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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bukayo Saka. 3‑1 against Everton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
A brace, and Bukayo Saka takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bukayo Saka provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Ødegaard provided it, and the 8.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
William Saliba 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal and Sunderland in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Myles Lewis-Skelly 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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Arsenal have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Viktor Gyökeres. 2‑1 against West Ham United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Add another name to the list: Charlton Athletic have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tommy Setford. The answer from Arsenal has not changed — yet.