Morning. We’re in Premier League action tonight, hosting Chelsea as we look to follow up the win against Wolves with three more points tonight. The challenge for Mikel Arteta and his players isn’t just an opposition side who aren’t as bad as they were earlier in the season when they held us to a 2-2 draw, but the physical demands with the game coming so soon after the last one. To be fair, that’s something Chelsea have to manage as well, having lost an FA Cup semi-final to Man City on Saturday evening, and tonight might be about who copes best with that. Obviously heavy legs could be a factor ..read more

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog. In this episode we look back on the 2-0 win at Wolves on Saturday evening which put us back on top of the Premier League. We discuss how Arsenal had to dig deep after a difficult week, but put in a performance that belied the tired legs, despite the fact we had to wait until late to seal the three points. We chat about Leandro Trossard’s goal, whether Wolves should have had a red card, David Raya’s excellent save, and how Mikel Arteta asked a lot of key men like Odegaard, Rice and Saka and how they ..read more

Morning all. It’s been quite the weekend and yesterday we almost had the joy of one of the funniest results of all time. Manchester United, 3-0 up on Coventry in the 71st minute of the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, let that lead slip, conceding three goals to send the game into extra-time. Then, right at the death, it looked as if Coventry had won it, only for the goal to be disallowed for an offside in the build-up. I mean, they said it was offside, and they drew the lines and everything, but this is the least convincing offside I’ve ever seen. I think we’ve all had our issues with VAR, but ..read more

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League last night with a 2-0 win away at Wolves. Maybe it wasn’t the best performance of the season, but at this point it’s so much more about getting it done, not how you get it done. To be fair though, the fact it was 1-0 right until the death probably played a part in how we felt about the overall display. Without the cushion of another goal (or two), you’re always vulnerable to a moment that could cost you points, and that level of jeopardy unquestionably informed sentiment about how we play ..read more

Join us for live blog coverage of our Premier League clash with Wolves, kick-off 19.30 We’ve got up to the second live text commentary, updates, goal clips, observations and occasionally witty asides. If you want to join the chat, register an Arseblog Live account. To do that, go to Arseblog Live – click login on the top right, and then choose ‘sign up’ to complete the process with your username/password via email. Note: Due to the dumpster fire that is Twitter these days, we can no longer provide real time updates via the @arseblog_live account. That account is now dormant. CLICK TO LAUNCH W ..read more

Morning all. It feels a bit odd that after such a disappointing week, which has brought pain and introspection on levels we haven’t had for some time, that Arsenal can go top of the Premier League later on if we beat Wolves. But sometimes reality is odd, and that’s the truth of it. At his press conference yesterday, Mikel Arteta was asked about responding to the defeats to Villa and Bayern, and framed it in a way that I don’t think many of us would have, but in one that you can probably understand: I think the players and staff are very lucky to have the week that we have had. This is the we ..read more

Bukayo Saka has 41 starts in all competitions so far this season, Ben White has 40 and Martin Odegaard 39. Last season, Saka made 42 starts and Odegaard and White had 39 a piece. That virtuous triangle stationed on the right of the Arsenal team has been a consistent corner stone of the last two seasons. In 2022-23, Gabriel Martinelli started 40 games on the left wing, Granit Xhaka made 43 starts, all as a left eight and Zinchenko started 28 games at left-back. While Zinchenko’s fitness meant he could not match Ben White’s numbers at right-back, Arsenal’s left side still had a consistency to i ..read more

Morning all. It’s gonna be a pretty quick blog today, I think. Between yesterday’s post, and the Arsecast Extra, I think I’ve said all that needs to be said about our exit from the Champions League, and while it remains disappointing, the reality of our season is that we can’t (as a team) allow it to get under our skin. It’s easier said than done, of course, but with Man City and Liverpool also going out of Europe this week, it’s all about the league now. Those two clubs will have to deal with their own disappointment, but the very last thing they’re going to do is sit around and feel sorry f ..read more

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video Arsenal’s Champions League run is over after a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich last night. Mikel Arteta made some changes to his team, starting Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back, bringing Jorginho back into midfield which pushed Kai Havertz up front, and using Gabriel Martinelli on the left. Before the game, Bayern made it clear they were going to try and play a counter-attacking game, so it wasn’t a surprise to see them let Arsenal have a lot of the ball early on. Thirteen minutes in, we’d had 70% possession, with a couple of tame efforts from ..read more

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog. In this episode we look back at the 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday which, despite being our first loss of 2024, has caused a significant amount frustration and disappointment. We examine the reasons for that response, reflect on game of two halves in which the Gunners can have attacking regrets in the first and defensive ones in the second, as well as discussing why it felt like Mikel Artets allowed the game to get away from us after the break. Then there are listener questions beginning with ..read more