ALL HAIL KAISER KAI. I’ve always liked the name, Kai. It is of Welsh origin but has its roots in many languages. In Swahili it means “loveable”, in Te reo Maori it means “food”, in Hawaii and Japan it means “the sea”. In North London it means “we have quite some player on our hands”. Chelsea FC have a habit of letting go young players who they don’t think can cut it at the Bridge, think Salah and DeBruyne. Just like Liverpool and City have done, I think we are starting to see a reject mature into a genius. Football history tells us there has only ever been one Kaiser, and that is the great Fra ..read more

So here we go Gooners. A big game that could decide who will become the hunter or the hunted. A win for us would be a big statement and a boost to our confidence, no doubt, but I don’t think it will be a ‘title decider’. The lineup is strong, very strong, and the bench is bursting with talent and game changers/stabilisers. I am hoping the boys will be relaxed enough to play their game and believe in themselves. Anyway, enough said: let the ball do the talking. Come On You Rip Roaring Gunners! By TA ..read more

A cheeky question to help us while away the time before we resume in earnest at City. It’s always a little unfair to compare teams of different generations but do consider that the Invincible team was ahead of its time. Size: The Invincibles were big boys who were physically imposing. Our current team have an average height of 6′ 1″, look at our defensive unit: Saliba 6′ 4″ 204 lbs, Gabriel 6′ 3″ 173 lbs, White 6′ 1″ 168 lbs, Kiwior 6′ 2″ 163 lbs, Tomiyasu 6′ 2″ 183 lbs. Add to that Rice at 6′ 1″ 183 lbs, Partey 6′ 1″ 170lbs and Havertz 6′ 4″ 183 lbs and we have some serious tall and pow ..read more

Well that was the sort of performance in March that a future champion will look back on as vital to the whole campaign. Arsenal had entered the state of almost unbearable lightness of being with huge wins in the last seven games. But what goes up must come down, and Brentford did us a huge favour by giving us a proper game. Heart, sweat and passion drove us to a win, and only with this experience and attitude will we have a good chance of beating the whily Portuguese this Tuesday, an equally important game. Eight Quick Observations: Aaron Ramsdale is my man of the match. Yes he made a big mis ..read more

“Behind what hills does happiness hide, to lurk and plot its return?“ (From ‘At the Loch of the Green Corrie’ by Andrew Greig). I cannot deny that the last 10 days or so have been difficult. Losing six points against West Ham and Fulham was not expected and could hurt our challenge for the title. It sucks. But there is no reason for despair or doing something crazy on the transfer market this January. Every team has had a slump this season, and Arteta and the team just have to work hard to get out of theirs again. One or two tweaks could make a real difference, and so could a clever loan-deal ..read more

Merry Christmas to you if you are celebrating this most magical time of the year. The season is almost at the half-way point and for the second time in a row Arsenal are TOTL at Christmas. Last season we did not quite pull through at the end, but there is hope Arsenal now have what it takes to go all the way. What is different this season, and what needs further attention? The obvious one/ the biggest joy: Rice has added steel to our defence. Did you notice how the last 15 minutes of key games simply belong to Declan? He is good throughout the game but when everybody is starting to get tired ..read more

Well, aren’t we lucky? A midweek PL game and a great chance to put ourselves six points above the cocky Blue Mancs, who have already declared themselves champions today. Thanks for the Pep-Talk, mate! Arteta can now use this for each game this season. I don’t know much about Luton but an away fixture on a cold night with a fanatic crowd hoping for a Brentford-like giant-killing, is not to be underestimated. Unfortunately, we will not see in action the brilliantly named Marvelous Nakamba, tonight. I had been looking forward to that. I think the lineup is pretty predictable given that there’s no ..read more

The real season started yesterday. The interlul disruptions are over and we can look fwd to uninterrupted club football for four months or so. Bliss. This now is the business end of the season. Time to push, get in the groove, create momentum and make opportunities count. With Pool and Citeh holding each other to a draw, Arsenal had a golden opportunity to go top. But Brentford away is a tough nut to crack, and playing an away game after an interlul is seldom easy, especially with three Brazilians returning late from a painful loss against arch-rivals Argentina. So there was a great opportunit ..read more

Arsenal have almost played 1/3 PL games and so we should be able to come to some early conclusion about our chances this season. The Spuds and Aston Villa are hanging in there, but I expect the title race to become a three-horse one over the next 8-10 games. Pool have almost got identical stats to Arsenal, with just one more goal scored (27 v 26), equal number of goals conceded (10) and equal number of games won, lost and drawn (8-1-3). Citeh are one point above us with nine wins, one draw and two losses. They scored six more than Arsenal but also conceded two more. Citeh have to play Pool, Sp ..read more

The month of October is nearly over, and it has been a busy one for me. I had little time to write posts but was still able to watch all the games and witness the establishment of Arsenal’s backbone for the season – and maybe many more seasons to come. This backbone is the most wonderful thing to witness for us Arsenal supporters. I am a huge believer in OGAAT but also realise that a team has to brace and spare itself sometimes. It was obvious that we did this when we played Lens in the CL: a big, big game v Man City was up next and the boys were holding back a bit. Many second balls fell to L ..read more