Marked for Christopher Morris
From our football correspondent
Triumph
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Oct 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Bukayo Saka scored in the 87th minute, Burnley had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Arsenal took the lot.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match2 Oct 2027
The run at home goes on for Arsenal
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Arsenal
Bukayo Saka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Match2 Oct 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Bukayo Saka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alphonse Areola and Arsenal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Álvaro Rodríguez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Arsenal
Bukayo Saka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Gabriel Osho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
David Raya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Arsenal will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market9 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Morris, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Ethan Nwaneri has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Arsenal will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom31 May 2027
Silverware for Arsenal
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Victor Osimhen
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 May 2027
Bukayo Saka honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Arsenal had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Arsenal
Martin Ødegaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
The golden glove goes to David Raya
24 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Market31 May 2027
A season away well spent by Ismeal Kabia
41 games, 3 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Arsenal now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Morris, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
David Raya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Arsenal will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market31 May 2027
The Declan Rice talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Apr 2027
Arsenal cannot stop winning
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match3 Apr 2027
Arsenal keep winning on the road
8 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
David Raya shuts the door again
20 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Bukayo Saka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Saliba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Apr 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match3 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Liverpool, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.