Four Midfielders to fill the Fernandes Role at Arsenal

  “Arsenal FC Warm Up” (CC BY 2.0) by Kieran Clarke A number of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, were linked with a move for Bruno Fernandes while the midfielder was still in Portugal. While the Gunners, and others, dithered, Manchester United finally made their move and we know what happened next. The lack of …

Where do Arsenal Need to Strengthen Ahead of the 20/21 Season?

By Graham Jones Arsenal finished the 2019/20 season on a high by winning the FA Cup. They came from a goal behind to defeat Chelsea 2-1 and not only win a trophy for the first time since 2017 but also qualify for Europe. The fans and players would rather have qualified for the Champions League …

If all lives matter, if slavery is unacceptable, what is the FA doing about Qatar?

By Tony Attwood Qatar was awarded the World cup in 2010.  Evidence that has emerged since then suggests very strongly indeed that the award was rigged.  One suggestion among many is that al-Jazeera (since then renamed beIN Sports) had signed a TV contract that included a $100m fee to be paid to Fifa if it …

Is this a real attempt to undermine Arsenal, or just whacky gibberish?

by Sir Hardly Anyone “The six players Arsenal must sell this summer to give Mikel Arteta the squad he needs” is a challenging headline.  Six?  I mean really six?   More than half a squad???   All sold at once??? Of course, some of them might be youngsters or players who are already out on loan, but …

The ex-Arsenal man who keeps on moving on

Today’s story from the Arsenal anniversary files is of Mark Randall, and man who in his early days appeared to be destined for great things (and Mr Wenger appeared to agree with that) but who could never settle at Arsenal, and indeed appears to have had difficulty settling anywhere else. And yet in his role …

The eight Arsenal transfer stories currently being talked up – all gathered together.

by Sir Hardly Anyone Although the media started the enforced Winter Break by shouting about the players Arsenal were going to buy and should be selling, they have settled down a little, seemingly finding few new names since the initial outburst to pull out of imaginary hats – perhaps because this imaginary transfer window has …

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta Says Top Players are Cracking Under Pressure

  Arsenal’s head coach Miekel Arteta has warned that the club’s players are starting to crack under pressure of their demanding schedule. He also warned that standards will take a tumble if changes are not made or the squad is not increased to 26 or even 28 players. “I think there are a lot of …

Financial crisis and end of contracts cause clubs to act

By Tony Attwood A sense of wait and see has been replaced by a sense of “let’s do something” in football, as the realization sinks in that doing nothing will inevitably lead a number of clubs into financial administration or indeed total collapse.  Partly it is the technical point that if a company goes into …

What went wrong for Richard Wright at Arsenal?

  SOURCE: Photo //CC BY 3.0 Richard Wright in more comfortable surroundings back at Portman Road It’s the year 2000. The millennium bug was merely a myth and Ipswich Town were ploughing their way back to the Premier League via the playoffs at Wembley. A mainstay of the Tractor Boys’ success was homegrown keeper, Richard …

Bournemouth v Arsenal FA Cup. The line ups and Arsenal injury news

By Bulldog Drummond Follow the video on Untold Gooner News Arsenal’s injury list ahead of this FA Cup game – the last game to be played before the replays start, is at the upper end of the scale.  He is the table modified from details on the Physioroom web site Player Reason Further Detail Potential …

No agreement on transfer regulations as Britain leaves the EU heralds league chaos

By Tony Attwood   Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews   There are still no signs of an agreement as to which footballers will be allowed to play in the UK in the aftermath of Britain leaving the European Union. The initial worry – that the …

All the players Arsenal are going to sign this window

By Sir Hardly Anyone. Just Arsenal have an interesting take on Arsenal’s future with the headline “The Arsenal board are close to sabotaging Mikel Arteta”.   The headline leads to a statement that the Arsenal board needs to back Mikel Arteta, but that they are not.  The point is made that “Arteta is having to deal …

Martinelli: the new Cristiano Ronaldo. This is going to be amazing.

By Tony Attwood Last night Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva aged 18, scored his 10th goal of the season.  He is the first teenager to get to 10 goals in a season at Arsenal in 21 years. It is a staggering achievement given that he has not just changed clubs but also continents, and achieved this …

After 21 games this season: it’s not the defence that is the key problem.

By Tony Attwood There is something of a feeling of elation after the win against Manchester United, as indeed there should be.  For after five games without a win and indeed just one win in 16, a win against a traditional “top six” club was very welcome indeed.  After all it stopped what seemed an …

West Ham v Arsenal: a variety of team selections and “AFTV Out!”

By Bulldog Drummond It is curious that at this time Arsenal is doing badly in matches we are doing far better than in the Wengerian days when we were criticized for having more injuries than anyone else.  Maybe that means we are not getting stuck in enough. In fact we never did have more injuries …

West Ham v Arsenal; result prediction, a minus one all draw.

Latest news: We are developing our own video channel.   If you would like to have a look at how far we’ve got visit Untold Gooner News   By Bulldog Drummond Once upon a time we played league games on Saturdays at 3pm.   Funny old idea that was.  It meant you could have lunch with the …

The journalist code: Treat the audience like children, treat the players as worthless.

  Latest news: We are developing our own video channel.   It’s still at the experimental stage but you can get a feel here… Untold Gooner News   By Tony Attwood I suppose one of my biggest gripes about football journalists is that they treat their audience like little children who will gobble up anything that …

Who is the best Arsenal striker of all time?

  There might still be several weeks to go in the season, but already there is an “end of term” feeling around Emirates Stadium. Sure, there is a big difference between finishing third or sixth, but to fans, even third will represent nothing more than a season of solid performances that never threatened to take …

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Slow Start to the Season a Cause for Concern?

  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sensational for Arsenal during the second half of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign. Having moved to the Emirates Stadium midway through the season, most fans expected Aubameyang to start slowly as he adjusted to the pace of English football. However, the former Borussia Dortmund man was simply sublime, notching 10 goals …

Arsenal Must Avoid Losing Aaron Ramsey to a Premier League Rival

It’s been an inauspicious start to life under Unai Emery this season, with Arsenal losing their opening two Premier League games under the Spaniard. With two tough assignments against Manchester City and Chelsea out of the way, the Gunners are expected to improve significantly over the coming months and Aaron Ramsey is likely to play …

Don’t shoot the messenger but we’re in a funk

By Blacksheep Those that know me (not that many of course) or that have read things I’ve written before (a few more perhaps) will [hopefully] be aware that I’m quite a positive person when it comes to most things including Arsenal. I’m pleased to contribute to this blog because it supports the club, the team …

Are you a victim of PPP? Don’t suffer in silence, take action!

By Blacksheep I watched the FA Cup tie against Brighton & Falmer Albion in rather dreary modern pub close to where Tony and I usually meet to travel down to the Emirates. They had the game on their (biggish) screen and it was convenient for hooking up with the twins. There was no sound so …

An AISA evening with Alan Smith & Paddy Barclay

One of the benefits of being a membership of AISA is the handful of events they organize each year. This one was really interesting, a chance to meet Alan Smith and the renowned sports journalist, Patrick Barclay and be entertained by Tom Watt (ex Eastenders’ ‘Lofty’ and full time Arsenal fan). The event took place …

Van Persie won’t renew – what to do now?

By Phil Gregory Having just read that our talismanic striker and captain isn’t renewing his contract, a summer that has been positive to date now looks like like a mixed bag. There’s a few different scenarios where we might end up with this now. The most unlikely is an about-turn from Robin and him renewing …

A Van Persie-Giroud partnership? And Podolski?

By Phil Gregory Arsenal.com published an interesting article on our new signing Olivier Giroud. The part that caught my eye was the debate around whether Giroud will be a starter with Robin or not (leaving aside all contract chat for now). In it, Philippe Auclair said “I can imagine a 4-4-1-1 with Robin van Persie playing …