West Ham… oof, they’re in trouble. Brentford and Wolves look like they might be as well. Maybe this is a year more than one newly-promoted club survives.
TL;DW version: opponents will no longer be able to overload Saka and CP on our right side because Eze will kill them if given space on the left. He’ll work his ass off tracking back and then tends drifts toward the center in the attaching 3rd. Not a perfect fit, though, but he’ll give us options and make us less predictable.
Maybe related to the fact that he absolutely ran himself into the ground the past two seasons since there were so few attacking options? Kai looked absolutely spent the last matches he played before his hammy exploded.
Must be bad (the whole season or large chuck) if they’re looking to add before the window closes.
As far as wins go, this the ultimate “fuck off” win: nick a goal against the run of play and the grind out a (probably undeserved on balance of the totality of the match) result. Given that wins at Old Trafford have been hard to come by for Arsenal (just our fourth since 2000)…Three points and thank you very much and fuck off manure.
That said.. The narrative would be different had this exact match been played in April. But it wasn’t, and we’d all hope to see more fluidity and cohesion at the start of a season. The defending and goalkeeping were stellar, the attack was disjointed, the midfield largely anonymous. Arteta and the lads have two weeks to figure something out, because this performance gets us shredded at Anfield.
We all know exactly how this will go:
Ben White farts in the general direction of an opposing player on an Arsenal set piece? Goal disallowed, red card, Howard Webb praises Michael Oliver afterward.
Gabi XL heads clear? Penalty, DGSO, red card, Howard Webb praises [the fuckstick who sent Rice off v Wolves, don’t remember his name] afterward.
Joelinton or Bruno tackle two Arsenal players to allow a gap for a set piece goal? Nah mate. Just a try-hard lad trying hard. Nothing to see here.
Because that is EXACTLY how this will go.
Looks like we know the 2025-26 “New Rule That Will Only Be Applied to Arsenal.”
Fuck PGMOL.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/c47fc99d-ea09-43f6-8440-7553fed36d77?shareToken=6cba35f37b355328f6fd5e74bb366671