Analysis

Kai Havertz isn't the most popular player around the Premier League, and even though Arsenal themselves spent a ton of money to replace him with a more traditional No. 9 in Viktor Gyokeres last summer transfer window and have designs on making an even bigger splash before the window closes this year in La Liga superstar Julian Alvarez, the German international is still valued highly. And Havertz did have a strong Friday night 2026/27 Premier League season debut against Coventry, toasting up the newly promoted side with a goal. Arsenal fans have viewed Havertz as a loyal servant and a key player, and a lot of them astutely point out that when you look at the raw production, he is playing the best ball of his career in North London. While Havertz was something of a phenom in the Bundes...

Arsenal spent about 55 million pounds on Viktor Gyokeres last summer transfer window, and while it is hard to say that he met that price tag from Sporting CP in terms of pure performance on the pitch and certainly came nowhere near the 39 goals he scored in Liga Nos, he definitely was a success in the one most important way that the Gunners were looking at. Because look, maybe it had more to do with the other players, but Arsenal did win the league with Gyokeres at striker. And they did not win the league without him before that, even though they had talented center forwards like Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus. From an Arsenal perspective, the big change that Gyokeres brought was a profile in the box who could bring that level of threat and open up the field for the rest of the player...

Arsenal actually had a decent attack with Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz, and Bukayo Saka, and while it was the weak point of a side that won the Premier League, the attack was still good enough that it didn't hold the Gunners back from finally taking home the title. But Arsenal are now ten times better as an offense with Christos Tzolis, whose goal scoring and assist providing exploits at Club Brugge were clear enough to the Gunners at the time of his signing. Though he did not score or assist in the 3-0 opening win over Coventry, Tzolis had three key passes and two fouls drawn in a highly successful debut in which he was quite arguably the best player on the entire pitch. What Arsenal were missing and what Tzolis is providing is a directness f...

Arsenal are so loaded with talent defensively that it's easy to forget the players besides David Raya, Gabriel Magalhaes, and William Saliba who were the heroes of the Premier League title run last season. But Arsenal have some more serious ballers in their ranks, and the one with the most upside is Italian international Riccardo Calafiori, who captured the attention of the world in 2023/24 under Thiago Motta when Bologna made a fairytale run to the Champions League - and then the following summer for Italy when he was the one positive of another national team disgrace. Calafiori was among the many Arsenal players who looked incredible in the 2026/27 Premier League season opener against newly promoted side Coventry, showing a different level of class with his touches, turns, and work...

Arsenal dominated Coventry 3-0 on Friday night to open the 2026/27 Premier League season, and it was no surprise to see how easily the reigning champions destroyed one of the newly promoted sides. Though, of course, Ipswich and Hull scored upset wins, and that actually makes what Arsenal did all the more impressive. Christos Tzolis stole the show with an insane game in his Arsenal debut, and he might be the next big thing in the Premier League. And the former next big thing, Martin Odegaard, was like a new signing again with how much better he looked on Matchday 1 than almost any point last season. But if you ask me - and by reading this article, you are essentially asking me - the biggest storyline wasn't those guys, but rather defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi. Zubi is going...