The Weekly Take, Issue 385: A Critic-Silencing Triumph

Although Arsenal have surged to an early lead in the Premier League, the consensus is that it won't last and the Gunners will fade away down the final stretch of the season - just as they have seemed to do in almost every year of the Mikel Arteta era. This sentiment hasn't been helped by the inconsistent form of off-season signing Viktor Gyökeres.

Having been signed from Sporting Lisbon for just under €66 million, the Swede had been unimpressive all season long ever since arriving at the Emirates Stadium; however, this changed with Arsenal's Champions League match against Atlético Madrid.

In a result that might just have put the European football scene on notice, Arsenal destroyed their Spanish opponents in a dominant 4-0 victory. Interestingly enough, the match actually was still scoreless heading into half-time; that said, Arsenal were the more likely to score throughout the opening 45 minutes. Then, in one incredible 13-minute spurt in the second half, everything happened.

In the 57th minute, Gabriel Magalhães opened the scoring for Arsenal with - as many would have guessed - a header off a corner kick. Set-piece goals have been Arsenal's go-to for most of this season, and this opening goal showed exactly why. Seven minutes later, Arsenal extended their lead via Gabriel Martinelli whose shot made its way into the bottom corner.

Not long after that, Gyökeres took over, scoring two goals in the subsequent six-minute span. Once again, Arsenal added to their tally with a set-piece goal; it was the second goal of Gyökeres' brace. Arsenal's victory ensured that they would be one of the three teams to finish Matchday 3 of the Champions League's league phase having won all three of their matches thus far, alongside Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan.

Although their one-sided victory over Atlético is unlikely to convince many that Arsenal are genuine contenders to win the Champions League for the first time in the club's history, it nonetheless served as vindication after much of the criticism they'd suffered thus far this season. For example, it had often been said of Arsenal that they were over-reliant on set pieces as a source of goals and that their recent success with set pieces would prove to be unsustainable. This was clearly proven wrong against Atlético with two of Arsenal's four goals coming by way of a corner kick.

Some of the greatest football teams of all time were capable of wielding the set piece as a true weapon. Ultimately, set-piece goals count for the same as do those from open play; as such, with set pieces being one of Arsenal's particular strengths, it would evidently be a mistake for them not to leverage set pieces. If there were to be any team out there right now which could ride set pieces to perhaps a domestic league title, it would have to be Arsenal.

This might also have been the match that unlocked "the real Gyökeres". Despite the fact that not even a quarter of the season has yet been played, many had rushed to lambast the centre-forward as an expensive flop after having scored just three goals in nine matches. Some were also citing Gyökeres' slow start as "proof" that he couldn't hack it in a league far stronger than the Primeira Liga where he'd spent the last two seasons. Could this match, perhaps, have been the turning point of his season?

Finally, we come to Arteta. On many occasions since accepting his first-ever head coaching position at Arsenal in 2019, he has received much criticism for his relative lack of tactical skill. However, this time around nailed it on the strategic front and even more impressively, left Atlético's Diego Simeone - one of the all-time great tactical minds - bereft of solutions. It was something that Arsenal fans haven't gotten to see all that often during Arteta's years at the helm - but more of this and Arsenal might genuinely push for a first league title in 22 years.

Of course, no club has developed a greater reputation for fumbling titles than Arsenal have and it almost seems as if just saying "this is the year that they finally put it all together" might jinx them on the spot. That said, based on what we just saw, the signs are looking better than they have in quite some time.

The Weekly Take, Issue 375: A Debut That Didn't Fulfill the Hype

The obvious standout of the opening matchday of the 2025-26 Premier League season saw Manchester United host Arsenal. The match was billed as a clash between both clubs’ respective centre-forwards who had just been signed for major money. United signed Slovenian Benjamin Šeško from RB Leipzig for €76.5 million while Arsenal brought Swede Viktor Gyökeres to the Emirates Stadium from Sporting Lisbon for a fee of €65.8 million.

This highly-anticipated showdown got off to an anticlimactic start after it was revealed that unlike Gyökeres who was in the Gunners’ starting line-up, Šeško started the match on the bench. However, it was actually Arsenal’s Italian full-back Riccardo Calafiori who scored the opening goal of the match following - in what has become a common occurrence for Manchester United - an error by United goalkeeper Altay Bayındır who mishandled Declan Rice’s corner kick, allowing Calafiori to put it in from close range.

Despite having the bulk of the goalscoring chances and possession, United were never able to make full use of these advantages and remained a goal behind heading into halftime. After the break, Šeško replaced Mason Mount and thus made his Premier League debut shortly after Gyökeres was substituted; Gyökeres was replaced by Kai Havertz.

However, Šeško’s first Premier League match certainly didn’t go according to plan. Apart from attempting a header which ended up not even being close to the target, Šeško barely did anything of note in his half-hour or so of play as United, despite largely being in control of the match, couldn’t find a way to the back of the net and finally succumbed to a 1-0 loss.

On an individual level, however, Šeško’s opposite number fared even worse. Between the two of them, Gyökeres was by far the more hyped despite having been signed for the lower transfer fee of the two. Adding to the narrative of this match was the fact that at one point of the transfer window, the man from Stockholm arguably seemed to be more likely to sign for United. As such, this match could easily have been an opportunity for Gyökeres to send a clear statement to United: “this is what you’ve missed out on”.

However, Gyökeres barely contributed anything at all - he didn’t even attempt a single shot - before being substituted. United’s Dutch centre-back Matthijs de Ligt got the better of Gyökeres again and again. Gyökeres looked absolutely nothing like the centre-forward who utterly shredded defenses across Portugal for the past two years.

There’s no question that there’s a significant skill gap between the Portuguese and English top-flight leagues. Many players over the years who have dominated a weaker league have found themselves struggling after making a move to a club in one of Europe’s major football leagues. While one would assume that Gyökeres is too good a player for that to happen to him and of course, it’s only been one match, we’ve seen players come into one of the top leagues from a weaker one with plenty of hype before - only to never live up to said hype.

It should go without saying that if Arsenal are to make a serious push for a first Premier League title since 2004, the North Londoners will need Gyökeres to rediscover his peak form and sustain it. Last season, Arsenal scored 22 fewer league goals than they had the season before - and this relative lack of goalscoring output caused Arsenal to finish the 2024-25 Premier League with 74 points as opposed to 89 in 2023-24. A tally of 89 points would, in fact, have won them the league last season.

On the surface, Gyökeres appears to check every box as far as what Arsenal need in a centre-forward. In addition to goalscoring, Gyökeres has a blend of technical skill and athleticism that not many strikers can boast of; he’s even above average compared to other centre-forwards at creating goalscoring chances. However, the gap between the Premier League and the Primeira Liga coupled with the fact that there’s more pressure on him than there has been on any Arsenal signing in a long time might just cause him to be unable to fulfill the hype.

All of that being said, most would say that Viktor Gyökeres does have what it takes to become Arsenal’s next great striker. However, if he’s to do so, performances like the one he just had against Manchester United won’t cut it at all.

The Weekly Take, Issue 371: Another Botched Transfer Window?

Not long after returning from the United States with the Club World Cup in possession after destroying Paris Saint-Germain in the final, Chelsea soon picked up another W - this time off the field; specifically, after flat-out scamming Arsenal in their sale of winger Noni Madueke to their London rivals for a transfer fee of £48.5 million.

In the two seasons and a half that Madueke spent at Chelsea, he showed absolutely nothing even remotely resembling the level of play that would’ve merited his hefty transfer fee. While Madueke is no scrub by any means, based on what we’ve seen from him so far, his ceiling isn’t anywhere near as high as his transfer fee - almost one and a half times his projected transfer value - might indicate.

As for Arsenal, they appear to be once again fumbling the transfer window - the main reason why the Gunners haven’t won a title of any sort since their FA Cup victory in the 2019-20 season. This can clearly be seen not only by the fact that they significantly overpaid for Madueke, but also in how they’re struggling to close out a huge transfer deal that seemed to be a lock not too long ago: the signing of Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres.

After looking so close to landing by far their biggest signing since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018, progress on Gyökeres’ move to Arsenal has stalled and even more gallingly, might be beaten to the punch by Manchester United - a team which finished just 15th in the Premier League last season in what was their worst league campaign in 51 years and realistically should have no business landing a player on Gyökeres’ level.

If Arsenal are to seriously challenge Liverpool and Manchester City on the domestic front next season, they absolutely have to get things right in the transfer window. Instead, what they’ve been doing so far has been the exact opposite. Going back to the signing of Madueke, it was an obvious panic move which showed absolutely no forethought whatsoever; on top of the excessive transfer fee, it remains to be seen just how he will slot into Arsenal’s starting 11 - if he even can. There’s a possibility that Arsenal just spent all that money to bring in an expensive benchwarmer.

The argument that Arsenal don’t have the financial might that City do isn’t a viable one either; Liverpool just won the league by a landslide last season and they too aren’t working with that kind of budget. For years now Arsenal have been playing catch-up in the transfer window; if not for that, it’s very possible that Arsenal’s trophy drought wouldn’t have stretched to five years by now.

To put into perspective how pessimistic Arsenal fans are about the Madueke signing, after it was confirmed that it was likely that Madueke would be signing for Arsenal, many Arsenal fans took the the internet with the hashtag #NoToMadueke. While it’s of course not out of the question that Madueke defies the critics and has a career-best year in his first season at the Emirates Stadium, everything around the move is really not looking good as of right now.

There’s no good reason why a club of Arsenal’s level should have failed to bring in a total of one bona fide superstar over the last decade. Although there’s still more than a month left of the transfer window remaining, Arsenal’s track record in this area over preceding years speaks for itself - it would be almost unprecedented if Arsenal were to somehow make things work. At this point it wouldn’t even be surprising if Arsenal were to lose Gyökeres to United.

Every off-season it appears as though Arsenal enter the transfer window without a coherent plan and as a result start the new season several steps behind their direct league rivals. As of right now, it seems as though this will once again be the case in the 2025-26 season. Once again, Arsenal don’t seem likely to have the personnel to be taken seriously as a genuine league title contender as the new season approaches.

If Arsenal are to win the Premier League title for the first time since 2004, it’s all but necessary that they must sign not only Gyökeres, but also several other key additions - and not questionable signings like Noni Madueke. 

The Weekly Take, Issue 305: A Huge Chance Squandered?

If ever there was an opportunity for Arsenal to establish themselves as a genuine contender to win this season’s Champions League, the first leg of their quarterfinal fixture against Bayern Munich was exactly that. With their Bavarian opponents at their weakest point in more than a decade and struggling for form ahead of their trip to the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal had a clear chance to capitalize and take an important lead going into the second leg in Munich.

Instead, the Gunners came up short as they only managed a 2-2 draw. Arsenal actually got off to a strong start with Bukayo Saka opening the scoring in the 12th minute, only for Serge Gnabry to score against his former club six minutes later and bring the score to 1-1. Then, as he had so often done during his legendary 12-year stint at Arsenal’s North London arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Kane put his name on the scoresheet - this time via a penalty earned by Leroy Sané. Substitute Leandro Trossard would later score Arsenal’s equalizer to ensure that Arsenal would not enter the second leg a goal behind.

For Arsenal, this result can’t be described as anything other than a blown chance. Having a home match against one of the pre-tournament favorites who happened to be in turmoil on and off the field just then while Arsenal themselves lead the Premier League heading into the home stretch as they edge closer to a first league title in 20 years should’ve been exactly what they needed to get the jump on Bayern ahead of the second leg.

Instead, for large portions of the match, Arsenal were clearly outplayed. Arsenal’s back five, goalkeeper David Raya included, were rather shaky for most of the match and could certainly have done more to prevent Gnabry from having the goalscoring opportunity of which he took full advantage. In addition, Saliba’s foul on Sané to concede the penalty capped off a sequence of poor defensive play, particularly from Brazilian centre-back Gabriel.

Up until Arsenal brought in some of their substitutes, things weren’t going so well on the offensive front either apart from Saka. Kai Havertz looked more like the player who consistently underwhelmed during his three years at Chelsea than the player he’s been this season - someone who’s having a “comeback” season in what’s been his best year since leaving Bayer Leverkusen in 2020. As for Gabriel Martinelli, Bayern’s defense had him in their pocket from opening kick-off until he was unsurprisingly yanked in the 65th minute.

The biggest positive that Arsenal can take from this match regards their strategic and tactical adjustments. Mikel Arteta easily outcoached his Bayern counterpart Thomas Tuchel (to be fair, that isn’t a difficult thing to do these days), bringing in Trossard and Gabriel Jesus at just the right times and ultimately ensuring that Arsenal would head to Germany on level footing. The two substitutes would go on to combine for Arsenal’s equalizing goal.

Spearheaded by Arteta who at one point was almost fired from his position, Arsenal’s turnaround over the past two seasons has been impressive indeed. However, Arsenal’s sub-par performance on the biggest stage when the moment arrived highlighted how far Arsenal still have to go to become bona fide Champions League title contenders. The only consolation for Arsenal is the fact that this is the first leg, allowing them to regroup and potentially beat Bayern at the Allianz Arena.

Based on their respective levels of play throughout this season, one would expect Arsenal to take the win in the second leg and advance to the Champions League semifinals for the first time since the 2008-09 season. However, the first leg clearly showed that while Arsenal are definitely capable of beating Bayern away, the real question is if they will have the mental wherewithal to do so as well. It also has to be mentioned that fatigue could play a role - unlike Arsenal, Bayern are already out of contention for their domestic league title and thus can afford to rotate their squad to keep their best players fresh for the second leg.

Of course, with the aggregate score still tied at 2-2, Arsenal can’t be written off by any means. However, should they lose to Bayern in the second leg and exit the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage, this first-leg draw will undoubtedly be regarded as a golden opportunity blown.

The Weekly Take, Issue 252: The Beginning of a Title Challenge Unraveling?

When the story of the 2022-23 Premier League season is fully told, this most recent matchday might very well end up serving as the turning point of the entire narrative.

In an away match against Liverpool, Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead and ended up playing to a 2-2 draw. Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus put the Gunners two goals ahead before even half an hour had elapsed. Mohamed Salah halved the deficit just before the break; he would go on to miss a penalty in the second half. Fortunately for the Reds, Roberto Firmino scored an equalizing goal in the 87th minute to deal a blow to the league leaders' quest to win the Premier League for the first time in 19 years.

Had Arsenal taken all three points in this match, they would have extended their lead over Manchester City at the summit of the Premier League to eight points. It must be kept in mind that City's goal difference is superior to Arsenal's. Additional, the two clubs will play against each other on April 26. Had Arsenal beaten Liverpool, the North Londoners would have ensured that City cannot be fully in control of their pursuit of a fifth domestic league title in six seasons. However, after having split the points with the Merseysiders, Arsenal will likely head into their upcoming clash against City with "all the marbles" on the line.

For much of the season so far, Arsenal have had a commanding lead in the Premier League title race with a monumental collapse being the only way it seemed they could lose the league title. Remarkably, that collapse could now be unfolding before our eyes. With City in the midst of a red-hot run of form, they are likely the favourites to win the match against Arsenal later this month. A City victory, as mentioned, would likely put them top of the league with just six matches remaining. Should City beat Arsenal and then win out, they will win the league.

It could be the case that the pressure of ending a league title drought of almost two decades is catching up to Arsenal. In fact, prior to this season they had been bona fide league title contenders just once since 2008; this was in the 2015-16 season when they finished second behind Leicester City. This means that not even one current Arsenal player was yet at the club the last time they had a genuine chance to win the Premier League. Arsenal have not even qualified for the Champions League once since that season. Similarly, although Mikel Arteta has coached Arsenal to an FA Cup victory, that pales in comparison to the intensity of a league title race. With this fact in mind, it would therefore not be all that surprising for the Spaniard to begin to falter as the season reaches its final stretch.

Ironically, one area which has been hailed as one of Arsenal's greatest successes this season might end up being the very thing which prevents them from winning the league: their transfer window acquisitions. Although Arsenal made mutiple key signings in both the previous off-season and mid-season transfer window, they do not have and did not sign a player who can single-handedly put the rest of the team of his back and will Arsenal to victory. City have two players at that level in Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. While it is possible to win the Premier League without such a player, the lack of said player also makes it much more likely that a title bid might fizzle out when it matters most.

Arsenal's final run-in is much more difficult than City's. Following their match against City, Arsenal will host Chelsea in a London derby; despite Chelsea's struggles this season, derby matches are always a toss-up. This derby is followed by an away match against third-placed Newcastle United - dropping points there would not be completely unexpected.

Arsenal have not had a title opportunity like this for many years; it isn't inconceivable that it could be just as long before another comes back. Yes, it's true that this match against Liverpool is just one match out of 38 and just two points dropped. But when all is said and done, we could just end up looking at this match as emblematic of what seemed like a certain Premier League title being thrown away.

The Weekly Take, Issue 235: Finally Elite Again

It has been just about an eternity since the last time Arsenal were a genuinely elite team. The last time Arsenal were at this level was during the 2009-10 season. Featuring a well-rounded roster built around Cesc Fàbregas, the Gunners finished third in the Premier League while also making the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

The more than one decade since then has yielded little success for the London club. Apart from a distant second-place finish in the league in 2015-16 as well as four FA Cup victories, Arsenal have clearly lagged behind England's leading clubs. Their absolute nadir came in 2020-21 when they finished eighth in the league and failed to qualify for European competition for the first time in 26 years.

However, Arsenal have completely flipped the script this season. They notched yet another impressive victory in a campaign full of them; a 1-0 win over Chelsea in a London derby. Gabriel Magalhães scored the only goal of the match; the result ensured that Arsenal would retain their two-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

If Arsenal were to, as expected, beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in their next league match, they will enter the World Cup break in first place in the league. Not even the most ardent Arsenal fans could have fathomed such a scenario at the beginning of the season.

During the most recent off-season, Arsenal saw Alexandre Lacazette, Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira, and Héctor Bellerín leave the Emirates Stadium. In most of these cases, it was "addition by subtraction" as it had become clear that none of those four players really fit the plan that head coach Mikel Arteta had installed. As far as arrivals were concerned, Arsenal only made one major signing - but it has proven to have been an excellent pick. Manchester City's signing of Erling Haaland caused Gabriel Jesus to become surplus to requirements at the Etihad Stadium. Arsenal seized their opportunity and signed the Brazilian centre-forward for £45 million; it soon became apparent that they'd stolen a march on other top clubs by signing him when no other club had even been making inquiries.

Several Arsenal players have also shown significant year-to-year improvement when comparing their performances of this season to those of last. Notably, Martin Ødegaard, Magalhães, and Gabriel Martinelli are all in the midst of breakout seasons. Arsenal's decision to bring William Saliba back to the club following loan stints during each of the last three seasons has also been a masterstroke; those three years on loan have obviously turned him into a solid player who is clearly good enough to start for just about any top-tier club.

From a tactical standpoint, Arsenal have shown much progression. A great deal of credit here has to go to Arteta; in just one year, the Spaniard has gone from being likely to face the axe to one of the best coaches in the league. Arteta's new emphases on progressive passing and increased pressing intensity on defense have clearly done a great deal to benefit this team. Both of these elements were largely missing from their repertoire last season, however, this is clearly not the case anymore.

What makes things even more exciting for Arsenal is the relatively young age of their squad. The vast majority of Arsenal's key players are aged 25 or younger. If they are able to keep most of this core group together for the next two to three years, they might not only contend for Premier League titles; if everything goes just right, they may even end up having an outside shot at a Champions League title as well.

As if that weren't enough, this is an incredibly balanced squad. Despite being top of the league, no Arsenal players has been named man of the match more than twice this season. After just 13 matches, a total of nine Arsenal players have already claimed the accolade at least once. This statistic clearly testifies to the fact that Arsenal embody "next man up" mentality - it really could be anyone who steps forward and delivers a top performance.

There really is a lot to like about this Arsenal team. Could they really win the Premier League for the first time in 19 years? It's starting to look like a distinct possibility.

The Weekly Take, Issue 202: A Critical Missed Opportunity

Prior to their Premier League match against Liverpool, Arsenal's season had been turning for the better after a slow start. With nine win in their preceding 11 league matches including five in a row, the Gunners should have been primed to give Liverpool all that they could handle - especially with Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah restricted to an appearance off the bench due to a foot injury.

However, the match did not go according to plan for Arsenal at all. In a stark demonstration of the gulf in quality between the two teams, Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-0 despite not even exerting anywhere near their maximum level of effort. Diogo Jota scored Liverpool's first goal before being substituted almost immediately; his replacement, Roberto Firmino, wasted almost no time in adding to Liverpool's lead.

Arsenal will certainly rue this loss because a victory would have seen them move four points ahead of Manchester United and solidified their grip on fourth place and the last qualification spot for next season's Champions League. More than anything else, though, this match once again exposed some of Arsenal's most pertinent weaknesses which might just cause them to miss out on the top four.

One important question that hasn't been addressed all season long and has become even more relevant following the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona is this: do Arsenal really know who makes up their best attacking midfield trio? Choosing between Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Ødegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli can prove to be quite the issue, especially now that Aubameyang has left, making Alexandre Lacazette the club's only starter-level striker. Even at this late stage of the season, the evidence on display during the Liverpool match clearly shows that Arsenal still haven't gotten it quite right in this area; if they end up surrendering their spot in the top four, this could have turned out to have been the main reason behind their downfall.

In the upcoming off-season, it might also be prudent for Arsenal to consider signing a new starting goalkeeper. Aaron Ramsdale has been rather inconsistent all season long; there are stretches when he saves just about anything but follows up those hot streaks with errors like the one he committed to allow Liverpool their first goal. Ramsdale is no scrub by any means, but is he really the goalkeeper upon whom Arsenal would like to stake their long-term future? Unfortunately, I just don't see it. He has not always been able to deliver at that level when it has most been needed.

Going back to the other end of the field, it's time to question Lacazette as well. This season, the Frenchman has scored a paltry four league goals. If he finishes the season at his current goalscoring rate, he will end the campaign with just six - his lowest tally in nine years and by far the lowest of his career at the Emirates Stadium. Not only that - at the age of 30, Lacazette does not fit this team's timeline. Arsenal have a young squad; most of their key players are 25 or younger. It does not make sense to continue to make a player who will soon be on the downswing of his career (if he isn't already there) one of the main components of the team.

There can be little doubt that this season has been very much better for Arsenal than was their disaster of a campaign in 2020-21. They do have an intriguing young core - albeit one without an ace like Aubameyang in his prime. That being said, their weaknesses continue to be glaring in many ways. It seems as though Arsenal have a clear idea of what should come next in the post-Aubameyang era, but they have not taken many, if any, steps in that direction.

Arsenal have not had a wider window of opportunity in years, given the ongoing struggles of United, Tottenham Hotspur, and most notably of all, Chelsea. Whether they will take advantage of this opportunity, though, remains to be seen. Although Arsenal might be in a solid position at the moment with regard to their league performance, it cannot be disputed: the only thing consistent about this Arsenal team is their inconsistency.

The Weekly Take, Issue 185: It Was Just a False Dawn

In the lead-up to this past matchday's Premier League clash between Liverpool and Arsenal, many Arsenal fans were understandably expecting at least a respectable result. The Gunners were on an eight-match unbeaten streak in the league, winning six of those matches. After five years of general underperformance, maybe, just maybe, things were finally starting to turn for the better at the Emirates Stadium.

However, Arsenal were handed a reality check by the Reds. Liverpool utterly eviscerated Arsenal in a dominant 4-0 victory. Sadio Mané opened the scoring in the 39th minute; after the halftime break, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, and Takumi Minamino added to Liverpool's margin of victory.

Arsenal were thoroughly outclassed by their opponents from the northwest in every way imaginable; this was obvious even from the opening kickoff. Despite their prior hot streak, this match clearly showed that Arsenal still have a very long way to go if they are to even think of once again becoming league title contenders. Such a status seems to be, at the very least, five years away - and even that might be generous.

Even their recent unbeaten run belies their true level. Not one of their six wins came against genuinely high-quality opposition; this fact exposes Arsenal as nothing more than "flat-track bullies". In addition, prior to those matches, Arsenal had lost three consecutive matches including a 2-0 loss against London rivals Chelsea as well a 5-0 shellacking at the hands of Manchester City. Arsenal are therefore now 0-0-3 against all three of this season's Premier League title contenders; they scored no goals and conceded a whopping 11 across those matches.

So, just what does the road ahead hold for Arsenal?

For one thing, it may be time to start scouring the market for a centre-forward. As great as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been in North London, he is now 32 and beginning to show clear signs of decline. His 10 league goals last season represented his lowest career tally in a major league apart from his first professional season in 2007-08, when he was just a teenager fresh out of AC Milan's youth academy. It was also his lowest total overall since the 2010-11 season.

The main question regarding "Auba" when he was still in his prime was always about what would happen once he ages and loses his once-explosive athleticism. While the Arsenal captain is certainly not a scrub by any means, it may be time to move on from him.

Even qualifying for next season's Champions League will be an uphill battle for Mikel Arteta's team because Arsenal have once again kneecapped themselves with yet another underwhelming transfer window. This past off-season, Arsenal spent over £140 million on new acquisitions. However, of their seven signings, the only one to have moved the needle in any notable manner has been goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. While Ben White has been reasonably consistent at centre-back, his performances thus far have not justified his lofty price tag of £50 million. None of Arsenal's other signings have been particularly impactful thus far.

Arteta himself has to be scrutinized as well. On many occasions, he has shown himself to lack the tactical nous required to succeed as a coach at this level. Bear in mind that although he led Arsenal to the FA Cup title in his first season at the club, he did so by beating Chelsea who were then coached by the utterly incompetent Frank Lampard - someone who could be outstrategized by almost anyone.

This might actually be as good as it will get for Arsenal this season. The fact that their goal difference currently stands at -4 shows that they have been somewhat fortunate to have accumulated as many points as they have thus far. Regression to the mean could happen at any time. It is looking increasingly likely that Arsenal will fail to qualify for the Champions League for a sixth consecutive season.

If Arsenal are to become truly relevant once more, major changes are required. Everything about this club, both on the field as well as off it, evidences a club clearly in decline. While it's much too early to claim that Arsenal are on a one-way path to long-term irrelevancy, the signs do not look promising at the moment.

The Weekly Take, Issue 74: A Most Unlikely Purchase

Arsenal have always been known as a club who have been cautious in the transfer window.

The Gunners have historically held out on signing big-name, big-money players unless a major opportunity were to fall into their lap. In recent years, players who could be classified as such include the likes of Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

This is why it came as such a surprise when Arsenal shattered their club transfer record by signing Ivorian winger Nicolas Pépé from Lille. With a transfer fee of 

€79 million, Pépé is now the most expensive African footballer of all time, beating the record previously held by his new teammate Aubameyang.

Now, while I do not believe that Pépé will play poorly during his stint at the London club, I consider this a mistake on Arsenal's part.

As Pépé is still only 24, his high transfer fee is both the product of current performance as well as projected future potential. However, it does not seem as though he has the ceiling of a true superstar. While this fact might not be a problem in and of itself, when a club signs a player for that high a transfer fee, the club ought to expect the player to be able to deliver at such a level.

Pépé did have a breakout campaign at Lille during the 2018-19 season. He scored an impressive 22 league goals and handed out 11 assists to lead Les Dogues to second place in Ligue 1.

However, it ought to be noted that he did not do this in one of Europe's major leagues. Thus, the level of competition that he faced every week was lower than what was encountered by some other rising stars such as Luka Jović, Joshua Kimmich, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Richarlison, and Leroy Sané, among others. Since the level of play in the Premier League is much higher than that of Ligue 1, Pépé may find it difficult to adapt; in fact, there is even a slight possibility that he never does so and struggles throughout his time in England, though that is the absolute worst-case scenario.

The addition of Pépé to the current Arsenal team also seems somewhat redundant. This is due to the fact that Aubameyang, who is clearly Arsenal's best player, is currently on the roster.

Pépé is a player whose style of play is very similar to that of the Gabonese striker. Able to play on either wing or at centre-forward, Pépé often uses his blistering speed to leave defenders behind him when moving inside from out wide.

This description is almost an exact copy of a description which could have been used to describe Aubameyang, particularly during his Borussia Dortmund days when he was younger and more athletic. Arsenal could easily have used the money spent on Pépé to sign a player such as Richarlison, Jović, Sébastien Haller, or Cengiz Ünder - young players of similar or higher calibre and who are all better fits alongside Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette up front.

One area in which Arsenal erred in this transfer window was their failure to make any notable transfers until July 25, when they signed William Saliba from Saint-Étienne. By this point, teams such as Real Madrid, Juventus, and Bayern Munich had all made multiple major signings. Even domestically, the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham had both landed a signing of note well before Arsenal did. This therefore artificially inflated Pépé's price - typically, the later in the transfer window the player is signed, the more inflated the transfer fee.

Now, I don't think this transfer is completely negative for Arsenal. Pépé is a clear upgrade over Alex Iwobi and should move straight into Arsenal's starting 11. There is definitely some potential in him, as was shown by his impressive 2018-19 season. He can definitely be a solid starter at the Emirates Stadium this season.

However, when the player in question is signed for €79 million, you expect much more than just "solid starter". You expect a star, and I do not believe Pépé will ever become one.

If this transfer is anything to go by, Arsenal fans can once again expect a difficult season after a below-par transfer window - a common refrain for the club over the last decade.

The Weekly Take, Issue 35: Don’t Forget About ‘Dre

When looking at the current Arsenal squad, it is evident that the best player and only genuine superstar on it is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. As a player, he is head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates, and it isn’t even close.

However, every star player needs a supporting cast.

So, just who is the second-best player on the Gunners?

Mesut Özil is not the force he once was; neither is Petr Čech. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is a solid player, but he has never quite reached the level I’m speaking of. Granit Xhaka is maddeningly inconsistent.

However, I believe that Arsenal’s best player after Aubameyang is a player often overlooked for various reasons, but while not quite elite, is one of the most important pieces of this Arsenal team.

I am speaking about Alexandre Lacazette.

Not too long ago, Lacazette, who was then playing for Lyon, was perennially linked with a transfer to one of the world’s leading football clubs, such as Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Paris Saint-Germain.  However, in a surprising turn of events, it was Arsenal who ended up signing the highly sought-after Frenchman for €53 million.

This past week, he again reminded those other clubs what they missed out on when he scored Arsenal’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool.

This was an impressive result for the north London club because they went into the game against the Merseysiders as the clear underdogs.

Lacazette and his contributions to Arsenal often get overlooked for several reasons: he is not as good a player as strike partner Aubameyang, his playstyle isn’t as eye-catching as those of Özil or Mkhitaryan, and he doesn’t have the sheer inner fire of the likes of Xhaka or Aaron Ramsey.

The centre-forward’s lack of recognition extends internally as well as externally.

This is reflected in the fact that despite being among Arsenal’s most consistent performers throughout the 2017-18 season, netting 14 league goals in 32 games, Lacazette was not named the club’s Player of the Month even once.

Yet in spite of all this, Lacazette has been a terrific fit on this team.

Lacazette’s willingness to track back, press, and play solid defence makes his style of play a good accompaniment to the spectacular, explosive game of Aubameyang. Furthermore, on offence, he brings solid dribbling skills and the ability to finish with either foot to the table.

Many players who move from a weaker league to one of the four major leagues initially struggle to adapt, while some never do. This has clearly not been the case for Lacazette, who has had no trouble adjusting to the higher level of play in the Premier League.

Lacazette has also been overlooked in his international football career.

Although he first played for France in 2013, Lacazette has just 16 caps for his country and has never played in a major tournament.

Lacazette has had to stay behind and watch as strikers who he is clearly better than, such as Olivier Giroud, André-Pierre Gignac, and Nabil Fekir were selected to represent Les Bleus in tournament play.

Giroud and Fekir were all part of France’s victorious 2018 World Cup squad – an honour which I believe Lacazette was extremely unfortunate to have missed out on.

The selection of Lacazette’s former Arsenal teammate Giroud was all the more surprising given the fact that Lacazette was clearly superior to Giroud throughout the 2017-18 season. In fact, Lacazette and Aubameyang’s arrivals at the Emirates Stadium made Giroud so expendable to Arsenal that he was shipped out to Chelsea during the January transfer window.

Lacazette’s form this season will be one of the key elements of how successful Arsenal will be during the current campaign. Much to the pleasure of Gunners fans, he is off to a strong start, with five league goals in 11 games.

Only time will tell if Lacazette ends up becoming the Dennis Bergkamp to Aubameyang’s Thierry Henry. So far, the two have combined seamlessly. On the other hand, there is still a possibility that he could flame out and prove that last season was just a flash in the pan.

But for now, as his solid play up front continues, Alexandre Lacazette does not deserve to be as underrated as he is.

The Weekly Take, Issue 23: New Coach, Same Old Arsenal

The new Premier League season has begun, and the first matchday was highlighted by a clash between Arsenal and Manchester City. City registered a 2-0 win over the Gunners, with Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva scoring the two goals for the reigning Premier League champions.

Last season, Arsenal endured a miserable campaign in what proved to be Arsène Wenger’s final season at the helm of the Gunners. They finished sixth in the league, their worst league campaign since 1995. They were also knocked out in the Europa League semifinals, as well as the third round of the FA Cup.

Realising that things were only getting worse for Arsenal, Wenger made the long-overdue decision to step down. He was subsequently replaced by Unai Emery, who joined Arsenal from PSG.

However, as evidenced by the game against City, the appointment of Emery has done little, if anything at all, to improve Arsenal.

From the very beginning of the match, Arsenal were completely outplayed, as everything they did seemed to be met by an answer from City. The likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Granit Xhaka were nowhere near the levels they are capable of playing at.

While it is true that City were favoured to come out on top comfortably, one would have thought that, with a new man in charge and a new era at the Emirates beginning, Arsenal would have offered more resistance than they did. However, as was frequently the case last season, Arsenal were shown to be nowhere near the level that they need to be at in order to challenge for titles.

One of the main problems facing the Gunners is, in fact, the new coach himself.

Considering the large amount of resources that Emery had at his disposal when he was at PSG, the team clearly underachieved during his time there.

During his two seasons in Paris, PSG only won the Ligue 1 title once, an embarrassing statistic given the financial disparity between them and the rest of the league. They also never made it beyond the round of 16 in the Champions League.

Over his four years at Valencia, once again, he never led them beyond the Champions League’s round of 16.

The only period of his coaching career that could truly be considered successful was his three-year stint at Sevilla, in which he led the Andalusian club to three Europa League titles. However, even this must come with a caveat: in those same three years, Sevilla never finished in the top four in La Liga.

Another reason that Arsenal may face a tough season ahead is the fact that, as has often been the case in past years, they have not signed players who will make a difference.

Other than Stephan Lichtsteiner, in the recently-concluded transfer window, Arsenal failed to make a single signing whom I believe will have a significant positive impact on their team.

Besides Lichtsteiner, Arsenal signed Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papasthopoulos, Mattéo Guendouzi, and Lucas Torreira.

Not a single one of these players, in my opinion, is or will be an upgrade for Arsenal. Even though some are sold on Torreira, and although he did have a solid World Cup campaign for Uruguay, it is not likely that he will make the sort of impact that will lead Arsenal to greater heights for years to come.

Furthermore, it could even be possible that Emery’s tactics do not gel with Arsenal’s play style. After the game against City, even though Emery said that it will take time for the players to properly execute his tactics, it may have been a way to keep his team’s spirits up after a loss, rather than an honest assessment of how things would necessarily go.

At the start of the season, many Arsenal fans were hopeful that a new coach and the new tactics and ideas he would bring with him would somehow bring back the glory days of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

However, although only one game has been played thus far, based on this performance, the North Londoners are lightyears away from where they dream of being. Arsenal fans may now have to brace themselves for another long, difficult season which is likely to end without much success.

The Weekly Take, Issue 12: Seven Years Too Late

Ordinarily, my column is about a particular match that occurred during the week and my thoughts on an aspect related to the match in question.

However, something happened in the world of football this week that was so unexpected, so mind-boggling, and so astonishing that, although it was not related to any match, I just had to write about it.

Of course, I am referring to the resignation of Arsenal head coach Arsène Wenger, who will step down at the end of the season, having been in charge of the Gunners for almost 22 years.

To put in perspective how long Wenger has been at the helm of Arsenal, consider the following:

When Arsène Wenger first took over at Arsenal:

The reigning FIFA World Player of the Year was George Weah.

The Czech Republic had just reached the final of the European Championship.

The Atlanta Olympics had been held just a few months prior.

The #1 song on Billboard was “Macarena”.

The highest-grossing movie of the week was “The First Wives Club”.

Montenegro and Timor Leste were not even independent nations yet.

In hindsight, although Wenger’s time at Arsenal has been eventful as well as fruitful, at least in its early days, it is clear that Wenger will leave his position at Arsenal about seven years late.

Over a seven-year span between 2006 and 2013, Arsenal were never in the top two in the Premier League and never reached the final of the FA Cup or Champions League.

In the early days of the Wenger era, Arsenal had been a club that attracted star players, such as Thierry Henry, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Marc Overmars, and Robin van Persie, among others.

However, at this stage, Arsenal are more known for losing star players, with names such as Cesc Fàbregas, Alexis Sànchez, Bacary Sagna, and van Persie having slipped through the club’s fingers since the turn of the decade.

This is unacceptable for a club that is not only among the world’s most famous, but is also a big-market team, as they play in London.

A sizeable amount of the blame for this has to be given to Wenger.

Time and again, especially since the mid-2000s, he has failed to bring in the appropriate players, either by refusing to adequately spend money or by spending the money on the wrong players.

He has also insisted on playing a certain way, and this rigid adherence to the “Arsenal way” has been to the detriment of the team.

Since 2005, Arsenal have only won three FA Cups, have only finished in the top two of the Premier League once, and have not even been close to winning the Champions League.

For a club of Arsenal’s stature, reputation, and resources, this is certainly underachievement.

Although Wenger led Arsenal to some extremely impressive seasons from the late 1990s until the mid-2000s, he has done almost nothing positive of note over the last decade.

So dire was the situation that the club endured a nine-year trophy drought from 2005 to 2014.

Here is a sampling of some of the clubs from one of the four major leagues that won at least one domestic league or cup title over this timespan.

Espanyol. Lazio. Nürnberg. Portsmouth. Stuttgart. Wigan. Wolfsburg.

The fact that clubs such as these won at least one domestic honour in a period in which Arsenal could not speaks volumes.

A while ago, I wrote about who I consider to be the greatest coaches in football.

My “Mount Rushmore” of football head coaches includes the following: José Mourinho, Rinus Michels, Helenio Herrera, and Carlo Ancelotti.

Arsène Wenger would not even crack my top 25.

Although he achieved much in his first eight years at Arsenal, those eight years gave him a free pass for all the mistakes he would go on to make.

The results, or rather the lack of them, speak for themselves.

As Arsène Wenger leaves Arsenal, fans of the North Londoners everywhere should rightly honour all that the long-serving Frenchman has done for the club.

However, they should also look to the future with optimism, because in many ways, Wenger has contributed to the destruction of the club that he once laboured to build into a powerhouse.