Do I take it easy during the week off? You’re damn right, I do. This is bliss. The afterglow of a Spurs attack is what hard drugs must feel like. I’m actually afraid I have a bit of a problem at the moment because I’m leaning too hard on the disaster porn that is literally everything to do with our North London rivals at the moment. Igor Tudor was asked about two players who previously returned from injury and he said: ‘I have no idea.’
How have they already brought in a new manager who is on ‘I just don’t care’? Truly amazing. I’ve spent all week criticizing our captain, but then I realized that Spurs captain Micky van de Ven is also having a hard time. With what?
‘Little problem in his little finger.’
I don’t mean to be that guy, but even if you lost your entire pinky finger, you could probably still play, right?
Who cares… we’re about to start a very, very tough game against Chelsea, and the news seems pretty good. They are without Fofana AND Cucurella. Losing 50% of your backline on an away day at Arsenal can’t be the best.
Matt Kandela called me scum on the podcast for attacking vicious fans who heckled Liam Rosenior for having a pint on his own, because I wrote an 800-word thought piece about his mismanagement at Arsenal. Fair point. But I do think there’s a difference between mismanaging football, which is the game… and having a beer alone and getting caught by a 17 year old because of internet power.
The draw for the champions is today… I’m afraid.
Arsenal will be drawn against Atalanta or Leverkusen. Two pretty good teams, but not the kind you’d expect to beat us in the Champions League over two games.
What we look at with the greatest focus is the path we are taking.
The dream: The blue lane, that’s Bodo, not Madrid.
The second dream: It’s Sporting Lisbon, NOT Manchester City.
The silver track: Could you get PSG or Gala into the semi-finals?
The blue track (alternative): Atleti of Newcastle.
The whole thing is very complicated and usually the best way to imagine these things is the worst possible outcome in all rounds.
But… this season has been quite good for Arsenal, with cup games. Just look at the FA Cup, where for the first time EVER (maybe never) we have had two League One teams in action.
The sad reality in 2026 is that the only real pain we will get in the Champions League if we play well is being lumped together against an English team. Man City would take our ties with them to five this season. The same if we draw Chelsea. You’d be a fool to predict anything positive from those two teams other than excessive physical and emotional fatigue.
I want freewheeling continental teams that don’t know the dastardly concepts of deep and mid-blocks.
I won’t delve too deeply into the blog today, but I will tell you that my biggest concern this weekend is whether the Spurs were a real injection of Compound V into our attacking swagger… or whether we simply played a terribly underpowered Spurs and tore them apart.
What is the reality of Gyokeres and Eze? Two players who screwed up small teams? Or two players who have found their feet at the right time in a season that felt a little bad in front of goal (despite being in the top 3 for goals in all competitions across Europe).
Chelsea will be quite a test to master before dealing with the horrors of Moyesball.
But we’ll hear from Mikel and dive deep into those thoughts tomorrow. X
#LADY #LUCK #ARSENAL #UCL #DRAW