Only a few days before the season kicks off again with the Community Shield. I am not so hopeful about the outcome of this game against Liverpool but we are a cup team, so hope is permitted 🙂

More seriously and as the first EPL game is coming up soon too, we really need to have our “season” squad as soon as possible. There are a few players whose future is up in the air and some we won’t mind losing (Sokratis…) but I feel there are others where the jury is more divided so have your say on whether the following players should stay or go and give your rationale behind your decision

1. Mustafi – quite a mixed career at AFC but a real resurgence under Arteta so should he say or should he go?
2. Chambers – versatile and rather reliable when he played but he had his fair share of injuries and never nailed down a starter’s place under the various coaches. Should he stay or should he go?
3. Holding – a promising defender who ended the season on a high but who had also shown some potential to be a very error prone defender. Seems to still run after his fine form before his knee injury. Should he stay or should he go?
4. Kolasinac – the beast! The man who scared robbers! An overall solid athlete and defenders but never seemed to hit the top level we expected. Has shown that he can play as LCB, LB and WB so a versatile and useful player but should he stay or should he go?
5. AMN – our very own academy product, a gifted player and a very good athlete. Excelled at the end of the season as a LWB. Should he stay or should he go?
6. Lucas Torreira – one of the heroes of a memorable derby vs Tottenham and at first, a good performer but also seem to struggle at times with pace and physicality of the EPL. Should he stay or should he go?
7. Matteo Guendouzi – a truly promising player who seems to struggle with his attitude though. Had great games and poor games. A controversial figure on the pitch and off the pitch. Should he stay or should he go?
8. Ozil – we had the chat already so…no need to comment here 😛
9. Reiss Nelson – seems to find his feet in the first team and had interesting games towards the end of the season. Do we stick with him in the squad or let him develop elsewhere?
10. ESR – a promising player who never really got things going at AFC. Still unsure whether he is the next Cazorla or the next Kallstrom but seemed to have done quite well while on loan. Should he stay or should he go?
11. Willock – highly touted by Ljungberg and given a chance under Emery and Arteta, he seemed to have hit a stumbling block and his season has been at best average. Should he stay or should he go?
12. Lacazette – had a tough year but his career with us has been more than satisfactory. His work ethics, goals and assists have been useful but his time with us may still be up. Should he stay or should he go?

Pick any player(s) and blog away fellow Gooners!

We ended the season on a high with a FA Cup Win. When the season re-started after the Covid-19 break, we had some good results against big teams like Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea but we also had tough losses against Tottenham and poor performances against Brighton and Aston Villa. Overall and with the FA Cup Win, there is a sense of positivity around the club and the feeling that we are finally moving in a good direction.

Yesterday, the FA released the fixtures and our start of the season is quite daunting with our first seven games being: Fulham (away), West Ham (home), Liverpool (away), Sheffield (Home), Man City (Away), Leicester (Home) and Man Utd (Away).

It means that our first two games are already must wins and that we must also beat Sheffield and Leicester at home – that would be 12 points out of 21 points possible. It would also hence be important to get something from the Reds, Oilers and the Red Devils…Otherwise, we would already be compromising our chances for Top 4.

Do you believe that this daunting start will act as good pressure for the team to keep on improving or do you believe these big away games are coming too soon in the season for us?

The floor is yours…

After impressing as a young player for Arsenal and on loan at West Brom, Wenger wanted to extend his contract in the summer of 2016 but Gnabry wanted more first-team opportunities and opted to join Werder Bremen – the fee was 5 Million Pounds.

On his debut season at Bremen, Gnabry scored 11 goals in 27 matches, which attracted the attention of the German league ogre: Bayern Munich. for 8 Million Pounds in the summer of 2017. Once purchased by Munich, he was loaned out to Hoffenheim for the 2017-8 season where he scored 10 goals in 22 appearances in the league.

In 2018, Gnabry was finally presented as a Bayern Munich player and helped Bayern win the league with 10 goals (2nd goal scorer for Bayern) in 30 appearances.

In 2019, Gnabry really established himself as a clutch and key player for Bayern Munich. Impressing in the Bundesliga with 23 goals (45 appearances) across the league (12), champions league (9 and counting) and the Cup (2) as well as 10 assists.

So is Gnabry the one player that got away? Did we bet on the wrong horses (Oxlade? Walcott?Iwobi?Wellbeck) in the summer 2016?

In any case, I hope he does not do well on Sunday in the CL Final against PSG but there is, of course, some feeling of a lost opportunity with great consequences as Oxlade, Walcott, Iwobi, Wellbeck did not make the winger position their own at AFC and then we went on to buy Pepe for a hefty fee and I am sure that Pepe will be a very good player for us but if Gnabry was with us, then we may have saved a few millions…

Our good friend LB brought up some key questions regarding our signing of Willian

First and foremost, are we happy to have signed Willian? His EPL experience, his statistics, injury record and the fact that he lives in London and was a free agent do seem to tick a lot of positive boxes.

However, his signing also seems to trigger some doubts. Was his signing necessary given the fact that Pepe seemed to have found his feet (at last) and that RN seemed to demonstrate good promise? Will Arteta play Willian on the right or in the middle (as part of a midfield trio with Xhaka and Ceba) or on the left? It is hard to tell but Willian is a versatile player that has, however, made his name as a right winger so let us see…

Lastly and although he seems to be physically reliable, was it a wise move to sign him on for 3 years given the fact that he is 32?

So, have your say about Willian:

1. Are you happy with his arrival?
2. In which position will Arteta play him?
3. Was a 3-years contract a good move?

Thanks to LB for initiating the discussion

I think it is fair to say that Arteta wants more contributions and decisiveness from the wings and especially the wingers. He wants more goals, assists, dribbles and crosses. Who wouldn’t?

The wings are also a hot topic for us because we have been playing some forwards on the side like Auba and Martinelli. We also have some promising players coming through with Saka and RN has also displayed some good moments while Pepe seemed to have (finally) grasped the demands of the EPL and Arteta. So what do we do for next season? 

So who is likely to stay this summer?– Pepe on the right will stay for sure- Saka on the left will stay for sure- Martinelli is most likely to be used as a LFW still and he just extended his contract with us so he is staying for sure
Verdict: Pepe, Saka, Martinelli to stay

So who is likely to go out this summer? – Question marks remain around Reiss-Nelson. Will he get enough playing time? Arteta reportedly likes him and his work ethics. Nelson also impressed with his performance vs Liverpool so it seems that he is on the cards to stay but again and like ESR, if he does not play enough by December, he could potentially seek another loan spell after his successful stint at Hoffenheim. Besiktas has already enquired about his availability…
Verdict: . Arteta to keep RN and if he does not get enough playing time by December, he will be loaned out again…

Based on the above, these are our wing forwards (before any acquisition) for next year:
RFW: Pepe, Nelsson ; LFW: Saka, Martinelli

Given the above, I am rather certain we will invest in at least one more “experienced/proven” wing forwards this summer – I doubt the reports linking us to the 50 Mln prodigy from Portugal. 

Some names have been mentioned: – free players like Willian and Fraser- players that want to be more important in their teams like Shaqiri- players that want to join or stay in the EPL like Kostic or Sarr

If we are a bit short cashwise, then the move for Willian makes sense and if we can afford to, I would also go for Kostic. Both of them would be great additions because they have the engine to also play wing back…

So, possible wing options for next year:

RW: Pepe, Willian, RN ; LW: Saka, Kostic, Martinelli

Any thoughts?

PS: Feel free to disagree with any of the suggestions and to reassess the squad’s options on the wings.