I can’t deny that it’s been a wrench to make this decision as I’ve enjoyed the banter with regular readers over the past decade and a bit, but after 12 years it’s now time to close the Arsenal Truth blog. The love of Arsenal that dominated my life for over 30 years has waned to a level where I’m no longer passionate enough to watch every game, and without that continuity I can no longer justify writing a blog. Supporting a club is a bit like a marriage – a two-way relationship that has to work for both parties. That association doesn’t necessitate success, but it does necessitate hope. In th ..read more

Quick match report as this game wasn’t worth watching let alone reporting on. There were six huge cockups in this match, three for each opponent, but Olympiakos didn’t have the quality or composure to make the most of the gifts Arsenal presented them. The Gunners scored from two long-range strikes courtesy of Odegaard and, later, Elneny. Both were powerfully struck, but any credible goalkeeper would have saved both efforts. Arsenal’s second goal was from a corner. Watch the replay, it’s hilarious. Sokratis was chatting to Andreas Bouchalakis in the six yard box, by why time the Gunners had al ..read more

Arsenal’s full-year accounts for the financial year ending 31 May 2020 have been announced and the key statement is that Arsenal lost £47.8m after tax. Seeing as the pandemic did not affect the club until early March 2020, the impact of Covid is actually fairly minimal, representing less than three months of the accounting year. The wage bill remained stable at £234.5m, compared to £234.9m for the previous year. Bear in mind that the wage bill comprises everybody employed by the club - first team wages only actually make up around 65% of the entire wage bill. The club currently has £110m sitt ..read more

When the post-match narrative is all about VAR, you know that Arsenal shot themselves in the foot. Burnley were dire in the first half and conceded after six minutes when Aubameyang was allowed to step inside and Burnley keeper Nick Pope feebly enabled his shot to slip his grasp. The home side played like they did against Tottenham last week, slow and full of defensive errors but Arsenal kept fluffing their lines, notably Saka who should have shown more composure to guide the ball past Pope midway through the first half. Burnley, who have won one in eight and can’t score for toffee, only had ..read more

On the face of it, Arsenal put in one of their better performances this season at the King Power Stadium despite Arteta making six changes following the narrow win against Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday. However, it didn’t start very well with Willian and Xhaka putting in feeble tackles and losing the ball near the half-way line. Xhaka chased Youri Tielemans like a man running in quicksand and Mari retreated instead of moving towards the midfielder who buried his shot past Leno after just 6 minutes. It was the perfect start for Leicester who love sitting deep and defending a lead ..read more

Defeat came far too close to feel any sense of pride or achievement in Arsenal scraping through to the last 16 of the Europa League. Benfica are an extremely limited and ordinary side that created virtually nothing in open play over both legs. All three of their goals came from self-inflicted gunshot wounds and, ultimately, Arteta has to thank a 19-year-old for escaping another embarrassing Europa League exit. As in the first leg, Benfica were tidy in possession but clueless once they went beyond the half-way line. Arsenal were wasteful in the first leg and timid in the second. It required th ..read more

It didn’t start well. Holding repeated his Villa nightmare by failing to mark his opponent within the first two minutes. Following Riyad Mahrez’ pinpoint cross, the Englishman saw Raheem Sterling drift in behind but neither focused on the man nor the ball, leaving the midget to head past Leno. City then demolished Arsenal for 10 minutes but struggled to find a cutting-edge to slick passing moves that often stopped at the edge of the Gunner’s penalty area. Playing without a traditional striker for much of the game, Guardiola’s side were both wasteful, indecisive at key moments and surprisingly ..read more

This tie should be over but Arsenal didn’t step things up against Benfica and missed a few easy chances. Played at a neutral venue in Rome, the Portuguese side played a high line but never seemed capable of getting their passing game together with enough conviction to be a goal threat. However, they did earn a penalty on 55 after Smith Rowe carelessly handled in the box. Arsenal had plenty of opportunities to play balls over the top and through the channels, but their passing was often slow and lacking in accuracy and imagination. On the few occasions they broke the lines, Aubameyang fluffed ..read more

Lots of misinformation doing the rounds at the moment regarding Arsenal’s finances and the effect they might have on Mikel Arteta’s summer transfer budget (assuming he still has a job at the end of the season). I’ve seen a few articles indicating that Arsenal are in a much healthier financial position now due to the removal of Ozil, Sokratis, Mkhitaryan, Mustafi and Martinez from the wage bill. However, whilst it’s true that their departures have saved the club approximately £670k p/wk in wages, those wages have merely been replaced by the addition of Odegaard (£38k), Partey (£220k), Runarss ..read more

As so often with Arsenal, the score line belies the story. Post-match, supporters were too quick to over-accentuate the distinction of Arsenal’s first half-display, with a failure to recognise the part Leeds’ goalkeeper Illan Meslier played in gifting the Gunners all three goals. The youngster looked dodgy from the start, fumbling control of the ball like an alcoholic in remission - losing possession 10 times in the first half alone. For Aubameyang’s first he was well-positioned but somehow got beaten at his near post by an admittedly decent striker. On 41, another miscontrol led to a daft p ..read more