If things go according to level and form the league cup will be Newcastle vs Man Utd and I'm sure I'm not the only gooner who will be cheering for Newcastle that day.

That being said, we may end up facing Man Utd again this season. Right now, we've got to be at or near the top of the favorites for the Europa League cup. Man Utd play Barcelona in the same competition and while Barca should be the favorites, I can't rule out Ten to come up with the right tactics to take Barca.

We could end up with Man Utd again in a Semi or Final. I'd love to avoid it but it could happen. More than likely Barca but again, with their present form, and having a manager who is good at tactics, I can't count them out by any stretch.

Some talk around Ibrahima Bamba

https://www.football365.com/news/arsena ... ase-clause

£26.5m release clause, defensive midfielder but has been playing CB in Brazil this season. He’s only 20

Now Kolo Touré sacked from Wigan.

Kiwior’s agent

“Zinchenko dragged Jakub into the changing room after the game against Manchester United. I think when he saw what kind of atmosphere there was, he already wanted to participate from the pitch.”

Zinchenko fast becoming a huge fan favourite. And to think Gary Neville said he’d watched Zinchenko and said he wasn’t a leader. Despite him being his nations captain and plenty of evidence in City team talks which he led.

The problem I have with Neville and Arsenal is not that he has an opinion that I think is wrong it’s that he refuses to use the evidence in front of his eyes to revise that opinion. Last week you had Carragher talking about Arsenals wide players and Neville was talking about what it was like in his day marking Marc Overmars. That was 20 years ago when everyone played 4-4-2 and full backs overlapped wide men….talk about the perspective of the full back with modern formations, 4-3-3 and how he’d play against Martinelli with no full back overlapping but instead Xhaka popping up between him and his CB, and then Zinchenko dropping in to central midfield.

Sorry not had a chance to post pics etc yet , since Monday I’ve been hit with a real busy week , will aim for next week

Highest yearly wage spends of football clubs.

Remarkable how we’ve slashed our wage bill. All but level with Spurs and between £130-170m less than Man U, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea. For now that helps bridge the gap of not having Champions League money, if we get Champions League money next year which looks increasingly strong we add something in the region of £80m extra revenue per season guaranteed rather than being in the Europa. Someone like Declan Rice may not be out of reach after all

Nketiah deserves an England call up. He can still play for Ghana if he wants. He's proven he can play the lone front man role.

I would hate to be the Everton Manager right now. High wages and yet not commensurating with performance

It looks like Dyche is going to be that manager. His first game in charge will be against us. Not ideal for us with everyone else having been able to play Lampard's horror show - they're still poor players and we're still top of the league so we should win.

Dyche is a good appointment for Everton though

He’s better than Callum Wilson. He’s even scored more goals this season. Honestly if he keeps it up it won’t be long until Southgate comes knocking

Emile Smith Rowe injured misses tonight. Can’t help feel for the kid. People are kinda forgetting how good he is.

It’s *%^@ or get off the pot in the transfer window. 3 business days

Might see some movement today.

We’ve bid £60m for Caicedo from Brighton.

I think I’ve read Brighton want over £75m

Hi Rich,

Top player but we all now how this story ends.

Brighton don't want to sell in this window so my question would be why offer well below we know Brighton want, what's the point? Is it just a convenient story to divert attention away from our real targets?

Who knows. The bid is £60m fixed so I presume Arsenal can go higher with add ons. Chelsea will surely come back in with a bigger bid.

Apparently Edu put a confidentiality clause in the negotiations for Kiwior so no leaks came out. I think he knows (or suspects) teams watch what we do....

Laws of negotiation. If you start off at 75 they will ask for 100 lads

Seems weird that we are going so large this window. I literally know nothing about the player apart from clips. He doesn’t look a natural partey replacement though from what I saw. Are we genuinely going to
Break our transfer record


Saw a clip of Ramsdale on a podcast saying Trossard is not here to sit on the bench and he’s going to take someone’s place.

I watched Caicedo's YouTube video. Very robust tackler but you'd worry about the number of times he leaves the ground. For comparison, Kante rarely dives in.

From that viewing, Caicedo seems like a red card waiting to happen.

If Trossard starts tonight I could see Tierney get a start as well, he seems to work better with a forward who cuts inside more than a touchline hugging forward. But Arteta's general plan is for the wide men to hug the touchline

Do you think we'd be going so big in this window if we weren't top and had areal chance at the title? I'm hoping everyone sees it as a real opportunity so are willing to risk a bit more, or bring forward some spending for the chance of glory

I think our Owners have finally realised that if you want your brand to grow in value, you have to keep investing. Now that we look to have a realistic chance of top 2 where the real TV money is paid, it's a decent punt.

Soc
I have never taken much notice of him.
Can you or anyone else advise what type of player he is and what makes him a 'top' player to get us to bid 60 million for him.
Fees are well and truly ridiculous these days.
Can he do what Partey does?

I thought we were interested in Declan Rice and he had more or less given his word he'd be joining in the summer.....

If Ramsdale did say that isn't that a tad disrespectful to the current holders of the front line?
Sorry i think it was TG said he saw a clip of Ramsdale saying that

The Rice thing is interesting. I’m not sure why we are linked with him as it’s the transfer that we never seem to pull off for major England internationals at Arsenal but I’ve heard some mentioning there re very specific reasons he wants to join Arsenal. His dad is a season ticket holder at Stamford bridge but he’s just had a kid a few months back and insists he wants to play in the champions league.

He’s a good enough player to adapt roles, ie he could play in xhaka and parteys role

Like Mudryk you mean. Full Instagram, Arsenal shirt mode.

Hi david,

I am not professing to be his biggest fan or to have studied his game in depth but he seems a very good all action player in the Kante mould....... strong, athletic, reads the game well and a decent passer. Only 21, too, so lots of room for improvement.

Not sure why anyone is really getting to invested in this story, though, it isn't happening. Even if we were to agree a fee at a higher price you can bet Chelsea will get involved.

Top player, TG, but as I said the other day don't even think about him as an Arsenal player until he actually signs on the dotted line. West Ham will want a big price, lots of other big clubs interested. Lots can change between now and the summer.

If he didn’t have bad luck then he’d have no luck at all.

After all the ‘Saka and Emil Smith Rowe’ excitement as they emerged it must be so frustrating for him as to how it has panned out.

Arsenal ready to go back with an improved bid for Caicedo.

Back up plans are one of:
Bamba (£26m release clause)
Zubimendi (£52m release clause)
Onana - no idea what Everton would want but they've just sold Gordon to Newcastle for £40m

Zubimendi would appear to be the more cultured passing midfielder of the 4. The other 4 are more the athletic tacklers.

Quite common to get minor injury set backs after a long time out. Still plenty of time for Emile Smith Rowe to re-establish himself

I mean. If we are going to 65 -70 million quid there’s not many players in world football tight now that would cost more. Bellingham & Rice for sure but apart from those 2 who else? have we honestly seen enough of this player to pay 70 million and break our transfer record. That would be a massive call and total eye opener

Does anybody know anything about him.

Not a sausage. But his YouTube clips left me unimpressed tbh. All action and like someone else said big sliding tackles like Wan Bissaka. The kind of player Wenger would never have signed, and seemed to be always chasing a Santi Cazorla type, but then we ended up physically light most of the time. Maybe he’s a bit of midfield steel to go with Ødegaard, Zinchenko et al and at 21 however he develops maybe the team will adapt around him.

For instance, Rodri (who I hate, which must mean he’s good) plays it differently to Partey but could do a job in our team.

I’d much rather the Zubimendi links, but maybe it’s Zinchenko in the 6 and this guy for the 8. Whoever we get we have options.

There are all kinds of football podcasts. I came across this one by accident. Decent analysis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLvXkLCRMY&t=3127s

Martinelli has signed a new contract until 2027

Great news.

Arsenal XI: Turner, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Vieira, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Nketiah, Trossard.

Subs: Ramsdale, White, Zinchenko, Saliba, Kiwior, Lokonga, Ødegaard, Marquinhos, Martinelli.

85% team for them, 65% for us.

Strong bench though.

It’s been quite a while since we have had a ‘strong bench’.

Having seen the two line-ups I would say I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Think Charlie George in the mud.