From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
15 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.41 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Nov 2026
7 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Declan Rice
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at Arsenal
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Bukayo Saka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
14 unbeaten for Arsenal
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Arsenal did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Both of them Ebere Eze's — 8.10
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.38 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match14 Nov 2026
Arsenal keep winning on the road
6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
William Saliba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Ebere Eze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Arsenal
8 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Bukayo Saka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Martin Ødegaard in the eights
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The dugout
Declan Rice has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Nov 2026
13 unbeaten for Arsenal
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Arsenal did not have in the autumn.
Match9 Nov 2026
34 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match7 Nov 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ebere Eze
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Arsenal make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
William Saliba 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
The derby belongs to Arsenal
3‑1 against Tottenham, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Match31 Oct 2026
Arsenal make it 12 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 12 straight wins of it.
Match28 Oct 2026
Arsenal march on in the cup
Shrewsbury Town are out and Arsenal go through, 6‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
William Saliba: 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Rio Ngumoha takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rio Ngumoha provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.76 at 14, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Bukayo Saka, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match24 Oct 2026
Arsenal make it 10 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 10 straight wins of it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Wolverhampton will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bukayo Saka is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.33 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal and Wolverhampton in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.30 — 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Martin Ødegaard 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Oct 2026
Arsenal cannot stop winning
9 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Martín Zubimendi. 2‑1 against Aston Villa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.30 — 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Arsenal
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matthew Cooper on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Gabriel 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 Gabriel is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Arsenal right now
8 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Bukayo Saka
16 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Arsenal keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 Arsenal players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Bukayo Saka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
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 ratings12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Arsenal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Calafiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Player ratings
Kai Havertz unlocks it
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The dugout
Martin Ødegaard has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
The derby belongs to Arsenal
1‑0 against Chelsea, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Arsenal right now
7 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Arsenal and a story that will outlast his contract.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Charles Harris and Arsenal agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Saliba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Louis Zecevic-John is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Arsenal keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Bukayo Saka at his very best
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Viktor Gyökeres was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
6‑0, and Bukayo Saka took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Arsenal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bukayo Saka takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Both of them Ebere Eze's — 8.36
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match19 Sep 2026
Arsenal make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 5 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
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 Leeds United.
Market21 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timothy Mitchell is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market21 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jack Watson 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edward Henderson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
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Player ratings
Bukayo Saka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
Nothing got past Declan Rice
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Player ratings
Viktor Gyökeres was on a different afternoon to everybody else
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Manchester City, and it could have been more.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what West Ham United would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Ham United have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Sep 2026
Arsenal make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Saliba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Harrison Wood 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. Harrison Wood is living that version at Arsenal, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match12 Sep 2026
Arsenal settle it inside twenty minutes
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Manchester City spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Arsenal have gone to West Ham United 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 targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Bukayo Saka took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Arsenal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bukayo Saka takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Arsenal close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 4 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Arsenal make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Saliba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 Arsenal players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mikel Merino 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
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Bukayo Saka
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Player ratings
One of those days for Ebere Eze
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Aston Villa wanted more than $28.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Sunderland, and it could have been more.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Arsenal say no — this time
The offer from Manchester United for David Raya 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rio Ngumoha 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. Rio Ngumoha has, at Arsenal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jurriën Timber commits to Arsenal for another 5 years.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
West Ham United will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Bukayo Saka, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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 targets24 Aug 2026
$30.9M was the most the club would pay and PSV 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Arsenal say no — this time
The offer from Borussia Dortmund for Martin Ødegaard 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Bukayo Saka among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 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 West Ham United.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Arsenal and Benfica have settled on $24.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$43.1M was the most the club would pay and Leeds United 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Arsenal have gone to PSV 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Arsenal say no — this time
The offer from Real Madrid for Declan Rice 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Arsenal
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Charles Harris has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Leeds United 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 targets10 Aug 2026
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 targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Declan Rice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Tottenham, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martín Zubimendi and Arsenal agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Charles Ross 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matthew Kelly has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Arsenal say no — this time
The offer from West Ham United for Kai Havertz 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A move Rafinha 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. Rafinha is living that version at Arsenal, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Declan Rice in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Tottenham have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market3 Aug 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with William Saliba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Martín Zubimendi 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.