Well, that was a bloody load of fun, wasn’t it? Pre game I was nervous. I’ll hold my hands up to that. I didn’t know what kind of Chelsea we’d be up against. Pochettino said beforehand Palmer would be missing, that Gusto wouldn’t be there and that Chilwell wasn’t fit. I’ve heard that story before. John Stones was ‘out’ at the Etihad. He made the bench. Hwang couldn’t possibly play more than 45 for Wolves last weekend. He got 60 minutes I think. I thought Poch was playing a fast one and I – being the eternal pessimist (I can’t help it, sorry) – thought to myself “here we go. Last minute winner ..read more

It’s another match day today and another opportunity for me to get too worried and stressed ahead of yet another ‘cup final’ for The Arsenal, as we take on Chelsea at the Emirates in what I believe, is going to be a very tough game. These always are. Last season’s felt relatively comfortable, but that’s because they were on the beach, Lampard was in charge and we coasted through the game with just the slight irritation of a Madueke goal to tarnish what should have been a clean sheet. I don’t care what anyone says about Chelsea this season though, I think their players will be up for it and hav ..read more

Morning folks. Another working week begins and with Arsenal in action on Tuesday, we’ll be getting in to it pronto, because Arteta has another press conference this afternoon ahead of us playing against Chelsea tomorrow evening. Pep and Bernardo Silva can complain all they want, but I think we have a little more to complain about, given they’ll have played four games in 12 days from when they won at home to Luton to when they play Brighton on Thursday, whereas we would have played four in ten days when we play Chelsea tomorrow. Maybe they can point to doing 120 minutes again Madrid, but they’v ..read more

If last week was a “do your job” game, this one yesterday away to Wolves was a “do your job…or else” match at Molineux. Arsenal had just seen a tired-looking City scrape through against Chelsea to reach another cup final, but our eyes had to be on trying to put some kind of pressure on Liverpool and City in the league, or realistically any small chance of silverware for us would have been almost done and dusted. So much of yesterday’s game felt like there were some psychological demons that needed to be slain and as the team was confirmed an hour beforehand, it was clear that Arteta knew that ..read more

Mikel Arteta had his press conference in the afternoon yesterday and the first good news is that Timber aside, everyone is fine to play this evening. I had a look at Wolves yesterday and from what Gary O’Neill said in his press conference, there is no Neto, as he has only just come back from injury, no Cunha from last week and no Semedo. So that is a bunch of dribbly players who they will be without and that has to be a boost for us. But the question that Arteta will be asking himself – because he wasn’t asked yesterday (probably because he wouldn’t give the answer anyway) is: Who is best plac ..read more

Happy Friday folks. Hope you’re doing well. At the time of writing Arteta is due to have his press conference in about an hour, so I think I’ll pour over what he says tomorrow, whilst today have a little look at what we’ll be up against tomorrow evening when we play Wolves. The big question for us will be how fatigued the team is after expending a lot of energy on Wednesday and, if we’re honest, looking a little knackered out in Germany. I’ve seen a couple of bits online about Liverpool last night and apparently they too looked like they were showing signs of fatigue, which is understandable g ..read more

And so the Champions League run for The Arsenal comes to an end. Not with a bang, but sadly with a bit of a whimper, as Bayern saw out a tense affair in Munich by beating us 1-0 with that second half headed goal by Kimmich. It was a momentary lapse of concentration from our defenders and ultimately it was that which cost us our place in this competition, as we never really laid a glove on Bayern in the second half and that is a real shame. I’m obviously down this morning, I wanted us to progress to the semi final and especially now that I know we’d have played Real Madrid and not Man City give ..read more

It’s the big one today and potentially a season-defining one, although I really wish that it wasn’t, because I do worry what might happen if we go out tonight. That’s a very real possibility, because: We do not have an amazing pedigree in Europe. We have a pretty pants record against Bayern. We’ve just come off a disappointing defeat at the weekend – what psychological damage has been done? We looked fatigued at the weekend – is that going to have a knock-on effect on us today? Suddenly we’ve started conceding some sloppy goals. Apologies, if you read my ramblings yesterday then you’ll be aw ..read more

I know it’s a bit of a provocative title, but sometimes needs must, boys and girls, because it just feels like where I’m at right now. It’s now two days since we lost to Villa and that sobering and numbing feeling from that defeat is still gnawing away me. This wasn’t where we were supposed to slip up, if we were going to slip up; it was going to be one of those tough away games like Brighton, or the Scum, or at United. But instead we put in the kind of performance against Brighton a couple of weekends back, that had me believing “this Arsenal team are really good. Playing like that at an away ..read more

Morning folks and happy match day to you and yours. Let’s hope it’s an enjoyable one for all Gooners all over the world. But this match is far from a foregone conclusion. Aston Villa represent a very tough opponent and I have to say, whilst for the last couple of days I’vevbeen feeling good about this game, today I have a distinct feeling of nervousness against a former Arsenal manager who has a recent history of getting good results against us. Villa were one of four teams who have beaten us this season and their win at Villa Park wasn’t the first time Emery has got the better of us. As Villa ..read more