John Stones from Everton. Holding’s highlight of the season was his partnership with Per Mertesacker in the 2017 FA Cup Final, which the Gunners won 2-1. He continued to feature regularly in the following season, where he even managed to score his first goal for the club in an European fixture against BATE Borisov. After a fine run of games in the following season, Holding suffered a major knee injury that ended his season. He made his return around 9 months later in a League Cup game against Nottingham Forest in which he scored the third of five goals. He continued to feature mostly as a substitute after Mikel Arteta took over in December. Due to the pandemic in a quite unusual date for an FA Cup final. Holding started once again against Chelsea in another 2-1 victory for the Gunners. Holding continued his playing streak in the 2020-21 season and featured in 30 of the 38 games in the Premier League. Of course his performances were not always perfect and he had his errors. With the signing of Gabriel from Lille and later on the return and integration in the squad of William Saliba, Holding’s game time was cut short. He managed to return to the starting 11 after Saliba got injured in an European game against Sporting, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. Many fans think that this decision from Arteta (as well as the lack of experience and pressure) were the reasons for losing the title race to Man City in the 2022-23 season. Following its conclusion, Holding left Arsenal to join Crystal Palace, where he played just a single game for the next two seasons. Rob currently plays in the MLS for KSE owned Colorado Rapids. Overall he had 163 games for Arsenal in which he scored 5 times. 2025 - present Christian Norgaard The latest player to wear the number 16, he joined us this summer after a quick deal was made with his former club Brentford. The experienced Dane was expected to take the role of Jorginho who left the club in the summer. Many fans didn’t understand that deal, especially as it was announced before the eventual transfer of Viktor Gyokeres, but similar to Jorginho, to get a Premier League proven midfielder for around £10M is a complete steal in the market. So far, Norgaard has featured in 7 games overall for Arsenal. * Honourable mention - Before, Rob Holding took the number 16 shirt, there was a different player that owned it for a very brief period. That player was Granit Xhaka. When he arrived from Germany, he was given the number 16, but after a few days it was announced by the club, that he'll wear 29 instead. That concludes our story on the number 16 shirt. I hope that you will find it as interesting as always. Next time I’ll take you on another interesting journey in a position and a shirt number that is basically the foundation of every football team. Until then take care. Dave Hardy.

В днешното издание на рубриката, посветена на синдрома "Arteta Out", ще си припомним ключовите трансфери за отбора от постъпването на Микел Артета в отбора досега, които се превърнаха в основата за стабилността и доброто представяне на Арсенал в момента. Приятно четене! Трансферите в отбора на Арсенал изглеждат внимателно премерени и остават впечатление, че се подбират футболисти с профил за позиции и манталитет, от които Артета е преценил, че има нужда. Освен, че се търсят поливалентни играчи, които с лекота могат да съвместяват няколко позиции, се цели укрепването на точно определени зони. Още през първия летен трансферен прозорец на 2020 г. Арсенал правят може би най-успешния си трансфер към днешна дата, като привличат възпятия от феновете „King of Brazil“ или младия бразилски централен защитник от френския Лил, Габриел Магаляеш. Излишно е да споменаваме каква роля има той днес в клуба, а интересен факт е, че отбелязва гол още в дебюта си в първия мач от новия сезон срещу Фулъм. През този трансферен прозорец беше привлечен и доказан стълб в халфовата линия, а именно Томас Партей от Атлетико Мадрид. За жалост честите му контузии го вадеха за дълги периоди от игра, с което не успя да помогне много в подобряването на представянето на отбора. Поредното бижу, което артилеристите успяват да привлекат е креативния полузащитник Мартин Йодегор, който е привлечен под наем от Реал Мадрид през зимния трансферен прозорец и след като се вписва перфектно в състава на Арсенал, се присъединява за постоянно през лятото на 2021 г. за скандалните 35 млн. евро. Предвид какво се случи с норвежеца в Арсенал, който дирижира играта на отбора и по-късно е избран и за капитан, сумата за неговото привличане си е равносилна на кражба. През този втори за водения от Артета отбор летен трансферен прозорец продължи подсилването на защитната зона с успешни трансфери като на Бен Уайт от Брайтън, Аарън Рамсдейл от Шефил Юнайтед и никому неизвестния японец Такехиро Томиасу от Болоня. Разбира се, последните два трансфера предизвикват вълна от недоволство, като Рамсдейл дори получава лични заплахи, тъй като му се носи слава, че в който отбор отиде, той изпада. Всичко това бързо утихва със солидното представяне и на двамата на терена, а историята на вратаря е толкова трогателна, че бързо печели симпатиите на много от привържениците с това как цялото му семейство са фенове на Арсенал. Photos by afcnewsroom.com През лятото на 2022 г. „артилеристите“ привличат превърналите се в ненужни в Манчестър Сити Габриел Жезус и Олександър Зинченко, които успяват да дадат нужното на отбора до такава степен, че едва не спечелват титлата, а в лагера на „гражданите“ вече забраняват да се извършват трансфери на играчи в конкурентни отбори. Все пак Артета вече е работил с тях в Манчестър Сити и добре знае как да използва техните качества (като си помисля, че си представях същото и за Стърлинг, но това е една друга тема, която не заслужава особено внимание). След силния старт на сезона, Арсенал имаха необходимост от подсилване, за да продължат доброто си представяне. Така в отбора през януарския трансферен прозорец на 2023 г. се присъединява Леандро Тросар, след дълга трансферна сага с Михайло Мудрик, който в последния момент е трансфериран в отбора на Челси срещу крупна сума. И тук е момента да отбележим, че както казват мъдрите хора: „Явно така е трябвало да стане!“, защото Тросар и до ден днешен вкарва решаващи голове за Арсенал, а някой помни ли какво се случи с Мудрик? Други два трансфера през зимата, които се превърнаха в успешни, са на Якуб Кивиор от италианския клуб Специя и……Жоржиньо от Челси, разбира се. Това отново беше посрещнато от феновете с: „Какво по дяволите!“, но с опита си Жоржиньо успяваше да внесе нужното спокойствие, когато влизаше в игра. По важното е, че лично за мен италианецът с бразилски корени от изключително неприятен, се превърна в дори симпатичен, особено след онзи гол в добавеното време на „Вила Парк“. С престоя си в Арсенал вярвам, че и на други хора е повлиял така повратно за настроението им към него. За Якуб Кивиор е ясно, че никой не очакваше нищо от него, при положение, че е взет за резерва, но когато се налагаше да влиза в игра от пейката, имаше много колебливи изяви. Много хора (сред които признавам включително и аз) бяха на мнение, че това момче не е дорасло за отбора, докато не се наложи да замени контузения Габриел Магаляеш в решителни мачове от заключителната фаза на сезон 2024/2025, както и в четвъртфинални и полуфинални двубои от Шампионската лига, в които се представи безупречно. Трансферният прозорец през лятото на 2023 г. остава впечатление, че амбициите на отбора стават все по-големи, каквото търсят да бъде и представянето им на терена. Естествено дежурният трансфер от Челси отново хвърли в недоумение привържениците на Арсенал и доведе до поредната вълна от недоволство, след като бяха дадени 75 млн. евро за Кай Хаверц, който не се слави с велики футболни умения. Все пак след това последва привличането на двама от най-стабилните изпълнители на терена в лицето на Юриен Тимбър и рекордната дълго желана покупка на Деклан Райс, която до момента оправдава всеки един цент, даден за него. Този трансфер беше жизнено необходим на отбора, особено след напускането на Гранит Джака в посока Байер Леверкузен. Странно за мнозина беше привличането под наем на Давид Рая от Брентфорд, при положение, че Аарън Рамсдейл не само се наложи на вратарския пост, но и спечели симпатиите на феновете. Това действие за пореден път доказа правилния ход на Артета, който искаше да стабилизира играта в наказателното поле, като вярваше, че Рая ще внесе нужното спокойствие и увереност това да се случи. Следващото лято на 2024 г. се превърна в по-скоро разочароващо на трансферния пазар, най-вече защото все повече се говореше и си личеше нуждата на Арсенал от нов нападател. Вместо това в отбора бяха привлечени Рикардо Калафиори и Микел Мерино, които са защитник и халф, въпреки че шеговито бих добавил как Мерино по-късно разкри своя потенциал на нападател. Не, че тези футболисти не са необходими на отбора, но всички очакваха привличането на атакуващ футболист, още повече, че с отбора се разделиха Емил Смит Роу и Еди Нкетия, което сякаш даваше заявка за привличането на нов изпълнител за офанзивния вал на отбора. В крайна сметка трансферният прозорец приключи без привличането на нападател, а в последния момент като компромисен вариант беше прибегнато до привличането на никому ненужния вече Рахим Стърлинг от…..познайте откъде? От Челси, разбира се! В сезон 2024/2025, когато всички очаквания бяха Арсенал да са основен претендент за титлата, отборът разполагаше с един единствен чист нападател, страдащ от постоянни контузии в лицето на Габриел Жезус и Кай Хаверц, който изпълняваше тази функция някак принудително, при положение, че се тиражираше мнението как той не е привлечен в Арсенал за върха на атаката. След неговата контузия и последвалата такава на Габриел Мартинели, през зимния трансферен прозорец всички отново очакваха, че „артилеристите“ вече ще имат така бленувания нов нападател. В този период в Арсенал бяха останали без спортен директор, след раздялата с Еду и очакваният трансфер така и не се случи, което оправдано отново засили разочарованието сред феновете. Образно казано ножът вече толкова беше опрял до кокала и напрежението до такава степен се усещаше във въздуха, че очакванията за силно трансферно лято бяха неизбежни. Така първо дойде новината за назначаването на новия спортен директор Андреа Берта и рекордното до момента за клуба трансферно лято на 2025 г. с привличането на общо осем нови футболисти в отбора. Photos by GiveMeSport Напрежение не липсваше, защото очакваното привличане на необходимия нападател така и не се случваше, трансферният прозорец вече се беше преполовил, а междувременно бяха привлечени Кепа Аризабалага, Мартин Зубименди и Кристиан Ньоргорд, като освен също дългоочаквания Зубименди, останалите по-скоро бяха варианти за добиване на широчина в състава. Чашата на търпение сред феновете вече преля, когато слуховете за привличането на Нони Мадуеке се превърнаха в реалност. Трансфер някак появил се съвсем неочаквано отникъде, изглеждащ напълно ненужен и то срещу 55 милиона евро, не от кого да е, а отново от Челси. Едва ли някой беше очаквал такава бурна реакция, но на следващата сутрин районът около стадиона на Арсенал осъмна с надписи „Arteta Out” върху стените с рисунки на настоящите футболисти, дори беше организирана подписка срещу реализирането на този трансфер. Все пак дългоочакваното привличане на нападател се случи след достойната за сапунен сериал драма в преговорите със Спортинг Лисабон за реализатор номер едно в Европа за миналия сезон Виктор Гьокереш. Едно момче, натоварено с много очаквания, все пак беше категоричен в избора си на отбор до последно, може би благодарение на което този трансфер се превърна в реалност. Преди него Арсенал привлече още едно подкрепление в защитата на отбора в лицето на младия испанец от Валенсия Кристиан Москера. Може би най-сладкият трансфер се случи в заключителната седмица на трансферния прозорец, когато съвсем неочаквано беше обявен Еберечи Езе, току под носа на съседите от Тотнъм, които вече подготвяха документите за неговото привличане. За мнозина беше разочароващо бездействието на Арсенал към трансфер на Езе и изглеждаше сякаш от клуба вече се бяха отказали от него, докато всички знаеха фенската принадлежност на футболиста от Кристъл Палас и не можеха да си представят как ще отиде в местния съперник Тотнъм. Photos by Arsenal Fanatics News За добри трансфери могат да се определят и подписването на нови договори на ключови футболисти като Габриел Магаляеш, Уилям Салиба и младите таланти Итън Нуанери и Майлс Луис Скели. След като вече всички си мислеха, че това е всичко, че и предостатъчно, дойде привличането под наем на еквадорския бранител Пиеро Инкапие от Байер Леверкузен. Сега остава само да им пожелаем да са здрави, без сериозни контузии и да се впишат подобаващо в отбора. В следващата част на рубриката, ще си припомним кои футболисти и как напуснаха клуба след идването на Артета и няма да го пожалим, като напомним и за неуспешните трансфери през този период. А сега ни остава да очакваме следващото предизвикателство на "Стамфорд Бридж", което или ще изстреля Арсенал още по-високо или ще намали разликата с опонентите им. Ние, разбира се, се надяваме на първото! COYG и до скоро!

В третата част на рубриката за синдрома "Arteta Out" ще обърнем внимание на какво промени Артета в Арсенал. Приятно четене! Когато си зададем въпроса: „Какво направи Артета в Арсенал?“, може би най-логичният отговор е, че създаде очаквания. До такава степен създаде очаквания, че вече второто място във Висшата лига не е достатъчно, завръщането в Шампионска лига също не е достатъчно, достигането до полуфинал в Шампионска лига за едва трети път в историята на клуба е равносилно на провал, защото не е финал, не е купа, няма спечелени титли, а феновете искат успехи, които се измерват с трофеи. Испанецът вече е седма година начело на артилеристите и все още няма завоюван значим трофей с тях. Това поражда въпроси дали е способен да спечели голям трофей, дали не е прекалено предпазлив и страхлив в подхода си в решаващи за отбора моменти и т.н. Очакванията към отбора, които Артета успя да постигне, вече са твърде високи, а дали са по-големи от неговите възможности, предстои да разберем. По-важното е как постигна тези очаквания. Микел Артета изграждаше постепенно своя отбор, като едва през този сезон може категорично да заявим, че това е отборът, с изпълнителите, облика и визията, с която той иска да изглежда изцяло по негов избор. Много анализатори споделяха твърдението, че процесът на изграждане на отбора ще се извършва на няколко етапа и се заговори за пет годишния план на Артета. Този план включва най-общо казано пет етапа, от които първият е стабилизиране на отбора и изграждане на нова култура на клуба; вторият включва изграждане на структура, тактическа идентичност и солидна защита върху ядро от млади играчи, чрез налагане на позиционна игра, контролирано владеене на топката и дисциплинирано позициониране; третият етап е свързан с развиването на атакуващи модели с цел да направи отбора по динамичен и ефективен в атакуващ план; четвъртият етап включва отборът да бъде ангажиран постоянно в борбата за трофеи във всички възможни турнири и петият етап е постигане на устойчив успех и поддържане на постоянно високо конкурентно ниво на местно и на европейско равнище. И понеже вече стана въпрос за маниакалното вглеждане в детайлите, Микел Артета не промени само отбора, а и всичко около него, включително и важни детайли на трибуните. По негово настояване беше извършено пренареждане на местата за най-шумните фенове и сам се свързва с автора на песента „The Angel” Луис Дънфорд, за която иска неговото разрешение да озвучава стадиона преди всеки мач, с което припевът на песента с вече любимият рефрен “North London Forever” се превърна в химн на отбора и се възпява от феновете на стадиона преди началото на всеки мач. Така Артета създаде изцяло нова фенска култура на трибуните, което реално успява да върне духа и идентичността на The Arsenal, който сякаш беше останал на легендарния стар стадион на отбора „Хайбъри“. Но испанецът не спира дотук. За настоящия сезон по негово настояване е премахнато покритието над тунела, откъдето излизат играчите, като по този начин се цели да се подобри връзката между играчите и публиката още при излизането на терена. Отново по негово настояване са премахнати екраните във фоайетата на стадиона с цел да задържи публиката на трибуните на полувремената и да се създаде надъхваща за отбора атмосфера. Photos by Lower North Bank Тази новосъздадена атмосфера успешно се предаде и в съблекалнята и на тренировъчната база, където всеки от футболистите не пропуска да отбележи, че усещането, което изпитва там е като за дом и семейство. Не случайно всеки новопривлечен футболист е посрещан с думите: „Welcome to family”. Всичко това дава отражение и върху трансферната политика на клуба, откъдето допреди това едвам убеждаваха играчите, които си бяха набелязали да дойдат в Арсенал, а сега се стига до момент, когато доказани играчи сами проявяват желание да се присъединят към семейството. Едно от първите неща, което испанецът направи, е да реабилитира Гранит Джака, като го връща в отбора, въпреки негативните настроения на феновете към него. Самият Джака разказва как Артета го е убедил да остане в отбора с думите, че това е правилното място за него, когато вече е бил събрал багажа си и е имал предложение за договор с друг отбор. Бившият капитан на Арсенал споделя усещането си, че всяка дума, която тогава му е казана в първия разговор помежду им, е била правилна и под негово ръководство е успял да го промени като човек и в живота и на терена. Не случайно Джака успява да върне доверието и на феновете към себе си, които скандират неговото име и го изпращат с адмирации в края на сезон 2022/2023 преди да си тръгне от клуба. А за самия Артета много източници покрай отбора започват да говорят за уникалните му психологически качества и колко добър т. нар. player development е. За неговите треньорски качества говори и Тио Уолкът, който споделя в едно интервю, че още като съотборници е забелязвал потенциала на Артета и от цялата съблекалня е бил сигурен, че именно той би могъл да продължи кариерата си като футболен наставник. В следващата част на анализа ще припомним всички успешни трансфери през последните шест сезона и влиянието им в развитието на отбора, а дотогава пожелаваме успех на Арсенал в предизвикателството да се справят в градското дерби срещу Тотнъм на Томас Франк, който все още няма допусната загуба като гост от началото на сезона!

В този епизод на рубриката "Синдромът "Arteta Out"" ще си припомним може би първия повратен момент в кариерата на Микел Артета, когато оставането му в отбора беше поставено под сериозна въпросителна, ще се върнем също така да си припомним какви млади таланти наследи и ще надзърнем към втория му сезон в Арсенал. Коледното чудо В най-критичния момент на незапомнена серия от загуби и равенства, когато всички вече правеха прогнози кой ще е поредният нов треньор на Арсенал, предвид факта, че на „артилеристите“ им предстоеше да се изправят срещу Челси, отборът имаше нужда от Коледно чудо, което да помогне на Артета да остане начело. Арсенал спечели с 3:1, като повече впечатление направи не самата победа, а категоричния начин, по който беше постигната, защото „артилеристите“ буквално попиляха градските си съперници, напук на всички очаквания. За този мач екипът на Артета реши да подходи изненадващо различно с подмяната на ключови изпълнители на терена и включването в стартовия състав на младите момчета от школата на клуба Емил Смит Роу и Букайо Сака, превърнали се впоследствие в любимци на публиката. За Смит Роу този двубой е и първият негов официален старт в мач от Висшата лига, като се има предвид, че до този момент рядко попадаше и в разширения състав на артилеристите. Букайо Сака вече се беше наложил в титулярния състав на отбора, но използван предимно като ляво крило, а в първите си мачове за отбора и като ляв бек. Новото в състава за този мач е, че за първи път стартира на дясното крило….и то какъв старт само! Отляво мястото беше заето от завърналия се от дългосрочна контузия Габриел Мартинели, с което атакуващата линия на отбора се подмени изцяло с общо шест промени в стартовия състав. На скамейката бяха оставени разочароващите Уилиан, Обамеянг и Никола Пепе, а младите момчета се отплатиха подобаващо за предоставения им шанс с гол на Сака и асистенция на направилия истински летящ старт Емил Смит Роу, който след това се превръща в неизменен титуляр, а отборът се пробужда и прави серия от победи. Головете на Лаказет, Джака и Сака вдъхновиха публиката, като сред трибуните стана популярен рефрена: “Boom Xhaka, Saka, Laka!” от небезизвестната песен от 90-те. Credit by 433 football Наследството от неошлайфани диаманти Микел Артета наследи от Унай Емери няколко неошлайфани диаманта. Това са закупеният за скромната сума от 7 млн. евро никому неизвестен дотогава младеж Габриел Мартинели от бразилския клуб Итуано, момчетата от школата Букайо Сака и Емил Смит Роу и френският талантлив млад защитник от Сент Етиен Уилям Салиба. Всъщност, като изключим Емил Смит Роу, който беше продаден миналото лято, останалите трима са единствените, които не само останаха в сегашния отбор на Артета, а и се превърнаха в основни фигури в него. Сака, Смит Роу и Мартинели бяха постепенно наложени в отбора, докато за Уилям Салиба надеждите на феновете да го видят с екипа на Арсенал все повече намаляваха, след прекаран полусезон в Арсенал без нито минута игрово време и изпращането му за пореден наем във френския отбор Ница, след сезон под наем в бившия му клуб Сент Етиен. Артета гласува доверие на Букайо Сака още от първите си мачове, но залага на него като ляв бек, поради липса на алтернатива на този фланг след последователни контузии на Киърън Тиърни и Сеад Колашинац. Тогава получават шансове и други три момчета от школата – Рийс Нелсън, Джоузеф Уилок и Еди Нкетия, които така и не успяха да се утвърдят в отбора. Всичките тези момчета от академията започват да получават шансове и при Унай Емери, докато последните трима имат игрови минути още по времето на Арсен Венгер. При Артета Букайо Сака и Еди Нкетия започват да имат все по-сериозна роля в отбора, като Сака бива изместен постепенно от левия бек в халфовата зона и лявото крило, докато не намери досегашната си позиция на дясно крило и не разгърне пълния си потенциал там. Еди Нкетия на свой ред записва първия си старт в титулярния състав на отбора именно при Артета. Credit by SPORTbible Очаквай неочакваното В първия пълен сезон на Артета, изпълнен с възходи и падения, все пак Арсенал успяват да завършат на осмо място в първенството за втора поредна година. Този сезон е по-успешен от предходния в Европа, след като артилеристите успяват да достигнат до полуфиналите в Лига Европа. Въпреки това осмото място за втора последователна година във вътрешното първенство е поредното разочарование за феновете, а липсата на успехи и в другите турнири означава, че Арсенал през следващия сезон няма да участват в европейските клубни турнири за първи път от незапомнени времена. Този път новият сезон 2021/2022 за момчетата на Микел Артета започна катастрофално с три поредни загуби, последно място в класирането с голова разлика 0:9 и съвсем оправдани нови повсеместни съмнения и възгласи за оставката на младия наставник. В този период се появиха нарицателни като „помощника“ и „физкултурника“, които бяха най-културните определения по негов адрес и твърдението, че Арсенал не е училище и опитно зайче, върху което да се упражнява, както и че отборът този сезон едва ли не ще се бори за оцеляване. Една от истините за кошмарното начало на новия сезон е, че точно преди старта на шампионата много от основните футболисти дават положителни проби за COVID-19, което не им позволява да вземат участие в мачовете. Това е едно от задължителните изисквания по това време, а хубавото в случая е, че публиката отново се завръща по стадионите. Разбира се, след завръщането в игра на основните футболисти, представянето на отбора се стабилизира и влиза в серия от три поредни победи и общо осем мача без загуба. През този сезон Арсенал все още не успява да бъде конкурентен на най-силните отбори в лигата, като редовно отстъпва без сериозна съпротива на Манчестър Сити и Ливърпул. Единственото силно представяне, което си заслужава внимание, е в първия ден от новата година в домакински сблъсък срещу Манчестър Сити, в който артилеристите правят впечатление с добрата си борбена игра, повеждат в резултата с гол на Сака, но след почивката гол от дузпа, червен картон и късно попадение в добавеното време обръщат развоя на срещата. След продължаващи победни поредици, редувани от откъслечни загуби, в заключителната фаза на сезона Арсенал окупират четвъртото място в класирането, което дава право на участие в Шампионска лига. Това надминава очакванията към отбора, тъй като целите пред Артета преди началото на сезона са да върне артилеристите в европейските турнири, визирайки класиране за Лига Европа и между пето и шесто място в класирането. Всичко хубаво си има и своя край, когато през април настъпва поредната серия от три загуби. Това се случва преди настъпването на поредното чудо, този път Великденско, отново срещу добрите стари съседи от Челси, но този път на „Стамфорд Бридж“ с 2:4. За съжаление това не е достатъчно и Арсенал губи безславно борбата за четвъртото място в пряк двубой от местния си съперник Тотнъм. В следващия епизод ще обърнем внимание на ренесанса, който Артета сътвори в Арсенал. А дотогава ще стискаме палци Габриел Магаляеш да се възстанови напълно за дербито с Тотнъм в неделя! Благодарим ви за вниманието и до скоро!

Микел Артета е назначен за наставник на Арсенал при много турбулентни времена за отбора. След колебливи игри и поредица от загуби испанецът заварва отбора на 11 място в класирането в края на месец декември 2019 г., с разбит морал и ниско самочувствие в съблекалнята, капитан Пиер-Емерик Обамеянг и бивш капитан, поставен в изгнание от предишния треньор след реакция срещу възгласите на феновете при смяната му в домакинския мач срещу Кристъл Палас. Това дава началото на серия от три поредни домакински равенства срещу отбори от втората половина на таблицата и две загуби като гост, последвали раздялата с Унай Емери поради раздори и загуба на доверие в играчите към него. „Тrust the process” Новината за поемането на отбора от Артета е приета с искрица надежда от феновете и много съмнения и недоверие към човек, който няма опит като първи треньор в нито един отбор досега. Не случайно в едно от първите публични изказвания на собствениците беше ясно заявено, че Артета, клубът и играчите тепърва ще се развиват заедно, ще правят грешки и ще трупат опит, за което е необходимо търпение, защото процесът на изграждане едва сега започва, откъдето идва и култовата фраза „Тrust the process”, станала пословична за доверието към Артета и неговия екип. Credit by Devoted Gooner Разбира се, началото на треньорската му кариера в Арсенал започва колебливо със старт във Висшата лига с равенство на Южния бряг срещу Борнемут, загуба от Челси у дома, първа победа срещу не кого да е, а Манчестър Юнайтед, поредица от четири последователни равенства, съпроводена с изненадващо ранно отпадане от турнира за Лига Европа още в първия кръг на елиминационната фаза от гръцкия Олимпиакос. За капак, в средата на март се стигна и до прекъсване на всички турнири заради разрастващата се пандемия от COVID-19. След три месеца пълна изолация футболът по стадионите отново се завръща, но от съображения за сигурност без публика по трибуните. Така сезонът се доиграва през летните месеци юни и юли в нестандартно за клубните футболни първенства време от годината. За добро или за лошо след принудителната пауза Артета успява да намери успешна формула за победна серия на Арсенал в завършека на сезона и печели купата на Футболната асоциация (FA cup), която се превръща в рекордна 14-та за клуба и е постигната след сладки победи над Манчестър Сити на полуфинала и над Челси на финала. Специално победата над „гражданите“ е първата от дълга поредица без успех над този отбор в общо седем мача за три години във всички турнири. Credit by Arsenal Този успех задържa търпението към Артета и за началото на сезон 2020/2021, който започва обещаващо с победа над шампиона Ливърпул за Къмюнити шийлд и две победи на старта на първенството. Всичко върви добре до средата на месец ноември, когато Арсенал влиза в ужасяваща серия от седем мача без победа, от които пет загуби, в това число три на свой терен от отбори, като Астън Вила, Уулвърхямптън и Бърнли или общо четири поредни поражения на свой терен, като включим и загубата от Лестър преди победата като гост над Манчестър Юнайтед. Така тази поредица всъщност е предвождана от още две загуби, които бяха позабравени след сладката победа на „Олд Трафорд“ за замазване на очите преди лошата серия да продължи. Тимът се срива до непривичното 15-то място в класирането и през този период дори и най-върлите почитатели на Артета започнаха да се замислят дали той е най-правилният човек за отбора. Ефектът на бързите очаквания Основният проблем в забързаното ежедневие на съвременния технологичен свят е, че хората, особено от младото поколение, очакват всичко да се случва на момента, търсят бързи резултати и приемат всичко за даденост, но животът не е устроен по този начин и ChatGPT съвсем не може да ти даде универсална рецепта как да бъдеш щастлив, да повишиш стандарта си на живот, да забогатееш изведнъж или как Арсенал или който и да е друг отбор да стане шампион. Това е ефектът на бързите очаквания и нестихващото желание да сменяш треньори докато не постигнеш незабавни резултати. Тук е моментът да се запитаме - какво всъщност искаме отборът да постигне? Бързи резултати с краткотраен ефект или бавно и методично развитие из основи, което да доведе до дългосрочни резултати. Защото Артета е именно такъв тип, който се вглежда в най-малкия детайл до степен на маниакалност и се стреми да усъвършенства механизма парче по парче, докато всички елементи не заработят в синхрон, допълващи се един друг в едно цяло. Недоволството като начин на живот Другите привърженици на идеята „Arteta Out” са или много емоционални и сприхави, с прекалено нисък праг на търпимост, или хора, за които недоволството е начин на живот, или просто такива, които по някакви причини, или дори липсата им, не харесват Артета и нямат никакво доверие в него. Разбира се, има и такива, които вече са трайно разочаровани от неуспехите на отбора и нямат вяра в неговото развитие като цяло. Какво ли им е било на феновете през 80-те, макар и малцина да помнят тези времена, за които все пак Ник Хорнби се е постарал да остави следа за идните поколения в своята книга „Треска за футбол“. За повечето от тези фенове, каквото и да се случи, не е добре. Винаги се намира причина за недоволство, хубавите моменти се възприемат за съвсем естествено стечение на обстоятелствата или добър късмет. Тези хора са особено активни в социалните мрежи при лоши резултати, докато при добри такива, го приемат за временно явление при добро стечение на обстоятелствата. Но преди да продължим с дисекцията на колебливите настроения към наставника на Арсенал, ще си припомним хронологично неговите постижения и респективно липсата на такива за клуба, което ще се случи в следващия епизод на рубриката. Благодарим ви за вниманието и до скоро!

The classic N9’s Well hello there, dear readers, For this week's article I’ll present to you a fun and interesting series. We all have our favourite player or players at the club, and we tend to buy a replica shirt with their name and number on the back. But before seeing this player in that certain number, most likely there was someone before them wearing it. And right here comes this article which will tell you the story of the players behind the shirt number. Before we start our journey, I would like to explain something about the series: the original idea was to cover players that wore let’s say a bit more obscure numbers and not the traditional 1-11. However a random number generator didn’t share my ideas and point of view and decided that we should begin from the attack, the target man, the centre forward, the striker, or as we all know it - the classic 9. As names were added to the back of the shirts in the 1993-94 season, we will mostly focus on those who wore the 9 after that season. There will be a few honourable mentions. So let’s begin with the first one - Alan Smith. 1993-1995 - It’s quite the honour to begin this list with our latest noble guest. The Smudge was in Bulgaria for our 20th anniversary in 2024 and it was an amazing time with him. After the introductions of names next to numbers in that season, Smith was already starting to decline with his form, as the main goalgetter was none other than Ian Wright. As he only scored 7 goals in 41 games that season, one of them was super vital - scored on May 4th 1994 in Copenhagen to help Arsenal win the European Cup Winners Cup. Of course Smudge was wearing the famous 9 in the previous seasons as well even without his name being displayed on the back. Overall he scored 115 goals in 351 games for The Gunners and his two best goalscoring seasons saw us crowned as champions - 1988-89 where he bagged 23 league goals, and 1990-91 with 22 goals. The 1994-95 season turned out to be Smith’s last in professional football as he wasn’t able to overcome a bad injury and decided to retire from the game. 1995-1997 - Paul Merson Merse was already at the club and even wore the 10 on his back. However with the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp in June 1995, and the retirement of Alan Smith, Paul switched to the 9 shirt. Having been a fan favourite in the years prior to the number switch, Merse continued to play with his new number and kept his form under Bruce Rioch. Arsenal finished 5th in the league in 1995-96, However after a dreadful pre-season in 1996 and was let go, and in October we all know who came to lead the club. Merse kept his place under Wenger, but after the end of the season he was sold to Middlesbrough for £4.5M. Overall, Merse played more than 400 games for Arsenal and scored 99 goals in all competitions. 1997-99 - Nicolas Anelka After Merson left in the summer of 1997, the 9 was handed to a young French forward in Nicolas Anelka, who arrived at the club in February for 500K. While he didn’t get the chance to play much in the 1996-97 season, the next one was the time to prove himself. He scored some vital goals during the famous comeback against Manchester United, to see Arsenal win the Premier League and later on the Double after adding the FA Cup. The following season was Anelka’s breakthrough as he finished as the top scorer for Arsenal with 17 league goals and 19 overall in all competitions. But his time at Highbury turned out to be over before the summer of 1999. A deal had been agreed with Real Madrid for his transfer to Spain for 23.5M which was an insane profit at that time. As part of the deal with Los Blancos, the next 9 (who played at 14) arrived at the club for a cut price. Anelka’s transfer fee was more than enough to secure the signing of future legend Thierry Henry and also to build a whole new training facility for the team. 1999-2000 - Davor Suker Anelka’s successor as Arsenal’s 9 was Croatian international Davor Suker. The 31 year old joined the club from Real Madrid, as part of the deal for the Frenchman. A year prior to his transfer, Suker played a fantastic World Cup in France in which he became the top scorer with 6 goals, as Croatia finished third overall. He only played a single season for the Gunners, and was mostly used as a substitute by Arsene Wenger, starting just 15 of his 39 games in which he scored 11 goals. After the end of the season, Suker joined fellow Premier League side, West Ham United, where he didn’t make an impact, before leaving again for a brief spell in Germany after which he decided to retire. After Suker’s departure, nobody took the 9 shirt for the 2000-01 season, before the next player arrived in the summer of 2001. 2001-03 - Francis Jeffers The next 9 was signed from his boyhood team Everton for £8M initial fee. He was dubbed to be a big talent going forward while playing for the Toffees, but had his game time limited due to injuries. They have continued to plague Jeffers after his move to London, and he only managed to play 10 games in all competitions in his first season. In the 2002-03 season, Jeffers managed to play almost three times more games, with 28 appearances, mostly from the bench in which he found the net six times. Arsenal’s attack at the time had people like Henry, Bergkamp, Wiltord etc, which apart from the injuries, pretty much limited Jeffers to a backup role. He went back to Everton on loan for the 2003-04 season, before leaving the club permanently for Charlton in 2004. 2004-2006 (∞) Jose Antonio Reyes In January 2004, while fighting for the title, Arsenal got the chance to boost their attack with a new face. The Spanish winger joined the Gunners from Sevilla for £10.5M, despite the wishes of then manager Joaquin Caparros to retain him until the summer. Reyes quickly adapted in the team and featured 21 times until the end of the season. He scored two vital goals in the 36th and 37th match of the Premier League to keep Arsenal’s hope to achieve an unbeaten season, which later happened. In his second season, Reyes featured even more in all competitions and was the club’s fourth highest goalscorer with 12 goals in 39 games. He even scored in the first five league games of the season. In 2005-06, Reyes continued to play while the club's performances in the league were questionable which led to a last matchday home win against Wigan to seal qualification for next season's Champions League. Overall Reyes scored six goals in 38 games in what turned out to be his final season at the club. Rest in peace Jose. Once a gooner, always a gooner! 2006-07 - Julio Baptista In the summer of 2006, after the World Cup in Germany, Arsenal and Real Madrid made business once more. Jose Antonio Reyes joined the club on loan, and Los Blancos sent Brazilian striker Julio Baptista to the Gunners. His dominant physique earned him the nickname “The Beast”. His most memorable moment in the red and white shirt was a four goal haul at Anfield in the League Cup in January. He also scored two goals away at White Hart Lane in the first semi-final against Spurs. Arsenal lost in the final at Cardiff against Chelsea. In the Premier League, Baptista didn't have the same production and only scored 3 goals in 24 games mostly coming from the bench. He returned to Real Madrid after the end of the season. 2007-10 Eduardo da Silva The next player to wear 9 for Arsenal is perhaps one of the big “what ifs”in modern football history. Or at least that is my point of view. Having scored 47 goals in the same amount of games in the previous season for Dinamo Zagreb, Eduardo joined The Arsenal for £7.5M in July 2007. He took his time to find his form and mostly scored in cup competition and the Champions League. Around the festive period of 2007, Eduardo scored in successive games against Everton and West Ham to help Arsenal maintain their fine start to the Premier League. The Gunners were in the title race and have lost only one game so far in the season. Ironically, just 2 days before his 25th birthday, Eduardo’s season ended after a horrific leg break following a reckless tackle by Martin Tyler, in the third minute of the game against Birmingham City away at St.Andrew’s. It’s fair to say that this was the most famous moment in Tyler’s career and even today when somebody mentions his name, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. Eduardo’s injury was so shattering, that Arsenal failed to win their next 5 games in the league, which turned out to be decisive in the title race. Eduardo missed the whole 2008-09 Premier League season, but featured briefly in the FA Cup, where managed to score 3 goals in 2 games. After that injury he was never the same dynamic player he used to be, and continued to struggle with injuries which limited his game time in the 2009-10 season to just 17 games overall, in which he scored 5 goals. The 2010-11 season was the first in 10 years where no player wore the 9 at the club. The following season South Korean striker Park Chu-Young arrived from Monaco and took the 9 shirt, but only featured in 6 games overall, so he won’t be included in this list. 2012-2015 Lukas Podolski I have been waiting for this moment since the beginning of the article. When the news that Lukas Podolski will be joining Arsenal broke through and the transfer was announced I cried out of joy, as the German international was and still is one of my all time favourite players. Podolski was joined with other summer signings in Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla, the latter of which turned out to be a fan favourite. The German forward played 42 times in his first season where he scored 16 goals in all competitions. Two of his most remembered goals came against Southampton from a direct free kick in 6-1 win in the Premier League and against then French champions Montpellier with a vicious volley following a lob assist from Giroud. Podolski started the 2013-14 season with a brace against Fulham, but was injured in the Champions League play-off round and missed almost 3 months of the season. He returned with a goal against West Ham on Boxing day, and helped the team with vital goals in the FA Cup which the Gunners won after a comeback against Hull City. With 12 goals in all competitions Podolski kept his numbers for Arsenal growing. However after the 2014 World Cup, which he won with Germany, and with the arrival of Chilean international Alexis Sanchez, his game time was very limited and he played only 13 games in the first half of the season before leaving on loan to Inter Milan. At the end of the season Podolski left Arsenal to join Galatasaray permanently. 2016-18 Lucas Perez After Podolski left, no player wore the 9 shirt for the 2015-16 season, before Spanish striker Lucas Perez joined the club at the end of August 2016. His game time was heavily limited and he only managed to play 21 times in the season mostly as a substitute, and scored 7 goals overall. His most memorable performance was a hattrick away at FC Basel in the last group stage game of the Champions League. He spent the following season on loan at Deportivo La Coruna, before joining West Ham in 2018. 2017-2022 - Alexandre Lacazette In the summer of 2017, Arsenal broke their transfer record after signing French striker Alex Lacazette from Lyon for £46.5M. That record only stood for 6 months as Arsenal signed Pierre Emerick Aubameyang for £56M in January. Laca made a flying start to his career in the Premier League when he scored after 94 seconds in his first game. He continued to score goals, while Arsenal’s performances were not in the club's standards. Laca finished the season as the top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions. That was also the final season under Arsene Wenger, who left after 22 years in charge. Next season Alex Lacazette and Aubameyang formed a great partnership upfront en route to the Europa League final. Sadly that final in Baku was lost which I believe cost Unai Emery the head coach position, even though he was sacked at the end of November in 2019. Overall Alex Lacazette played more than 200 games for Arsenal in which he scored 71 goals. 2022 - Gabriel Jesus After the departure of Lacazette, head coach Mikel Arteta decided that the club lacks the experience of a winner. Thus he turned to reigning champions Manchester City and £45M later, Gabby Jesus switched the light blue for the famous red and white. He started the season with a brace of goals and assists in a 4-2 win against Leicester City. He scored a few more goals and was selected to represent Brazil at the 2022 World Cup. However he injured his knee, which ruled him out for 3 months. Once he returned, Jesus scored a couple more goals, but Arsenal eventually lost the title battle against his former team Manchester City by 5 points. In the 2023-24 season, Jesus scored against Man United to seal a dramatic win in stoppage time. He struggled with goals throughout the whole season despite having some stellar performances in the Champions League. The 2024-25 season was pretty much the same for the Brazilian. He had a brief return to his best days before Christmas when he scored 5 goals against Crystal Palace in the League Cup and the Premier League. He also scored in the first game of 2025 against Brentford, before his season was ended by an ACL injury against Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd round. He is yet to return from it, but we can only hope that once he is back, he will remind us what kind of player he is. Honourable mentions John Radford (1964-1976) - Radford was a prolific scorer in the 60’s and 70’s as he won the Double in 1970-71. Overall he scored 111 goals in 379 games. Frank Stapleton (1974 - 1981) - Stapleton took the 9 shirt after Radford left. He scored one of the goals in the 1979 FA Cup final against Manchester United. He actually left to play for them from 1981 until 1987, and is one of the players that is still loved by both sides' fans. 225 games and 60 goals overall. Charlie Nicholas (1983-1988) - The Scottish forward joined us from Celtic and if I can quote the words and stories by Nasso Rouskov, Nicholas was the so-called pretty boy with the first modern hairstyle for a football player. One of his most memorable performances for Arsenal was in the 1987 League Cup final, where he scored a brace against Liverpool to win the trophy for the Gunners. Overall he played more than 180 times in which he scored 54 goals At the end of this extremely long piece, I would like to thank you if you have read everything and to remind you that comments are much appreciated. See you around next week. Dave Hardy

Well hello there dear readers, First of all, I would like to pass my gratitude to Gus Worth, for his amazing work during the last 5 years. As he decided to take a break from his blog, it is I who will provide you with some interesting facts and stories using the language of Shakespeare. The name of this series is dedicated to Nicolas Jover, who made The Arsenal a dangerous force in the penalty box from set pieces. Even though some fans and pundits say that we look more like Tony Pulis’s Stoke City with the long throw-ins etc. All jokes aside, the name just sounds fun and I’ll try to make it as impactful as our goals from set pieces. For my first article I’ve decided to take a look at this year’s opposition in the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League. As you already know, Arsenal drew the likes of Bayern Munich and Inter Milan from Pot 1, Atletico Madrid and Club Brugge from Pot 2, Olympiacos and Slavia Praha from Pot 3, and Athletic Bilbao and Kairat Almaty from Pot 4. That gives us 8 exciting games to be played from the 16th of September until the 28th of January 2026. I’ll break the teams into home and away fixtures. So let’s begin with the away destinations first. Away games Athletic Bilbao: No need for introductions here, as the Basque club is already well known with players like Inaki and Nico Williams (the wet dream of lots of Arsenal fans). Playing their home games at the Estadio San Mames (who got the “priviledge” to host the most boring Europa League final in the middle of May in which the small club from Middlesex ended their trophy drought) in Bilbao, the largest city of the famous Basque Country. To be fair and honest with you dear readers, when we played our pre-season games against Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao, I had the initial thought that we will probably face one of these two teams in the Champions League this season, regardless of that being at home or away. Looks like my intuition was right this time. As Bilbao is an interesting away destination and quite frankly a new one for our Away BoyZ, here are a few words from our new Chairman and member of the aforementioned group, Bobby Baychev: “For me personally, San Sebastián (Donostia) and Bilbao have been a dream postponed for over a decade. Now, the chance to see my favourite team play there is the perfect excuse to make it happen. The Basque Country is a world of its own—a mix of subcultures and historical influences: Vascones, Visigoths, Franks, and Oscans. Its culinary scene is unmatched—from pintxos bars to the highest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita, including three restaurants with three stars each. The clash between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad is more than a football match—it's an ideological duel. San Mamés, mythical and thunderous, recently hosted the ill-fated Europa League final. And the city itself—with the legendary Guggenheim Museum, also found only in New York, Venice, and Abu Dhabi—further enhances the feeling of a special trip.” Slavia Prague: One of the most awaited destinations for an away trip in recent years. I will not talk about the city of Prague as it is already very popular. We last faced the Czech champions in the quarterfinals of the 2020/21 Europa League. A 1-1 draw in London following a late drama as former Gunner, Nico Pepe scored in the 86th minute to give us the lead, but Tomas Holes right at the end managed to secure the vital draw for the Czech side with all to play for in Prague. However there was pretty much no opposition in the away fixture as Arsenal scored three quick fire goals before the 25th minute to secure their place in the semi finals, and eventually added a fourth one in the second half to make it 5:1 on aggregate from both games. In the Champions League both teams found themselves in one group in the 2007/08 season. Arsenal demolished the Czech side 7-0 in London in matchweek 3, while the reverse fixture in matchweek 4 ended in a goalless draw. Here are a few words from Bobby on this away game: “Golden Prague—a city of majestic architecture, legendary beer, and a constant flow of tourists. Our last visit here was during the dark days of the pandemic, so this time I expect a surge in interest—especially from English fans, who will far outnumber the fewer than 1,000 official away tickets. I also expect a strong Bulgarian presence, most likely enjoying the game in the warm atmosphere of one of Prague’s many pubs.” Club Brugge: Well, this one will be a first timer. Arsenal have faced Belgian opposition before, but we have never played against Club Brugge. If you are not aware of their recent performances, the team has won 4 of the last 6 Belgian First Division titles including 3 consecutive from 2019-20 until 2021-22. Former Sunderland and Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has been ever present since joining the club in 2019, playing almost 300 games in all competitions. However the Belgians have a different talisman in their captain Hans Vanaken who is playing his 11th season at the club. In this period the midfielder has over 500 games in all comps and 143 goals next to his name. Given the fact that the game will be played in the middle of December, when the weather in Belgium can be a bit funny the Away BoyZ are in for a treat. Here are Bobby’s thoughts about this destination: “Bruges (or Brugge)—a small but magical city, with architecture and canals reminiscent of Venice and Amsterdam. Thanks to convenient transport connections from Bulgaria, it has a bit of a notoriously bad reputation in its outskirts from our fellow compatriots. Still, that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the Christmas lights and markets, the unmatched Belgian beer, and the magic of the Xmas season. And if the city enchants you—come back again in the summer to see it in a whole new light. Due to the stadium's small capacity and away fans allocation, many will probably watch the match from a local pub, shoulder to shoulder with the English fans arriving via short trip with the Eurostar.” Inter Milan: Same as Athletic Bilbao, there is no need to introduce the 20 time Italian champions and finalists in 2 of the last 3 editions of the Champions League. Even though they lost both finals conceding six goals and scoring the grand total of none. Less than four months ago they were completely demolished by Paris Saint Germain in Munich which led to the departure of head coach Simone Inzaghi. The Nerrazurri tried to appoint former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas as their new head coach, but their approaches were cut short following a decision from the president of Como. After the deal collapsed, Inter quickly appointed former player Christian Chivu as their new head coach. A quiet transfer window followed with no major additions to the club. Last season the two teams played again in the League phase with Inter securing a 1-0 win in the fourth week. We had quite the group in Milan and the biggest highlight of the night was the opportunity to meet the wife of Gabriel. She even got a small gift from our boys. In the history of the tournament we will always remember that iconic game at the Giuseppe Meaza in November 2003, when Thierry Henry did whatever he wanted and The Arsenal won 5-1. Of course we will finish this section with some words from Bobby: “The iconic stadium and the hypnotic flow of people winding through its tower spirals are enough to make you crave the experience again. And if you add the ultra-popular, originally Florentine focaccias from All’Antico Vinaio, the vibe of Via Casale filled with away fans, and the photogenic Duomo—there’s no doubt Milan always deserves a second chance.” Home games Olympiacos: There are 3 certain things in life - death, taxes and Arsenal playing against Olympiacos in Europe. This will be the 13th time the two teams face each other in the Champions and Europa League respectively. Ironically in the previous 12 games there are no draws. 6 wins for Arsenal and 6 wins for Olympiacos. The last meeting between the two sides was in the Round of 16 in the 2020-21 Europa League season. A 3-1 away win in Piraeus was enough for Arsenal to progress to the quarter finals even though we lost the reverse fixture in London by 1-0 and had to be nervous until the final whistle. We as a fan club had memorable trips to Athens for the games over the years, with the highlight being held right before Covid hit us in 2020. On that certain day while walking around next to the Acropolis, a few of our members of the famous Varna branch, got the chance to meet and take a photo with the one and only Ian Wright Wright Wright. A truly iconic moment that these guys will cherish for the rest of their lives. Atletico Madrid: Another team that needs no introduction. Cholo Simeone’s side have been ever present in the Champions League for the last 10+ years. However the only official games between Arsenal and Atletico have been in the semi finals of the 2017-18 Europa League. A 1-1 draw at the Emirates where the Madrid side was left with 10 men on the field after two quick yellow cards for Sime Vrsaljko in the opening 10 minutes of the game left everything to be decided in Madrid. Right there in the 12-th minute, the Arsenal captain at the time Laurent Koscielny, pulled his hamstring in the 12th minute and was furious as that not only meant that he won’t be able to help the Gunners to reach the final in Lyon, but also that he will miss the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which ironically France won. Back in the game a Diego Costa goal in the first half stoppage time was enough for Atletico to win the tie and go on to the final, where they’ve managed to win their third Europa League title after beating Marseille 3-0. Seven years after those games a lot of things have changed. Atletico tend to play a bit more open football nowadays and with a handfull of quality signings in the summer from both clubs the tactical war between Arteta and Cholo will be huge. Which can guarantee us a super game in the middle of October. Bayern Munich: If I can quote the famous protagonist from GTA San Andreas, Carl “CJ” Jonhson - Ah sh*t, here we go again. Now let’s address the elephant in the room. It was not so long ago that we faced the German champs in the quarter finals in the Champions League, where they managed to beat us with a narrow 3-2 win on aggregate. And we all know that was only because it was our first season back in the CL after 7 long years, plus the lack of experience in the team. Now as I already mentioned things are quite different and I am pretty sure that the time for a slight payback for those humiliating results from the past has come. The fact that this game is sandwiched between the North London derby and another London showdown against Chelsea at the end of November, makes it even more interesting. We can only hope that many of our members can be present at the Emirates for this match, while we leave the bigger job in the hands of our players. Kairat Almaty: Here is something new for an European opposition. The team from the former capital city of Kazakhstan made a surprise in the playoff round after eliminating Celtic on penalties to secure their first ever participation in the League phase of the Champions League. While we won’t have the chance to travel closely to the Chinese border this time around, the Kazakh team will be our final opponents in matchweek 8. In addition to that, Kairat also have a gem of a player to watch in teenager Dastan Satpayev, who will make a switch to the Premier League next summer after agreeing a deal with Chelsea. So far the 17 year old has scored 12 goals in 30 games this season in all competitions. I will finish the part for Kairat with a fun fact. The football season in Kazakhstan is being played from March through October, and the team from Almaty currently have only 4 more league games to play as they stand on level terms with Astana in the battle for first place. However, their last league game is scheduled to be played right after matchweek 3 in mid October, when they host Pafos from Cyprus, which means that Kairat will only have their 5 remaining Champions League games to train for after the end of the season. With the final rows of this article, I would like to advise you to give frequent feedback about every new post as criticism and suggestions are always welcomed. Until next week ladies and gentlemen. Dave Hardy

History is on our side? We have only played them 5 times in competitive matches. And we have never lost. We have 2 wins and 3 draws. Does that bode well for the semi-final of the Champions League? Maybe. It can help to foster a negative mindset at PSG which could work in our favour. But the reality is that past results have no real power on the pitch. History doesn’t win matches, players do. Another two goals like these, please? Beating Real Madrid at the Bernebau has to be good for Arsenal’s confidence as few teams beat them there and they have a record of comebacks at home. As some may remember, I was at the Emirates for our last match against PSG earlier in the season, where we won 2-0. We had that score after 35 minutes and it truly was a nothing match as we were so comfortable. Donnarumma in the PSG goal allowed Havertz a free header from a Trossard cross after 20 minutes and then Bukayo Saka lobbed a hopeful free kick which Donnarumma somehow let in over his head and the game was over. I think we should have had more but PSG were very disappointing. It was like playing a bottom of the table team, they offered so little. A different Paris Saint Germain? I am certain that will not be the case now. They have got over their uncertain start and are now firing on all cylinders. We will need to be at our best for sure. Honestly, though, I am not sure I would swap any of our players for theirs so I put us ahead on that metric. Luis Enrique has had a strong season in the French league and they are now out of sight of their challengers. They are unbeaten, have 77 points from 29 matches with 82 scored and 27 conceded. Arsenal have 61 scored, also 27 conceded and 63 points from 33 matches so on the league metric PSG are ahead. The French league is not as competitive as the Premier league but I suppose I can concede that metric to them. I wouldn't swap our David for Donnarumma Our European record is greater as we have a Fairs Cup and a Cup Winners Cup to their Cup Winners Cup. We have also played far more games and won far more combined with a strong record of qualifying for the knock out stages. So despite their CL win percentage being a bit better I am going for Arsenal on that metric. PSG Pld W L D F A GD Win% European Cup / Champions League 167 89 30 48 327 191 +136 53.29 Arsenal Champions League / European Cup 223 115 47 61 381 233 +148 51.57 In the domestic leagues and cups our records are similar but a lot rests on how difficult each league is and nobody rates the French as anywhere near the level of the Premier league/old first division. They have 13 French titles and 15 French cups to our 13 titles and 14 cups. That metric has to be Arsenal’s. They will buy the top players, we won’t Where they do have an edge in recent times is in top players signing for them and huge transfer fees. Mbappe, Neymar and the incredible Messi have all graced their side over the past years. Arsenal have never bought the recognized greatest player in the world although Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp surely became contenders for that accolade while at Arsenal. Big time players, then, are another metric for them. They bought the greatest player in the world Luis Enrique vs Arteta? This one is very easy. You cannot compare their records. I am not going to bother listing Enrique’s trophies as he has so many whereas Arteta has really got only one, his FA Cup in his first season. Enrique qualifies as one of the great managers of modern times and Arteta has a long way to go to catch up. Another metric for them but records don’t win matches as I said earlier. We made the greatest player in the world That puts us 3-3 on metrics so far. On the pitch is where it will be won and I truly believe our players, as a unit, are better. Inexperienced players could be our key Both Myles Lewis Skelly and Jakob Kiwior played virtually the entire second half in the first match and that may be important. I am not sure we will have Havertz back but it may be possible. Kiwior could be key. He is showing that he has great ability and Skelly is a little monster. Injuries has thrown up a factor that I have long believed in and that is that with games, players get better. If Kiwior plays to the same level for the rest of the season and gets us our greatest trophy even Arteta may have a huge headache next season regarding central defence. Jakob Kiwior has proven he is a real player I think Skelly is undroppable but perhaps he will replace Partey next season? Fullback is probably not his position. A guy that can score goals like he does is not a fullback. I feel he is like our boy Declan though in how he plays, strong, aggressive, drives forward and can score. Can the two of them fit in midfield? Odegaard is a different type of player so he would not challenge for his position. Again another headache for Mikel. Good players have to play regularly. The same applies to Nwaneri. He has to play next season. He is too good not to. But where? I don’t know. Arteta has to work that one out. Forget the metrics, we can win The point being that Kiwior, Skelly and Nwaneri are here now. They will play their part in fighting PSG and any advancement in the Champions League. If we win it, they will make their case for next season. Of the three, Kiwior is the most vulnerable. The other two are in, for sure. I don’t think there are better players out there to be bought. The wily old fox or the young cub? So what do we have? The key is Arteta against the wily old fox Enrique. Last time out he was up against the wiliest old fox in football, Ancelotti, and came through with flying colours. They have never beaten us and that must continue. Two draws and a penalty shootout? Oh, very tough on all our hearts. What we need are the performances against Real Madrid and Sporting Lisbon. It is this head to head that matters, not the history. Perform to our best and we are through. I am convinced of that. C’mon the Arse!

No Table of Doom this year Liverpool Max 99 points Arsenal Max 92 points Target 88 points As regular readers will know, early on I reckoned that the target this season would be 92 points. I then shifted that down to 88 as virtually no teams could get there some time ago and I can’t have a table of doom without teams in it. And once again, with 13 games to go, I am in the same position. Only Liverpool and Arsenal can get 88 points. I feel that I can’t drop it any more as Liverpool can drop 11 points and reach that and they probably will at least do that. That leaves two teams in the table of doom and only one match at Anfield between them on the third last match. It means that if Arsenal win all Liverpool can still get 96. May or may not be our biggest game this season What can we say for now? Forest can get 86 if they win all 13 matches. They are out, simple as that. They won’t do that and Liverpool won’t lose enough points to get close to Forest’s final tally. We play Newcastle at home and Southampton away after Liverpool. Both winnable despite the fact that both teams have caused us blips in recent years. Liverpool play Brighton away and Palace at home, both also winnable. They seem to have a slightly more difficult task but not much more. 3 matches to decide the title? Where I do think they have the harder task is their next 13. They play Villa and City away and Newcastle at home in their next 3. We play West Ham at home and Forest and Man Utd away. Certainly looks easier for us but we need 3 wins. This may be our biggest game of the season Then Chelsea and Fulham at home and Everton away for us. If all 3 are at their best it will be difficult but we probably need 3 wins. Liverpool are home to Southampton and Everton and away to Fulham. They could easily win all three. Liverpool then have home to West Ham and Tottenham and away to Leicester. We will definitely need Potter, Postecoglou and Van Nistleroy to have their teams firing by then and even so it is hard to see any points dropped. Maybe if the Spuds have all their players back? C’mon you Spurs! We have Brentford and Palace at home and Ipswich away. We can have no excuses, we must win. Maybe all games are loseable? Then we have Bournemouth at home, Liverpool away, and Newcastle and Southampton as mentioned. They have Chelsea away, then us, Brighton and Palace. We must beat them to start the mindgames Probably the most crucial for both teams is the next 3 matches. If Liverpool win all 3, then I doubt if we can catch them even if we win 3. If Unai Emery can get Villa playing like they do against us they might just get a point. It is tomorrow so a failure to win gives us a great chance to put a lot of pressure on them before they play City on Sunday. We have West Ham on Saturday. As they have 2 matches we will spend a period with a game in hand. Can we get inside Liverpool's heads? We have to beat the Hammers. No question. Potter has form against us as have the Hammers sometimes but drop points here and we have lost the chance to get into Slot’s head. Then Liverpool play City away, and last weekend against Newcastle they looked more like the old City. 4 goals and the new players gelling well. That surely is the match we are hoping for something, even a draw. Liverpool will travel all the way to Manchester, if they have dropped anything to Villa and we win against West Ham, knowing that their season could unravel with a defeat. This is the period when mindgames, that the mind plays with itself, is critical. By now, Liverpool’s players, many of whom have never won the league, will feel that it is theirs to lose. They need that cold clinical head to get them over the line. Any blip could devastate their confidence. They would know a defeat would leave them potentially only 2 points ahead. Forest away our hardest aside from the big game? But we are away to Forest, who are flying most weeks. That will be a pressure game. It seems like the hardest match other than Liverpool on our run in. A midweek win, in the scenario above, would push a hammer blow into the frailty of a team later that night then bracing to play Newcastle at home. Eddie Howe will be desperate to do well after being destroyed by Man City. They are rarely an easy team to play against. Then the following weekend we play Man Utd away and Liverpool play Southampton at home. As long as Utd are still playing rubbish we should win and Southampton scarcely have a chance at Anfield. Can Ramsdale do us a favour at Liverpool? So they will have 4 matches to our 3 at this point. After this point, while there are games Liverpool can lose, they can also probably afford to lose them if they win these 3 plus a banker against Southampton. Everything is already decided? So that is where we are. Liverpool seem to have a tougher run in. They absolutely must drop points soon or we are only scrapping for second place. Yes, Champions league looks certain at this point. There could well be a scrap for the rest of the places as even Brighton on 37 points might feel that a strong run gets them up there. I have a feeling that the points total for Champions League may not be too high as lots of teams are dropping points. I suspect the current top four of Liverpool, Arsenal, Forest and City could well make it. I will be surprised if the current top two do not remain the top 2. They are pulling away and a win for Arsenal against Forest would put them further behind. It is almost decided already? At the bottom, Southampton look doomed leaving Ipswich, Leicester and Wolves to fight it out for one spot. So in the middle of February, it looks like the bottom four are obvious as is the top two. I can’t really remember it being like this before. Sadly, no table of doom It is disappointing for me not to have a table of doom this season but unless both Arsenal and Liverpool drop a few points soon and the chasing pack start winning there is no point. Nobody believes that anyone other than Liverpool and Arsenal can win this time so there would be no tension. I will suggest that February 26th could be the marker for this season. We play Forest away and Liverpool play Newcastle at home. The league at that point could well indicate whether we can have a tight end to the season. And Arsenal will have to compete with none of our first choice forward line for that period! Did I ever say that it is tough to be an Arsenal fan?

The bad predictors are back Next ten Fixtures Brentford A, Brighton A, Tottenham H, Villa H, Wolves A, Man City H, Leicester A, West Ham H, Forest A, Man Utd H Ok, me and Dani Georgiev have to put our hands up. We have done badly so far. The optimism at the start of the season evaporated and so both of us were 5 out in the first attempt at this. And last time, we were both 7 points out. Neither time did we have the same predictions but we both ended up with the same amount of points, and embarrassingly wrong. For our first 8 games red cards were the catalyst for dropped points and this time it was teams parking the bus, coupled with the loss of Martin Odegaard. We do struggle if teams shut up shop and it was highly obvious against Ipswich, our last game. The good news is that if we beat Brentford away in our first game, we will be second and still ready to take advantage of a Liverpool slump. We need another Liverpool collapse Last column, I revised the table of doom figure I have used in my last 2 predictions as I feel that it is too high. I brought it down to 88 points although obviously Liverpool can still get 105 points. They have a lot of matches to play in the second half of the season and could be chasing a quadruple, and the pressure may get to them. We have to stay close. The bad news with that is that we can truly afford to lose very little. We can get 96 if we win all but if 88 is right we need to lose no more than 2 with one draw, one loss and 2 draws or 4 draws over 20 matches. We have a truly difficult task ahead of us if 88 turns out to be the target. I think we can forget about it if my original 92 remains correct. Lucky I have been wrong so far, maybe? If Liverpool stumble there could be many teams ready to take advantage Can we do it? Yes, we can, but for sure we need Liverpool to have a bad patch, something they seem reluctant to have. We need 2.6 points per game, they need 2.047619047619048, a lot less. However, one loss for them and one win for us and life doesn’t seem too bad. Chelsea, Forest and even Man City will probably be waiting for a Liverpool slip as well. It could end up a scramble for points and a comparatively low points total. However, for almost all the last ten seasons it has taken more than 88 points to be the winner. I will throw in a strange statistic, 88 points has never been a winning total since the Premier League started. Arsenal could be the first. And so to the matches: This match is crucial to get us off to a good start Brentford away and it is one, as are all of them, that we badly need to win. They are on a poor run at the moment so we have to take advantage. They will park the bus and hope for a breakaway. We must find a way. I think we will with 2-0 and Dani 2-1 and 39 points. Should be enough to avoid relegation, yay! Brighton away and they are in relegation form with four draws and 2 defeats in the last six at the moment. I like Brighton but we have to beat them. Maybe a George Graham result will be enough. One nil to the Arsenal and 3 points gives us 42 points. Dani goes 1-1 and 40 points Tottenham at home and this could be Ange Postecoglou’s last game if we win. I will be there and a nice 3-1 would suit me. 45 points, Dani goes 3-0 and 43 points Then Villa at home and I will also be there. Emery pulls out his best game against us, it seems, and they have already lost six this season so I feel this one will be great to win. 2-1 for me and Dani and 48 points for me and 46 for Dani. Wolves away and they have a new manager bounce but I hope that will be gone by this stage. We are still better than them anyway. 2-0 would work nicely. 51 points and life is looking very good. Dani goes 4-0 and 49 points. We don't need this guy scoring Manchester City could be back flying at this juncture, it is so hard to say. As I write they have been struggling but they did beat Leicester 2-0 with De Bruyne back and Haaland scoring. You can never write them off and they could carve out a point. They may even park the bus. 0-0 and 52 points with Dani 2-1 and 52 points Leicester away and I was at the first match at the Emirates. They looked dreadful in the first half and I thought they would get a real hammering. We were 2-0 up at half time and should have had more. Somehow they fluked two goals and it took two injury time goals to seal the result. This time I feel we can give them a nice beating. 4-0 with Dani 1-0 and 55 points Three crazy games in a row? West Ham away and they certainly have not improved under Lopegetui. I think we can beat them as they look vulnerable. I am going for 3-2 in a bit of a crazy match. Dani goes 1-1 and now has 56 points to my 58 points This could be our bogey game The next match is Forest away and this could be dangerous. I hope we have Saka back and a top team waiting for them. This could be one we let slip away if they continue their top form. I am going to go for 3-2 to them in another crazy game but his time we lose. Still 58 points. Dani goes for Arsenal 2-1 and now 59 points Manchester United at home and at the moment they are doing dreadful. Assuming Amorim gets them playing, maybe with new players, this could be a toughie. They seem to always score against us and I am going for three crazy games in a row. Another 3-2 but this time we win. 61 points with Dani going 3-0 and 62 points Transfers will make a difference? That remark about new players is something I haven’t addressed so far. We seem to have some targets but so will the rest. If any one of the above happens to get some gems then all the predictions could be nonsense. New players can also disrupt as they try to develop partnerships and understandings. The transfer season is so hard to predict and we could look stupid, or more stupid than we have so far this season. The situation is that if we beat Brentford on New Years Day, then every team on the above list are behind us. We are capable of beating them all. To do so we need a consistency that has eluded us so far. Those of you watching my statistics will know that, as said above, we need an average of 2.6 points per game but we have only got 2.4 points per game in my predictions. One loss and one draw may not be good enough. And worse? I would feel we have no chance. This could well be a long hard battle with no reward. But hey, I am always optimistic. It could still be the quadruple!

A Christmas Roundup - Jan 1st 2024 to Now If we beat Ipswich on Friday we will have 36 points after 18 matches. 18 games in last season we were top with 40. I definitely feel that our best way to win the league is to stay in touch and go on a strong run at the end. There is a lot of pressure being top and Liverpool and Chelsea may yet run into a bad stretch. If they wobble towards the end we can win. Last season we had a powerful finish but City had stronger. City last season, by the way, were fifth on 17 games at that point with 34 points, very similar to us at the moment with 33 points. I can’t remember how City ended the season, can you? It is still very much there for us. We need to believe and give the support. Ipswich are a good side who are not beaten easily Most are already out of the Table of Doom And the Table of Doom? Bizarrely, at the start of the season, I set 92 points as the target. Do you know how many teams are already out of the Table of Doom if I am right with that number? All teams except Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and, you guessed it - Nottingham Forest. We can get 96 if we win all our matches. I think it is safe to say that won’t happen. Liverpool can still get 102 and Chelsea 98. Our best chance of a trophy? At the start, I did not see either of them having such a strong season, with rookie premiership managers and both teams having potentially big problems. I believed that City, Villa and ourselves would carve out most of the points leading to a bigger amount needed than City’s 91 in 2024. I think it is fairly safe to say probably 88 or 89 is more likely to be enough. I will go for 88 as the new Table of Doom figure. That brings in Bournemouth, Villa, Man City, Newcastle, Fulham and Brighton. City are dead, are they? City can still get 90 and of all the teams in that list, they are the only one where we would not be astonished if they got to 88 or enough points to win the league. If they hit top gear, they are capable of winning all their matches. They only dropped 6 points in their last 21 games and they were 5th at 17 matches last season. We are all still a bit afraid of the City bear wakening up. Honestly, though, I cannot see any of the rest having a strong enough run to win the league. And surely Forest won’t do it? Liverpool, Chelsea and ourselves look to be the ones left if City do not have a miracle turnaround. Can this cuddly bear wake up? And we need, to get to 88, to drop a mere 8 points over 21 matches. 1 draws and two losses is the target and win all the rest. It is a tough ask. We have already lost 2 and drawn 6 in 17. We must be truly superb from now on to win the league. I get the feeling that not too many of us are optimistic. Am I right? Whenever I do start the countdown for the Table of Doom, I feel that there may not be many teams in it. At 88 points, Forest, currently 4th, could only drop 6 points over 21 matches. If they lose their next 2 against Tottenham at home and Everton away, they are already gone and it would not even be the new year. How strong is our squad? So how are we at the Arsenal? Raya, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard and Saka are certain starters. Timber is close to that as well. That leaves Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard, Calafiori, Havertz, Partey, White, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Sterling, Kiwior, Tierney, Tomiyasu, Jorginho and Zinchenko to battle for the other 4 places. The emergence of the academy stars, plus Calafiori and Sterling has given us greater depth than last year. We have also had far more injuries this season. Still, there are not too many players I would swap from other teams. Will training with the guys who had him in their pocket improve Gyokares? Will we buy over January? There is talk of Gyokares, Atalanta striker Mateo Retegui, and even Isak but it is hard to know. Only Isak is proven in the Premiership and a new striker could disrupt the team as they work out how to slot him in. I will make a forecast – if we get a new striker we won’t win the league this year. But it could be the missing link that we need to get to the top eventually. Can we win all the rest? Can we win the Champions League? That has always been my dream and without it we are below the true greats. This year looks possible. I can’t see any team that we are incapable of beating and some greats may not even make it to the knockouts. For me that would be a fantastic season even if we finish 4th in the league. The League Cup? Newcastle home and away will be tough as Eddie Howe always sets up to disrupt us. If we get through Liverpool looks the most likely. Will Postecoglou be gone from the Spuds by then? Nothing too easy left but still a good chance of a trophy. Eddie Howe likes frustrating us Manchester United in the FA Cup and in these early days it is hard to see whether we can win the cup. It is our trophy so you never know. It is quite some time since we were in 4 trophies heading to the new year. Can we do that? The only thing I can say is that when I was 13 years old I never really thought it was possible all season to win the double. We never seemed to grab top spot and Leeds and Liverpool were machines. It was extraordinary to do it from low mid-table the year before. The start of winning our trophy? We now have top players in every position, we seem to be united across management and players. The quadruple is on, people. Up the Arsenal!

The Cannon – the best football logo? I guess we were lucky in our past. We started out as Dial Square but quickly changed to Royal Arsenal and then soon after to Woolwich Arsenal. All of these were connected to a munitions factory and gave us our cannon as the heart of our logos. We got a cannon, so shooting, firing, aiming, and yes, winning at these were what we did. It is cool, it is red, and it is ours So we have a cannon, what do other clubs have? A lot of birds and bees, lions and mythical looking creatures including Manchester United’s Devil. Some are not bad, some are quite good, some are simple, some look ancient and one, well, one poor team has a cock as its logo. But we should never laugh, they chose it, they must have known it would turn out to be true. Sorry, I can’t help it, I have to laugh. Arsenal outfire all other teams Even the newspapers and media must love our logo. It gives them all sorts of headlines whether we do good or bad – our young guns are firing or misfiring, The gunners are out gunned or Arsenal outgun the opposition. The gunners are firing blanks, the gunners are firing howitzers, Top guns, or dead guns. The headlines write themselves. Lazy sub-editors just wheel them out every time. I can’t think of any other team’s logo that suits football so well. I mean you can’t really say Brighton’s Seagulls shat on the opposition, can you? Or that Spurs had a cock rammed up their arse. Or that Manchester United’s Red Devils have been thrown into hell. It wouldn’t be nice, would it? You couldn’t say that on Sky or in a newspaper, but you could use any combination of guns and cannons, firing and shooting, hitting and missing for Arsenal and never once have to resort to a bad word. The Devil is about to sink their ship But also for us fans, we get to have a cool logo on our chest, and it has been shaken up many times so we can go retro and have it firing left or modern and firing right. If we buy socks, t-shirts, bedspreads, mugs or any sort of memorabilia, they are always enhanced by our sexy sign. We don’t have to get into bed with a lighthouse (if that is what Everton’s building is), or bees, or Newcastle’s weird looking whatever they are animals, or Manchester City’s boat that looks like it is about to be sunk by a red target, and I am not going to mention the Spuds again. Ours is cool and it is sexy. And above all it is relevant. Football is about shooting. We are Arsenal The great thing is that our logo says what we are, the greatest shooters ever. We were the first real greats of the current top three in England when we dominated the 1930’s and 1940’s. What does Liverpool’s strange bird say to you? I have no idea but maybe the flower it is carrying symbolizes that they will walk alone into the fire at the side of their crest. Manchester United’s Red Devil has a boat above it and it looks like the Devil’s fork is going to sink the boat. Man Utd are doing a good job of that at the moment and City may also have sunk their boat. Maybe all their logos are true? Is that a red target about to sink their ship? West Ham do have a pretty good crest with the two giant hammers which is their nickname and Crystal Palace do have an eagle which looks very serious as it goes about its business. Brentford’s bees I suppose show that they buzz around but never really get anywhere. Burnley’s is… The birds and the bees and whatever else The real kicker is Burnley’s. Did they make a trip to Spain at some point and got Picasso and Dali drunk while conning them into designing their logo? I can’t make any sense of it anyway but what do I know about art? And seriously, what is that bird doing on the top? We outgun them all The truth is, most clubs logos and crests are strange, weird, vaguely mythological looking, and I can’t really see what they have got to do with football. Ours does. And ours looks good. Even the old black and white cannons indicate that we have some strength within us, they look formidable. And our shields which came afterwards have a happy, uplifting feel about them as well, the stars with their Christmassy feel allied to our positive motto give us a class that other teams don’t have. Walking into the fire? The modern one has been pared down. It is sleek and powerful. It can go 3D or it can go small or big and still be impressive. I don’t feel there is any argument. Our logo is the best. Our next task is to live up to our crest and logo and become what we once were, the best team ever. Go Arsenal!

Арсенал гостува на Манчестър Сити в дербито от 5-ти кръг на Висшата лига. Към момента Лондончани заемат 5-то място с 10 точки, докато "гражданите" се намират на 2-та позиция с 2 точки повече на сметката си. През миналия сезон Арсенал регистрира две сухи мрежи в двубоите с Манчестър Сити - победа с 1:0 в Лондон и нулево равенство на Етихад. Несъмнено и днес ще бъде страхотно предизвикателство за Давид Рая и отбраната пред него да започнат похода към нова суха мрежа. Към момента "топчиите" имат едва един единствен допуснат гол, който дойде в домакинството на Брайтън. Кога: Днес, от 18:30ч. българско време; Стадион: Етихад, Манчестър; Телевизия: Диема Спорт 2; Рефер на двубоя: Майкъл Оливър; Новините в Арсенал: Срещата пропускат контузените Такехиро Томиясу, Олександър Зинченко, Кийрън Тиърни, Микел Мерино и капитана Мартин Йодегор. Всички останали имена в отбора са на разположение за селекция, включително и Деклан Райс, който изтърпя наказанието си поради червен картон. Микел Артета преди мача: "През последните дни изиграхме два мача далеч от дома, които бяха много оспорвани и срещу силни опоненти. В неделя ни предстои поредното изпитание в гостуване и то не срещу някой друг, а шампиона на Англия. Трябва да бъдем максимално концентрирани и да се възползваме от всеки шанс в този мач. Не разполагахме с кой знае колко много време за почивка с оглед мача в Италия в четвъртък вечер. Това не трябва да е оправдание. По-скоро е нужно да покажем на какво сме способни и да дадем максимума от себе си. Отиваме в дома на шампиона, който е най-постоянния отбор във Висшата лига. Така че сме длъжни да демонстрираме това, че сме изминали още една крачка от правилния път и се движим в правилната посока." Игра с прогнози във форума на ASCB:

The Carabou Cup – what is it good for? Absolutely nothing? The top nine league cup winners Team Wins R/up Years Years R/up Liverpool 10 4 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2022, 2024 1978, 1987, 2005, 2016 Manchester City 8 1 1970, 1976, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 1974 Manchester United 6 4 1992, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2023 1983, 1991, 1994, 2003 Chelsea 5 5 1965, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2015 1972, 2008, 2019, 2022, 2024 Aston Villa 5 4 1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996 1963, 1971, 2010, 2020 Tottenham Hotspur 4 5 1971, 1973, 1999, 2008 1982, 2002, 2009, 2015, 2021 Nottingham Forest 4 2 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990 1980, 1992 Leicester City 3 2 1964, 1997, 2000 1965, 1999 Arsenal 2 6 1987, 1993 1968, 1969, 1988, 2007, 2011, 2018 All hail King George If it wasn’t for George Graham we wouldn’t even have the two miserable League Cups we have in 1987 and 1993. And if it wasn’t for the Heysel stadium tragedy which meant English clubs were barred from European competition maybe George would have had his priorities elsewhere. It might be just the one. Coca Cola Cup? Why not, George? Do you know we are ninth in the table of league cup winners? Tottenham are above us on four. And everyone knows what Tottenham are. They won it twice before us and twice after that. What does that make us? Shitter than shit? City win it as a warm up Pep, the standard to which Mikel is compared gets a win there most seasons. City have picked up six since 2014 and Pep has five since then. City have eight in total. They can win the league and league cup, why can’t we? Pep likes a League Cup Liverpool won it twice under Klopp so he cared about it. And Liverpool won it four times in their glory years in the 80’s. Chelsea won it three times under Abramovich so he also saw value in it. Ferguson won it four times in his glory years. Arsene could never win it and maybe Mikel will be the same. It is good to be beaten so we concentrate on the League and CL? I have shown that teams can win the league cup and the title even if not necessarily in the same year but in the same time frame. It is no barrier to success. Yet I have heard every year that we go out since Arsene’s time that it is best we were beaten so we can concentrate on the league or the Champions League. How come the other big teams don’t think the same? Alex Ferguson also liked the League Cup Because the league cup gives the squad games so they can come on and do a job if necessary and that has certainly been a weakness in the latter Wenger years and the recent Arteta ones. The squad gets beaten. Which means it is not good enough. Guardiola set his stall out for 2 strong teams right from the start and City had the financial nous to get it for him ( I wonder legally?) Pep brings on players and you wonder are they better than the guys he takes off. The squad players shine in the cups? We have not really been able to do that under Arteta. Eleven players get flogged unmercifully every week because he needs to win. But now? We have gone to a team in North London and won without Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, two of our very best. I feel we have two teams now although our second choice goalkeeper is now unproven without Ramsdale. Still a keeper’s job in a Carabou cup may not be too strenuous. Raya could stay to give them maturity. Jorginho, Zinchenko, Jesus, and others need full games badly. We could probably put out a second string that a midtable team would like to have. Martin Odegaard - we do need a back-up playmaker I still feel that we are vulnerable to injuries as we cannot really do without key players too long. If the squad players step up in the league and FA cups it will give us all far more confidence. I would love to see them destroying teams so that we say let’s play them instead. Where are we at this season? So what have we learned so far this season? I think one thing is that Martinelli should start as he wears out the full back and Trossard can come in and score whereas Trossard doesn’t leave the full back almost dead on his feet if he starts. He plays a different game but he can be bundled off the ball a bit too easily. Trossard sub for me but a starter in the cups. He has an eye for goal and the ability to do the unpredicted. A good player to have. Could Bolton be our first step towards a long-awaited Carabou Cup? Timber looks class. He seems the right mix of pure talent and competitiveness to be a winner. Calafiori also will improve the team. I feel he will get many chances although defenders don’t get subbed so often. Merino seems to be one that has improved with age. Partey has done well but he doesn’t seem to have the legs for 90 minutes. If Merino takes over I feel that will be a step up. Danger with Odegaard? Odegaard may be the problem unless, say, Nwaneri steps up. Smith Rowe could come in and do a job in the past but he is now performing great for Fulham so we hope Nwaneri could be the guy. Heaven and Skelly will surely get their chance against Bolton and we need them to shine. They must be on the bench for a reason. I would like to see Arteta have a definite team for the Carabou Cup and to go on and win it with them. Yes, play them in the final. All the top teams except Wenger’s have got plenty of titles alongside it. We need this boy to be a teenage sensation Go on, Mikel, show us what the youngsters and a few veterans are made of and win it for us. And follow it up with the title or the Champions League as well for good measure. We won’t complain.

Арсенал гостува на Тотнъм Хотспър в дербито от 4-ти кръг на Висшата лига. В момента "артилеристите" заемат 6-то място със 7 точки на сметката си, докато "шпорите" се намират на 13-та позиция с 4-точков актив. Арсенал е в търсене на трета поредна победа като гост на вечния си враг след 0:2 и 2:3. При всички положения първото за сезона дерби на Северен Лондон, който винаги е бил червен, вещае минути на неспирна битка на терена. Ето и по-важното преди мача: Кога: 16:00ч. българско време; Стадион: Тотнъм Хотспър, Лондон; Телевизия: Диема Спорт 2; Рефер на двубоя: Джаред Джилет; Новините в Арсенал: Дербито пропускат Такехиро Томиясу, Кийрън Тиърни, Микел Мерино, Деклан Райс и капитана Мартин Йодегор. Английския национал няма да бъде на разположение поради червен картон, докато останалите изброени са с травми. Най-близо до своето завръщане от контузените е Мартин Йодегор. Очакванията са Габриел Жезус да се завърне в отбора този следобед, а под въпрос до последно е Рикардо Калафиори. Всички останали състезатели в отбора са на разположение за селекция. Микел Артета преди мача: "Чувствам се наистина щастлив за новия ми договор. Това просто показва хармонията между мен и всички в треньорския щаб. Това е едно страхотно пътуване за всички нас в търсене на нови цели. Амбициите ни са големи и желаем да ги превърнем в реалност. Да работим заедно в този клуб е просто върховно усещане. Сами по себе си мачовете с Тотнъм винаги са били неразделна част от фолклора на привържениците. Желанието ни за този мач бе да играем в нашите цветове, но за съжаление някои решения не зависят от нас. В крайна сметка, без значение кой екип носим, ние трябва да бъдем съсредоточени във всяко действие. Нужно е да сме хладнокръвни и безапелационни. Тотнъм е опасен противник, така че сме напълно наясно на какво са способни техните играчи. Ние обаче също разполагаме с извънредно много качество в редиците си. Чакат ни вълнуващи минути и битка до края. Отиваме за победа." Игра с прогнози във форума на ASCB:

Happy Birthday Sir Henry George Norris You know, there is a great movie to be made of the life of Sir Henry George Norris. The guy was involved in everything, but obviously loved football the most. Despite his title he was born to working class parents in Kennington in south London on 23rd July 1865. But it was he who turned Arsenal from a struggling south London team into the greatest ever London team. He, more than anyone else, can be said to have created the Arsenal. Highbury in 1913- the start of Henry Norris's plans for greatness But first he had to create himself because was born into humble beginnings. Such people struggle in class ridden Britain to rise up. But Henry Norris was not such a person. He always found a way. Astrologists among us would say it was because he was a Leo – dramatic, fiery, outgoing and self assured. I reckon he would laugh at that nonsense because he made himself by himself and not by some accident of birth. A talent for the dark arts His first area was education, where he showed promise, and then a long stint in a solicitor’s office until at 32, he found his direction. He became a property developer in the booming 19th century London, where industrialisation and an empire that stole resources from half the planet created a massive Capital city screaming for places to live. He had places springing up mostly around Fulham. His talent for corruption meant that he could always get his permissions. He moved into politics alongside this once he made his fortune, becoming Mayor of Fulham, then a councillor, then an MP for, yes you guessed it, the hated Tories. The Grand Lodge of England He was prominent in the Freemason’s, becoming Grand Deacon of the United Grand Lodge of England. Power, riches, and political and trade influence were guaranteed to the Freemason’s and only those who bought into their ways had any chance of advancement. This was a man who knew how to move himself upwards and they recognised a man who would also move them upwards. They were the not-so-secret cabal who ran the empire and embracing the dark side of life was their forte, whenever they had to. He made Highbury He was chairman of Fulham well before his political career, showing his love of football. He then became chairman of Arsenal in 1910 and wanted to create a new superclub by merging them both. The league blocked him so he devoted his attention to the Arsenal. If he hadn’t, would Fulham now be the prominent club in London and Arsenal gone the way of East Ham, Islington Corinthians and Shepherds Bush? No longer around and nobody ever heard of them. Randall Thomas Davidson - a friend in high places He realized that he needed a base so he called up his old crony, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Thomas Davidson, and secured a religious plot at Highbury. By 1913 he had created the Arsenal Stadium, a ground fit for a top club and was the first to be known as the home of football. A World War? Great! The war was to intervene the next year but when you have an impeccable eye for the main chance this becomes, not a disaster, but an opportunity. Arsenal were barely above a midtable 2nd division team but when the war ended, the man who had spent his days giving bribes for building permissions got several men onside in Charlie Roberts, Eric Shawn, Dick Fitzwell and Phil McCracken (all chairmen of Football League clubs in 1919) to accept bribes, to get a free promotion to the top league. By 1927 this all came out and all were banned from football forever. Arsenal kept their spot, though, as many years had passed. The horrors of war - no, an opportunity Getting Arsenal into the top flight meant that he could get Herbert Chapman, the man who had worked miracles at Huddersfield, to take over. A bit like getting Pep Guardiola today. Although it took a bit of time, Chapman was to make Arsenal the top team in England for more than 20 years as those that came after him built on the strong foundations. Between 1930 and 1953 we won 7 league titles and 3 FA cups and probably more if the war hadn’t intervened for 6 years. Chapman gives us the glory But Chapman could have done nothing if Henry Norris had not taken over Arsenal in 1910, created the mighty Arsenal Stadium, corruptly got Arsenal into the First Division and then took on the master to create the greatest football club of its time. The FA Cup in 1930 - the first of many trophies Is it embarrassing to know that a convicted crook made the Arsenal juggernaut? For me, yes, as Chapman was generally regarded as honest (although a canny transfer operator) and Arsenal tried to keep high standards after the Norris epoch. We cannot get away from the fact that the top Freemason of his day manipulated people to dishonestly advance the Arsenal. Legal, illegal, schemegal! Nowadays, as I explained in last week’s blog here, all top clubs will chase any margin they can to get ahead, whether legal or not. If Henry Norris was around today, he sounds like the perfect man to make sure we win and keep on winning. Fans don’t really seem to care as long as that is happening. So maybe we should all hail the 23rd of July, the birthday of Henry Norris as the most important date in Arsenal’s history. Without him we may well be like Gnome Athletic, Barnes football club, and Hawks fc, another three football clubs from London who are long gone and forgotten. The guy who came from nowhere and took a team from nowhere and brought both to the top while sacrificing himself so that Arsenal could be the greatest, probably deserves far more recognition. Now, compared to the crooks that run football, he seems more like a guy that dived to get a penalty or pulled the keeper's jersey at a corner. Let’s get him the biggest statue of all. He built Arsenal. We will need a new motto We may have to change our motto, though – Victoria per fraudem et corruptionem– is more appropriate. Ah, well.

Arteta the rookie. I couldn’t find any rookie managers among the Premier League managers last season, except Arteta. It is a risk no-one seems to want to take. Particularly someone who comes from outside as Arteta did. Yes, he had Arsenal DNA but often the only way a rookie gets a chance is if they are at the club as a player or coach and they try them as interim managers. That rarely works out, though. Liverpool being an exception as Bob Paisley, their most successful manager, was appointed when Bill Shankly resigned and Paisley was first-team coach. They also employed Kenny Dalglish as player-manager who did very well, and Roy Evans who did ok. Would you hire this young boy? But, in general, top teams don’t appoint rookies. Arsenal, in the past, had great success with rookies, George Allison, Bertie Mee, and Tom Whittaker spring to mind but Pat Rice and Freddie Ljungberg are examples of promoting from within that didn’t work out. It is an enormous risk that owners don’t wish to contemplate. The Kroenkes were key Arteta essentially took over from Unai Emery who failed to win over the fans. But for sure he was a top manager and continues to prove that. His weakness seems to be also Arteta’s, dealing with egotistical superstars, but it seems most likely that if he had been given his chance, he would have turned things around, probably by getting rid of the big egos. Stan and Josh - the dynamic duo? But I feel it was the Kroenkes who made the difference. When Arteta came for his first interview, it seems he impressed them, and they felt they could work with him to create something special. But even they couldn’t stretch to a rookie. They weren’t popular at Arsenal and Emery was a proven candidate. I believe they had this nagging feeling that they had got it wrong, this young man with the ideas, the knowledge, the Arsenal DNA, and above all the feeling that this was the guy, which made them feel like I sometimes have when I bought something expensive – I bought the wrong brand or model. So Emery’s collapse to Chelsea in the Europa League final gave them a chance to correct their mistake and bring in Arteta, their man. A big mess at other teams I have had misgivings over the Kroenkes but I think I was wrong. They know sport, and they know big business as it relates to sport, something that most big businessmen don’t. Look at the current mess at Chelsea, Man Utd and Everton, all with lots of trophies in their showrooms. The Kroenkes have been loyal to Arteta and have provided him with what he needs to bring the club back to the top. Josh seems to be there most of the time and from everything I know, he trusts Arteta’s decisions. Farhad Moshiri didn't have a clue at Everton Getting rid of our captain and superstar Aubameyang and moving on Ozil were hard calls and yes, exposed a weakness in Arteta. Ozil, in particular, was not known to be difficult to deal with. But it allowed Arteta to do things his way, with young players ready to listen and improve. The seasoned pros brought in since have not been a problem. Jorginho, Havertz, Trossard, Raya, Rice and others have bought into the Arteta way and the camp seems happy. The plan is working Of course, now, one cannot really refer to Arteta as a rookie. He has garnered a respect throughout football as a top manager which means even top pros will listen to him. Two tight second place finishes in a row against the behemoths of Man City, plus a quarterfinal in the Champions League means he has proven himself. There are only a small handful of jobs in football bigger than Arsenal so he has shot himself to the top at a top club in his first attempt. It has been a bumpy ride so far, with periods of Arteta out ringing around the Emirates, even this season. But the Kroenkes have always remained steadfast. They have a plan and Arteta is a huge part of that plan. I believe that they are using their knowledge to help by bringing in the right people, and keeping Arteta at the club is crucial to their plan. Roman Abramovich didn't like Mourinho's bus driving skills The most successful owner in recent times has been Roman Abramovich but he let Mourinho go when surely what he should have done is create a dynasty with him that could have lasted a long time. Abramovich’s problem was that he didn’t like Mourinho’s football. Parking the bus annoyed him. At all costs, win? This does not seem to be a problem at Arsenal. The football is exciting, swift, and full of deft touches. Progress keeps getting made. However, Arsenal do need to make the next step. Win things. Arteta has grown as a manager and the players have grown as players. Honestly, how many Arsenal fans would swop any of the present team for someone else? And yet, new players will be brought in. The challenge is to get them to fit in quickly and to be sure they are better than what we have. City do it every season and make that aspect look easy. It isn’t. Arteta will be expected to do it. And Edu and the Kroenkes will play a massive part in identifying and being willing to pay for these players. Klopp was burnt out? Win we must, though. Klopp did not win that many trophies at Liverpool but enough to cement his legend as he chased a Man City whose resources seem endless. Now it is Arteta’s turn and he must at least equal Klopp. One league title and one Champions League were his highlights but it seems like Klopp burned himself out in that chase. The Kroenkes know what they are doing? This is where the Kroenkes can really make a difference. Support Arteta as he takes on Goliath. Take away any burdens they can. Honestly, if Arteta does burn out like Klopp, then who is out there? Not many candidates when one club is hoovering up all the trophies. The Kroenkes took on a rookie manager. If it had gone wrong, I am not sure they would have survived. But they got it right. The rookie manager lost the support of some top players. They got that right when they supported him. The rookie manager had many fans screaming Arteta out. They got that right when they said, no, he is in. The pundits were shrieking that Arsenal were bottlers, doing a Totteringham at the finish, but beating the Spuds and Man Utd away and Chelsea at home on the way to winning the last six matches shows that the Kroenkes got that right as well. Gary Neville - Arsenal are bottlers The Kroenke’s got it right in choosing a rookie, something that no top English side has done for a long time, particularly as they were unpopular, and they could have gone for a top name, a Conte or a Mourinho. Maybe it is time to revise our opinion of our Americans. Maybe they do know a little about running a football club after all. Recognising talent is surely a great asset? And recognising unproven talent has proven even better. I hope, but also believe, that great days are coming.

The real top six? In every full decade since I became an Arsenal supporter Arsenal have won the league except 2010 to 2019. I came onboard in 1969 and in 1971 we won the famous double. In 1989 we won at Anfield on the last day. In the 90’s we had 1991 and 1998 and in the new millennium we had 2002 and 2004. Since then nothing. But I am very hopeful for this decade to correct this blight. Surely this is the best set of players since Arsene Wenger’s heyday? Martin Odegaard: Our Captain Supreme However, If we don’t start winning trophies again we could go out of the top three English teams as Man City and Chelsea are coming up behind us. In this table of most successful English teams here 15 most successful English clubs in football history by major trophies won (givemesport.com). They exclude certain trophies because of their limited reach such as the Charity Shield and World Championships. Arsenal are 3rd with 30 trophies. Man City, if as expected, win the league and the FA cup will have 28. Chelsea are on 25. Surprisingly, Aston Villa are next on 20, but they will surely not catch us in my lifetime even if Unai Emery performs miracles. But, if we don’t start winning trophies soon, City will surely overhaul us, possibly by next year. Ian Wright right again Of course, City are facing charges going back to 2009 so they could lose all their modern trophies which means they go out of the top six and the Spuds come in. Arsenal drop down the top six? I will diverge for a moment to talk about the top two, Liverpool on 46 and Man Utd on 43. I cannot see them being caught possibly ever, although that top two could change positions quite easily. But we are the vulnerable ones. If Chelsea can get back to the Abramovich glory days they could also catch us in a few years. 18 of their major trophies have been won since 2000, an astonishing haul. We could go down to 5th place if we don’t start winning. Are there really more trophies in this team? And that is the real top six: Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa. They include the final top four of this season 2023/24. Chelsea scrambled into 6th so 5 of the real top six are in the top six. City and Chelsea are the cuckoos, though. Incredible wealth and clever football policies have brought them a majority of the 21st century trophies. City, I should point out, have won 18 trophies over this time and possibly this month that will go up to 19. At least we can’t fall further What does it all mean for Arsenal and its support base if we go down to 5th? I should point out that 5th is our bottom position for a long time as Spurs are 7th on 17 trophies and Everton 8th on 15. They and Villa are not coming near us anytime soon. So we will remain 5th, if that happens and not lower. Still, it will have an impact on our standing in world football. And on our support. Can Emery hold Villa together? Chelsea and City fans are mostly new, young people attracted by the success and claiming bragging rights over the still current top three of Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal. Existing fans rarely change so the demographic changes over time if you don’t win. The current top three have probably lost some new support to the upstarts and if Liverpool go backwards after Klopp that will get worse. Who will make the top four next season? It is becoming hard to see where the contenders are going to come from next season. City and Arsenal look solid but the rest? Villa have imploded at the end but I guess Unai Emery will have them ready. There is no better expert at juggling European football so I would expect them to handle the Champions League well. But can they be contenders or even retain their Champions League spot? Man Utd look a shambles at the moment and they must move quickly to get back to the top to retain their position. To me, looking at their squad, they need too many new players to quickly turn things around. A new Slot machine or Poch marked Pensioners? With Liverpool it is almost impossible to say. It is rare for a new manager to take over from an iconic one and do well but Liverpool have form in this regard. Bill Shankly resigned and Bob Paisley took over to make Liverpool possibly the greatest English team of all time. But Arne Slot? Can he take the jump up in class and the huge pressure that comes with managing European royalty? We shall see but I would not be optimistic. I have a feeling that big personalities, which even Klopp struggled to keep in line, will prove too much for Slot. He will need a clearout like Arteta did but will he be given the chance? I doubt it. Somehow I see a short run for him. Howe can Eddie do it? Chelsea may improve but I am not convinced that Pochettino has really got the mojo he had at Spurs. They had a pretty good end to the season and without Champions League may be able to capitalise on the teams that have. Such a big squad means that handling the lesser European trophies is easier for him. Newcastle sell up and Spurs have Ange’st? Newcastle have also run into financial problems and may have to sell some players. Eddie Howe is good but his team have been very inconsistent. They need to improve a lot to contend and if Isak and Guimaraes goes it is hard to see how (forgive the pun). Spurs fans think Postecoglou is the crazy one Tottenham walked themselves into a lot of bother at the end. The supporters threw away a chance of Champions League just to do over the Arsenal causing Ange Postecoglou to have a meltdown. I cannot say this any stronger, every team is trying to get any little margin in their favour, from dark arts, improved training and diet, set piece setups, statistical analysis, mindgames, but crucially, getting the fans behind them to give that little extra push when they need a hard fought win. Is it possible that Son, normally so clinical in one on ones, as I understand it the best in the Premiership, was subconsciously thrown off by the vibe from the crowd to lose? It was certainly not consciously as Son is an excellent professional. There is now a rift and if such a superb manager as Postecoglou goes, whither Spurs? I think he will have offers. Can they get rid of Daniel Levy and get a chairman who wants to win? Doesn’t seem likely. And the winner is? Last year I tipped Villa to make the top four along with Arsenal, City and Man Utd. Utd fell apart but I didn’t do badly. Arsenal could have struggled with Champions League as Newcastle and Man Utd did. And so next season? It is hard to see beyond City and Arsenal again. I cannot see a team beyond the eight I have mentioned making top four and I feel that the next six will battle it out for the bottom two spots. I have absolutely no confidence in any choice but I am going to plump for Chelsea and Villa. We always are So, Arsenal, finally, then City, Chelsea and Villa. Regular readers know that my predictions have been good so far, getting many things right or at least close to right. However, this next season is very hard to call. So many teams have problems that anything can happen. But maybe we can capitalise on that. Good old Arsenal, we’re proud to say that name.

We have one job now - Win Update to the Table of Doom Table of Doom Fixtures Current points Max Arsenal 80 89 Man City Spurs (a) 79 91 Liverpool’s implosion has seen them drop out of the Table of Doom, something I would not have seen as likely not too long ago when they were fighting like demons for their points. They were battling harder than anyone else and scrambling unlikely victories. Very recently they had their destiny in their own hands and threw it away. We, most likely, will not have our destiny in our own hands at all now. The best we can hope for is that City drop points which none of the pundits deem likely. Jurgen Klopp:I will never understand why he didn't wait till the end of the season to announce he was leaving What I know and what I don't And so Bournemouth, Man Utd and Everton are next. All winnable? Yes. Will it be good enough? I don’t know. Which is the hardest? I don’t know. Will City win all theirs? I don’t know. Will Tottenham take something from City? I don’t know. Are we all going to be Tottenham supporters for one day? I don’t know. The Spuds 1961 double winners beat Man City 1-0 at Maine Road -C'Mon you Spurs I can hear you saying, Gus, do you know anything? Why are you getting your huge salary if you know nothing? So I will concentrate for now, on what I do know. If City win all, there is nothing we can do. They must slip up. However, if they draw then we can win as our goal difference will probably be better than theirs if we win all. A seven goal turnaround in 3 matches is difficult allowing we have to improve by at least three which makes ten. I do know that you have to win by at least one goal. You see, I do know something. A nervous City? But I will give some good news. If, such a big if, Tottenham manage to get something from City it might just give them a wobble at exactly the right time as they face West Ham at home on the final day. City have lost 3 times away and only once at home. Tottenham may well be fighting for their Champions League spot and if they have a good day, something could happen. And that means that West Ham becomes a must win on the final day. A twitchy City could be a vulnerable City. Bournemouth are coming good at the wrong time for us So can we win our three? I have to give you the bad news that Bournemouth are on a very strong run with only 3 defeats since February by Aston Villa, Luton and Man City. They will feel that Europe is now possible. They are in form at the moment and we must kill them off ruthlessly. We do not need a hard game from them, and we know what they will do. Defend like demons and try to give Dominic Solanke the ball. We will need to be good for 90 minutes. No idiocy like David Raya as one goal may decide this game. No glory glory Man Utd? Man Utd? They will give us more chances I reckon but they also make chances every game. They have a tough looking last 4 games with a resurgent Palace away, us at home, Newcastle at home and Brighton away. They could end up with nothing from these games and they will be aware of that. 6th place is there for them if they win matches and they are running out of time. I have a feeling we may need a clean sheet for this one. Ten Hag will try to get them to defend and hope for a breakaway even though they are at home. They have players who can score from sudden breaks. This is one game where tactics can make a huge difference. We must hope that Arteta is the man here. They don't have Best, Law or Charlton Everton on the last day. The good news is that if we win the previous two, this match is live no matter what happens. If City win all they will be two points ahead but probably with an inferior goal difference which means if we win and they draw we are the champions, my friends. If, by any chance, City have already been beaten by Tottenham, then they will be one point behind us, and if they draw, we can get away with a draw. Of course we can never know that as a draw can turn into a win at the last kick of the match. If they get a draw in any of their matches they will be level with us on the last day but we should have a clear goal difference which means two draws gives us the title. Saliba and Gabriel vs Dominic Calvert-Lewin Is the glass half empty? The danger to assuming we will have a superior goal difference is that City could run up a hatful against Wolves and Fulham in their first 2 games to catch us up and we win by one against Bournemouth and Utd. The most optimistic scenario is that City suffer a bad run and hand us the title before we play Everton. It seems like absolutely nobody believes that can happen. I have been around football long enough to know that you cannot predict matches. If you could there would be no betting companies. City got beaten when they had the initiative against Real Madrid. And they badly wanted that two time in a row Champions League. Just like they badly want this four time in a row Premier League. We are Arsenal and we must show it One thing I do know for sure and that is no Gooner wants to hand Man City the title as Liverpool has. We did that last year, made it easy for them. We are now the last man standing in the Table of Doom. Liverpool cannot get 86 points and their next two are the Spuds at home and Villa away with both teams scrambling for the Champions League. They may not get many more points. I will never understand why Jurgen Klopp announced his retirement mid season. The way they were playing they could have won it this season. He has tarnished his legend. How did retaining that trophy work out for you City? At the start I asked many questions that I couldn’t answer. So now I will give you my opinion. We can win this league. I feel City will drop points but I reckon only in one match. So 2 or three. We must win three and I think we will. It will come down to this, and we must be ready. It is also that the only time City may drop points is on the last day against West Ham. We will only know that we must win in that scenario. Are we winners? Yes we are.

Тази вечер е срещата реванш от турнира на Шампионската лига между съставите на Байерн и Арсенал. "Артилеристите" ще излязат на един от най-негостоприемните стадиони в света в мач срещу съдбата и залозите. Всъщност този път залозите са в полза на Арсенал, въпреки равенството от 2:2 в първата среща на английска земя, но съдбата и историята са нещото, с което хората на Микел Артета трябва да се преборят, ако желаят да запишат исторически успех и да елиминират Байерн. Опит, традиция, самочувтствие при германците срещу настървеност, амбиция и енергия, които са добавка към безспорната класа на Артилерията през този сезон. До момента имаме 6 гостувания в Мюнхен, като сме записали само една победа след онези попадения на Оливие Жиру и Лоран Косчелни през март 2013 година. Онзи мач е нашият първи в новия дом на Баварците, като първите ни визити са били на легендарния Олимпиящадион. Хората, които трябва да спрем, за да се поздравим с успех са Хари Кейн, който заедно със Стивън Джерърд е англичанина с най-много голове в един сезон (7) в Шампионската лига и Томас Мюлер, който може да запише мач номер 150 в турнира и да се изравни с Икер Касияс. Арсенал ще разчита на Букайо Сака, който счупи рекорд за англичанин с 4 гола и 4 асистенции, постигнати в дебютен сезон в надпреварата. Арсенал е победил в само едно от последните си 6 гостувания срещу немски отбори, това срещу Айнтрахт Франкфурт, докато Байерн само един път в 18 случая не успява да продължи след като в елиминации не допуска загуба в първата среща. Това се случва срещу Ливърпул през 2018/19. В този сблъсък Томас Тухел има възможност с 3-ти различен състав да се класира на полуфинал в турнира или пък Микел Артета ще го стори за първи път в кариерата си на мениджър. Предстои да разберем. Къде: Фусбал арена, Мюнхен. Кога: Сряда, 22:00 българско време Телевизия: Ring.bg Отсъстващи: Няма Под въпрос: Единствено Тимбър продължава да се възстановява след травма Наказани: Няма Думите на Артета преди мача: " Ние желаем едно представяне, което ще ни изведе на полуфинал в Шампионската лига. Цялата ни подготовка е в тази насока. Сега имаме невероятната възможност да постигнем нещо забележително. Това е нивото, което искаме, искаме да бъдем още по-добри, ще дадем всичко най-добро на което сме способни, опитвайки се да спечелим купите, за които се борим и да бъдем успешни. Ще бъде невероятно. Ако успеем, ще сме полуфиналисти, нещо, което не сме постигали като клуб през последните 15-17 години. Повечето от нашите играчи не са преживявали подобна вечер и това ще бъде първата им такава. Те са супер мотивирани, те са подготвени и уверени и това е нещо, което трябва да покажем срещу съперник, който има опит, но ние трябва да го направим. Искам отборът ми да бъде себе си, независимо от стадиона. Ние ще бъдем много ясни как ще играем, как искаме да играем и какво да направим за да спечелим.“ Силни вдъхновяващи думи, които вече са част от работата на Артета и заедно с приповдигнатото настроение, мотивацията и хъс са част от менталните оръжия, с които армията от Северен Лондон ще се постарае да подчини най-накрая Бавария. Срещу залозите и съдбата. Арсенал ще играе в зелено и тъмно синьо, а обичайно около 20 члена на "Арсенал България" ще запишат поредно силно футболно гостуване, за което след време ще се разказват легенди, от онея, за които винаги ти е приятно да се сещаш и го правиш с усмивка. Силно се надяваме и момчетата на Микел Артета да извървят поредната си стъпка по пътя да станат истински футболни мъже и ни донесат победа срещу един от най-могъщите клубове в света. Come On You Gunners!

Where can we finish 2024? Last try Luton (H) Brighton (A) Villa (H) Wolves(A) Chelsea (H) Spuds (A) Bournemouth (H) Man Utd (A) Everton (H) And so now we are down to squeaky bum time. 9 matches to destiny. Luton, Wolves, Bournemouth and Everton are must wins. 12 points there will bring us to 77 and surely Champions League? It would still make a successful season. 5 matches are at home which should be an advantage and all teams are behind us in the table. In other words 9 wins and the title is ours. Logically it is possible. Against is that Arteta has stuttered every time at the end, and if he does so again it could be a fatal flaw that will stop us ever winning the league. This is how you do it, Mikel Title winners pick up speed at the end just like athletes do. I will stick to the 86 points as what is required so 21 is needed if I am right. Not going to be easy. That would be 22 over the final ten and a good improvement over his final ten matches so far. Arsene Wenger managed 22 or more ten times during his reign but only won the league three times. City need to come from behind but most people would still see them as favourites. We all know why. Liverpool keep digging out wins with every game a hard fought scrap. They are well capable of winning it. 5 tough matches All three teams have tough matches with Villa and Spurs desperate for Champions League playing all three. The matches that logically are the hardest for us are Brighton, Villa, Chelsea, Spuds and Man Utd. If we beat the other five as expected then we can drop 6 points over these which doesn’t give much room for error. 3 draws or 2 losses and we are in trouble. And, of course, Liverpool or City may drop very little. Lose this and it will be a tough battle to win the title I will be at Luton and I like them and their fabulous journey from nowhere to get here but a win is necessary. Ogbenie might just give them a goal but I fancy 3-1. Dani Georgiev joins us again as guest predictor and he goes 3-0 Points 68 A midlands nightmare? Brighton away and they have been somewhat tricky for us but this would be a great win. They have been very inconsistent this season and last season’s miracle worker, Evan Ferguson cannot score goals at the moment. There always seems to be goals in this match and I will go 3-2 to us. Dani sees 2-1 and we stay level. Points 71 Emery will make it hard for us Villa at home and Mr Emery will be plotting a good performance. He might just get it as it could be a 1-1 draw. Dani goes 1-0 to us so now it is Gus 72 points and Dani 74 points. Wolves away and let’s face it, we must win. They have moved up the table and may just feel that they can sneak a Europe place. I am going to say 1-0 to us but this one could easily be 2 bad midlands games in a row. Dani says 3-1so that leaves Gus 75 and Dani 77 Then more night terrors from London Chelsea at home and last time I said 1-1 and to be honest, you never know what Chelsea are going to do this season. If they are on top form and we are not at our best, they could win. But I will go an extra goal for us and 2-1 as I will be there. Dani continues in optimistic form and says 3-1 again. Gus 78 Dani 80 It could be bye bye, Poch The Spuds away and this game could be crucial. Postecoglou has them spinning when they are playing well but struggles to get them to do it for 90 minutes. I feel that a 2-2 draw will be the result as we can find it hard here. Dani says 1-1 and so we go Gus 79 Dani 81 Bournemouth at home and this one can have no excuses, win or forget about the title. They are racking up points and have no chance of relegation but they may have nothing to play for with three matches to go. An early goal could see them thinking of the beach and give us 3-0. Dani sees 4-0 and now Gus 82 Dani 84 and he sees us in sight of the mythical 86. Can the North give us victory? Man Utd away and Ten Hag could be doomed at this point. It would be best if he is still there but like a crippled dog. A new manager could give them a lift. However in such a strange season as this when so many teams are inconsistent this could be dangerous for us. I am going to go 2-2 and Dani 1-1. Gus 83 Dani 85 and it is the last game of the season and we haven’t managed 86. One game to go. And bye bye Ten Hag? Everton at home and they may well need the points to avoid relegation and not lose their proud record. But Sean Dyche may well have them safe and neither side may be playing for anything. We just don’t know if this is a crucial match or not. For sure if we must win to give us a shot at the title, I think we will be very nervous and that will make Sean Dyche very happy. Psychologically no matter what we need, a final win at home could be a booster, particularly if we have made it though to the Champions League final. I will say 1-0 and Dani a marvellous 5-1. I will have scraped the total and Dani exceeds it. Gus 86 Dani 88 and we celebrate like crazy. Celebration time? Of course we have the Champions League and Bayern to traverse but this Bayern team look a bit weaker than the teams who put us to the sword in the Wenger days. If we do it I expect City in the semi’s. I do feel that they are the strongest team left in it so a win there might put us up against PSG or Athletico as Simeone finds a way to win. It is winnable and it has been my long-term dream. Wembley is Arteta’s happy hunting ground and, if we get there, it could be the greatest night of our lives. Update to the Table of Doom Table of Doom Fixtures Current Max Liverpool Spurs (h) Villa (a) 67 94 Arsenal Villa (h) Spurs (a) 65 92 Man City Villa (h) Spurs (a) 64 91 Logically the Spuds and Villa have to win all these matches to jump back in to the challenge. I doubt it. I feel the top five is already written and the bottom 2 of them also. The question is the order. Sky would love a 3 way tie on the ultimate game which is Everton for us, Liverpool at home to Wolves and City at home to West Ham. All games that they are expected to win. If we need one or both of those to drop points on the last day, I feel we are in for a rough day. But miracles do happen. C’mon the Arse!