If Gunners refused to contest Europa League showpiece they would generate headlines that might force Uefa into climbdownLeave no man behind. A code embraced by the US military, it refers to army policy of doing everything and anything possible to avoid abandoning troops behind enemy lines. A commendable dictum, despite the accompanying risks, it is one the Arsenal hierarchy may ponder ruefully as their players and backroom staff set off for next week’s Europa League final, leaving one of their own potentially key troops behind before even arriving at the Baku battlefield.In the meantime a “letter voicing their concerns” has been dispatched to Uefa and, at a recent media briefing, Unai Emery made all the right noises about the importance...
Manager once again turned to his blundering centre-back and the attackers had to atone for his team’s defensive failingsBefore this match Valencia had always had Arsenal’s number. They had won all three previous ties between the pair and then, in 2016, took £35m off the Gunners for Shkodran Mustafi. That is what folks in north London might refer to as being properly mugged off and if it did not exactly make this a grudge match, it at least reinforced the need for Arsenal to win for their own sense of worth, before anything else. That was true for Mustafi more than anyone.Although the first meeting between these clubs ended in a penalty shootout defeat for Arsenal after a 0-0 draw...
The former Arsenal manager overstayed his welcome but Unai Emery, who takes a team on a long unbeaten run to Old Trafford on Wednesday, owes Arsène Wenger a lotTowards the end of Arsenal’s north London derby victory on Sunday afternoon it was tempting to look away from the swarming red shirts on the pitch, past the packed-out stands, and catch a glimpse in the corner of your eyeline of a spectral figure in ankle-length quilted gown, a shadow on the touchline, a shape perched up on the highest lip of the stand, fingers fiddling at the zipper of his anorak, a slow smile beginning to spread across his hawk-like features.Arsène: the legacy years. A few months into the reign of...
German enigma continues to divide opinion at the Emirates and beyond but if his manager cannot trust him then Arsenal have a problem, and an expensive one at thatTell me what you think about Mesut Özil, and I will tell you who you are. Or at least that is the way the endless debate around the Arsenal playmaker often seems to be framed. Are you somebody who loves beauty and grace and is prepared to accept occasional indolence as a price worth paying, or are you some sort of utilitarian box-ticker, demanding constant effort at all times? Are you a continental sophisticate, or a blunt English football man who prizes industry above imagination? But it is, of course, much more...
Unai Emery has removed the sense of drift and reinvigorated the team although questions linger over Bernd LenoIt was only a draw, but at the moment for Arsenal the result is less important than the process. The game for them is not about positions and tallies. It is not, as it is for Liverpool, about trying to keep the neck of the disappearing Manchester City close enough to breathe down.They are not, any more, under the pressure that Pep Guardiola’s side have placed on those who truly aspire to the title. There is no sense for them that every dropped point could be vital – and that means the focus can be far more upon how they played, and the...