Football Club News, Analysis, History, Schedule, Rumours
And then there was one. Because Arsenal failed to qualify for Europe last season, they were only ever going to compete in a maximum of three competitions this season and after the recent cup calamities, including the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg defeat to Liverpool, they now only have European qualification through the league to aim […] READ MORE
It wasn’t Anfield ‘89, which was a once-in-an-eternity performance and result. Nevertheless, Arsenal’s performance in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final was one of the Gunners’ finest displays at Liverpool’s ground since that historic night, especially after they went down to 10 men after less than half an hour when Granit Xhaka (whose […] READ MORE
When your opponent gifts you an assist, as was the case when Fred trod on David De Gea’s ankle and Emile Smith Rowe scored while the Spanish goalkeeper was still writhing around on his goal-line, and you still lose the match, you know you have a problem winning big games away from home. And so […] READ MORE
Tony Adams famously thought that it was because “we used up all our luck in ‘89”, but whatever the reason Arsenal have often struggled at Anfield. Obviously, prior to 1989 and the famous Championship win, Arsenal struggled to win at Liverpool’s home ground because every team in Europe struggled to win there, which of course only […] READ MORE
Almost every successful manager can identify a turning point in their career, when they saw their fortunes almost literally alter before their eyes, because they achieved an unexpected result or just benefited from a slice of luck. For Alex Ferguson, it was the winning goal by Mark Robins in an FA Cup tie against Nottingham […] READ MORE
When you don’t seem to have much of a future, it’s easier to live in the past, and that is probably truer of Arsenal than any other football club, precisely because its past is so glorious and its future so uncertain. The announcement this week of the imminent release of the “Arsène Wenger: Invincible” documentary […] READ MORE
Consistency is the sporting equivalent of the Holy Grail – the ultra-elusive but utterly priceless commodity or quality that everyone endlessly seeks. At the moment, perhaps nobody seeks it more than Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team, who have rebounded from losing their first three Premier League games to win the next three, including the […] READ MORE
For Arsenal fans, it must feel like déjà vu all over again. And again. And again. And so on, ad infinitum. Indeed, it is arguably now more than 15 years since the club last had a manager worthy of the title, when Arsène Wenger was just the brilliant manager who focused exclusively on what happened […] READ MORE
After Arsenal’s ignominious end to last season, when the Gunners first failed to reach the Europa League final and then failed to qualify for European football of any kind for the first time in a quarter of a century, most Arsenal fans have been happy to forget about domestic football and instead enjoy the glories […] READ MORE
Italy are too good a team and Gareth Southgate too shrewd a manager for there to be much complacency among the England team and coaching staff ahead of the Euro 2020 final. But just in case there is any complacency at all, this brief history of the worst defeats in a major final by a […] READ MORE