2026 started well for Arsenal without Arsenal having to do anything. Man City went to Sunderland and with all due respect to Granit Xhaka’s side I expected the visitors to come away with all three points. Instead they had to settle for just one, giving us a 4 point lead at the top of the table.
I watched some highlights on Match of the Day and chose not to watch them live. I’m finding our matches quite stressful this season, I just can’t cause myself any more worries through another match that we’re not involved in (although it obviously has an impact on us). So it was a very nice surprise to check the full time after seeing a classic from the Coen brothers. Maybe, if you want to look at this from a different perspective, the fact that Sunderland took points off both us and City could say something about them and the season they are having at the moment, but the way we conceded late felt quite frustrating at the time (it still does a bit), because I think we played well enough there in the second half to win.
Earlier in the day, Liverpool dropped points at home against Leeds. I saw a bit of it as it was happening, and while you may not consider them relevant to the title race itself, I’m okay with them struggling a bit, especially with our home game against them not that far away. Leeds defended very well, Liverpool seemed to have few ideas and hopefully it stays that way. I think it’s fair to say there’s plenty to talk about on The 30 later, ours Patreon podcast that recaps all the Premier League action, so I’m putting that, along with the Chelsea stuff, aside for now.
Back to us, and Mikel Arteta will be meeting the press this morning ahead of our trip to Bournemouth tomorrow night. I think the main question will be about the availability of Declan Rice, whose swollen knee kept him out of the win against Villa. Some of the footage on social media of him talking to Morgan Rogers might make you a little worried about how bad the problem actually is, but he seemed to be moving around relatively well, so let’s wait and see.
This could very well be a game where we see some rotation from the manager, but it’s also a game where you can’t overdo it by taking everything for granted. Given the way the games have gone, it’s an opportunity to extend the lead over City to seven points to put some pressure on them before they play managerless Chelsea on Sunday. But for me it’s one of those moments where any slight drop in performance level will be punished, even though Bournemouth are in pretty indifferent form at the moment.
Andoni Iraola seemed pretty confident that Antoine Semenyo would play as he approaches a move to Man City, but if the deal is as far down the line as it seems, it would be strange if he did feature. Normally this doesn’t happen for fear of something getting in the way of the move, but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. It would be helpful to us if he didn’t. He’s a real danger and it’s a shame he’s going there, but let’s see.
As always, we bring you all the stories from the press Arseblog news. For some extra reading this morning, Lewis has an excellent tactics column looking at how Arsenal adapted to turn the game around against Aston Villa. It wasn’t just Mikel Arteta’s half-time rocket that did the trick – read it here. We’ll also have a Preview Pod on Patreon later this afternoon, so there’s a lot more to come.
But for now: enjoy.
#City #stumbles #Stadium #Light