West Ham away on Weds probably a better bet to see them drop some points after West Ham’s first win today. Still wouldn’t count on it. Spurs look a bit ominous. Big units all over the pitch, getting results, Contes experience and shithousery and allowed to foul and pull opponents hair seemingly…

Such a pity Kane didn't leave Spurs last year.

I just read that in their last 17 games they have 39 points. That rate would get them 87 points in 38 games. Ominous indeed.

17 games, while a decent sample size, doesn't translate to a full season. City will probably get 90+ pts again. We know they can do that because they have done it several times in recent years. I can't see how Tottenham can get a similar return while playing a brand of football which allows the opposition so much possession.

Well today they had less than 50% of possession but they had 7 shots on target to Forest's 1.

I can't see anyone challenging City to be honest. But it is going to be a tough top 4.

Hi Rich,

Way too early. The hype machine has got a little ahead of itself and expectations are being raised too high too soon. Let's see how he performs against the very best teams when we are not dominating possession and he's being asked all sorts of questions by players like Salah and Haaland. Then we will begin to see if he's the real deal or not.

Obviously, I am desperately hoping he is but the PL is filled with big challenges for a young CB who is still learning the game, wet behind the ears as they say.

That's not Xhaka.

Tavares scored again for Marseille, 3 in 4 games I think. Another low drilled shot off his right foot…..why did all his shots balloon in to row z for us.

The loan is a good move for him. Worst case we decide he’s not for us and we should turn a good profit.

Spurs continue to be a strange one. They give up the ball against most teams and rely on counters and clinical finishing from one of the best in the world. It works and it has worked for a while but it’s strange because it seems to be the only plan and plans like this usually seem on the edge of whether they can be effective consistently because you’re so reliant on just 1 aspect of play.

“ Understandably delighted, Tavares wheeled away and was joined by a host of Premier League players recruited by Marseille over the past few years – Mateo Guendouzi, Jordan Vertout and Sead Kolasinac – as his hugely impressive start to the season continued.”

So that’s where Sead went.

Tenuous stat but that was the first time since 2013 we’ve conceded first in the second half and still gone on to win the game.

May be interesting but I’m not sure how useful it is.

Love to see things like this.
Loving Zinchenko already. Guy looks to be so humble especially with what's happening in his homeland.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Lf8XfEarA-Y

Brilliant signing and so happy it was him we signed and not Martinez.

Also fantastic to see Saliba's celebration.
The passion he is showing is a great sign.
Hope we are working on that contract.
So bloody fantastic to get that win. Was looking nervy at times at 1 0 but sheer will got us back in it.
What an incredible atmosphere it look inside the ground.

We would have lost that game last season. Almost at any time last season...lol I don't expect to win every game till the Man Utd game but it may happen. Still, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think 3rd place is a reasonable goal for this team. Top 4 for sure. Consistency. That's going to be the key word for this season.

Saka needs a rest. Ødegaard has stepped up his game with the armband. He's bought into the project. He appreciates the faith in him and he feels its his team now to some extent and playing accordingly.

Saliba seems to fitting in with his teammates and he feels part of the squad. He's playing well and that helps a whole lot in fitting in. He knows his game is respected.

I would like a winger and a dominating center midfielder. Partey is good and good enough. I just feel for that next level we need someone in the middle who is more commanding. We have a dominating back line. We have a forward line led by Jesus and the attack is good if not great with options. The middle has Ødegaard as the prime playmaker and I would love to see someone who is so commanding watching his back that he can concentrate more on his game.

An out and out winger who can cause problems down the line would be great. A cough..spit..Giggs type or what we expected out of Pépé but never got. An Overmars type.

Morning Rich. As well as the extra day rest advantage for the Aston Villa game on Wednesday with us playing Fulham last Saturday and them playing West Ham yesterday, it’s also worth noting we have an extra day rest advantage for the game against Manchester United next Sunday.

With us playing Villa on Wednesday, Manchester United’s midweek game is against Leicester on Thursday.

There were times when Tierney inverted from his left back position to mimic what Zinchenko has been doing, I don’t think he looked comfortable doing this and didn’t have the same penetration. I think if we play Tierney we need to play to his strengths which for me means using him as a high and wide full back. We can build with a back 3 still but it may mean Xhaka playing deeper to help build play and making sure whoever plays wide left doesn’t take the space that Tierney wants to run in to

Hi Rich,

I don't think Tierney works well with Martinelli. Tierney is your old fashioned aggressive up-and-down fullback who likes to get up the pitch and get crosses in but this unfortunately takes away the space that Martinelli often does his best work in (ie. ball to his feet out wide with space to run at the fullback). Martinelli ends up playing as an inside forward and doesn't see a lot of the ball because Tierney tends to either run forward down the byeline or play the ball backwards to the CB.

Zinny is much more adept at moving inside with the ball, playing quick incisive passes from all angles and allowing Martinelli to get the ball at his feet out wide.

This is not intended as a criticism of Tierney, he's a very high quality fullback, better defensively than Zinny, and would probably dovetail better with Emile Smith Rowe (or even Vieira) who is more inclinded to drift infield leaving the space for Tierney to run into.

Wasn't able to watch the Fulham game until the morning after, which certainly made the last 10 minutes easier! What a great win. People might call it lucky because of the late winner, but nobody watching that game can say Arsenal didn't deserve the win - 70% possession, 8 shots on goal, some excellent clear cut chances missed, there was very little luck involved as far as I'm concerned. We're finding different ways to win games early in the season which is a big positive sign, and the togetherness and commitment from the players is there for all to see. Loved the way Zinchenko got involved in the celebration for the second goal, even though he wasn't in the match squad.

As for player performances, Ødegaard as has been mentioned a lot was the clear man of the match. Just a sublime performance; energy, pressing, winning the ball back, scoring the important equalizer, and should've had a couple of assists as well. That was a real captains performance in my book.

I thought Nketiah was ecxellent when he came on. I hope he gets a goal soon, because to me it looks like he's continuing his great form from the tail end of last season. He looks hungry, and is clearly enjoying playing even though he's been relegated to a backup role. He wants to make a mark on the game when he's coming on as a sub, and that's what you want to see from your squad players.

Four out of four, can't ask for much more to start the season. Let's continue our form against Villa and then it's the first real test at Old Trafford - and by first real test I mean the first game where you can't really say we 'should' win, even though I think we're much better than Man Utd currently.

Saliba's done very well both on loan at Marseille and now returning to starting in opening season Arsenal matches. So far it's been a positive for Arsenal players going to Marseille. The abrupt departure of manager Jorge Sampaoli from Marseille early July, by mutual consent, appears to be from lack of transfer activity. Sampaoli wanted to keep Saliba at Marseille. Good that he's back at Arsenal doing quite well.

Ornstein saying Neto is looking unlikely due to the money Wolves would be expecting. Still expect us to bring in a player or two before Thursday night.

Not so sure. The World Cup could well disrupt things.

Agree. The world cup could very easily distort the league. It's not improbable that some players are impacted quite profoundly by the effects of the WC.

Was watching the Tottenham game yesterday and although they appear one-dimensional, they also have become very, very difficult to beat under Conte. Not pleasing on the eye but organised and stubborn to break down. They seem to know how to nick points against the better teams too. Anfield last year and home and away wins against City too.

The thing is, as good as they were against the top teams last year - beat City twice, didn't lose to Liverpool, winning against us at home, Leicester twice etc - they still only ended up with 71 points.

It might seem simplistic, but I think it boils down to just having a better chance of winning games when you're the better team on the pitch. It doesn't always happen, but if you're more often than not the best team on the pitch, you will win more games than if a bigger portion of your wins comes against the run of play. Man City and Liverpool are dominant in a majority of their games, and despite a few upsets here and there, it shows in the table over the course of a season.

I find them a strange team to watch. They are so one-dimensional in the way they are super reliant on Kane and Son. An injury to one of those again and they may struggle. I think by signing Richarlison they have tried to vary the point of attack and Kulusevski has been a decent signing for them too. I think they are too predictable elsewhere on the pitch. Like a Tony Pulis side with a world-class attack.

Yeah, I think Conte is very good at certain things like setting his team up to be difficult to play against and it's covering a lot of flaws for them. Even if I try my hardest to be objective, I just don't see a single player in their team bar Kane and Son that would get into our starting eleven. Kulusevski is very good, but no chance he gets into the team ahead of Saka. Their central defenders used so far this season is Romero, Dier, Davies and Sanchez - would anyone have them ahead of Saliba, Gabriel or White? Even their midfield isn't better than 'good', Hojbjerg and Bentancour wouldn't improve our starting eleven at all in my opinion. And Lloris isn't very good at all.

They'll be a real threat for 3rd/4th place I think, but nothing I've seen so far this season has convinced me they can get higher than that without improving their starting eleven significantly.

They are belligerent. They hate losing and dropping points. They never dominate possession and only seem to want to play on the counter. Every time I watch them they never impress but win. It’s weird to watch. I’m afraid to admit I think they will do well this season.

I did enjoy that forest player booting Richarlison for taking the piss yesterday

I'm much less confident than I was last week. There's just so little time left and not even a rumour we're close to someone, it's hard to see someone coming in out of the blue at this point.

While I would like to see us bring in another midfielder, I'm not sure it would be a disaster to not do so. We have a very good team, our squad is bigger than last year and we might just roll the dice and try to make it to January to re-assess things. One thing I feel pretty sure about is that we won't do a panic deal or pay more than what we percieve a player to be worth. It would go against how we've done things in recent years.

If ornstein is right and Neto isn’t coming then I can’t help think loaning Pépé was a mistake. Especially if we’re still paying 25% or his wages. For all his faults if you need to throw caution to the wind he’s a good option. Wolves last season as an example

That link felt weird. Didn’t seem realistic. He’s one of their best players and was always going to cost over 50 million.

We also don’t seem to be getting linked with anybody. I do wonder if that’s your lot

Where does Fabio Vieira fit into all of this? We paid a fair amount recently. Hopefully he can make a contribution?

When predicting at or near the beginning of the season who will end up going down at the end of the season, it’s understandable to look at the newly promoted teams as obvious candidates. However, whilst I see Bournemouth as the safest bet for relegation certainties I fancy Fulham and Nottingham Forest have a more than decent chance of survival.

For me I think Leicester, Southampton, Everton and Aston Villa could all be in even bigger danger than Fulham and Forest. If Bournemouth are going to go straight back down, as I fully expect to happen, I reckon the teams that join them will be the two out of Villa, Everton, Southampton and Leicester that finish the lowest.

Did Rich say last week that Arteta had asked for Vieira to play wide in an under-21 game last week and went to watch it? If so, has anyone seen how Vieira played in a wider position?

Hi Haz,

I agree with you and TG, its seems a bit late in the day now for a major deal, especially without even the whiff of a solid rumour.

Pulling a rabbit out of a hat is always possible, maybe a loan.

I know the club are desperately trying to play their cards close to their chest, but realistically how many big deals get done these days without someone, somewhere finding out and posting something on twitter. Our fans are like bloodhounds sniffing out a transfer deal and they've found nothing in the last couple of weeks which suggests, well, perhaps their is nothing.

Mychajlo Mudryk. Everton had €30m verbal proposal turned down by Shakhtar Donetsk last week, Arsenal have asked for information on him - from Fabrizio Romano

Also saying Leicester are still asking for £35-40m for Tielemans. Of course Arsenal think this is far too much for a player with only 1 year left on his deal. If Tielemans really is the one we want I don’t think we’ll budge on our valuation and instead wait until January.

I can’t recall exactly but I think I read that Vieira played that right sided 8 position that Ødegaard plays.

Feels like Europa will be the first time we see him.

After his cameo and because we play 3 times in a week I wonder if we might see Nketiah start on Wednesday then bring Jesus back in for Man U.

What’s your source for the Tielemans price? Do you mean Romano? When they will otherwise lose him for nothing next summer, why on Earth would they ask that?

He did play there. I did watch the first half but it was difficult to assess his qualities given the makeup of the side that he was playing with.

I think that he came off at half time.

Thanks.

Yeah that’s from Romano.
I suppose it’s a game of poker right now. Who blinks first etc

Leicester may feel that if they’re in a relegation fight then Tielemans is worth more than £40m to lose him if he ends up being the difference between staying up and going down.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on Richarlison showboating with keep ups in the game and then getting taken out by the Forrest player?

I’ve seen some say Richarlison should be booked for unsporting behaviour and seen others say don’t take the fun out of football.

I think it is disrespectful but not sure it deserves a yellow card, but if you’re going to do it then you need to expect that you’re going to get cleaned out by someone and have far less room to complain when that happens or if it leads to a serious injury.

I wouldn’t want any Arsenal players doing it

Man U are about to tip in to £225m of summer spending.