16 Sep 2027
Thursday
Process
59 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noni Madueke

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

3 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Sidiki Chérif at Arsenal

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sidiki Chérif is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

Match

Arsenal get the job done against Liverpool

A 2‑0 win over Liverpool, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Kepa Arrizabalaga has improved at 32, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Martin Ødegaard at his very best

Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

The dugout

Bukayo Saka gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bukayo Saka is on it.

In brief

Back issues
58 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Paul Hawkins: 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.

Market

Arsenal turn down Napoli for Bruno Guimarães

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 11 signed and 8 gone

That is the business done at Arsenal until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

Gabriel Martinelli wants more than Arsenal are offering

“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.

Squad

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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Arsenal

The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

The step up is real for Babis Kostoulas

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

International break empties Arsenal

10 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

In brief

57 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Arsenal turn down Napoli for Martin Ødegaard

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Edward Allen is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 15 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noni Madueke

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

7 unbeaten for Arsenal

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Arsenal did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

Match

Martin Ødegaard sends Arsenal past Nottingham Forest

It finished 3‑1, and it was Martin Ødegaard’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matty Cash

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Late improvement for Ezri Konsa

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

In brief

56 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Noni Madueke was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Giacomo Bonaventura hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

Kai Havertz has improved at 28, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Pietro Tagliabue

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Arsenal

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Match

6 unbeaten for Arsenal

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Arsenal did not have in the autumn.

Market

Jack Watson steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jack Watson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief

55 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Manchester City for Martín Zubimendi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Jonathan Clark at Arsenal

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jonathan Clark is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Martin Ødegaard 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 dugout

No hiding place for Viktor Gyökeres

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Gyökeres, and the manager let it.

Squad

Late improvement for Kepa Arrizabalaga

At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Arsenal

Tottenham next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

Loan watch

Tommy Setford has seen enough of Barnsley

“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 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

Declan Rice gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Declan Rice is on it.

In brief

54 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Ezri Konsa keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Babis Kostoulas

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

The dugout

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.

Loan watch

Cristhian Mosquera wants to come home

“I did not go to Chelsea to sit and watch. I want to come back to Arsenal and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

Squad

6 new faces, and Arsenal are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Market

The Bukayo Saka story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bukayo Saka signs something — a contract at Arsenal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

The manager makes Martín Zubimendi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

53 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Louis Zecevic-John breaks a bone — 20 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Jonathan Clark says Arsenal went back on their word

“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.

Squad

9 seasons of Bukayo Saka

264 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Arsenal know what they have.

Squad

The step up is real for Edward Allen

At 15 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ezri Konsa

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

52 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Louis Zecevic-John out for 31 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

Squad

Fábio Vieira has improved at 27, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bruno Guimarães

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Loan watch

Khari Ranson wants to come home

“I did not go to Crewe Alexandra to sit and watch. I want to come back to Arsenal and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

In brief

51 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Louis Zecevic-John out for 40 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Arsenal refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 86 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Jonathan Clark

At 16 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jonathan Clark

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Declan Rice 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.

Market

Declan Rice linked with a move away

The name of Declan Rice keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Bruno Guimarães asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

50 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Louis Zecevic-John out for 47 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Nicholas Kelly is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 15 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

The dugout

No hiding place for Noni Madueke

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noni Madueke, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Bukayo Saka 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.

Market

The Bukayo Saka story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bukayo Saka signs something — a contract at Arsenal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Martín Zubimendi knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Bruno Guimarães has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bruno Guimarães has written the date down.

In brief

49 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Martín Zubimendi: 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.

Market

Viktor Gyökeres wants more than Arsenal are offering

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Declan Rice 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.

Squad

Martin Ødegaard 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Samuel Carter at Arsenal

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Carter is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Market

Ethan Nwaneri returns a better player

26 games and 5 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.

Squad

Benjamin White signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Benjamin White commits to Arsenal for another 4 years.

The dugout

William Saliba gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say William Saliba is on it.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Arsenal academy

10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.

In brief

48 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gonzalo

Arsenal asked and Fulham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

Arsenal baulk at the price for August Priske

Birmingham wanted more than $14.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Market

Terms done: Cristhian Mosquera is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chelsea waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Illan Meslier moves on

Newcastle United pay $7.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Matty Cash 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Late improvement for Viktor Gyökeres

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

The step up is real for Pietro Tagliabue

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Martín Zubimendi

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

47 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Arsenal baulk at the price for Abu Kamara

Portsmouth wanted more than $15.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Manchester City for Martín Zubimendi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Match

Arsenal refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 86 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Sidiki Chérif at Arsenal

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sidiki Chérif is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Late improvement for Kai Havertz

At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Edward Allen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edward Allen, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Declan Rice gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Declan Rice is on it.

In brief

46 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Arsenal sign Haji Wright for $46.6M

The paperwork is done: Haji Wright joins from Coventry City in a deal worth $46.6M. Now comes the harder part.

Transfer targets

Arsenal baulk at the price for Marezi

Portsmouth wanted more than $16.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Arsenal rebuffed over Alexey Miranchuk

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portsmouth have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Haji Wright arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Haji Wright has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Millwall for Illan Meslier was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

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.

Squad

Real improvement from Babis Kostoulas at Arsenal

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Babis Kostoulas is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Martin Ødegaard 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 dugout

Bukayo Saka 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.

In brief

45 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Haji Wright

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arsenal have done the hard part with Coventry City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Birmingham tell Arsenal: August Priske is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Arsenal bid $16.9M for Marezi

The offer went to Portsmouth this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Abu Kamara

$15.6M on the table at Portsmouth. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

A fracture rules Harrison Dudziak out for 16 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Manchester City come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Arsenal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Illan Meslier puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Gabriel Martinelli raises the bar for Arsenal

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Arsenal heard it as anything else.

Squad

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.

In brief

44 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Continental nights are coming to Arsenal

Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.

Squad

Harrison Dudziak breaks a bone — 27 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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.

Market

Ismeal Kabia returns a better player

42 games and 1 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.

The dugout

No hiding place for Michael Howard

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Howard, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Martin Ødegaard 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.

The dugout

Arsenal keep their word to Piero Hincapié

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

In brief

43 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Harrison Dudziak breaks a bone — 36 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Arsenal are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 86 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Martin Ødegaard 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 dugout

When it matters, William Saliba 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.

Market

Declan Rice linked with a move away

The name of Declan Rice keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Ceadach O'Neill gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

A door opens for Viktor Gyökeres

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

The dugout

Nordi Mukiele asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

42 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Harrison Dudziak breaks a bone — 44 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

The season belongs to Gabriel Martinelli

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Arsenal have had the benefit of it.

Squad

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

11 goals on loan for Seb Ferdinand

37 appearances at Chesterfield and the goals keep coming. Arsenal are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ezri Konsa

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Declan Rice gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Declan Rice is on it.

The dugout

Matty Cash knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matty Cash trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Bukayo Saka story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bukayo Saka signs something — a contract at Arsenal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

41 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.64 with 29 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Arsenal finish in position 3

86 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

The dugout

Ceadach O'Neill keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

William Saliba 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matty Cash

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Declan Rice the difference as Arsenal beat Bournemouth

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Declan Rice. 2‑1 against Bournemouth, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Declan Rice was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.52. 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 ratings

Bukayo Saka in the eights

A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

  • The dugout Bukayo Saka has become a man the manager trusts
  • Player ratings Noni Madueke was unplayable
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
40 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Sidiki Chérif: 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.

Squad

Declan Rice is carrying Arsenal

16 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Viktor Gyökeres gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Loan watch

12 clean sheets on loan for Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko

31 appearances at Fleetwood Town and the goals have stopped going in. Arsenal lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Gabriel Martinelli

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal told Gabriel Martinelli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Martin Ødegaard gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Martin Ødegaard is on it.

In brief

39 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 48. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.63 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Arsenal up to position 3

82 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

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.

Match

Kai Havertz the difference as Arsenal beat Burnley

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kai Havertz. 2‑0 against Burnley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kai Havertz

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

One of those days for Martin Ødegaard

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

When it matters, William Saliba 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.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Sidiki Chérif
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Market Declan Rice linked with a move away
38 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Match

No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Michael Howard signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michael Howard and Arsenal agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Paul Hawkins gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kai Havertz at his very best

Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Seb Ferdinand’s exile

10 goals in 33 games at Chesterfield — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

The dugout

Declan Rice gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Declan Rice is on it.

In brief

37 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Arsenal out

Out, 1‑2 to Chelsea, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Martin Ødegaard 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 dugout

No hiding place for David Raya

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Raya, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noni Madueke

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Bukayo Saka at his very best

Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

The dugout

Viktor Gyökeres left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Viktor Gyökeres will call it something else in private.

Player ratings

Declan Rice in the eights

A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Late, late show earns Arsenal a point

Minute 94, against Fulham, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

In brief

36 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka runs at them all day

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.

Market

Viktor Gyökeres wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Arsenal hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Declan Rice

16 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Match

After 7 games, Arsenal finally taste it again

The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Liverpool; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Match

A bad afternoon for Arsenal against Liverpool

0‑1 to Liverpool, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Martín Zubimendi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Zubimendi, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

11 clean sheets on loan for Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko

27 appearances at Fleetwood Town and the goals have stopped going in. Arsenal lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.

In brief

35 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.65 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Bukayo Saka leads the rout of Manchester United

5‑1, and Bukayo Saka took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Arsenal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

7 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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gabriel Martinelli takes the afternoon — 9.02

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Martinelli provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Bukayo Saka takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Arsenal are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 77 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Bukayo Saka among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Bukayo Saka on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Arsenal and Manchester United.

In brief

34 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Bukayo Saka is carrying Arsenal

25 goals and a season average of 7.61. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Nobody wants to play Arsenal right now

6 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.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Player ratings

Noni Madueke runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

International break empties Arsenal

9 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

Match

Arsenal get the job done against Nottingham Forest

A 2‑1 win over Nottingham Forest, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Match

Another one collected away from home

3 on the bounce on the road for Arsenal. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.

Player ratings

One of those days for Bukayo Saka

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

33 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Arsenal silence Tottenham

A derby is never about the football alone, but the football helped: 2‑1, and the away end emptied early. Bragging rights renewed for another season.

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.59 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

5 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Player ratings

The derby has a name on it: Declan Rice

Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Arsenal supporters have already started telling it.

Player ratings

Noni Madueke runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bruno Guimarães

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

No place for Ceadach O'Neill on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Arsenal pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

In brief

  • The dugout Bukayo Saka gets picked when it counts
  • Squad Arsenal are still strangers to each other
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
32 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cup progress for Arsenal

A 2‑1 win over Aston Villa, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

No mercy from Arsenal

Wolverhampton will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Match

Cruel end for Aston Villa as Arsenal pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Arsenal scored in the 111th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gabriel Martinelli takes the afternoon — 9.24

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Martinelli provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

A brace, and Declan Rice takes the afternoon — 8.37

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Declan Rice provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

4 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.

Squad

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.

Squad

Declan Rice is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.37 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Matty Cash signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matty Cash and Arsenal agree another 4 years.

In brief

31 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Kai Havertz's — 9.20

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Arsenal refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

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.

Squad

Pietro Tagliabue arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Pietro Tagliabue has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Declan Rice

13 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Arsenal find a way past Aston Villa

Aston Villa made Arsenal work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ceadach O'Neill

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

30 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Bukayo Saka is carrying Arsenal

23 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Both of them Bukayo Saka's — 8.44

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.44, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Player ratings

Declan Rice runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Viktor Gyökeres

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Arsenal see off Brighton

Three points for Arsenal, 2‑1 the final word against Brighton in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Christos Tzolis at his very best

Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

The dugout

Declan Rice 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ødegaard 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 ratings

Bukayo Saka was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Declan Rice is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.32 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Gabriel Martinelli gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Declan Rice at his very best

Marked 8.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

Squad

Andre Harriman-Annous stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Andre Harriman-Annous and Arsenal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Bukayo Saka 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.

Match

Declan Rice rescues a point for Arsenal

It needed Declan Rice to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Chelsea, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

  • The dugout Viktor Gyökeres knocks on the manager’s door
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market The Declan Rice talk will not go away
28 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Transfer targets

Too dear: Arsenal walk away from Liam Delap

$89.9M was the most the club would pay and Nottingham Forest were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Maxim De Cuyper

Arsenal asked and Brighton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

8 saves: David Raya was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Player ratings

Christos Tzolis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.53 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Fulham come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Arsenal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Declan Rice signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Declan Rice and Arsenal agree another 4 years.

Squad

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.

Match

Arsenal get the job done against Everton

A 2‑1 win over Everton, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

27 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Liam Delap

$89.9M on the table at Nottingham Forest. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Nottingham Forest tell Arsenal: Callum Hudson-Odoi is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Arsenal up to position 3

55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

The dugout

Nordi Mukiele keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 3 in, 2 out at Arsenal

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Gabriel Martinelli raises the bar for Arsenal

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Arsenal heard it as anything else.

Squad

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.

Match

Arsenal keep winning on the road

5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

26 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A day Noni Madueke will not forget

4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Cup progress for Arsenal

A 5‑0 win over Ipswich Town, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Transfer targets

Door shut on Liam Delap

Arsenal asked and Nottingham Forest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Arsenal taken apart

0‑4 to Manchester City, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Arsenal walk away from Hannibal

$21.5M was the most the club would pay and Burnley were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Player ratings

Sidiki Chérif, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.54

A mark of 8.54 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout

Evan Mooney keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Hannibal

$21.5M on the table at Burnley. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Business is business: Mikel Merino goes

AC Milan paid $8.8M and Arsenal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Match

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

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.

Match

Another one collected away from home

4 on the bounce on the road for Arsenal. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.

Squad

Declan Rice is carrying Arsenal

11 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Arsenal get the job done against Newcastle United

A 2‑1 win over Newcastle United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

24 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Gabriel Martinelli comes home

The shirt still fits. Gabriel Martinelli is back at Arsenal, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Match

No mercy from Arsenal

Sunderland will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Market

Riccardo Calafiori moves on

Aston Villa pay $43.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Player ratings

Kai Havertz scores twice — 9.20

Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Gabriel Martinelli gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriel Martinelli has just signed for Arsenal, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

3 goals for Bukayo Saka

The match ball belongs to Bukayo Saka, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bukayo Saka

20 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Nobody wins at Arsenal

13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Brighton for Ezri Konsa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

In brief

23 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

An offer of $86.8M for Gabriel Martinelli

Arsenal have gone to Al-Hilal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Arsenal agree $12.9M for Babis Kostoulas

The clubs have shaken hands with Brighton; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

Arsenal bid $32.3M for Luka Vušković

The offer went to Brighton this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Arsenal bid $13.0M for Sidiki Chérif

The offer went to Coventry City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Player ratings

A brace, and Martin Ødegaard takes the afternoon — 8.35

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Ødegaard provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Arsenal are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

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.

Market

Viktor Gyökeres wants more than Arsenal are offering

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

22 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Viktor Gyökeres the difference as Arsenal beat Bournemouth

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Viktor Gyökeres. 1‑0 against Bournemouth, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

Halfway: Arsenal sit in position 3

43 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Player ratings

Viktor Gyökeres stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Arsenal support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Declan Rice gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Declan Rice is on it.

The dugout

Simon Cunningham: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

Market

Bukayo Saka linked with a move away

The name of Bukayo Saka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

21 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Kai Havertz scores twice — 9.01

Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

The run at home goes on for Arsenal

12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Bukayo Saka 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 16 days out for Mikel Merino

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Arsenal will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Gabriel 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Declan Rice

11 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Arsenal promote Jonathan Clark from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jonathan Clark 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Edward Allen

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

20 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kepa Arrizabalaga is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kepa Arrizabalaga: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Christos Tzolis sends Arsenal through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Christos Tzolis obliged against Queens Park Rangers. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Arsenal.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noni Madueke

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bukayo Saka

17 goals and a season average of 7.43 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Declan Rice goes up and wins it — 6.65

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.65 for the rest of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Declan Rice 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Arsenal

11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Kai Havertz the difference as Arsenal beat Burnley

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kai Havertz. 3‑1 against Burnley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

Burnley blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Burnley tried to reorganise, Arsenal did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

In brief

19 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

No mercy from Arsenal

Crystal Palace will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

Declan Rice takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Arsenal up to position 3

36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Bukayo Saka is carrying Arsenal

16 goals and a season average of 7.40. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Nobody wins at Arsenal

10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ødegaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal and Crystal Palace in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

The dugout

David Raya gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • Player ratings Ninety minutes of Declan Rice at his very best
  • Player ratings Bukayo Saka in the eights
  • Boardroom $38.7M on the table at Arsenal
18 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Nordi Mukiele keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Declan Rice

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Bukayo Saka 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.

Match

Fulham end the Arsenal run at 7

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Squad

Gabriel 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.

Match

Fulham take the points off Arsenal

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Arsenal

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad

Declan Rice is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.24 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Simon Cunningham: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

17 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Arsenal run riot against Liverpool

8‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

7 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.

Squad

3 goals for Bukayo Saka

The match ball belongs to Bukayo Saka, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Martin Ødegaard scores twice — 8.37

Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Noni Madueke runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.36 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Bukayo Saka

Marked 10.00 — 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal and Liverpool in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

  • Match Nobody wins at Arsenal
  • Player ratings Ninety minutes of Ebere Eze at his very best
  • Squad Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
16 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

The dugout

Matty Cash keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

Arsenal make it 6 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 6 straight wins of it.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Kepa Arrizabalaga

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Declan Rice 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.

Squad

10 Arsenal players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 10 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

Bruno Guimarães was immovable

21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

Match

Arsenal get the job done against Manchester United

A 2‑0 win over Manchester United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The dugout

Ebere Eze gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

15 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Arsenal strike at the death to beat Nottingham Forest

There were 86 minutes on the clock and Nottingham Forest had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Arsenal did not stop to explain themselves.

Player ratings

Both of them Viktor Gyökeres's — 8.86

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.86, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Arsenal up to position 3

27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

5 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Viktor Gyökeres sends Arsenal past Nottingham Forest

It finished 3‑2, and it was Viktor Gyökeres’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.

Squad

Gabriel 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.

Market

One of our own: Adam Robinson joins the Arsenal first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Robinson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bukayo Saka

11 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

In brief

  • Match Arsenal make home a hard place to visit
  • Player ratings Bukayo Saka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • Player ratings Noni Madueke in the eights
14 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Arsenal silence Tottenham

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.

Squad

Noni Madueke takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Arsenal through in the cup

A 5‑0 win over Salford City, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Cruel end for Tottenham as Arsenal pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Arsenal scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Match

Arsenal cannot stop winning

4 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

William Saliba 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.

Player ratings

A derby belongs to Declan Rice

Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. Arsenal have their man.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Andre Harriman-Annous

At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Evan Mooney

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

  • Player ratings Christos Tzolis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • Player ratings Noni Madueke in the eights
  • Squad Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
13 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Martin Ødegaard takes the afternoon — 8.17

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Ødegaard provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Ebere Eze runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

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.

Match

Martin Ødegaard sends Arsenal past Wolverhampton

It finished 2‑1, and it was Martin Ødegaard’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Declan Rice

Marked 8.19 — 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 ratings

Bukayo Saka in the eights

A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Looking ahead

All roads lead to Tottenham

The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Arsenal will be judged on one thing only.

In brief

  • Squad Arsenal are still strangers to each other
  • Squad Edward Allen stays put
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
12 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noni Madueke

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Louis Zecevic-John is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Declan Rice 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ceadach O'Neill

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ceadach O'Neill, and the manager let it.

Match

Bukayo Saka the difference as Arsenal beat Aston Villa

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bukayo Saka. 1‑0 against Aston Villa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Illan Meslier has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Bukayo Saka

Marked 8.22 — 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.

The dugout

Simon Cunningham has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Simon Cunningham on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

11 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

International break empties Arsenal

10 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Josh Keyes arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Josh Keyes has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Edward Allen steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edward Allen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Bukayo Saka 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.

Market

A long bet from Arsenal on Josh Keyes

He is 20, and nobody at Arsenal signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Match

Honours even between Arsenal and Brighton

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market The Declan Rice story refuses to die
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Joshua Cunningham
10 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Bukayo Saka wins the derby for Arsenal

Derby days make names, and Bukayo Saka made his against Chelsea. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.

Player ratings

Ebere Eze beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

An unwelcome headline for Martin Ødegaard

He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.

Market

Viktor Gyökeres raises the bar for Arsenal

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Arsenal heard it as anything else.

Player ratings

The derby has a name on it: Bukayo Saka

Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Arsenal supporters have already started telling it.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

Harrison Dudziak is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

The dugout

Declan Rice 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

David Raya stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Arsenal

Chelsea next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Arsenal had all but put away. Everton will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Viktor Gyökeres

7.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Arsenal had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Match

Arsenal share the spoils with Everton

A 1‑1 draw with Everton leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Simon Cunningham: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

In brief

8 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Declan Rice 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.

Match

Arsenal see off Leeds United

Three points for Arsenal, 2‑0 the final word against Leeds United in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Declan Rice at his very best

Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

Squad

Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Calafiori 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.

Squad

Timothy Hawkins signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timothy Hawkins commits to Arsenal for another 3 years.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Simon Cunningham, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

Market

The Bukayo Saka question follows Arsenal around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bukayo Saka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Reinildo

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

7 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Bukayo Saka scores twice — 8.83

Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Declan Rice was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal

Matty Cash 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.

Squad

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Arsenal against Manchester City

2‑3 to Manchester City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Adam Wharton

Arsenal asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Alexander Turner steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexander Turner has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Nicholas Kelly steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicholas Kelly has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Mikel Merino gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

6 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

A 3-goal lead gone for Arsenal

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Newcastle United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Arsenal will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Market

Arsenal turn down Barcelona for David Raya

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Arsenal rebuffed over Karim Konaté

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Arsenal baulk at the price for Amadou Onana

Aston Villa wanted more than $12.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Boardroom

Arsenal close the window on a squad of their own making

19 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

Matty Cash 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.

Squad

10 Arsenal players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 10 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

Squad

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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Declan Rice at his very best

Marked 8.65. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.

In brief

5 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Arsenal sign Nordi Mukiele for $39.7M

The paperwork is done: Nordi Mukiele joins from Sunderland in a deal worth $39.7M. Now comes the harder part.

Match

Arsenal tear Sunderland apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑1 against Sunderland, and it could have been more.

Squad

Bukayo Saka takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Transfer targets

Arsenal rebuffed over Omar Alderete

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sunderland have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Arsenal walk away from Granit Xhaka

$16.6M was the most the club would pay and Sunderland were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Arsenal get their man

The chase for Reinildo ended with $8.0M changing hands and Sunderland out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Market

RC Lens come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Arsenal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Reinildo arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Reinildo has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

William Saliba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

4 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Matty Cash is a Arsenal player

The fee is $57.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Aston Villa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bukayo Saka

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Nordi Mukiele

$39.7M on the table at Sunderland. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Aston Villa tell Arsenal: Amadou Onana is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Arsenal run riot against West Ham United

4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Granit Xhaka

$16.6M on the table at Sunderland. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Arsenal turn down Liverpool for Martin Ødegaard

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

3 goals for Declan Rice

The match ball belongs to Declan Rice, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

A move Matty Cash would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matty Cash is living that version at Arsenal, and it tends to show in the first month.

In brief

  • Squad Words exchanged at Arsenal
  • Squad A row about effort at Arsenal
  • Match Arsenal settle it inside twenty minutes
3 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gianluigi Donnarumma

Arsenal asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Bayer Leverkusen come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Arsenal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

No deal for Tyrick Mitchell at that price

Arsenal offered $6.6M; Crystal Palace said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal

Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

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.

Squad

Gabriel 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.

Market

Samuel Carter steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Carter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Arsenal promote John Carter from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. John Carter 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.

Market

One of our own: Joshua Cunningham joins the Arsenal first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Joshua Cunningham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

2 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Arsenal bid $57.3M for Matty Cash

The offer went to Aston Villa this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Arsenal walk away from Igor Jesus

$39.5M was the most the club would pay and Nottingham Forest were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Samu Aghehowa

Arsenal asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Sevilla for Mikel Merino was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Tempers go at Arsenal

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.

Squad

Martín Zubimendi stays put

“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.

Market

One of our own: Luke Miller joins the Arsenal first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luke Miller is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Timothy Hughes steps up from the Arsenal academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timothy Hughes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Arsenal promote Timothy Hawkins from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timothy Hawkins 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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Arsenal bid $29.7M for Igor Jesus

The offer went to Nottingham Forest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Arsenal turn down Manchester United for David Raya

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Matteo Cancellieri

Arsenal asked and Lazio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

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.

Squad

Giacomo Bonaventura arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Giacomo Bonaventura has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Burgos join the queue for Illan Meslier

Add another name to the list: Burgos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Illan Meslier. The answer from Arsenal has not changed — yet.

Squad

Illan Meslier signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Illan Meslier and Arsenal agree another 2 years.

Market

Bukayo Saka linked with a move away

The name of Bukayo Saka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief