Category Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal 2 Manchester United 0: Coping with Gabriel absence, Yoro debut, corner dominance

“Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 to cut the gap to Liverpool at the top of the Premier League to seven points. After a dull first half, the home side pushed to break the deadlock. They eventually did so courtesy of a corner kick in the 54th minute. Jurrien Timber connected with Declan Rice’s corner before flicking the ball into the net with his head. Mikel Arteta’s side then doubled their advantage nearly 20 minutes later. It came courtesy of another corner, with a William Saliba touch diverting the ball past Andre Onana. The result leaves United 11th in the Premier League. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
The Analyst: Blocking, Decoys and Brute Force: How Arsenal Unleash Gabriel At Corners

Champions League projections: All the talking points after matchday five

“Five games into the new-look Champions League and the 36-team table is finally starting to take shape. Sort of. Strong favourites to progress have emerged, with Arne Slot’s Liverpool sat top of the pile after an impressive 2-0 victory over Real Madrid made it five wins from five. Inter are yet to concede a goal, while Barcelona and Arsenal— with convincing results this week — have increased their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages, via the play-offs or otherwise, to at least 90 per cent. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Man City loss feels seismic, Salah’s contract claim, is Mascherano right coach for Messi?

“… Hello! Manchester City have won fewer games than San Marino in the past month and Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool. It’s all happening. City show weakness again. Another friend to coach Messi?. Galaxy shining bright. ’Keeper howler of the season? Every once in a while, the Premier League throws up a genuinely seismic result that feels like it symbolises the end of an era. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Premier League Owners: Who has invested the most?

“From the local businessmen propping up boyhood clubs to the Gulf states chasing reflected glories, an eclectic mix has taken over English football’s top 20 clubs. Owners of Premier League teams have spent millions to secure a seat at the top table but no two stories are the same. Some are in for billions, gambling on long-term prosperity. Others have already assured themselves of vast returns. To begin a series on the Premier League’s owners running across this week, The Athletic has calculated the total investments of those at the top of all 20 clubs. And, yes, we’ve even put them in descending order for you to argue over. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Fear and loathing in Premier League academy football: Scouts in a pen, no team sheets and denying access

“At a Manchester City Under-16s game last month, 21 academy scouts were corralled into a tight square next to one of the corner flags, far from the rest of the spectators. They had not congregated together out of choice. This was the designated area, outlined by bright cones, other clubs’ talent spotters were frogmarched to before kick-off. A few years ago, it would have been a peculiar sight. Today, it is a scene recreated every weekend across most of the Premier League academy landscape. The motive? To keep rival scouts isolated from parents, so they cannot lure away your top players. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Is Premier League title race already down to two teams?

“Has the Premier League title race been whittled down to two teams after just 11 games of the season? Leaders Liverpool had the dream weekend after victory over Aston Villa coupled with defeat for Manchester City against Brighton – and Sunday’s 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Chelsea. They now lead City by five points – and the rest of the pack by nine points or more. Opta’s ‘supercomputer’ gives Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal just a 3.5% chance of the title, with Chelsea down on 0.2% and anybody else on 0%. …”
BBC

The Briefing: Are we set for a thrilling title race and can Forest’s form continue?

“Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday this season The Athletic will discuss three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s Premier League football. This was the round of games where Tottenham produced a brilliant second half to thrash Aston Villa, Southampton finally got their first win of the season — and Ipswich came so close to theirs — while Chris Wood’s amazing form continued. We will ask whether the flaws of the contenders will give us a thrilling title race over the coming months, what Ruben Amorim will think after watching Manchester United’s draw against Chelsea and whether Nottingham Forest are the most impressive team in the 2024-25 Premier League so far. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

Why the Premier League table after 10 games is a reliable guide to how the season will end

“There is an understanding that a league table does not truly “take shape” until clubs have played 10 of their allotted matches in that season’s competition. It is an ancient and arbitrary threshold we have created for ourselves, but it has merit. First, it is a nice round number. Second, it’s… double figures. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Wolves 1-2 Manchester City
“… 2 – Tight margins go against O’Neil again: The obvious topic of debate at Molineux centred on whether Bernardo Silva impeded José Sá’s ability to save John Stones’s 95th-minute header. The officials concluded Silva had no impact on the goal and, while hugely disappointed, the first thing Gary O’Neil did when he got into his manager’s office was to study how Stones was able to register an effort on goal. O’Neil acknowledged the minutiae make the difference in tight games, leading him to bemoan having to substitute the 6ft 4in Wolves goalscorer Jørgen Strand Larsen, owing to fatigue. …”
Guardian

Bournemouth 2 Arsenal 0: Saliba sent off, unbeaten start over and hosts’ set-piece magic

“For the third time in eight games this season, Arsenal had to navigate a large chunk of a Premier League match with 10 men — but for the first time it cost them as their unbeaten start to the campaign came to an end at Bournemouth. William Saliba’s 30th-minute dismissal — given after a VAR review — for bringing down striker Evanilson meant Mikel Arteta had to adapt his game plan, something he had to do in draws with 10 men against Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening day and Manchester City last month. This time, though, the outcome was very different. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Guardian: Arsenal’s sloppiness calls into question whether they are serious contenders – Jonathan Wilson
NY Times/The Athletic – Explained: Why was William Saliba sent off for Arsenal at Bournemouth? (Video)

Liverpool have the best defence in the Premier League – can they maintain it?

“Liverpool are the early leaders for the best defence in the league competition. Yet while there has been plenty of talk about the impact of Arne Slot’s possession-based philosophy, less remarked upon is that his side have conceded just two league goals in their opening seven games — four fewer than the joint-second lowest, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. In their 10 matches in all competitions, they have conceded just four goals and kept six clean sheets. That is a significant improvement from last season when they kept the same amount of clean sheets in their final 27 games. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

How to stop Arsenal scoring from corners: Hybrid marking, better grappling and an active keeper

“When Nicolas Jover signed up for an online set-piece course last summer, the tutors initially thought it was a prank. Despite transforming Arsenal’s set-piece play over the past three years in his role as a coach dedicated to that specific area of the game — he has turned them into one of Europe’s best at dead-ball situations — Jover has always wanted to learn. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

How the best Premier League managers stay one step ahead: New ideas, adaptation, evolution

“In the future, looking back on current tactical innovations and unique styles of play will not provide a dopamine hit. By then, they will be normalised. What seemed novel 20 years ago is the minimum requirement to excel in football nowadays — just ask Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez. Their meticulous planning before Chelsea and Liverpool faced opponents was on another level by Premier League standards and helped them create defensive structures that opposition players hated. Mourinho also worked on attacking and defensive transitions in his first period at Chelsea — when he won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006 — which was not conventional at the time. ‘Mourinho placed more emphasis upon the transition than any previous Premier League coach,’ writes The Athletic’s Michael Cox in his book, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Biggest Question Facing Every Premier League Team

“The most popular soccer league in the world returns on Friday at the Theatre of Dreams as Fulham visits Manchester United. If it feels like the soccer season is never-ending after the European Championships, Copa América, and Olympicinternational tournaments all summer, you’re correct. Just 89 days after Manchester City won a fourth straight Premier League title, the English top flight is back for the first of 38 matchweeks. While many in England remain on summer holiday, the clubs have been busy with preseason tours and final preparations for the grueling marathon season that will go into late May 2025. To preview the 2024-25 Premier League season, I ranked all 20 teams by posing the biggest question facing each club. …”
The Ringer
BBC: Who will finish in the Premier League’s top four?

2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts

“The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out both the three promoted clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Southampton), and the three relegated clubs (Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United). And there are three charts… The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2023-24 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2023-24 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2023-24]. D) Percent-capacity [2023-24]. At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. …”
billsportsmaps
W – 2024–25 Premier League

The Transfer DealSheet: Latest on Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and more

“Welcome to the latest edition of the Transfer DealSheet, your weekly guide to what is happening in the summer window. Our team of dedicated writers, including Adam Leventhal and David Ornstein, will take you inside the market to explain the deals being worked on, the players who could arrive and the ones who are on their way out across the Premier League and beyond. In last week’s edition, we looked at Liverpool’s pursuit of a No 6 and the situation with Chelsea’s Englandmidfielder Conor Gallagher. The information found within this article has been gathered according to The Athletic’s sourcing guidelines. Unless stated, our reporters have spoken to more than one person briefed on each deal before offering the clubs involved the opportunity to comment. Those responses, where they were given, have been included in the Transfer DealSheet. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Is the cult of the manager over? How English football’s power structure changed

“There is no escaping the cult of the manager in English football. From Busby to Ferguson, from Chapman to Wenger, from Shankly to Klopp, from Revie to Clough, from Mourinho to Guardiola, it sometimes feels like one of the last bastions of the 19th-century ‘great man theory’ — as if, to bastardise the words of Thomas Carlyle, the history of English football is but the biography of great men. Some of the greatest are commemorated with statues outside their clubs’ stadiums: Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley at Liverpool, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town, Don Revie at Leeds United, Stan Cullis at Wolverhampton Wanderers. These men did not just win hearts, minds and trophies. They shaped eras. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

2023–24 Premier League

“The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of top-flight English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their fourth consecutive title, the first men’s team to do so. … All three of the newly promoted teams were relegated (Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United), the first time this happened since the 1997–98 season; those three teams had a combined total of 66 points. Nottingham Forestavoided relegation with 32 points (including a 4 point deduction), a record low for a team to do so. …The new stoppage time rule was used in the league for the first time this season. In an effort to improve clamping down on time-wasting and to improve the accuracy of time added on, stoppage times were longer across matches. The new rule accounted for stoppages due to injuries, goal celebrations, yellow and red cards, and VAR reviews. …”
W – 2023–24 Premier League
Watch: How 2023/24’s FINAL DAY unfolded (Video)

Manchester United 0 Arsenal 1: Title race still alive, Trossard key again, Casemiro blunder

“Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford to return to the top of the Premier League, with just one match remaining for Mikel Arteta’s side this season. Leandro Trossard scored the all-important goal from close range following Kai Havertz’s pass. It now means the title race will go to the final day with Manchester City — who are a point behind Arsenal on 85 — playing their game in hand against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday. …”
The Athletic

How to win a Premier League penalty: A deep dive into the best masters of the dark arts

“Arsenal are still level with Bournemouth after 41 minutes and are getting frustrated. They need a win to keep the pressure on Manchester City, who play Wolverhampton Wanderers later that day, in the battle for the Premier League title. Kai Havertz has made a career of finding pockets of space and does so again, gliding into the penalty area to meet Martin Odegaard’s through ball. He uses the outside of his left boot to flick the ball away from onrushing goalkeeper Mark Travers — before keeping that foot down on the turf, elongating it towards the floor like a ballerina performing an axel turn. Travers cannot avoid it and makes contact. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Echoes of errors: why has VAR sparked so much fury this season?

“Seven months ago Englandthe country came the closest yet to entering thermonuclear war over a refereeing decision. When the referee Simon Hooper mistakenly ruled out a Luis Díaz goal at Tottenham for offside and the video assistant referee Darren England failed to correct him, the initial response was heated and only bubbled up from there. … The next morning, Liverpool released a statement arguing ‘sporting integrity had been undermined’ the supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly said that ‘VAR and PGMOL are not fit for purpose’ and the club’s former striker John Aldridge alleged corruption. …”
Guardian

Tottenham 2 Arsenal 3: Quick start key again? What is Havertz? How unlucky were Spurs?

“The title race remains on. Arsenal made sure of that at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For Spurs, though, the race for a top-four spot looks less likely to be won after a chastening defeat to their north London rivals. This derby victory put Mikel Arteta’s side four points clear at the top of the Premier League before second-placed Manchester City’s match against Nottingham Forest. City’s victory means there is now one point between the top two, with City having a game in hand. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Nottingham Forest 0 Man City 2: Haaland’s impact? Champions League exit benefit? – The Briefing

How long do you give a ‘project manager’?

“When asked at which point a club gives up on a ‘project’, a mixture of current and former directors at Premier League clubs tend to arrive at the same answer. ‘When the fans say so,’ says one of them, who would like to remain nameless because he does not really want to admit publicly that, in the past, he has helped pull the trigger because of the pressure he and his colleagues were under. …”
The Athletic

Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz as a duo of No 10s is different… and devastating

“In modern football, you don’t really get classic strike partnerships any more. Few teams at the highest level play 4-4-2, or any other formation that features two out-and-out strikers. Today, attacking is about pushing multiple players into attack, surprising the opposition with a variety of threats. Arsenal are the best example of that. Eight sides in the Premier League this season have a single player on 15 or more goals. Arsenal are not among them, but Mikel Arteta’s team have still scored more goals than any other side. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

Many Premier League champions have ‘choked’ – the true test is can you recover in time

“Fred Done had been a bookmaker for more than three decades, with more than 100 betting shops across the north west of England, before he unwittingly stumbled upon a brilliant but expensive way to make more people aware of his brand. In March 1998 he announced he was paying out early on the Premier Leaguetitle race. Manchester United were 11 points clear of second-placed Blackburn Rovers and 12 points clear of third-placed Arsenal. Both of the chasers had games in hand — three in Arsenal’s case — but, as far as the bookie was concerned, it was all over. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Facing Arsenal: Managers, analysts and players tell us about ‘the toughest test’

“‘The first half was brutal. When we’re struggling, the staff can usually see a couple of solutions, even against the top teams, but they were so aggressive with their pressure that I remember being on the sideline finding it really difficult to think of one,’ a Premier League coach (Coach A) tells The Athletic. He is speaking about his experience of facing Arsenal this season and, like others in this article, doing so anonymously to protect his position. …”
The Athletic

Should Bayern Munich have had a penalty for Arsenal’s Gabriel picking up the ball?

“As the final whistle blew on an action-packed 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium last night, many of us reached for our smartphones to check social media. … The decision not to award a penalty left Rio Ferdinand, a pundit for TNT Sports, the British broadcaster of the Champions League, in ‘disbelief’. However, Arsenal legend Ian Wright later argued on X that he agreed with Nyberg’s decision, sparking a debate. …”
The Athletic

How Arsenal’s wide overloads cut Brighton to ribbons

“Chance after chance, Arsenal’s varied attack stormed Brighton & Hove Albion’s defence. ‘The understanding between the attacking players today was superb,’ said Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta after an impressive 3-0 victory away to Roberto De Zerbi’s side. ‘They had real purpose and connection, and a lot of clarity where to attack.’ Purpose, connection and clarity are three words that can easily be linked to Arsenal’s chance-creation from set pieces, their knack for playing the ball behind Brighton’s defence, attacking on the transition, or through wide passing combinations in the final third. …”
The Athletic

Football’s elite are tightening up – and Arsenal lead the pack

“Tho said football was supposed to be fun? Sunday’s meeting between Manchester City and Arsenal was billed as an epic showdown between sorcerer and apprentice that might decide the league title. It produced a total of three shots on target – which is to say as many as Brentford had against Manchester United between the 53rd and 55th minutes. Admire the tactical machinations if you like, the levels of concentration and the planning that went into it, the obviously refined level of the lack of action, but this was shit on a stick for the TikTok generation. ….”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester City 0 Arsenal 0: Defences on top as title rivals cancel each other out – The Briefing

“Manchester City versus Arsenal was one of the most anticipated games of the Premier League season but its sheer importance in the title race — and how equally matched the two sides are — resulted in a cautious and goalless first half. The energy and aggression were dialled up after the break but chances remained at a premium. After we witnessed 99 touches in the penalty area in Brentford’s game with Manchester United yesterday, this was a very different sort of game. Technical, tactical, tense. …”
The Athletic

The Premier League, where scoring first doesn’t matter anymore

“It takes commitment to support Norwich City. There’s the flitting between the Premier League and the Championship. There’s your arch-rivals becoming very good at football. There’s competing in a financial world that feels increasingly distant from Carrow Road. And speaking of distance — the travel distances from East Anglia make every away day an odyssey. …”
The Athletic

Champions League quarter-final draw: Predictions, tactics and players to watch

“The Champions League quarter-final draw is complete — and there is no shortage of intrigue. From the winners of the last two seasons (Manchester City and Real Madrid) being paired against each other to Harry Kane returning to north London to face Arsenal, or one-half of the draw opening up for one of the less-fancied teams in the last eight (something unlikely to ever happen again given the format changes from next season), the sub-plots are fascinating. The Athletic assembled an expert panel to cast their eyes over the four ties to explain where they will be decided, who they are tipping to go through and which team they are expecting to lift the trophy at Wembley on June 1. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Arsenal’s rest defence: The most underrated weapon in the title race

“Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles,’ is the famous quote from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. This season, that mantra might need revising to ‘Attack wins you games, rest defence wins you titles’ because of Arsenal. Rest defence is a term referring to the principles, positioning and structuring of defenders while their team are attacking. It originates from German and Dutch phrases which translate literally as ‘remaining defence’, and is all about how sides prepare, around and away from the ball, to counter-press. …”
The Athletic (Video)

The Premier League Title Race Hasn’t Been This Thrilling in Years

“… And, of course, there’s the three-way ongoing slugfest in the English Premier League. Ahead of Man City and Liverpool’s consequential matchup on Sunday, the Reds are top of the table with 63 points, while City, the reigning champions, are on 62 points and third-place Arsenal have 61 points—each with 11 games left to determine who will lift the Premier League trophy in May. …”
The Ringer

Goal kicks: How does each Premier League club take them?

“An outfield player taking a goal kick used to be a rare treat, a sign that the goalkeeper had pulled a muscle and needed a willing team-mate to launch the ball towards the centre circle. But since a tweak of football’s laws in 2019, the once-humble goal kick has become an increasingly integral part of how a club chooses to build up play. Some teams choose to have a defender pass the ball laterally to the goalkeeper, some ask the goalkeeper to play short to team-mates in the box, while some still prefer to go long and direct. …”
The Athletic

Matteo Guendouzi: ‘When I was losing a game, I was always screaming – this is my mentality’

“Matteo Guendouzi is only 24 but, playing for his fifth club in a fourth country, he already feels like he’s grown up. The Frenchman, who came to prominence at Arsenal under Unai Emery, says the mistakes he made during his time in north London had turned him into a better man and footballer. Guendouzi has been a key player for Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio this season while on loan from Marseille and is now looking ahead to his side’s Champions Leaguelast-16 second leg away at Bayern Munich. Lazio travel to the German champions holding a 1-0 advantage. …”
The Athletic

Nottingham Forest 0 Liverpool 1: Was this the kind of win champions deliver? – The Briefing

“Somehow, Liverpool keep finding a way. An afternoon which looked certain to finish in frustration ended in frantic, joyous celebrations as Darwin Nunez’s header in the last minute of stoppage time secured a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. It extends Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table to four points ahead of Manchester City’s game against Manchester United tomorrow and Arsenal’s at Sheffield United on Monday. We dissect the main talking points of another remarkable day. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic – Explained: Liverpool’s winner, a drop ball, angry Marinakis and a vocal Clattenburg cameo

Introducing the 8.5, the hybrid role that is shaping the Premier League title race

“This season’s battle for the Premier League title is now unquestionably a three-horse race. In May, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will become the first side in English football history to win four titles in a row. Or Jurgen Klopp will win his second Premier League title before departing Liverpool. Or Mikel Arteta will lead Arsenal to their first league title in two decades. Whichever outcome transpires, the victorious side will have depended on a player who has fulfilled an unusual role this season. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

The chaotic 24 seconds that showed Arsenal how fine the Champions League margins can be

“Welcome back to the Champions League knockouts, Arsenal. Given the club’s lack of recent experience at this level, this was always likely to be an educative evening for Mikel Arteta’s team. Unfortunately, this learning moment made for a particularly painful lesson. Of Arteta’s starting XI, 10 were playing in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time. Only Kai Havertz had featured in a tie of this magnitude before. Porto, by way of contrast, had a 40-year-old Pepe anchoring a significantly more experienced side. …”
The Athletic

Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool? The Premier League’s title race analysed

“The maths are pretty simple. Only two points separate the top three with one-third of the season remaining — three points, if Manchester City win their game in hand against Brentford on Tuesday. For the first time in a long time, it looks like we have a proper three-horse race on our hands. There is just a small snag that someone might want to share with Messrs Guardiola, Klopp and Arteta — three does not go into one. So who are the favourites to win the title? …”
The Athletic

Bayern Munich are… boring. How did Europe’s most thrilling club become so safe?

“… Bayern weren’t bad. No, it was worse than that — they were boring. Watch the Champions League for any length of time and the favourites settle into predictable roles, like a high-school rom-com: Barcelona are the pretty ones, Manchester City the nerds, Paris Saint-Germain the rich kids due a comeuppance, Real Madrid the awkward main characters everyone knows will get a third-act makeover and live happily ever after. …”
The Athletic

Jurgen Klopp knew exactly what Mikel Arteta had planned, but had little solution

“A month ago, Jurgen Klopp complimented Mikel Arteta’s tactical approach, even as Arsenal were eventually eliminated by Liverpool in the FA Cup third round. ‘It is difficult to prepare for what Arsenal did tonight, especially in the first half,’ Klopp said. ‘Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard, more or less as ‘double 10s’ in a 4-2-2-2.’ So, for Sunday’s league fixture, Arteta did the same again. …”
The Athletic

Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1: A twist in the title race? – The Briefing

“The wry smiles from Jurgen Klopp perhaps summed it up best. Arsenal pounced on two defensive errors to beat visitors Liverpool 3-1 and move to within two points of them at the top of the Premier League table. The home side went ahead through Bukayo Saka and dominated the first 45 minutes. Yet a mix-up between William Saliba — under pressure from Luis Diaz — and David Raya meant Liverpool were level by half-time without having had a shot on target after Gabriel Magalhaes had the final touch on their equaliser. …”
The Athletic
Guardian: Gabriel Martinelli runs Arsenal show by mastering moments of chaos

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 2: Home side wasteful again as Alexander-Arnold impresses

“Two of the sides fighting for the Premier League title engaged in a very enjoyable FA Cup encounter on Sunday afternoon. Arsenal hosted Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, with both sides signalling their intentions by naming strong XIs. Mikel Arteta’s side dominated the first half, hitting 13 shots, 11 more than their opponents, but — as so often recently — their finishing repeatedly let them down. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Why buying a new striker is not the answer to Arsenal’s scoring slump (Video)

How often do Premier League champions score last-minute winners? Less than you might think

“Trent Alexander-Arnold smashing home a late winner against Fulham in front of the Kop. Declan Rice clambering above a defender to nod in against Luton Town. Or Rice, for that matter, striking late against Manchester United back in September. We see these goals and we think of Steve Bruce’s header against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993 or Federico Macheda’s curler against Aston Villa in 2009. We’re conditioned to think that late goals are a regular feature of title-winning champions. But is that really the case, or do we simply remember a few standout examples and exaggerate how frequently champions rely on late winners? Let’s look at the numbers… ”
The Athletic (Video)

Why are football stadiums so expensive to build?

“Manchester United and Chelsea share a problem they cannot hope to run away from. Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge might be able to narrate storied chapters of the Premier League’s history, but neither can project a compelling future. At least not in their current states. The famous homes of Manchester United and Chelsea have become weights that threaten to hold back their owners. They are not fit for an elite long-term purpose. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Arsenal have accepted how they must play to win a Premier League title – Jonathan Wilson

“A sign of champions, the theory has it, is winning ugly. No side can be at their very best all the time and so, over the course of a season, there will be occasions when a team that is going to win the league has to gut it out, to keep going with their plans, to keep believing, whether that means withstanding pressure or burgling a late goal. Not all points are won with beauty; some have to be fought for or stolen. In a title race, character matters as much as ability. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Is the Premier League ready to embrace a substitution revolution?

Jürgen Klopp hugs Diogo Jota as he leaves the pitch during Sunday’s game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
“José Mourinho wore many faces as a Premier League manager. Chameleon-like, shifting from rambunctious to cantankerous. If Chelsea’s 2015 Premier League title win had all the hallmarks of a Tom Wambsgans redemption arc, his 2004 to 2007 incarnation was defined by his Logan Roy lead character energy. Every game felt tinged with Mourinho razzmatazz – good or bad. No wonder, then, when Chelsea lost to neighbors Fulham for the first time in 27 years on 20 March 2006, Mourinho preserved his role as chief headline maker. …”
Guardian

Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal: Palmer stays right, goalkeeper glitches, Arteta’s game-changers, handball?

“Arsenal came from two goals down to take a point against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a thrilling game which saw former Paris Saint-Germain team-mates Mikel Arteta and Mauricio Pochettino draw in their managerial head-to-head. A first-half penalty from Cole Palmer following a William Saliba handball and a Mykhailo Mudryk strike, with what looked to be a cross, put the home side in command just after the break before Robert Sanchez gave the ball away and Declan Rice scored into an open net from distance on 77 minutes. Leandro Trossard then tapped in from close range seven minutes later to give Arsenal a share of the points. …”
The Athletic

To the Arsenal 1-0: An Alternative Match Report

“There are certain sport fixtures that carry with them the weight of history, of tradition, of rivalry, and of intense, often irrational emotions, including unavoidable hurt. For someone initiated into football during the peak of the Sir Alex and Arsene years, it was Arsenal versus Manchester United. Even now, it’s the win I want most—yes, ahead of Spurs! …”
Football Paradise

How the sole of the foot sparked a tactical revolution in football

“Antonio Vacca can remember the moment well. In truth, the Italian is unlikely to forget it anytime soon, given he not only gets to see his ‘little theory put into practice’ every time he watches Brighton & Hove Albion play on television, but he also has Roberto De Zerbi’s initials tattooed on him. The story Vacca recalls goes back to De Zerbi’s time in charge of the Serie C club Foggia, between 2014 and 2016, and an incident in a training match that fundamentally changed how the Brighton manager viewed build-up play, and, ultimately, contributed to one of football’s modern tactical trends. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 0: A title ‘moment’, Saliba tames Haaland, lucky Kovacic

“It may have lacked the fizzing energy of title battles of previous seasons, but nobody from Arsenal seemed to care. A first league victory over Manchester City since 2015 felt like a statement of intent from a side that had been humbled twice last season, particularly as it inflicted a second consecutive defeat on Pep Guardiola’s side in a competition they have made their own in recent years. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Arsenal v Manchester City 2.0 – a world of set pieces, tough tackles and dogged defence – Michael Cox
The Athletic: What to look out for in Sunday’s showdown between Arsenal and Manchester City

US owners understand profit but do they appreciate clubs’ tradition and values? – Jonathan Wilson

“It’s just over a year since Gary Neville declared US owners of English soccer clubs ‘a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game’. The comment provoked a furore but the former England full-back turned high-profile pundit was unrepentant, insisting that if profit is the priority, there are vital aspects of the roles of soccer clubs that risk being lost. …”
Guardian

Keeping the threat alive: The importance of the second phase at corners

“When a stat about goals from corners pops up during a Premier League match, a common question from viewers is why the number of goals their team has scored from them is higher than they expected. Any confusion generally arises because of goals that are scored in the second phase of corners. The second phase starts when the team taking the corner quickly collects the ball after it was cleared — or in some cases overhit — and is in position to attack again with most of the attacking players still in the box. …”
The Athletic

How Spurs’ excellent Udogie recovered from his early struggles against Saka

“Fourteen minutes into the north London derby on Sunday, Destiny Udogie flew into a tackle on Bukayo Saka. It was a genuine attempt to win the ball, but it was late and an obvious yellow card. For the next 75 minutes, Udogie had to face arguably the in-form winger in the Premier League in the knowledge that another foul could be the end of his match. After Tottenham team-mate Emerson Royal’s daft dismissal in this same fixture last season, it seemed history might be about to repeat itself. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

The art of publicly criticising players: Why do managers do it and does it ever work?

“… One way to look at things is Ten Hag was simply answering a question honestly and straightforwardly. Another is that the United manager saw a passing bus and chose to throw Sancho under it, that he could quite easily have fobbed the question off with benign platitudes and avoided potentially alienating one of his squad. It does raise the question: is it ever justified for a manager to single out an individual player for public criticism? What purpose does it serve? Is it just the boss lashing out in frustration, or is there a more deliberate purpose to it all? Does it actually work? …”
The Athletic

Tactical Analysis: Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United

“In the vast theatre of human endeavours, where the pursuit of meaning often reveals itself in the most unexpected of places, we find ourselves drawn to the sacred cathedral of football. In this timeless ritual, where passion transcends reason, and the spirit of camaraderie meets the cruelty of fate, a tapestry of narratives unfurls. Picture, if you will, the canvas of a stadium – a canvas that bore witness to a spectacle of Shakespearean proportions. It was a game that encapsulated the very essence of existence–the agony and the ecstasy. …”
Breaking the Lines
YouTube: Tactical Analysis : Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United | Arsenal A Cut Above

Arsenal 3 Manchester United 1: Rice delivers, VAR controversy, Hojlund’s lively cameo

“Arsenal’s meetings with Manchester United always tend to deliver drama and this latest instalment in one of the Premier League’s longest-running rivalries did not disappoint. Some fine goals, a late controversy involving the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and Declan Rice’s stoppage-time winner… it all added up to another memorable encounter. …”
The Athletic

Premier League hope-o-meter 2023-24: How every club’s fans are feeling

“If you think you’re excited about the start of the new Premier League season, you should speak to an Aston Villa fan. They’re about ready to pop. All of them. Well, almost all of them. In a survey conducted by The Athletic this week (before the developments on Thursday and Friday which brought the transfers of Moises Caicedo and Harry Kane closer to being completed), we asked how supporters of each of the 20 teams are feeling about the new season. Ninety-nine per cent of Villa respondents said ‘optimistic’, making them the most positive bunch in the division. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Why so much stoppage time is being added on to Premier League matches this season?

“The new Premier League season has begun, with reigning champions Manchester City beating Vincent Kompany’s Burnley 3-0 at Turf Moor— and top-flight games are about to become longer. The game at Turf Moor had five minutes added on at half-time and six minutes added on after the second half. Additional time played at the end of each half will increase under a new directive for 2023-24, and the expectation is that 100-minute matches will become the norm this season. …”
The Athletic