Not a great game, but there was some decent performances. Leno obviously man of the match, I thought Willock and Ceballos was good in the first half and Pépé came alive a bit in the second. Gabriel and Holding looked pretty solid throughout, as did Xhaka.

On the negative side, I expected more from Saka, and Nketia continues to look unimpressive to me - I love his attitude and work rate, but I just don't see much else there. If this was Kolasinacs last game for us, he didn't exactly go out in style.

Have to agree haz, Nketiah is no outlet. I couldn’t see many other premiership teams giving him the minutes we are giving him right now.

Leno looks more than happy in his MOM tv interview.

Ceballos looked really useful with control and passing. Shame is that he’s having to do that so far back as we look to play out around the press. It would be good to have him in areas where he can hurt the opposition in offensive areas. But if it weren’t for him I suspect that we would have more calamities at the back.

He can dribble but he doesn't know how to do so effectively. Takes far too much out of it. He should drop the shoulder or throw a little feint and go. Instead, he tries to turn a player about three times. The hope is that Arteta can work on that with him. He improved Sterling to a great degree.

Interesting that he played the whole game on the left. Willian is clearly first choice on the right. Maybe Arteta is looking at Aubameyang down the middle with Willian on the right and Pépé on the left.

Not great for Nelson that he didn’t get a game tonight. Willock picked ahead of him in the wide right role. A loan to a prem club might be the best thing for the season as I can’t see where he’s going to get the games.
Realistically the loan is probably putting him in the shop window for a sale next summer

Leno was brilliant tonight.......but you are right Martinez would have saved all 5 pens.

Stoke vs Tottenham

Brentford vs Newcastle

Arsenal vs Man City

Everton vs Man Utd

I think Nelson, Willock, Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe would all benefit from a season long loan. Week-in week-out PL football would give them a great chance to make a step forward in their careers.

Well there’s a surprise. Sigh.

Spot on. City at home for us it is!

If we somehow end up winning this season’s League Cup, we’ll have bloody deserved it.

Gabriel looking very impressive so far.

4 home wins would be nice

I thought Gab and Holding were both really good tonight. Gab looks a monster in the air. Would like to see him tested a bit more one-v-one etc before declaring him a great buy but he looks very promising.

Was disappointed with Xhaka again, he should be shining in these kind of games. This falling over to win a free kick just does my head in.

Oh well. I actually thought Xhaka did well tonight.

That's what is happening: everyone is praising Leno.

You seem to be shadow-boxing on this one. Not for the first time, either.

Nketiah hasn't developed that part of his game yet. He's more of a poacher but today's game demands more from a striker. He'd be more useful in games where we dominate possession and camp in the opposition's half.

We need Pépé to have a good season for us - hopefully this season or the next, and quickly sell him to anyone who would offer 50m or more.

We were lucky but I'll take it. People were being overly harsh of the league match, and I get it. We had been playing well against big clubs in the league. But Liverpool were in one of those moments where they would have beaten just about any club on the planet. This was the same Liverpool who beat Chelsea 2 nil not too long ago. We are clearly a much improved side base on a year ago. We have a lot of upside potential. Things are going well. Leno MOTM obviously.

Yep good game from him, particularly the Van Dyke save.

Arteta out.

Thoughts on Gabriel?

It's Mustafi's fault.

(I'm on a roll today)

The planets have aligned and for the first time in both our lifetimes, VP Mike Pence and I have the same exact thoughts on the health and well being of the President.



again....thoughts and prayers.

I will not conceal my intense gratification, or pretend to wish him well.

The expression "he had it coming to him" has been waiting for this moment all its life, as Phil Collins might have put it.

This is like when a particularly pesky insect flies into a flame and self-immolates.

As for praying ... this is nemesis--any gods that are listening will be irritated if you find fault just when they finally got something right.

I will say this. The general reaction I'm seeing from the flood of comments and memes in social media is completely different than the prevailing sentiment when Reagan got shot.

Sounds like we are having to loan out Saliba because we can’t shift Mustafi and Sokratis

Just frustrating you have players who don’t fit the bill stifling our progress and ability to change

And on the payroll.

Brewster from Liverpool to Sheff Utd for £23.5m! and 15% sell on clause How do Liverpool keep mugging clubs for unproven players. That is insane money for someone who has a good youth record but never played in the prem and only has 20 professional games to his name.

and yet so many other clubs seem to be able to shift on this deadwood from their squads. Man U probably in a similar boat to us but in a different league financially to give more room to cover it. But chelsea and liverpool move on their poor players so much better

I found myself thinking about Saliba during last night’s game. I guess that if he isn’t anywhere near a Carabao squad then he isn’t going to feature this season. May as well have let him play his French Cup final unless it was to avoid potential injury.

Hi TG,

With so little time now left in the window it does seem that our hopes of raising a ton of cash to spend on reinforcements are looking less and less likely.

It appears that the Aouar deal is now looking less likely which means we will have wasted an entire window chasing a player who was always going to be tricky to sign. Do we have back-up plans or is it too late to execute those now as well.

Disappointing if we go into the new season with just a new CB and ageing midfielder.

Saliba on loan is disappointing too if true. Not that I don't totally understand how difficult adaption is for a 19 year old who apparently has had some deep personal issues as well to deal with over the last year. Expectations of him in the short term were always far too high and a loan back to France may be the sensible option.

Let's hope Mari proves to be the real deal, although from what I have seen of him so far he looks more on the level of our existing CBs (excluding Gabriel who I am yet to form an opinion on because he's played so few games) than a step up in quality.

No the frustrating part is that a previous manager and administration purchased players who were not good enough and gave them silly terms of contract. And we continue to do it to this day. 3 years for Willian, 4 years was it for Soares, Chambers continues etc etc etc.

Why should a player earning silly money give it up because you (Arsenal) realise you made a mistake. The club could of course pay out their contract in full.

...relieved we didn't sell Mustafi.