Marked for Declan Rice
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Oct 2026
A derby is never about the football alone, but the football helped: 1‑0, and the away end emptied early. Bragging rights renewed for another season.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Arsenal right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Arsenal support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
When it matters, Bukayo Saka plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gabriel is still paying for one afternoon at Arsenal
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Gabriel
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin White 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Aston Villa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Noni Madueke at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Arsenal, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ethan Laidlaw dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
William Saliba 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Brighton made Arsenal work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Bukayo Saka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Ebere Eze
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ebere Eze, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market28 Sep 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Everton, and it could have been more.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Benjamin White 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against West Ham United, and it could have been more.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Tyrick Mitchell ended with $16.2M changing hands and Crystal Palace out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tyrick Mitchell gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tyrick Mitchell has just signed for Arsenal, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
William Saliba 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Derby County have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Myles Lewis-Skelly. The answer from Arsenal has not changed — yet.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for David Raya, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Arsenal
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrew Mitchell is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anthony Howard has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daley Blind gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Daley Blind has just signed for Arsenal, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
A squad is not eleven players and a wish. Alexandru Hagi arrives from Viitorul to make the number up properly, and the value of that will be argued about in March rather than today.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martín Zubimendi and Arsenal agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
A conversation is coming this week. Arsenal will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daley Blind 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
William Saliba 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gabriel Martinelli commits to Arsenal for another 3 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arsenal have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriel Jesus wants continental football; whether Arsenal can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Gabriel Martinelli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.