Santi update, team v Swansea, more from Özil and Torino story is fake news.

By Bulldog Drummond When asked if Santi would play again this season, Mr Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said: “I hope so. Santi is far from starting to run again; he had a little procedure and we have a meeting with the medical people. Certainly he will not be available in the next six weeks.”  That is actually …

Swansea v Arsenal: the prelims and early team news

By Bulldog Drummond The early team news Coquelin and Bellerin are still about a week away from returning, Theo is maybe two weeks from returning.   Gibbs and Mert are also out as well, obviously, as are Santi Cazorla and Mohamed Elneny. But coming back (and I would have thought absolutely certain to play) are …

How football attendances have returned to the level of the 1950s, and how much people really know about the game.

By Tony Attwood I have often wondered just how much people know about their football clubs.  Or indeed how much some people know about football.  And whether the number of people going to games is going up or down. It is not often that such ramblings within my brain can all be answered at once, …

Swansea City v Arsenal 14 January – The Match Officials – and why are Liverpool having Michael Oliver for the fifth time this season?

by Andrew Crawshaw Before I start on the match Officials for our game on Saturday I want to bring to your attention the latest piece of game management by the PGMO. This coming week is matchweek 21 and Michael Oliver has been appointed to the Manchester United v Liverpool game on Sunday afternoon.  This will …

Recent transfers, total cost of squad, and salaries against position in the league

By Tony Attwood An elite group of nine European ‘super clubs’, including five from the Premier League, are now so wealthy that nobody else has any realistic chance of catching them financially.   That is what a new official report from Uefa says, although it is not clear what it intends to do about it. …

The funniest (and also the most embarrassing) transfer story this January

By Tony Attwood As you might have noticed (if you ever read the home page of Untold Arsenal with its daily list of Arsenal anniversaries through the club’s history) today is both the ninth anniversary of the launch of Untold, and the anniversary of the meeting that AISA Arsenal History Society had with Rt Hon …

Arsenal: Too dearly loved to be forgotten.

By Tony Attwood I can remember, from my days as a child, Arsenal playing Racing Club de Paris, and wondering who they were, and why the match happened.  Such childhood memories are of course notoriously unreliable, but I do recall it seeming a bit odd.  One of those things that old people knew about, not …

Arsenal don’t have a plan B. Well, actually we do. It’s Giroud.

By Tony Attwood Here’s a thought and a half: Olivier Giroud has scored 12 goals from his last 17 shots on target in the League, FA Cup and Champs League. Here’s another: he takes less time on the pitch to score that Lionel Messi, Diego Costa or Sergio Agüero. His figures at Arsenal now look …

Refereeing in the Premier League is under investigation, and PGMO have no idea what to do.

By Tony Attwood As I was preparing myself for another day’s publishing on Untold this morning two curious things happened. One, not curious in itself, was that Andrew sent me his regular match preview for the weekend concerning the referee for the forthcoming Arsenal match.  The other was that the Daily Telegraph newspaper attacked PGMO …

10 reasons why Arsenal signed Cohen Bramall (and why no other club bothered)

By Tony Attwood You will have heard the story.  Rejected by Leek Town, Nantwich, Market Drayton, and Crewe Alex. It is a story that even puts Charlie Austin’s move upwards from Poole Town in the shade, although of course it does happen from time to time.  We might think of Chris Smalling (Maidstone), Michail Antonio (Tooting), …

Ref Review: Arsenal – Crystal Palace: more of the same please

ARSENAL vs. CRYSTAL PALACE COMPETITION: English Premier League MATCH NO. 19 DATE: 1st January 2017 VENUE: Emirates Stadium (London, England) MATCH OFFICIALS: REFEREE: Andre Marriner 1st LINESMAN: Simon Beck 2nd LINESMAN: Scott Ledger 4th OFFICIAL: Stuart Attwell First Half Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties Time Foul by Foul For Description & Decision Points 06:59 Granit …

Football appoints new positivity czar to counter “overly negative” media and pay for football pitches in China

By Sir Brightly Plusfours; UK Government Czar of all the balls I am delighted to have this opportunity to address the ensemble of readers who are known as the most positive, fervent and enthusiastic of Arsenal supporters this side (and indeed that side of) the Great Wall that divides us all. My mission is to …

2016-17 Season: The half time review of referees and players, and the top 6 table.

by Andrew Crawshaw After 19 games Arsenal had 40 points and sat in third place in the table behind Chelsea and Liverpool and with City and the Tinies close behind, Team Points Goals W L D For Against +/- 1 Chelsea 16 1 2 49 42 13 +29 2 Liverpool 13 4 2 43 46 …

The nine health benefits of playing football, and what to do when you get too old.

By Tony Attwood If you read my ramblings on a fairly regular basis the is a chance that you may have picked up the fact that a) when I did play football in my younger days I was utterly useless at the game b) when I played the indoor five a side game in later …

Cohen Bramall the new Bellerin (inc film), Belloti and Griezmann on the way. Plus nicked copy – an outrage.

By Sir Hardly Anyone Our young Mr Cohen cost anything from £40,000 to £80,000, opinion varies, but in terms of his age there is an agreement he is 20, which makes him rather old for a youth signing for Arsenal.  His position is best described as Bellerinesque.   Well, ok not best described as Bellerinesque, …

Do Arsenal players care about the club? Are they properly prepared for each game? Here’s how you can tell.

By Tony Attwood Do Arsenal players really care about the club they play for?  Do they care about how the results go?  Are they properly prepared for each game? Or are some of them a bunch of highly paid guys who really couldn’t care less, and who simply turn up and go through the motions? …

Could football learn a thing of two from the way games are refereed in rugby?

By Tony Attwood Untold has a number of correspondents from around the country, and indeed from outside the UK, who regularly feed in thoughts and ideas relating to the issues that we cover on the site, and this week brought in an email on the topic of the way refereeing is undertaken in the Premier …

BT Sprout in meltdown; Giroud sails on; must be time to knock Lucas.

by Tony Attwood Actually it was me that was in total meltdown as in the original version I wrote something, changed it, wrote something else and totally screwed up what I was saying about Messsi, Barcelona and Real Madrid (the last bit of which I then cut).  Excuses are there many, but the key point …

FA cup : Preston North End – Arsenal 1-2 : Giroud, who else?

By Walter Broeckx A lots of changes in the team and some were already predicted in the last days. Ospina in goal and Martinez was on the bench. At right back we had Maitland-Niles and Jenkinson was on the bench, so Bellerin got some well deserved and needed rest. Gabriel and Mustafi in the centre …

PNE v Arsenal: the teams. Will there be fighting? and proof that Giroud is better than Messi

By Bulldog Drummond. The fighting Just on a month ago Preston North End were forced to fine two of their “players” (Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle) for fighting each other on the pitch during a match against Sheffield Wednesday.   Both players were sent off, obviously, and the fines levied on the players were promised …

Train warnings, price rises, stupid kick offs, West Ham lose. Stay tuned for the magic of the cup.

By Bulldog Drummond Once upon a time the FA Cup third round kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.  Now if you get a match on a Saturday afternoon you are lucky. Our match this evening makes travelling back by train difficult – the last train back leaves at 2017, making it a tight …

Preston North End v Arsenal. The battle of the invincibles and film of the last time the sides met

By Tony Attwood This weekend’s match sees what has become an increasingly rare meeting between the two Invincibles – the only two sides in top division history to have gone through a season unbeaten:  Preston North End and Arsenal.   Indeed it is the first meeting of the pair since Arsenal joined the ranks of …

Referee Appointments and Results Matchweek #14 complete with video evidence

by the Referee Review Team 1: Referee Appointments and Results matchweek13 Manchester City vs. Chelsea [1-3] Referee – Anthony Taylor 1st Assistant Referee – Stuart Burt 2nd Assistant Referee – Adam Nunn Fourth Official – Mike Dean Crystal Palace vs. Southampton [3-0] Referee – Neil Swarbrick 1st Assistant Referee – Scott Ledger 2nd Assistant Referee …

How football laid down the rules for the post-truth world

By Tony Attwood During the last couple of days a friend of mine has received messages on her Facebook page telling her that Mrs Trump has filed divorce papers against President Elect Mr Trump Facebook is starting to charge everyone who has fewer than 10 friends, from midnight Stephen Fry has died The queen hasn’t …

Referee Appointments and Results Matchweek 14 – The bullet points

by The Referee Team In case you find the full weekly referee review to long/complicated/boring – or indeed in case you are about to leave home in order to buy fish and chips for the evening supper, here is a quick summary in bullet point form. The full detailed analysis will appear tomorrow. In Match …