Morning all.
The Athletic report that sources with knowledge of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard’s fitness situation have said that following scans on both players, neither injury is as serious as first feared. Weeks rather than months for the Englishman, whilst our captain could be fit to face Liverpool on Sunday.
After a huge spending spree this summer, Mikel Arteta has solutions rather than just options. He doesn’t need to play a player out of position to cover. Eze and Nwaneri are central midfielders, Madueke is a right winger. Nwaneri too is an excellent alternative to Saka. Let’s not forget that at some stage this season, unless sold, Jesus is going to return to the squad so Arteta will have a player available who can play anywhere across the front line.
Defensively we were looking strong, especially after adding Mosquera to the squad this summer but with Kiwior nearing a move to Porto, we’re not looking quite as strong. Piero Hincapie is widely reported to be the player Arsenal want to replace Kiwior but that’s far from a done deal.
David Ornstein reports that the player, who is under contract with Leverkusen until June 2029, has told his club he wants to leave, and his wish is to join Arsenal. However, Leverkusen would prefer to keep the 23-year-old unless a €60million release clause in his terms is activated. Arsenal have six days to sort this one out. They have just six days to try and sell Vieira, Nelson, Lokonga and any other player not in Arteta’s plans.
Girona’s right-back Arnau Martínez has been linked to Arsenal although this story has not been been supported by any reputable source like Ornstein etc so it could just be a load of rubbish. But, if there are any concerns over Ben White’s fitness going forward, perhaps the club are looking at bolstering our right-back options.
This guy should be available on Sunday….
April 2024, Eze scored at Anfield as Crystal Palace won 1-0, May 2025, he was part of a Palace team with drew 1-1 at Anfield and in May 2025, he scored the only goal in the FA Cup Final against Man City which ensured Palace won the big cup for the first time ever. He’d scored in the semifinal against Aston Villa too. A 2-2 draw at The Emirates back in April, yep, he scored for Palace that day as well.
Our new number 10 might not start on Sunday but I’m sure he’ll be on the pitch at some stage. I know he’s probably not every Arsenal fans favourite signing but that’s life. Now he’s ours again I hope he does really well and there’s no reason why he can’t or won’t. I know I’ve only looked at last season’s games but he certainly seems to like scoring in the big games. The little games too as he scored both goals in Palace’s 2-0 win over Totts…
Bit of a waffle this morning, I’ve been dodging workmen. And making coffee, lots of coffee!
Catch up in the comments…
Good morning Rico.
A very tasty Wednesday waffle. It was welcome though its too early to drink some wine while reading it. So only water. For you it might seem like a normal day at the office but the following comment…..The little games too as he scored both goals in Palace’s 2-0 win over Totts…propels the post into EPL title winning post
If Man Utd sell Mainoo they will be without a mancunian in the squad. If Liverpool sell Jones they will have no scouser in their squad.
Meanwhile at Arsenal’s squad there is Bukayo Saka, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Eberechi Eze, Max Dowman, Reiss Nelson.
In light of the above, how’s this for an Arsenal line-up,
Raya (Spain) Timber (Netherlands) Saliba (France) Gabriel (Brazil) Calafiori (Italy) Odegaard (Norway) Merino (Spain) Zubimendi (Spain) Martinelli (Brazil) Viktor G (Sweden) Trossard (Belgium).
No one from England, let alone North London.
Well we did it once Cicero. Under AW we hold the record for being the first club with no Englishman in sight in the whole matchday squad. I don’t remember which season or game but I still remember that it left me deflated inside. I dont support England on the international stage, that honour goes to my country and a little bit to my country of origin (from where grandpa was). But I still want Arsenal with an English core. And not to have one in the squad at least was a bit sad for me. Ideally, the spine should be English for me.
Morning Devil, Cicero.
I couldn’t resist Devil…
Isak, despite being spoken to by the Saudi hierarchy still wants to leave Newcastle for Liverpool. Newcastle will only consider offers for him after they have signed two strikers to replace him and they will still hold out for their valuation of £150million which Liverpool will be very reluctant to meet, they are unwilling to offer more than £110million
Perhaps a cash plus player swap would work, £100 million plus Salah.
Rodrygo has formerly asked Real Madrid to allow him to leave. Arsenal are, reportedly, leading the pack in the race to sign him.
And didn’t people moan about it Devil…
No one seems to want to sell their strikers this late in the window, certainly not to Newcastle 😂
Surely we can’t keep signing players, unless Rodrygo comes in on loan.
These are the sides we could face in the third round of the Carabao Cup, the draw takes place tonight.
Lincoln City
Doncaster Rovers
Wigan Athletic
Bradford City
Burnley
Port Vale
Wrexham
Barnsley
Sheffield Wednesday
Reading
Brentford
Millwall
Wolves
Swansea City
Wycombe Wanderers
Cardiff City
Cambridge United
Southampton
Crystal Palace
Huddersfield Town
Everton/Mansfield
Grimsby/Manchester United
Oxford United/Brighton
Fulham/Bristol City
that’s a 9/25 chance of meeting a PL club. Just our luck if we get one from the sorting hat (ooopssss..harry potter mania) or should I say drawing hat? Fingers crossed we get Lincoln City or Grimsby.
Away to Man U looks good for T.V.
Reading at The Emirates would be good.
Any home draw would be ok I reckon..
No Tottenham?
Good point, not sure why they are missing. I got the list from afc.com
Just read that Reiss Nelson in talks to join Crystal Palace from Arsenal – £15m fee and gets the winger’s large wages off the books too. Eze deal was smooth, shouldn’t be an issue if that was anything to go by
Not allowed to be drawn against any team from Europe as dates clash in the 3rd round. So because Spurs sneaked in last year , we can’t play them
That’s it, I knew there was a reason. Lol
Good move for Reiss if it goes through.. Shame though in many ways.
Grimsby are 2-0 against Man Utd… lol
Their attack is practically at full strength…. with Sesko leading it.
Fingers crossed we get Grimsby at the Emirates
Still 45 to go…
Full attack? It’s more like a full team. Fernandez, Mbeumo, Mount, de Light are all on now chasing the game. Lol. It’s ridiculous.
Funny though.. 😂
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has approached Sir Alex Ferguson with a view for him to take over as manager when he sacks Ruben Amorin in the morning.
Good night Gooners, everywhere. 😴
🤣🤣🤣
Port Vale away
Last time we played them , we drew 0-0 at Highbury and then 1-1 in the replay and won on penalties.
I sincerely hope Arteta doesn’t take the Port Vale game lightly, we don’t want the embarrassment suffered by United at the hands of Grimsby.
There is an old story that a local business man phoned the club to buy twenty tickets for the next home match, no problem sir was the reply, he then asked what time was the kick-off and the reply came “what time can you get here sir” 😉
Port Vale have played 5 League One match’s this season and only conceded 5 goals, which ain’t bad.
Seems they have a decent defence!
Alternatively in those 5 matches they have only scored 2 goals, so you can see where the problem is for them…
So that’s 5 matches, 2 draws and 3 defeats, 2 points…
I don’t think we need to be afraid of Port Vale, we just need to pick the right mix of senior players and youngsters, as we did against Preston (a) last season.
why a mix of youngsters and seniors Kev when we have an established 2nd 11??
Kepa,
White, Mosquera, newCB, MLS
Merino, Norgaard, Eze
Nwaneri, Trossard, Noni
All these have to play a full game.
Like you I always love to see youngsters begin the game, however we have a quite good 2nd 11. The best scenario is to introduce the youngsters like Dowman etc for the last 10-20 mins.
Arsenal are now in direct talks with Bayer for Piero Hincapié deal after personal terms agreed.
AFC preference for loan with obligation as deal now depends on structure to be approved or not by Leverkusen. If Hincapié deal can be agreed, Kiwior can join FC Porto.
I don’t think he will Cicero, rotation yes but he’ll still field a very strong side I’m sure.
Morning all.
New post up by the way.