Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob slept on the VAR decision, woke up, watched it back and gave himself a slap. His take on what Arsenal’s war scars mean heading into a potential final is one of the best of the season. Pete’s take involves Arteta sending a message to the next set of referees — and why it might be the smartest thing he’s done all year

😤 The Pitch, The Penalty, The Fury — the grass story, the watering, the Ben White handball. Pete and Jacob go through everything Atletico did to tilt the playing field and ask whether the Emirates reverse leg looks very different now

🏆 Are We Good Enough To Win This? — a brilliant conversation about why Arsenal look like a different team in Europe, why PSG and Bayern’s pretty football doesn’t frighten either of them, and why the rest of the continent has started looking at Arsenal as the template

🌟 Saliba — Player Of The Season? — Jacob makes the case and Pete struggles to argue with it. An extraordinary player who doesn’t get nearly enough credit

💸 Andrea Berta In Turkey — what’s he actually doing out there? Buying or selling? The Saudi money drying up, the age profile concern, and why Jacob wants nothing to do with Osimhen

🧒 Ethan, Miles and Killing Your Darlings — a frank conversation about the academy boys, who stays and who goes, and why Max Dowman and Marley Salmon might matter more than either of them next season

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The first semi-final was for the heathens. An unsophisticated collective. Folk who think liking cilantro is a personality trait. Jake Humphrey motivational quote above their third screen at work. They tweet about the McRib returning. Pajamas to the airport. Start conversations with ‘did you see this TikTok video’ then scramble to find it while you prep yourself knowing you are about to watch the most excruciating 17 seconds of AI Care Bears fighting in Vietnam.

Couldn’t be us. Upmarket high-fliers, more interested in football as it should be played. Confident enough to say Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment was not a masterpiece. Interested in the ounce weightage of Japanese denim. Rejecters of natural wines as a concept. People like us say, ‘it’s all about the grind’ when someone talks about coffee, we live for the eyeroll. We buy nice ice, because there is a difference. New Harry Potter series? Please, let me leave the room, and apologies for my dry heaving, it’s not you, I promise.

Bayern 4 - Paris 5? Yes, I saw it, yes, I was appalled.

The real game of fútbol this week was Atlético Madrid vs Arsenal. Not the slop bucket of ill-discipline that was the fight between two bloated bullies in underpowered leagues.

Simeone vs Arteta did not disappoint. A highly tuned game that boasted defensive qualities evenly balanced with attacking output. Good keepers, strong midfields, and attackers from both teams that were largely constrained… and a scoreline that didn’t make European football look like a U14 game. It actually produced more shots than the other semi, but, you know, it had proper players involved, so there wasn’t a cricket score. The difference was just 0.75 xG, before you look at shot quality.

The game was so finely tuned, so tight, it was split by three penalty decisions.

The first was earned by Viktor Gyokeres who made the most of being cleared by Hancko. In Champions League terms, it was a penalty. Soft, but clearly a penalty. There was only one person who was going to take it, Big Vik, and was it ever in doubt? No. He blasted his shot to his left, Oblak went the right way, but the ball was struck so hard, it powered through his arms. That’s 27 out of 27 for him.

The second penalty came 11 minutes into the second half. Ben White tried to block a pass, the ball hit his outstretched shin, it pinged up and hit the hand he was using to balance. I just can’t believe that it was given. It was much like the one against Bayern last night. Not much White could do there… but the ref adjudged the hand to be in an unnatural position… which is crazy. Natural position in 2026 is apparently, hands behind your back…. that isn’t where they’d be if you were naturally trying to balance. Álvarez lashed the ball past Raya who waited for the Panenka. Not sure he’d have got there even if Iñaki had given him the right instruction.

The third penalty came when Eze was kicked over late in the game. The ref pointed to the spot, but VAR intervened and called the ref to the screen. I don’t know why he overruled it. There was a foul. The bigger question is why the VAR thought it was a clear and obvious moment they needed to correct. We almost never get marginal calls go our way, this was another one to add to the list.

Those were really the main flash points. The game was stingy, as expected. 6 shots on target between the two teams. David Raya was the busiest of the two keepers, but only one save really looked like a worry, that was when Álvarez crafted some space early on from an error on the edge of the box. Lookman smashed a shot at him he should have done better with. There was a looping corner that also needed to be turned over. Arsenal’s only open play shot that hit the target was Mosquera lashing a shot at Oblak late in the game.

The two teams had quite a lot of cracks at goal outside that, 29 shots went off in the game. For the most part, Arsenal controlled the game, had more space than they get in the Premier League, and largely looked impressive. There was a 15-minute blitz from Atleti in the second half, after their penalty went in, that had us looking a bit rattled… but this is Champions League, that’s what happens to you.

Simeone said after the game they were waiting for us to tire, knowing we had a Premier League title that was draining the team. Key thing for me, we didn’t collapse, and we actually came out of the bad moment and started to jab back.

The biggest surprise of the game was how some of the subs landed. Eze came on for Odegaard (who I don’t think is injured, despite reports) and just looked so smooth on the ball. He was finding pockets and leaning into his ability to turn and carry the ball. He added calmness to our final third, and carried far more threat. He deserved to win that penalty.

Arsenal started the game with Martinelli, Gyokeres, and Madueke. Not the ideal grouping of players. But, hard to deny they were decent. All three are better in Europe. They get more space, they are 15% more powerful and their speed certainly shines more. All of them were fairly decent by recent standards. Gyokeres, in particular, had one of his better games. He went on a surging run, beat his man in the duel, powered past him and cut a lovely pass to Odegaard who fluffed his lines. He only had one shot… but that was from a penalty he won. Did he assist himself? Streets are saying he did. I’m not going to keep doing rounds with people who are deep in that sunk cost fallacy with him, but I will salute his two finest qualities.

He’s a great ball striker.

He has good mental strength.

He’s always available.

That means he can be benched for a fragile German player and not sulk. It means he’ll always put in a lot of effort. It means if he gets a penalty, he’s going to score it. 19 goals in all comps. He’s delivered goals this season. Big Vik, my favourite meatsack, might have to do it again next Wednesday, and more than likely he’s starting at the weekend.

Madueke also had a nice moment, he powered at Atleti’s goal, cut inside, and let off a curling shot that just went wide. I just wish we’d see more of that.

The shock of the day for me was how bad the front three replacements were. Bukayo slipped over 3 times, had zero sauce on the ball, and kept losing the ball. Truly dreadful. Not as bad as Trossard who looked a total mess on the left. Please, don’t drop deep, do a pirouette, and lose the ball as your first action. Gabi Jesus, can barely remember him.

Arteta said after the game ‘we wanted to win the game, we are disappointed.’

But look, in fairness to all the players…

Atleti only care about the Champions League. They’ve given their players so much rest for this game. The atmosphere was HOT and toilet roll-filled; it is hard to play in spaces like that. Then, look at the sh*thousery… they didn’t cut the grass properly, and Atleti only watered the areas of the pitch Arsenal were defending in. I really hope we return the favour next week.

But let’s get at the result… it was a good one. Don’t lose your away game is the key to giving yourself the best chance in the Champions League. We rode the red and white wave, we dealt with the sh*thousery, and we have given ourselves the best opportunity of the last 25 years to get to a Champions League final. Put it this way, if I told you at the start of the season I could give you a pass to the second leg of the UCL semi, where you’d play Atleti at home, and the score is 1-1… how fast would you have bitten my arm off? Very fast, you cannibalistic beast.

My hope is this result gives the players more confidence than it does frustration at the penalty. Fulham at the weekend is going to be hard, but there should be a little bit more belief. Get that game over the line, then we’re down to 3 Premier League games, with just two Champions League ties. Beat Fulham and you are putting all the pressure back on City. They still have to beat a Brentford that battered United. They have to go away to a rough Everton side that is very direct. They have to go to Bournemouth on next to no rest… with them having 9 days to prep.

As for Atleti. Next week, Arsenal might be able to start Saka. They might be able to start Kai Havertz. They might be able to roll with Odegaard and Eze on the pitch at the same time. I’m not sure we’ll see Timber back anytime soon, which is killing me, because Ben White has turned into an error machine of late… but hey, we can’t have it all.

But, but, but… that Atleti game is very winnable. Anything could happen. Anything could go wrong. But… we have put ourselves in a very good position to progress. You can’t ask for much more than that in the toughest cup comp on the planet.

Also, I like that Arteta gunned for the refs after the game, stealing the victim narrative from Simeone. I am very sure those refs will be told by UEFA they messed up that decision, and I suspect the refs in the next game will be alert to the injustice.

This is what it’s all about… we’re in with a fighting chance in the Premier League and the Champions League. All the whiners, put in their box for another few days, what a wonderful thought.

Focus from tomorrow is the Fulham. A huuuuuuuge affair. Home fans, start prepping now!

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔴 Big Vik On Fire — the big man turns up on the biggest stage. PEDRO MUDDED

✨ Eze Off The Bench — a saucy cameo at exactly the right moment

🧤 Raya — Man of the Match Again — becoming a habit in Europe. The lads discuss

😤 Shocking VAR — the boys have conflicting…

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This is where we want to be… BIG NIGHT FOR A BIG TEAM.

Good luck.

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Nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to get in the way of me enjoying a Champions League semi final against one of the great teams of Europe, one of the great managers of the last 20 years, against some of the greatest players of Europe this evening. Martin Odegaard called it before the game.

‘How can you not enjoy this?’

Arsenal are the only unbeaten team left in the tournament, we’ve averaged 2.2 goals per game, we’ve conceded 0.42 goals per game, our keeper averages just 2.34 saves per game. Arsenal have scored 119 goals this season in all comps, more than City, 6 short of PSG, only 3 teams ahead of us. Arsenal are where they are right now because without a shadow of a doubt… we deserve to be here.

The two sides of the competition represent two different types of football. On the other side of the comp, it’s all about big-name attacking players who care mostly about scoring as many goals as possible. Big names, doing big things, for the full 90. On our side, it’s two coaches that believe great attack starts with the underpinnings of a great defence.

When I was growing up, I remember the first time I was mocked by Spurs fans… I supported a team that was boring. 1-0 to the Arsenal was a jab, not a compliment. But, then Arsenal started to win things, and Spurs fans soon piped down, especially when Wenger combined the defensive machine of George with the attacking flair he imported through his network.

I watched the great Italian teams of the 2000s absorb play and sucker punch Arsenal. We’d all wake up to NAIVE ARSENAL headlines. I suffered through the José Mourinho era, where his monstrous teams would bully us, and suck the joy out of our fragrant displays of football, by sh*tting on us with the hard-hitting reality of a bulldozer in the garden centre of win at all costs.

Wenger didn’t believe in tall defenders for years. We relied on inappropriate 6s who had no power, legs, or nastiness. We tried to copy Barca, but on a budget, without the press, with no Lio Messi.

I have seen the beauty these neutrals speak of, I reveled in it like a dog in a thick puddle, there’s no doubt I have taken the moral high ground because of one touch passing and Jack Wilshere inspired moments of wonder… and let me tell you, friends, it’s an empty place to be.

You know it, I know it, we all know it. Arsenal fans have wanted a win-at-all-costs coach for many years, now we have one, replicating the great managers of the past 30 years. I am not going to get into pathetic arguments with people who are worried what the neutrals think of the football.

Where were the neutrals when Stoke players were breaking young idealists’ legs and ankles? Where were the media during those savage times? Laughing at Arsenal because we were meek. Demanding we become men. Lecturing us on the pragmatism of whoever was the flavor of the month.

How am I reading Mourinho’s preferred journalists piping up about Arsenal football, pointing to the disgraceful, ill-disciplined goal fest that was PSG vs Bayern? 5-4… great fun, no doubt, but in the Champions League semi final? Are you kidding me? Appalling stuff. I didn’t just witness 9 world-class goals. I’m sorry, I saw horrendous one vs one defending, I saw empty midfields ghosted, there was terrible keeping, I saw a player who is 5 foot 6 score a header because no one tracked, and a lack of concentration to hold onto a 3 goal lead by PSG to kill the tie.

This was Mourinho on Arsenal back in 2004 after Arsenal beat Spurs by the same score.

“Five-four is a hockey score, not a football score. In a three-against-three training match, if the score reaches 5-4, I send the players back to the dressing rooms as they are not defending properly. So to get a result like that in a game of 11 against 11 is disgraceful.”

You shouldn’t be getting 9-goal thrillers at this level. It means something has gone wrong. Is it fun to watch, no doubt, but I’m not watching the Champions League tomorrow for fun… I’m in it to win. I don’t care about being the critics’ choice. I care that we finally deliver. If that’s because we have the best defence, you will not hear a complaint from me. That is how so many of the great sides have won big trophies in the past. We are ever so close to being one of those great sides.

Don’t worry though, we only have one of the most elite midfielders to have graced the planet seeing through the absolute mountain of bullsh*t. Here’s Clarence Seedorf.

Bayern and PSG are not going to get away with that sort of football against Arsenal this season. We’ll do to Bayern what we did to them in December and if we play against PSG, we’ll actually have our best players available, so it will not be the same tie as before, and we’ll make that xG count, because they won’t have Donnaruma to save them this time (Matvéi Safónov, my word, what a downgrade).

This game had no man-to-man marking, the pressing was an abomination, and both teams were wide open. I’ve never seen anything like it. So ill-disciplined and messy.

Crazy that both these teams play in leagues where they are so overpowered they can have fresh players at this stage of the season… and look shambolic, like they’ve played 6 games back-to-back. Never forget, when you’re celebrating these teams, they have it extremely easy because their domestic leagues are so weak.

But, that’s a chat for another day.

Arsenal are not playing a team like that, though it is hard to pretend the Atleti we’re up against tonight are a freight train of solidity. They are not who they were. They’re conceding 1.86 goals per game. They narrowly squeezed past Barca, who played with 10 men in both games. They lost the second leg of the quarters to Spurs. They were beaten by Bodø, drew to Brugge, drew to Gala, were hammered by Liverpool, and they were hammered by… Arsenal.

Still, this is a semi final. It awakens the beast within. Players having an average season will find their footing. The home fans in Madrid will be otherworldly. Arsenal players will feel the jangle of nerves when that theme tune reverberates around a sea of gnashing Atleti die-hards.

The job is simple, exit without losing. That’s the best thing that could happen for the game, it’s also what our Premier League push needs. But also, remember not to lose your sh*t if we narrowly lose, these games are never won with a one-goal lead. Even a 2-goal lead doesn’t mean we’re finished, especially knowing we’ll likely have Kai, Saka, Odegaard, and Eze for leg two.

Arsenal players do better in the Champions League. The pressure is lower. I think as a fan base, we really, really want the Premier League. Champions League is a roll of the dice. Nice to have, not expected. But, if you were a gambling man right now… you know, not an emotional one, you’d probably look at the data and say we had a pretty good chance of winning this if we can escape Madrid in good shape.

I want to see a spirited performance, some heroes stepping up, I want an iconic night to remember at a really tough away stadium.

Is that too much to ask? We’ll find out soon enough… have a great day.

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Johnny goes somewhere unexpected and immediately wishes he hadn’t. Pete’s take is about what this week means more than any o…

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The big story right now is that Manchester City are putting huge pressure on the Premier League to amend their fixtures so they can take a bit of a breather during their only fixtures pile-up remaining this season.

Yes, the City that has its players taking 4 days off right now as Arsenal battle on in the Champions League.

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This isn’t the week to dig deep into failings that haven’t taken us out of anything major yet… but you’d best believe we’re going to talk about the extent of injuries this season at some point. The week Arteta was talking about how incredible the weather was for training, then we had three near misses with key players…

Kai Havertz, who has played one 90 all season…

Eze, who was given a 6-week break at Christmas for not tracking Matty Cash…

Martinelli, who has had plenty of rotation this season…

These aren’t players who should be breaking down with tweaks and knocks.

You might have the view that all the training Arteta insists on has made a rag-tag group of players title contenders… but my view is that the main focus for a coach that has been a nearly man three years in a row should be to have his best players available, fresh, and ready to rotate if need be.

How are we breaking players with 5 games to go? Pep Guardiola has the same forward line ready to roll every single game. Arsenal have played 21 different combinations in 34 games. Friend of the AOP, Miguel Delaney, hid this nugget in one of his excellent articles.

'By contrast, Arteta's solution to any issue is to almost go more intense — especially in training. It all means City have the feel of 2023, when they battered Arsenal 4-1 in a similar fixture.'

Having three near misses in an April fixture with 5 games to go in the Premier League doesn’t feel like bad luck… it feels like same old Arteta.

The good news? It looks like the problems, as they stand, were warning shots.

Kai should be put in a little cryogenic chamber between games. Don’t even let him walk. Have round-the-clock masseuses on every part of his body that is legal. Make him Placenta Palomas in the evening. Do whatever you can to keep him fit, because if he’s in for 4 of the next 7 games, we’re winning a big trophy.

I have my doubts Martinelli is going to be unavailable for the Atlético Madrid game. He’ll battle through whatever tightness he’s feeling and unless Eze has a bad scan (like post Leverkusen)… you know he’s going to be there, ready to give his all, and f*ck me do we need his qualities and calmness around the dressing room.

If we have got away with this weekend, we have been very lucky, and Arteta should be asking himself the same questions we’ve had of him for his entire tenure here… are we a broken bag of mess in April because of things we can control? When it’s happening with a squad of the size that was built for him last summer, it really looks more and more like it’s his biggest weakness being the only issue that is getting in the way of Arsenal glory.

But on the edge of glory, we are…

For all of the bed-wetting that has gone on over the past month, all of the online yellow-belly, the embarrassing spleen-venting… we’re heading into a f*cking amazing week of jeopardy, and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it as a fan. Will I enjoy it? No. But I like the concept of it.

An absolutely monstrous Champions League tie against one of the filthiest monsters to have ever graced the dugout. Diego Simeone’s Atleti will be beastly. They haven’t been great in the league this season, they haven’t been great in the Champions League, but make no mistake… we’ll be getting an electrified Atleti who are more than capable of teaching us a lesson for what we did to them earlier in the season.

Simeone is a master tactician. A warrior of a manager. An iconic player and thinker. His players will fizz out the blocks at a scary stadium and if we’re not at our absolute peak… we will falter.

The Premier League couldn’t be any tighter. We’re in a 5-game shootout against an overpowered Man City and we just put three points on the board against a Newcastle team that always gives us trouble. We did it losing two of our best players in the first half. Gyokeres took a pasting from everyone, but watching that game back, give the man some credit. He came on like an over-enthusiastic 18-year-old, tore around the pitch, showed loads of desire, and put on a spirited performance. He’s not at the level to be an Arsenal forward, but he’s all we have as back-up right now. Big Vik looked very much like a player who could feel the moment.

We all have to be like Big Vik. Groan FC in the stands from a short corner that we scored from after 9 minutes… is that where we’re at? Come on. This moment we’re in is what we’ve all wanted for 25 years. Shift your perspective to the Eze one. He said this when Redknapp said, you hear the pundits:

‘I don’t hear pundits.

‘The pressure we put on ourselves is so much more than what’s coming from outside. It’s the necessary pressure to win, it’s not negative, it’s beautiful.’

Too many of us are watching to confirm disappointment instead of dreaming that this season, yes, the one we’re living right now… is our moment.

Arsenal deserve the league this season. We deserve a Champions League final. The fans deserve it all. F*ck being coy about it, we’ve had a horrible time since the Invincibles win. So many near misses. So much banter. We were in such a mess, I thought we’d never find ourselves in a position like this again.

Could we lose it all? Sure. But we could also win it all, and that is a better place to be when it comes to mental space.

So as you sit there, on this Monday morning, I hope you’re feeling good. This could be one of the most important weeks of the last 25 years. We could have a good time in Madrid, and if we’re lucky, we could beat Fulham to go 6 points clear at the top of the Premier League 2 days before Man City go away to the Hillsborough Dickenson stadium to play Moyesy after his side f*cked a late equaliser against West Ham. No better team to have a reaction against than Man City with a Premier League to play for.

Ok, that’s me done. x

P.S. Check out Johnny’s ratings if that’s your sort of thing.

Here’s what’s inside:

📊 The Stats — Newcastle out-possessed us, out-chanced us, and came very close to equalising. Johnny explains why the win was right but the xG column makes uncomfortable reading

🧤 Raya Reborn — after a few weeks of wobbles, a performance Johnny calls genuinely exceptional. His quick distribution was one of our best weapons in the second half

🛡️ Hincapié — Man of the Match — the Ecuadorian Martin Keown. Tank behaviour. Leading the team in tackles, stepping up when everyone around him was flustered. An eight

😤 Madüeke — A Four — Johnny’s seen this film before and he’s done being patient. The verdict is damning

⚽ Eze — The Bergkamp Moment — world-class technique, premeditated set-piece brilliance, and the look of a man entering his best form at exactly the right time

💪 Saka — The Aura Effect — ten minutes, but the entire game changed the moment he came on. Johnny asks whether Arteta left it too long and whether those ten minutes told us everything about what this run-in needs

🔴 Arteta — 7 — an improvement on recent weeks. Credit for the set-piece innovation. But the substitutions and the nervousness filtering down to the pitch? Johnny’s not letting it go

Members only — thank you for being part of the AOP family.

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Pick my bones up from the floor… what the hell was that?

Grotesque! UGLY! Painful! Yet… absolutely beautiful at the same time. Arsenal didn’t romp to three points, but they took the maximum out of the game in the most classic of Arsenal ways… one nil to the Arsenal.

Nothing else really matters. We don’t need to deep dive into whether it should have been 5 goals. There’s no reason to wonder why the players looked nervous at times. In a game we mostly controlled, Arsenal did enough to kill off a Newcastle side that has given us pain in the past.

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Here’s what’s inside:

⚡ Saka Is Back — and he made his presence felt immediately. The cameo we’ve been waiting for

🤕 Kai Havertz — Down Again — how long is he out this time? And what does it mean for the run-in?

✨ Eze — The Bergkamp Moment — you know the one. Pete and Johnny lose their minds

📊 Points vs Goals — Why Are People Moaning? — three points is three points. The lads make the case for perspective

🧤 Unsung Raya — doing what he does, quietly, brilliantly, every single week

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It’s Newcastle at home.

Join up now for the early bird special! If you want to join the LIVE chat, click the video and join via YouTube.

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‘All in, let’s go for it.’

The message from Arteta was clear. We all knew what it was going to be. He has framed this as a season reset. I’ve framed this as a best of 5 because I’ve been Americanised into not believing that the winner of a league is the absolute champion… oh no, we like to turn a league into a cup over here.

Is this the framing we’d hoped for 2 months ago? Probably not. But we were all a little toxic about the idea of the quad and I think far too many of us had fallen in love with the idea that we could romp the Premier League.

Maybe, just maybe, the league would have been simpler had we gotten more out of our forwards… but the simple truth, for me, is we haven’t had our best options available, together, in form… all season long. That’s not an excuse, the manager is culpable for how he trains and rotates players… he’s also culpable for who we signed in the summer to be the bang bang goal machines. But that chatter is for the end of the season regardless of outcome.

The big question: Will this weekend see us get closer to our best assortment of attackers?

Bukayo Saka steps into the ultimate quad, which for me, is Eze on the left, Kai in the middle, Saka on the right, with Martin Odegaard marauding as a controlling 10.

If we play like we did at the weekend, we will win the Premier League. We’re at the phase of the season when fatigue really shouldn’t be an excuse. Heading into this Newcastle game tomorrow, it absolutely should not be in the conversation. We’ve had a week to rest key names, the sunshine has been out, and according to the manager, the energy and focus has been really good.

The same, that the energy raised, the belief raised, I think the clarity of what we have to do, it cannot be better. Five games to go, tomorrow, game one, all in. Let’s go for it.

No crazy rallying cries from the manager for this one — just calm focus on the players. At this point, it’s down to them to decide if they want to become immortal and push this season over the line.

My faith in this project has been restored. Arsenal have a more favourable four-week run than Man City, and I do not believe our foes up north have it in them to go 5 for 5 against a rotten group of clubs who know how to frustrate.

This is a late kick off, it’s under the lights, fans will have had time to get lagered up nicely… and Newcastle are weak. Very weak.

PIF are shifting their focus given all the geopolitical stuff that’s going on in the world, sports assets are going to take a hit.

They were given a HIDING in the Champions League, and haven’t recovered since.

They are 7 games without a win and they’ve lost their last 3 games in a row in the Premier League.

Their big dog players are all seeking moves away from the club… Gordon, Bruno, Livramento, and Tonali all have agents agitating.

They’re 14th in the league, safe, but nothing to play for…

That’s quite a desirable set of circumstances for the home team to be looking at. The last thing they’ll want to do is come down to Arsenal, sit in a fizzing atmosphere, and gut it out in a really hard game.

Talking of fizzing atmosphere, it needs to be that, just ask Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams.

“I think you can tell early on, when they are trying to play out from the back, that there was a sense of nervousness,” Adams told Men in Blazers.

“The thing was, the team was playing well. Arsenal in the first five, ten minutes played some of the best football they did in that game.

“You saw they were confident, but it just takes one little error, one little mistake, and the fans get a little bit nervous.

“That’s a difficult atmosphere to play in and thrive in when you are trying to chase a championship. Because we talk about them like they’re not sitting first in the table still. They are in complete control of everything.

“As an opposition, it’s the best thing to hear. When you’re playing an away game and all of a sudden it feels like the momentum is swinging, and it feels like a home game.

“At certain moments in the game I heard our fans celebrating or cheering and it was like: ‘why’s it so quiet in here?’

“They are trying to chase a title, we are trying to chase potentially finishing in a European position, but it feels like we’re playing for a little bit more in the circumstances. I think it can be really difficult when you are in an environment like that.”

American’s loved to say ‘do better’ in the early 2020s… this is that. How dare he. But, does he have a point?

I absolutely believe that the pro-pundit media works the same as propaganda outlets in certain countries… they work the media against people to depress the voter turnout. If you don’t think that part of the equation with ex-Liverpool and United players is to turn fans on their own teams, you’re out of your damn mind. They make you feel shitty about your team, despite all the key indicators suggesting you should maybe feel a bit better about where you are?

The home fans are going to be important. If it’s a gaspy afternoon full of moans and crossed arms, the game will be harder, it’s that simple.

The players have their role to play here as well, if they come out on fire, guess what… the fans will react to that. It’s usually pretty clear what type of Arsenal team is showing up after 5 minutes… the challenge for the home crowd is to support the players through nervy moments, not add to it. Easier said than done… but certainly easier to get in the mood if your diet is toxic positive publications and personalities.

Always remember, no one is going to reward you for premature pessimism…. unless you are taking money from a shady organization to be pessimistic to down Arsenal’s title hopes? Are you shilling for big pessimism? Is that you? I thought not…

Ok, that’s me done. We’ll be back tomorrow for a wonderful adventure! Check out the Before the Whistle with me and Johnny AND the midweek debrief! Soooooo much content. x

P.S. Get signed up and be READY for the members on the whistle tomorrow. x

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Johnny’s take is one of liberation: now that goal difference matters, Arsenal have no choice but to attack. No handbrake. Pete goes toxic positive: …

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Here’s what’s inside:

📊 The Five-Game Shootout — Pete and Johnny go through Man City’s remaining fixtures game by game. Which ones could they drop? Wher…

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I’m not sure about you, but I’m feeling slightly less queasy about life this morning, and most of that emotional/physical shift can be put down to the incredible job Scott Parker and the Burnley boys did against Man City.

My existential dread was that I was going to watch all our structural advantages disappear in one night.

City would top the league…

They’d score 7 goals against a team that was wide open against Forest…

Our broken fan base would be crying into their cornflakes, knowing that the momentum was so fully with Pep, it’d be an inevitable outcome…

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Danny has been defending Gyökeres all season in the group chats,…

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Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob makes the case that bad football isn’t a tactics problem, it’s a players problem. And he’s got a stat about Kai …

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The dust won’t settle… we’re in a sandstorm of an end of season and we’re still alive in the two competitions we care about the most.

Are we in the ideal state? Absolutely not. The Man City game might have us as favourites with the AI-powered stats nerds, but we all know what the stalking horse of Manchester City can be like. They have defied odds plenty of times in the past, they have no Champions League distractions, and they have a squad that has won the big competitions in the past.

But… we are alive.

I was shuffling through some music yesterday and a line from an artist called King Krule landed aptly.

If you’re going through hell, just keep going.

There’s no choice at this point.

If the season crumbles, then we’ll deal with it at the end of May… but if it doesn’t, I want to be able to say I was enjoying the fight, and that I was in it emotionally. Far too many ‘I’m going to leave with 7 minutes to go’ types sucking up the oxygen at the moment.

When Gary Neville is on Sky saying that Arsenal played as good a game as you can at Man City, you have to take a beat. Man City had the rub, Arsenal did not. Khusanov playing Kai Havertz instead of the ball would have been a red against Arsenal… in fact, we’ve seen it with Saliba at Bournemouth in the past. We’ve had referees pouring back through phases of play to find issues with Arsenal goals, yet somehow, they all missed Haaland wrestling with Gabriel to score the second goal. Remember Fulham and catching that offside in the build up? VAR rummaging for minutes to disallow the Gyokeres Everton goal?

Arsenal had 4 big chances and they f*cked them all. Finishing in big moments is still a curse for Arsenal. If the season doesn’t prove a successful one, we will, without doubt, look at the attacking recruits from the summer and ask big questions. People say, if we win the Premier League, it’s all ok… and I have to disagree, big questions still need to be asked about how we spent £300m the way we did last window. Big questions need to be asked about how we made Arteta king and let him choose his own Sporting Director. Big questions have to be asked about how we ended up with a striker not fit for purpose in the Premier League after searching for 3 seasons. Especially when the data pointed to this sort of outcome. Big questions have to be asked about how we spent £55m on Madueke, knowing a player like Semenyo could have been available for £10m more. Could we have reconfigured the money we spent on 8 players to go on 5… and maybe doubled down on quality over quantity?

These are big questions that we’ll need to ask regardless of outcome because with better quality, we’d probably be 10 points better off this season. We all know it. That we’re in a situation where the best attacker to bring of the bench at City was, without doubt, a 16 year old… is a high crime.

The biggest question that Arteta never seems to have to answer for is how he manages his squad of players. The major factor in any failing we have this season will be player fitness again… or the lack of it. Is there any club, bar Tottenham, who have suffered as many injuries to key players as Arsenal? Three players that make Arsenal tick are Kai, Odegaard, and Saka. They are rarely available, and when they are, we’re asking questions of their fitness. Then there’s the lack of rotation, and the overtraining I’ve been talking about for years that is now in mainstream media. April is always our worst month because that’s when the chickens come home to roost.

I thought we had a squad to compete for four trophies this season — and that proved wrong by one. It is amusing that so many people flag that comment, like my meaning was ‘we’re going to win the quad’… my point was, we have a squad big enough to go far, without deep breakage. Well, that didn’t prove right. But there are some factors there. Ethan was bombed off early. Myles has barely played. Calafiori breaks every 4 games. Norgaard was a huge waste of money. Ben White has given his body to Arsenal, now it’s broken, and he’s not trusted to start over a centre back in a major game.

The only godsend has been the five players that make up our defensive core have been pretty much invincible all season.

But… we are where we are… and squad wise, things could be looking up.

Saka and Timber should be available for this game at the weekend and that gives the team a whole new dynamic. We don’t have to watch a striker who doesn’t register a shot 45% of the time. Saka’s incredible output will have a target man who can bring players into the game. We’ll have the best right back at the club making us more secure all over the park. Martin Odegaard was brilliant at City, he needs to get back to his best for the summer, he’ll be in the mood to carry us over the line. I also think the boys will feel hard done by over that City result, rather than broken.

They have a choice. Be heroes. Gut it out until the end. Make history in the Champions League.

Or be tarred with all the standard media nonsense that happens when Arsenal miss out again.

I’m going to believe that City will drop points. 6 wins on the bounce against some really good teams with jobs to be done would be extraordinary. There are going to be misses.

I’m also going to believe that one of the most consistent teams in the world is going to get its bouncebackability on and deliver something special.

I’d rather spend the next 5 weeks in the world of hope, than burying myself in preemptive misery. Again, people giving up on players they say have no character are kind of telling on themselves. It really is a scene to read grown adults cry about mentality as they commit seppuku on the internet before the fat lady sings.

Not going to be me.

We have a HUGE game against Newcastle this weekend to regain our footing. This is a very bad team who have been hammered by Barcelona and lost their last three on the bounce. A good performance there will set us up for a historic game in Madrid. Plenty to look forward to.

See you in the comments. Therapy with Jacob out later. x

Here’s what’s inside:

🔥 The State of Play — Johnny gives his honest assessment of where this leaves us, whether the title is still genuinely ours, and what City will be feeling right now

🧤 Raya — Johnny’s been h…

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