Arsenal News and Analysis

Latest Arsenal injury news updates and return dates

6Oct

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Latest Arsenal injury news updates and return dates

Here is an updated running list of the latest Arsenal injuries with the latest news and an expected return date for each injured player when available. Check back here periodically for updates. AM Martin Odegaard Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard suffered an injury with the Norway national team on Sept. 9 in a 2-1 win against Austria, and subsequent testing revealed ligament damage in his injured left ankle. Odegaard is not expected to return to action for Arsenal until Nov. 23 when the Gunners face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, meaning he will end up missing nearly three months in total due to the ankle injury. Arsenal have already missed Odegaard against Manchester City and PSG, but they were able to draw City and beat PSG 2-0. Meanwhile, Odegaard will still be out for o...

Luis Enrique’s ego is basically gifting Arsenal a free Champions League win vs. PSG

30Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Champions League, Features

Luis Enrique’s ego is basically gifting Arsenal a free Champions League win vs. PSG

Arsenal will face PSG on Tuesday night at the Emirates for their second match of the 2024/25 Champions League season, and while a game on paper against the 2023/24 UCL semifinalists figures to be a tough one, it would honestly be a profound disappointment for the Gunners to lose. PSG are first in Ligue 1 but tied on points with Monaco, reeling after losing Kylian Mbappe. They do have some bright spots, such as new signing Joao Neves and young winger Bradley Barcola, but they don't look like Champions League contenders without Mbappe. Meanwhile, Arsenal are fighting tooth and nail to finally win the Premier League, and, in doing so, are Champions League hopefuls in their own rights. A strong showing at home against PSG on Matchday 2 would go a long way in validating their legitimacy a...

Ranking the 10 best players in the Premier League right now during the 2024/25 season

30Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Ranking the 10 best players in the Premier League right now during the 2024/25 season

10. Liverpool RB Trent Alexander-Arnold Honestly, I can't comprehend why there are so many amateur pundits who spend their days disparaging Trent Alexander-Arnold's defending as if he were on the level of a backup at Lecce when, in fact, he's an excellent one-on-one defender as a fullback. It's just that people can't seem to understand that an attacking fullback who actually tries to add value to his team going forward is going to inevitably get caught out defensively on occasion, with the frequency of those occurrences unduly distorted by an army of fail comp "artists" who clearly need a job. Alexander-Arnold is a better one-on-one defender than Reece James, who apparently earned a reputation as a superior defensive right back on the grounds of being physically bigger and having on...

2024/25 Champions League Predictions for Matchday 2

30Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Champions League, Features

2024/25 Champions League Predictions for Matchday 2

Arsenal vs. PSG PSG don't feel like a legitimate Champions League threat in an era without Kylian Mbappe, who seemed to be the only reason why the Parisians were threats to reach the semifinals after Neymar was fully washed on the beach like a sullen hermit crab without a shell. Joao Neves gives PSG reason for optimism, but when your standout attacking player is Ousmane Dembele heading into the year 2025, you don't really stand much of a chance against a Premier League title contender. Arsenal have their own problems after a surprisingly complacent summer transfer window from an attacking perspective, but, then again, you don't need much more than Bukayo Saka and the Champions League version of Gabriel Jesus to dismantle PSG's defense. Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 PSG Aston Villa vs....

Updated 2024/25 Premier League Top 6 Predictions after Matchday 6

29Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Updated 2024/25 Premier League Top 6 Predictions after Matchday 6

6. Tottenham As fun as it was to watch Tottenham spank Manchester United all over the park, beating up on a bunch of unruly children is hardly much of an accomplishment. Using Manchester United as a barometer for making the Premier League top four is as useful as using Qarabag as a measuring stick for winning the Europa League. Spurs have problems. Ange Postecoglou hasn't really improved the team on his own merit, because Tottenham's improvements in 2023/24 were down to the superior players they purchased in the summer window. Right now, Tottenham's biggest problem is that Aston Villa is still very good and Chelsea are much improved. 5. Aston Villa Aston Villa were real letdowns this weekend against one of the worst teams in the Premier League, Ipswich Town, but if Emiliano Ma...

Ranking the 25 best Premier League wingers of the last 5 years

29Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Ranking the 25 best Premier League wingers of the last 5 years

Ranking the best wingers in the Premier League is a task so onerous that it may seem foolhardy, because even restricting the time span to the last five years doesn't make the task even easier. How do you rank, for example, a new breakout star like Anthony Gordon against a fallen superstar like Sadio Mane? Where does a gifted footballer like Riyad Mahrez stand against a former goal-scoring machine like Raheem Sterling? I tried my best to be fair and account for the unique merits each player brought to the table and avoid any club-based bias. I also decided to discard players who mostly offered value at non-winger positions, specifically Bernardo Silva, mostly to make my own job easier. (Don't worry, I'll have plenty of nice things to say about Silva in other pieces.) Finally, I did...

One Arsenal player has been even better than Bukayo Saka this season

23Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

One Arsenal player has been even better than Bukayo Saka this season

Arsenal star right winger Bukayo Saka is arguably the best player in the Premier League and one of the best forwards in the world, showing an all-around ability to make an impact as a left-footed right winger that is so rare to find, especially in a 23-year-old. Saka added to his legacy in the Premier League with an assist for Gabriel Magalhaes from a corner in the Gunners' 2-2 draw against reigning champions Manchester City, meaning he now has 22 goal contributions in his career against "Big Six" clubs. It also means Saka has five assists and a goal in five Premier League starts in the 2024/25 season thus far, building on his 2023/24 season in which he was one of the top contenders for the Player of the Season award. Yet as excellent as Saka continues to be for Arsenal, the best ...

23Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Arsenal Transfer News: 3 top clubs want to sign Takehiro Tomiyasu

Arsenal right back Takehiro Tomiyasu has found it difficult to make an impact for the Gunners due to a combination of injury and the fact that the other fullbacks have been so excellent. Ben White has made the right back position his home, while Riccardo Calafiori has joined the club as a left back option alongside Oleksandr Zinchenko, who previously had Jakub Kiwior to contend with. Tomiyasu is a quality right back who can even start as an inverted left back or center back, but the 25-year-old hasn't been able to start more than the 10 games he started last season for Arsenal. As Arsenal await Tomiyasu's return from a knee injury to make his first appearance of the 2024/25 season, they are fielding transfer offers for the former Bologna, like Calafiori, star. According to Calc...

Top insider lays the Gabriel Magalhaes transfer rumors to rest

21Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Top insider lays the Gabriel Magalhaes transfer rumors to rest

Arsenal center back Gabriel Magalhaes may be overshadowed by his partner William Saliba, but if you were to rank the Frenchman first among center backs in the Premier League, then you'd have to make a strong case for the Brazilian being in second. A consistent, hard-nosed defender who embodies the definition of a hard-nosed center back, Gabriel has so often bailed his Arsenal teammates out of sticky situations by putting his body on the line with a last-ditch effort to block a shot or make a decisive tackle as the last man standing. Gabriel is worth his weight in gold to Arsenal, yet that hasn't stopped the usual suspects in the media from speculating that the 26-year-old could leave North London this summer before his prime truly kicks in. But as any Arsenal fan will tell you, th...

Interesting transfer rumor on why Amadou Onana rejected Arsenal for Aston Villa

21Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

Interesting transfer rumor on why Amadou Onana rejected Arsenal for Aston Villa

Amadou Onana was one of the most coveted players on the summer 2024 transfer market, as the Everton star was courted by Manchester United, Arsenal, and Barcelona in a who's who of historic European clubs. In the end, however, Onana may have surprised some fans around the globe by choosing Aston Villa, a rising long-time Premier League club fresh off their first Champions League qualification ever. Unsurprisingly, the best Belgian player at Euro 2024 has proven to be a rousing success at Villa Park thus far, making every use of the fact that he is the new centerpiece player in midfield for Aston Villa after Douglas Luiz was sent, by request, to Juventus. According to a report from Give Me Sport, Aston Villa acquired Amadou Onana over their most serious competitor, Arsenal, because ...