Asterisk FC

This one is going to run and run, I'd have thought. And there's so much that has been said - on the radio, on television, in podcasts and in the written media - over the past week since I last posted. This is such a monumental story, and I thought I'd add some of my own new thoughts (there are so many strands; so it may end up reading like random streams of consciousness, I'm afraid...). All this based on the perfectly reasonable assumption that the club are guilty as charged.

I'll then quickly turn my attention to the actual football - which returns, as it rightly should, at the home of the Champions on Saturday lunchtime.

As I say; so many threads to pick up on. Let's go:

Firstly, let's get the supposed 'irrefutable evidence' that Manchester City claim to have to fight the 114 guilty verdicts. All I can say is this; if the evidence is irrefutable, why didn't they present it during the actual investigation? The fact that they're continuing to double down on their 'innocence' is difficult to understand, frankly.

City also claim that they have proof that the extra money that was fed through to the club did not come from its owner, but from the Government of Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mansour is the Crown Prince - the King's brother - so make of that what you will... 

Additionally, this 'evidence' flies directly in the face of the defence they used against the UEFA charges from a few years ago, when they proclaimed: "All sponsorship liabilities were met by the sponsors in question". Huh? Which one is it, then?

These are of course people who are not used to being told 'No'. They're at the very top of an Absolute Monarchy; answerable to nobody but themselves. They are used to setting their own Laws, so it probably barely computes with them that they may have to follow other people's.

The owners have - for reasons that don't need a lot of spelling out - firmly insinuated themselves into the UK. They have bought plenty of property; in London and beyond. They have invested billions into various institutions - both financial and other - in this country. And, most importantly in this instance, they have sought to make themselves invaluable to the city of Manchester. 

There is no doubt that their money has made a massive difference to the wealth of the city; to the way it looks, and to the quality of housing and municipal facilities available. They have completely renovated the run-down areas around the old City of Manchester stadium (which was donated to the club after the Commonwealth Games of 2002, and due to a sponsorship deal is now what we all know as The Etihad). Their money also helped build the impressive Co-op Live - the largest entertainment arena in the UK - which sits on the edge of the Etihad Campus. But...

A lot of evidence points to them having obtained the land in 'sweetheart' deals; in other words at knockdown prices. Perhaps fair enough if no other developer was interested, to be fair. But in the light of what we know now about the way the club has been run, we should perhaps be asking how much Manchester City Council - and its Mayor at the time; one Andy Burnham - were in bed with them and quite how those deals were struck. I'd also imagine that the rents they are charging won't get fed back into the UK economy.

They have done an amazing job, on the face of it. But isn't this exactly what sports washing is? Putting up a facade behind which one can kind all sorts of iniquities; such as financially doping a football club or - and this is of course far worse - causing people and even Governments to look favourably on them and therefore turn a blind eye to their policies both at home and abroad. Certainly, those Manchester City fans who are still to come to terms with the mess that the club is in continue to point at all the wonderful things they have done - and turn that blind eye to the bigger picture and all the less than wonderful things done in the name of that country.

Threats on all sorts of diplomatic levels, and about pulling out their money from the UK, have started, as they try to put pressure on the UK Government to in turn put pressure on the Premier League. Certainly, Mr Burnham's initial statement - almost defending the club's owners - showed a complete failure to understand the severity of the situation and to 'read the room'. Football is this country's national sport. Nobody rides roughshod over it and gets away with it; remember the uproar over the Super League a few years ago?

And I'll add this. All the talk in certain quarters about how much the Premier League would miss Manchester City is nonsense. In the grand scheme of things, only three clubs are essential to the success of the Premier League; Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The rest are bit-part players in comparison, and those who one might regard as next in line - trying to knock on the door of those three giant, historical clubs and make up a Big 6 - would be Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City. But as for those three clubs... well, Tottenham have become a laughing stock, and the other two are where they are solely because they flouted the rules. The key to a successful Premier League is the so-called Red Cartel.

On the other side of things, I wonder how much pressure is being put on the owners from within their own country. After all, this matter is clearly bringing shame on Abu Dhabi - and Sheikh Mansour's brother won't like that!  Hopefully the pressure to extricate themselves from this mess will encourage them to slip away quietly - like that iconic meme of Homer Simpson disappearing into a hedge... 

Before I get on to my opinion on what punishment ought to be meted out, I just wanted to cover a few other strands to get you thinking. For example, if you've financially doped a club in order to illegally build the greatest squad of players that ever existed, and become more brazen each year that you've got away with it, what's to stop you seeking every other advantage that you can? For example, what about putting referees in your pocket? Raiding other clubs' academies? Paying journalists to write favourable articles? Artificially inflating transfer fees and wages to put other clubs outside of their own comfort zones? There's plenty of evidence pointing to all these things having taken place.

And now to Pep... Do you remember his comments when this all blew up all those years ago: "If you lie to me, the day after I am not here. I will be out, and I will not be your friend any more. I put my faith in you because I believe you and I defend the club because of that". Pretty unequivocal.

But last week's statement tells a different story: "I want every single Man City fan to know I am here; more than ever. I am, always have been, always will be, behind my club, my owner, my Chairman, Ferran, the players, staff, Enzo and you, our unique supporters. Let me be clear; we will get through this together, I love you all." Not their friend any more, then...

You know, if Pep's legacy wasn't already tarnished by being associated with Manchester City for all these years, statements like that one only make matters worse. Here's a guy with some skeletons in his closet - charged twice for steroid misuse whilst playing for Brescia, with questions hanging over whatever role he may had had regarding the brewing refereeing scandal involving Barcelona, and all the stories about the methods used by his pet medical teams over the years. I'm not knocking the undoubted genius of the playing systems he devised, but you have to ask yourself f if you believe that there's something of a dark side to Pep Guardiola.

And so to possible punishment. And we've all got our own opinion as to how large it ought to be. After some thought, I've come up with this:

• Expulsion from the Premier League (wherever the club may land is frankly not the Premier League's problem)
• A £1bn fine, to be redistributed proportionally throughout the football pyramid. Plus payment of the Premier League's legal costs
• A transfer ban of three seasons (6 windows); to be applied if/when ever they return to the Premier League
• A lifetime ban on their owners, Board members and senior officers from involvement in the running of any professional football club in England
• Stripping them of their titles. But perhaps don't award them to the runners up - as that's difficult. Asterisk FC 

If you think that's draconian, just think about the effect of their systematic and long-term cheating on their rivals, on those clubs who missed out on trophies and Champions League or European qualification, on those clubs who suffered relegation, and on the employees of other clubs who had their livelihoods affected as a result. On the legacies and reputations of players and managers of other clubs. On the finances of every single club from the Premier League down, as their wanton use of unlimited funds served to hyper-inflate the transfer and wage markets. Whatever form it takes, the punishment needs not only to hit the club hard, but also act as a deterrent to anybody else going forward from attempting to defraud the rest of the league. They deserve everything that I'd hope they've got coming to them. 

Sure, I feel sorry for the innocents. The employees who will lose their jobs. The supporters who are going to suffer as a result. I don't know what to call them apart from 'collateral damage'. And if I think about all this, I wish that it would have happened to Chelsea too; because they started all this. For all that people say about how Manchester United dominated the Premier League in so many of the preceding years - not losing sight of the amazing battles with Arsenal around the turn of the century- at least that club's growth (like Arsenal's) was achieved organically.

One tricky question for the Premier League, however, is when to announce the punishments. The timeline would indicate that the full process should be over by the middle of January; and foottball has of course to go on regardless despite everything that's going on. With Manchester City currently sitting top of the Premier League... with the team still in three cup competitions, if they realise that they've no chance of staying up will they simply rest their key players for the Champions League, for example; or just roll out a full strength side against the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool? What if they win a trophy this season? I have suggested on WhatsApp groups that once due process has been completed and - on the assumption that they don't win the appeal - that they are immediately expelled from all competitions and the Premier League becomes a 19-team competition for this season - with all of their results expunged. 

There are other legal matters, of course. The only question may be where to start. In a Criminal Court - take questions from HMRC, for example. Or in Civil Court - with other clubs suing Manchester City for all sorts of things. Then there's the question of whether the current City players can be held to their contracts; bearing in mind the Duty of Care that an employer has to its employees. Cans of worms everywhere!

And on top of all this... don't think for a single moment that the cheating stopped in 2018. There'll be so much more for the club to answer to for the following seasons.

Right - let's stick all that on the back burner for now. Because there's actual football to talk about. And with a series of injuries as a result of the international break with which to contend, Mikel Arteta has a number of decisions to make. Will we see Jurrien Timber? Who will replace Tzolis on the left wing? Will it be Big Vik or Mikel Merino up top in place of Kai? I'm not going to speculate; your guess is as good as mine. What I do expect, however, is three points from the game.

Of almost equal interest is going to be the reception that Manchester City get at Anfield on Sunday. I'm looking forward to that almost as much as I am the Arsenal game.

COYG!

Sham(bolic)

It’s an Interlull, right? A time when Arsenal content is usually at a premium, and we can indulge in whatever other hobbies or interests we may have. One in which so far the most important pieces of news of an Arsenal nature have been the outrageous assaults on Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard (the latter by the weasel Bernardo Silva). 

But the timing of the news that dropped via David Ornstein last Friday -the subsequent Premier League statement is absolutely damning, by the way; leaving no room whatsoever for doubt - calls for football writers everywhere to pick up their pens or grab their keyboards. Because this is seismic stuff! 

And it's therefore time for an Extraordinary Blog Post from yours truly. I am aiming to put my own personal slant/views together on this - so whilst you'll probably be reading dozens of interpretations and conclusions, these thoughts are all mine (with this legal disclaimer, just in case: I am interpreting and basing my analysis on numerous media sources; all of which are freely available to anybody). I'm not expecting to be sued regarding any allegations I may make here, but you never know...

And this piece of work is inevitably going to be a long one. Strap yourself in...

And with thanks to whistleblower Rui Pinto (wherever you are).

First, a quick reminder/history lesson to explain how we got here:

As long ago as 2003, when Premier League clubs' finances were essentially unregulated, ex-Soviet oligarch Roman Abramovich waltzed into Chelsea Football Club and began to spend unprecedented amounts of his (allegedly) ill-gotten gains; money earned by buying Russian commodity assets at heavily discounted rates at the time that they were de-nationalised, and then later selling them back to the State at vastly inflated prices. Not bad for a guy who'd started his entrepreneurial career making and selling children's toys out of his Moscow apartment!

As Jack Walker had proved on a short-term basis with Blackburn Rovers in the 90s - attracting the likes of Alan Shearer to the club - chucking vast amounts of cash always looked likely to prove successful, and before long Chelsea had bounced up from a decent mid-table side to a become a major force, as over the years Abramovich 'laundered' some £3bn through the club and put together some formidable sides - managed initially by our friend Jose Mourinho and later by other household managerial names - and Avram Grant! It mattered little that the club appeared to be run like the Wild West; the money brought great players to Chelsea, who brought inevitable success. Abramovich's vast wealth - dwarfed later on by Abu Dhabi, of course - meant the club could afford to run at enormous losses - and damn the consequences; Abramovich - at least initially - didn't care!

But was this fair? Well, there was nothing to stop Abramovich doing this at the time - until the Premier League and UEFA concluded that it wanted/needed to see its member clubs run like actual businesses and not mere playthings of the super-rich. Lessons had been learned, I guess, from what had happened to clubs like Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Blackburn themselves as they over-reached themselves financially over the years; and it is this - as much as trying to keep a level playing field - that led to regulations being put in place.

Going back to Chelsea now. From an Arsenal perspective, Arsene Wenger first coined the phrase 'financial doping' as he watched what was happening in West London. And David Dein is quoted as saying: 'Roman Abramovich has parked his Russian tank in our front garden and is firing £50 notes at us'. And it was in the summer of 2006 - as Arsenal were preparing to move from Highbury to their new stadium at Ashburton Grove, that the landscape flipped for the club. 

It was clear that Arsenal were going to have to go through a period of relative austerity at the very time when they needed to compete with the inflated financial playing field - and it was soon clear that they could not. And then Chelsea signed Ashley Cole...

Yes; the loss of Cole was as much to do with the Arsenal board's mis-management of the situation as it was to do with the monetary attraction of Chelsea, but the guy went from a club hero, legend and Invincible to a pariah in a single day. Although can we really - with the benefit of hindsight - blame the player? 

Arsenal were in massive debt at this point, with the move costing the best part of £400m and the subsequent repayments at eye-watering levels. At one point interest payments on the loans amounted to over £20m a year, whilst annual turnover was only around £90m, so something had to give for Arsenal - who unlike Chelsea were trying to live within their means. 

The only way to balance the books was to sell its assets; its best players. It was the perfect storm, as the club were left in Chelsea's wake and Wenger was forced to sell the likes of Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and - tellingly - Samir Nasri to Manchester City over the subsequent years. The latter being just one of several players to move to City as they looked to establish themselves from 2009 onwards. But I'll come back to that shortly. 

And I'll say this - and hope that you'll agree with me - the fact that Wenger managed to keep Arsenal in and around the Top 4 over so many years was nothing less than a miracle. Sure, after 22 years his time as a coach/tactician was probably up, but for people to knock his achievements even in the latter years of his time at the club is - with the benefit of the knowledge we have now about the need to sell players in order to keep the club afloat - simply not on. 

Wenger and the board looked to ensure that the club spent within their means - whilst Chelsea went down a completely different route; at the same time changing the financial environment in which every other club had to operate. 

Poor Arsene has been the biggest managerial victim of financial doping (or calling a spade a spade; cheating) in football history - firstly Marseille against his Monaco, and latterly Chelsea and then Manchester City against Arsenal. What he did manage to achieve needs to now be viewed in an entirely different light!

In 2008 the world went through a massive financial crisis, you will recall. It started with the collapse of Lehman Bros., and the macroeconomic walls came tumbling down. This made things even more difficult for Arsenal, of course, but it made little difference to the multi-billionaire Abramovich; and it was in that summer that Manchester City were taken over by the Sheikh Mansour and Abu Dhabi. The first thing they did? - sign Brazilian forward Robinho for an at the time British record transfer fee of £38.5m; from under the noses of... yes, you've guessed it - Chelsea! And so the die was set. 

Chelsea had opened the door. Abu Dhabi marched straight through it! What Abramovich had done, they turned into an industrial model. Their emergence as a major force was swift and devastating; changing the landscape again like an earthquake. There was a problem with this, however; because by 2011 there were rules in place. Rules to which they tuned a complete blind eye.

It matters not that they may have disagreed with the regulations that were in place; they were duty bound to stick by them. It’s like shoplifting or speeding - the rules are there for a reason and just because you don’t believe that they are correct, and that you can simply help yourself to goods without paying, or drive up the M1 at 100mph+, doesn’t mean that you can; especially when everyone else is going to the tills and sticking to the 70mph limit.

It was UEFA that set up the first set of FFP rules. Its basic purpose was straightforward - clubs could no longer simply spend unlimited amounts of money supplied by their owners and compete against other clubs that were themselves expected to balance their own books through football-generated revenue. As much to protect the clubs themselves as anything else. 

Clubs like Chelsea, Manchester City and PSG have taken these regulations to - and sometimes well beyond - their limits, however. On the other hand other clubs - the most notable being Newcastle United - have been frustrated in their attempts to emulate Manchester City because of the regulations. And because they have stuck to them!

The new regulations created an obvious problem for City's ambitious and impatient owners. So they looked to find ways of circumventing them. And this is at the heart of the allegations/charges against the club - and for the record I'll reproduce the Premier League’s initial summary, which is entirely self-explanatory:

The independent Commission found that between Seasons 2009/10 and 2017/18:

- Manchester City arranged 'sham' contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on 'sham' agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs

- The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators

- Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier League's and UEFA's spending limits

- During the Premier League's investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld)

From this point, I'll have to start going into specifics. And I'll be looking at three major areas of rule-breaking.

1.    Salary leverage

2.    Artificially inflated sponsorship deals

3.    Denial and non-cooperation

The cheating started almost immediately, by all accounts. I'm not going to go into massive detail here, because you've read and seen so much about it over the past few days, but essentially:

Salary Leverage

The Commission found that the owners were officially paying employees one amount from club funds, but then doubling (in many cases) their salaries with payments from elsewhere. In the case of manager Roberto Mancini, who guided the team to its first title in 2012, the Italian had a second source of income from an Abu Dhabi-based football club (owned by Sheikh Mansour). £1.5m from City, and then a further £1.75m from this other source... for - it is being alleged - 4 days work a year! That second source of income being paid to Mancini via an offshore company.

Did that £1.75m change the course of a season? Well, without it perhaps Mancini would never have gone to Manchester City in the first place. Would a lesser name in charge have been able to attract the likes of Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany to the club? And this then goes to the question of whether the financial information supplied to football's governing bodies accurately represented the true cost of operating the club.

Rumour has it that Yaya Toure himself - and/or his representatives - was also the beneficiary of 'double payments'. And one would imagine that he would not have been the only player to gain in such a way. No wonder the club was able to attract the best players around!

14 of the charges covering the period concern the failure to provide accurate information about player and manager payments.

Of course, success - and the nefarious behaviour alleged/now proven - inevitably breeds success. It appears clear that the club cheated its way around the rules in order to win its first title, and that first title was the foundation from which the dynasty grew. And it is only reasonable to assume that this way of circumventing the FPP rules would have continued throughout the period in question - and probably beyond!

And I haven't even tackled the question of Tax Evasion here!

Sponsorship Dealings

The Commission found that the following methodology had been put in place - and applied to every one of the years under investigation:

• a sponsor appeared to agree a large sponsorship deal with the club. The figure was important, because genuine commercial revenue was an integral part of the club's financial position
• the sponsor in fact only paid around 12.5% of the advertised figure; the rest was paid by a separate vehicle owned by Abu Dhabi United Group - a Private Equity fund - again owned by Sheikh Mansour

In other words, owner funding explicitly not permitted by the Premier League's rules was being fed in to the club by the 'back door', but was declared as independent commercial sponsorship revenue. The Commission found that this distinction enabled City to report substantially stronger revenues and lower losses than it actually had.

The rules were designed to prevent clubs from gaining an unfair commercial advantage from essentially unlimited owner funding, and using that money to support expenditure at levels that enabled the club to show commercial stability when that was not the actual case (the rules on associated party transactions have changed since the period in question - forcing clubs to show that they are receiving FMV (fair market value) in their sponsorship deals - but that is another matter entirely). But this arrangement - which enabled City to benefit from an extra injection of over £800m over the 9-year period - exploited a vulnerability in the accounting/reporting side of the financial rules. 

City exploited these 'sham' contracts/arrangements, ruthlessly enabling them to inflate reported revenue and reduce reported losses at the same time. Making it appear that they were satisfying the financial limits when they were, in fact, way off kilter. They then, of course, successfully hid these arrangements from their own auditors, and from the authorities.

Before I get on to the matter of denial and non-co-operations, here are a few rumours/conspiracy theories about other behaviour that I have stumbled upon. In my current mood, I believe them all:

1.    It is alleged that Queens Park Rangers players were bribed to 'throw' the final game of the 2011/12 season. You know the one:... AGUEROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2.    It is alleged that whilst Erling Haaland's release clause was £51m approx., City paid as much as 5 times that figure to Dortmund in order to ensure that the move went through, and that - as per the Yaya Toure rumours - Haaland's already reportedly ludicrous salary of in excess of £400k per week is in fact being understated by around 50%

3. And then there is the whole Pep 'problem'. Was Guardiola - a man who is without doubt one of the greatest tactical geniuses of his or any football period - the perfect manager for this project for other reasons? 

The man himself was found guilty twice when a player of doping offences involving the banned steroid nandralone. 

His personally-assembled medical team at Barcelona has been convicted of blood spinning/doping - evidence permitted in court regarding offences in the field of professional cycling was not permitted in relation to football by a judge; who actually order dozens of blood samples belonging to footballers to be destroyed! To protect the integrity of Barcelona (and Real Madrid?). Perhaps.

There have also been logistical infractions committed by Pep-managed Barcelona and Manchester City over the years; drug testers sent to incorrect addresses, or players due to be tested given last-minute days off. 

And there is about to blow up a massive refereeing scandal surrounding the behaviour of Barcelona at a time which encompassed Pep's time there as coach.

 

Conspiracy theories, eh?...

4. Refereeing controversies. Too numerous to mention, but for me the two most egregious were the failure of the officials to give a penalty to Liverpool for a chest-high assault by Jeremy Doku on Alexis MacAllister at a crucial moment in one particular title race, and the failure of the referee to send off Mateo Kovakic for two horrendous tackles from behind on Arsenal players at Emirates Stadium. The referee in both cases, by the way… Michael Oliver

5. FIFA refusing to get involved in the cases of City and also PSG; both clubs who had been flying far too close to the sun for peoples’ liking. You won’t be surprised to hear that the person who had the biggest role in this dereliction of duty to world football was Gianni Infantino - a man whose presence at the top of world football makes one long for the halcyon days of Sepp Blatter

The 2012 title changed everything for City. The foundations that it was building - using illegal materials - are what are to this day the foundations of their success on the playing field. By this time - in the space of 4 years - Sheikh Mansour had 'illegally' injected almost £1bn of his own money into the club; which had in turn spent over £700m on transfer fees. It's not rocket-science, is it, and I'm sure that I don't need to spell it out. But this, in a nutshell, is 'financial doping'. City weren’t so much ‘cooking the books’ as grilling them over a white hot open flame!

You can't blame the players who achieved all that City have achieved. They still had to do the business on the field. But it doesn't half help when the club had illegally put together the biggest and deepest squads that ever existed. How could they - coached by Guardiola - have possibly failed to be successful? Although it is still disingenuous of the likes of Rodri to put forward the theory that the players still had to do the job. After all, nowhere was anybody better equipped to do so.

And all of this puts the achievements of Jurgen Klopp and now Mikel Arteta into a completely different light. Remember, Klopp walked away prematurely from his job at Liverpool citing ‘exhaustion’. Thank goodness that Arteta delivered a title before this all blew up! And as for ‘second again - ole ole’ - you can shove that where the sun don’t shine!

Denial and Non-Cooperation

This is perhaps the worst part of it all. Manchester City have essentially been caught with their entire bodies - not just their hands - inside a massive cookie jar, yet deny that they were ever in that jar - and indeed that the jar exists at all! But it is this cookie jar - filled with the very best Fortnum & Mason specialities - that has meant that other clubs who had been perfectly content with Rich Tea and Hob Nobs were then forced to splash out on luxury brands that they could barely afford. 

The knock-on effect for the financial landscape of football finances at the highest level has seen transfer fees and salaries go through the roof. From 2008 - Robinho; £38.5m, to 2021 and £100m for Jack Grealish. And now in 2026 - Elliot Anderson (!) - £116m, and Morgan Rogers £117m. Salaries in the hundreds of thousands a week. Clubs with transfer budgets that would service the debt of a small country. It's madness! It was started by Chelsea, and City kicked on. And on. And on. Whilst systematically playing on a field tilted vastly in their favour.

In doing this they have affected the careers of dozens of clubs, and hundreds of footballers. Think of those clubs who have lost to them in Cup Finals. Who finished fifth in the Premier League and therefore failed to qualify for the Champions League. Who were relegated in those years, even?

Think of the players who have been denied winners medals, and who have lost out on both the money and the glory that would have resulted. Of those players who ended up playing in lower leagues through no fault of their own. And of the managers whose careers have bombed because they ended up runners-up to Manchester City, were not afforded the investment in their clubs that they perhaps deserved, and who lost their legacies and subsequently their jobs. Brendan Rodgers. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. I almost have sympathy for Jose Mourinho here. And specifically from an Arsenal point of view - Arsene Wenger.

Look how Wenger suffered personally from all this. Scouting raw talent like Clichy, Adebayor and Nasri from Ligue Un, only to see them leave to jump on the City juggernaut. Forced to work on a completely tilted playing field for year after year, whilst firstly Chelsea and then City - for years - walked roughshod over the rules. Wenger called this out continuously, and was ridiculed. I hope that all those who mocked him are thinking about how they behaved.

We can expect City to drag this out for as long as they can. How much 'face' can a group of people/organisation possibly lose before finally packing up their bags. A ‘scorched earth’ policy like that one makes matters even worse! 

To hear City’s CEO Ferran Soriano defiantly promise to fight on in the face of all the evidence, and to read that Etihad Airways are threatening to sue the Premier League for defamation, are further examples of this ‘scorched earth’ policy. It’s over. Please; just go away.

Now, one thing I won’t knock is the amount of good work that Abi Dhabi have done for Manchester. As supported by our Manchester-based Prime Minister, by the way. 

Of the good they have done for the city there can be no doubt. But - and this is crucial - this is precisely what ‘sports washing’ is supposed to achieve for whoever indulges in it. And then there is this...

As for fan reaction? Well, from anybody who isn’t a City fan it has been ‘at last’. And many City fans of my acquaintance have held up their hands and are prepared to take their punishment. Those that are still in denial are going to have to get there eventually. 

It’s true to say that nobody can take away their memories of past victories - just like some of my Chelsea-supporting friends, who don’t care how the club went about things. But it’s good to know that from now on these people are going to taste the ashes of Pyrrhic victory in their mouths whenever the subject is broached - which it will be!

As for punishment; well, for me nothing should be ruled out. In a way, I feel sorry for the supporters who are going to have to live with this for their rest of their football-supporting lives. Because they’ve been wronged as badly as the rest of us. 

However, in the light of the overwhelming evidence and verdict, in the face of the stonewalling and denials that still continue, and in light of the fact that the Premier League haven’t even started on the period between 2018 and the present day (do you honestly think that they suddenly started sticking to the rules in 2019?!?),  nothing - but nothing - should be off the table for the club.

• Points deductions - certainly
• Enforced relegation? The only question is where to?
• Expulsion? Hmmm...
• Fines? Surely to run into the hundreds of millions of pounds?
• Transfer bans? For sure - it’s just a question of how many years
• Disqualification of the club officers implicated - definitely. Plus a ban on Sheikh Mansour and his cronies from a role in the ownership of any club in the world 

All of the above are a good place to start. And it must be done this season; otherwise, the Premier League is rendered meaningless. Meanwhile, Manchester City's first game after the Interlull is at Anfield - now that's going to be fun!!!

And from an Arsenal point of view… it is now time for our club to seize the opportunity to create a dynasty of its own. We will never be better placed to do so. Having done things properly.

Come on. Mikel. And Come On You Gunners! 

North London Forever.

Oh I Don’t Like To Be Beside The Seaside...

... or not, as the case may be. FYI, the Amex Stadium is several miles inland. But that's not really the point.

Anyway, I intend to try to paint a somewhat rosier picture than one might expect based on Saturday's humbling experience. Do let me know what you think after you've read this. But let's get on with it.

Two changes to the side from the previous league game, with Timber in for the injured White, and Bruno - following his goal at Sunderland - preferred to the somewhat unfortunate MLS. Whether that change had a significant bearing on what transpired at the Amex I'm not entirely sure, because there was something irresistible about how Brighton went about their business, but there will certainly be those who will be suggesting that Arteta didn't need to rock the applecart, so to speak. The same people who had been clamouring for rotation? Perhaps?

Whether Arsenal had gone into the last of a sequence of difficult matches from which they had come through totally unscathed believing their own hype, and in their own apparent invincibility, I do not know, but there was perhaps a hint of arrogance about them. And in sport, as we all know, failure to prepare properly is preparation for failure. And they were certainly caught by surprise!

Any way you dress it up, this was a painful watch for Arsenal fans from the moment the game started. Brighton seemed determined to put Arsenal under as much pressure as possible, as high up the pitch as possible, and it certainly worked. The away side looked flustered and out of kilter as Brighton pressured them from front to back - playing Arsenal at their own game to a great extent. In fact, I'd say that they took it further than that as they made it well-nigh impossible for Arsenal to play their normal possession-based game. 

Anything that Arsenal tried to do to break the press appeared doomed to failure, as nobody had time on the ball and passing lanes were blocked time and again. It made no difference if Rice or Odegaard - or sometimes both - dropped back into the defensive lines to try to create an overload. They often had nowhere to turn and could only go backwards; whereupon Brighton jumped and pressured again. Even David Raya's normally assured work with the ball at his feet was all over the place. 

No matter how you look at it, the fact is that Arsenal lost possession no less than 51 times in their own half of the field. Do you want to hazard a guess as to the last time that happened? I'll tell you; April 2023 at The Etihad, when Kevin De Bruyne and Co tore Arsenal to shreds in a 4-1 win that put an end to the Gunners title hopes for that season. The time before; Liverpool away in November 2021 - 4-0 to the home side, against an Arsenal side that featured such luminaries as Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares. 

Two things I'd say here. Firstly, this was probably the first time this season that Arsenal missed the calm assurance with the ball at his feet of William Saliba. And secondly - and let's not dress this up because it's true - Brighton were taking a hell of a risk! 

But a calculated one. With Arsenal forced to go long so frequently - or risk losing the ball deep in their own half - the home side were prepared to take the chance that their central defenders were going to be able to cope with Kai Havertz. Whether Brighton will be prepared to be quite so gung ho when up against the likes of Haaland (especially) and Isak remains to be seen. Although something I must mention at this point is that if there is anything that shows Brighton's transfer policy in a shining light compared to say - let's pluck a name out of the air here - Tottenham Hotspur it's the 'swap' deal (it wasn't quite that) of Vuskovic for Van Hecke. Because for all the money that Spurs have managed to flush away over the summer, the sale of Vuskovic is looking like the transfer mistake of the decade! 

And so the pattern of the game was set from early on, with Brighton pressing as ferociously as I've seen any side do; whilst at the same time taking the calculated risk that the isolated Arsenal front line was going to find it difficult to cause them much harm. Frankly, I can't see any group of players being able to maintain such high levels of fitness and willingness to sprint - time and again - throughout a 50+ game season. But they got their just desserts on Saturday.

On a different note - and this may well be why some people are prepared to swear by Xg and some dismiss it as derivative nonsense - it is worth noting that Brighton scored three goals from an Xg of 1.3, and Arsenal 0 from an Xg of 1.6. Two long range shots and a set piece. Does that tally with what the game felt like while you were watching it? Arsenal had more of the ball than the home side, but couldn't do enough with it; whereas Brighton took their chances. And how! But the quality of the chances that Arsenal created was - if anything - better than that generated by the home side. One chance spurned by Havertz - played through neatly by Viktor Goykeres I should mention - was frankly inexcusable as he shot straight at Verbruggen. The German had another of those 'curate's egg' games - he can be so good so often, but so disappointing on other occasions.

And there are lessons to be learned from the two excellent long-range goals; fired into opposite corners of the Arsenal net by Gross and Kostoulas. And the lessons are simple - don't stand off the opponent and invite him to shoot! On both occasions, neither centre back moved quickly enough to engage the man with the ball - perhaps a function of being caught on the back foot so often during the game. But if you don't give them the space, they can't shoot.

Look; at the end of the day Arsenal were soundly beaten. We have to hold our hands up to that. But one massive caveat for those who are going to regard this as a template to control the mighty Arsenal is this; not many teams are built, set up and capable of doing what Brighton were able to do. And - rest assured - Mikel Arteta will be putting plans into place to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

Sure, it was a really bad day at the office. But better off that it happened in September; and directly before an extended Interlull. This will be dealt with, and Arsenal will come back strongly. I know that. You know that. And the rest of English football know that. So let's not get too hung up on it. Mikel - armed with his new contract - knows...

A few other matters to take out of the weekend, before I go:

1.    Manchester City are 5 from 5, but contrived to concede three goals at home to Sunderland. They are certainly not unbeatable

2.    Chelsea... oh wow! If you think that Mikel Arteta has a lot to do over these next three weeks, spare a thought of Xabi Alonso. Or don't, actually...

3.    Tottenham Hotspur FC - I assume that you all know what the bottom of the PL table looks like at the moment? Enjoy, guys; it almost certainly won't last, but either way they're giving us a hell of a ride! £350m+ spent to be in 20th spot - they continue to entertain us in ways we'd never imagine were possible 

Relax now. Enjoy the break in the same way that Declan Rice is going to, and I'll see you on the other side.

COYG! 

It's All About You...

Wouldn't it be nice, just for once, to go a week or two without officiating controversies dominating the Premier League agenda? John Brooks' performance on Saturday evening raised enough eyebrows; but even his (and his colleagues') staggering ineptitude was comprehensively eclipsed by an absolute travesty of a decision at Old Trafford on Sunday.

I'll get back to the latter later on, but let's first concentrate on what we're really here for - which is Arsenal maintaining their 100% record at Sunderland. A ground, by the way, where you may recall they dropped points very late on last season, and at which they had to really battle for the result. And up, as they were, against not only a very physical and determined Sunderland team who had almost exclusively been given the week off by their manager despite having a Carabao Cup tie, but also a Premier League/television schedule which meant that they had to get back from Naples on Wednesday night and prepare for a tough away game just 72 hours later. Plus a referee who did his absolute utmost to aid the home side to get a result. 

A quick word for the Arsenal travelling support here, by the way. With TNT Sport once more taking the absolute mickey out of match-attending supporters for the second weekend in a row - having last week scheduled Newcastle vs Bournemouth for a 12.30pm kick-off that would have meant away fans having to leave at 1am to be sure of getting to Tyneside on time - by obliging those Arsenal fans who had been in Italy just three days prior to head 200+ miles north to a city which left them no visible means of getting back home via public transport after the match. Why this sort of thing is permitted by the authorities, I simply do not know!

Anyhoo... let's get into it. And Mikel reverted to the eleven who started against Chelsea the previous weekend; with the other change worthy of note being the return of Jurrien Timber to the bench. Sunderland was a difficult place to go last season, and looks like being equally difficult this season for any opponent. Especially bearing in mind that up until Saturday they had actually allowed the opposition fewer shots on target than even Arsenal in their first three matches!

In the early stages, Arsenal were faced with the lowest of possible low blocks, with space at an absolute premium in and around the home penalty area and Sunderland's tactics clear; deny space, and whenever possible hoof the ball up to the wall-like Brobbey for him to hold the ball up as long as possible to allow players to get around and support him. Brobbey's first act, probably inevitably, was to flatten Konsa, and the pair had a running battle all evening.

However, it didn't take long for a patient Arsenal to fashion an excellent opportunity, when in the 14th minute Rice's delicate chip found the onrushing Saka just 6 yards out. Starboy appeared to be wearing the same boots as he was wearing in Naples - i.e. NOT his shooting boots - as he only managed to prod the ball gently into Roefs' arms.

But Sunderland did start to feel their way into the game and get up the pitch; their first opportunity came when Konsa fouled Brobbey (running theme...) and Granit Xhaka's magnificent dead ball flew dangerously between the Arsenal defensive line and David Raya. Ballard's contact wasn't clean enough to cause any issue, however. Nevertheless, apart from the occasional foray from the home side, Arsenal were very much in control.

A second decent chance came and went as a typically intricate move down the away side's left saw Odegaard cut the ball back for Havertz; who could only scoop his shot over the bar from 8 yards out. Moments later the ubiquitous Odegaard, once more pulling all the strings for Arsenal and looking like the league's best player so far, crossed from the right for Havertz to chest the ball down and volley spectacularly with his back to goal; but directly above Roefs, who turned the ball over the bar comfortably. Still 0-0, but it could have already been 0-3 - and by half-time may have been 4, as only a clever intervention with his heel from Xhaka prevented Havertz from converting a late Saka corner.

At the resulting corner, by the way, Brobbey hurled Calafiori to the ground - but referee Brooks - who had been allowing all sorts of robust challenges from the home side to go unpunished (Arsenal don't like it up 'em - tick...) - waved play on (it's OK if they do it TO Arsenal players - tick...). Mikel Arteta, who went over to the fourth official to remonstrate, was then booked by Brooks for doing so (typical Arteta - tick...). Pathetic...

But the half-time scoreline... Brian Brobbey's extremely wide posterior 0, Arsenal 0.

And Arteta took action during the break, with Timber replacing White (who had been holding his groin late on) and Bruno on for MLS. The latter a very popular decision for the home supporters, obviously... and the game continued as before the break - with Arsenal dominating the ball, but Sunderland looking capable on the break - with Brobbey continuing to cause Konsa and Gabriel problems. And on 54 minutes.. penalty to Sunderland!

A preposterous call. And to understand why it was preposterous, let's go through the guidelines/triggers for awarding a penalty:

• Focus on the opponent: the defender focuses entirely on the rival player instead of tracking the ball. In this instance, Konsa's eyes are on the ball until such time as he is dragged down by Ballard
• No attempt to play the ball: the defender makes no genuine effort to challenge for or play the ball. Impossible for Konsa to play the ball - Ballard drags him down before he can get off the ground
• Two-armed holds: the defender uses both arms to grab, wrap around, or restrict an attacker. Konsa has one hand on Ballard; has to use the other to attempt to keep his balance as the latter grabs his jersey 
• Turned backs: the defender deliberately blocks or restricts an attacker who has their back turned to an incoming set-piece. Both players are facing the ball
• Sustained impact: the holding or shirt-pulling lasts long enough to noticeably impede the opponent's ability to move. It is Ballard who drags Konsa down on top of him

I mean... it's not even close to being a penalty. Not one of the above criteria are met. In fact, it's Ballard who drags Konsa over his hip. 

So for the VAR conversation to go:

Brooks: 'He's all over him at the near post facing the wrong way'

Atwell (VAR): 'I'm happy that it's a holding offence. Confirming the on-field decision of penalty'

Absolute nonsense! And so we go back to the conspiracy theories. Because just two games ago Arsenal were denied a penalty themselves following Maatsen's scissor kick assault on Bruno at Villa Park. What, precisely, are Arsenal and their supporters supposed to think?

But there it was. Le Fee lining up the spot kick, with David Raya to beat. And I'll tell you this: I had a sense that the penalty was going to be low to Raya's left, and that the goalkeeper was going to dive the right way and save it. Which is precisely what transpired. And what a brilliant save it was! The instant reaction from the Arsenal players was as much about the injustice of the penalty award as it was the save. And this is precisely why you have to rate David Raya so highly - because he saves the team time and again with crucial interventions and saves. This one, hot on the heels of the Estevao shot that he tipped over last weekend, show why he is possibly Arsenal's greatest ever goalkeeper. It's moments like these, that Raya has been delivering for year after year, that change the trajectory of a season.

Two minutes later, and Arsenal had the lead. Bruno Guimaraes rifling in a 20 yard effort into the top corner of Roefs' net. Justice done. Disallow that, Sonny Jim! Anguish for the home supporters, as the former Newcastle captain makes a telling contribution. Enjoyable celebration too, by the way...

From then - I have to be honest - I had an almost surreal sense of calm. Rightly or wrongly, anyway. No way were Arsenal going to let this slip, I was thinking. Not this time. Not this year. Lightning was never going to strike twice. This group of players are built differently. Although my confidence was tested on a few occasions, I have to admit.

But if anything, Arsenal could and should have pulled away. Saka missed another presentable opportunity. Havertz had a header cleared off the line by Ballard. And the German passed when he had an excellent shooting chance. Then Timber buried Odegaard's free kick; a tight call for offside.

Despite the old fashioned 'up and under' pressure from the home side Raya was rarely threatened... until very late on, that is, when new signing Malick Fofana began to bring havoc to Arsenal's right side and we saw some penalty box pinball, and some major havoc following a Xhaka cross when Raya had to intervene twice in order to clear the danger.

In the meantime, Brooks had excelled himself yet again. This time penalising Calafiori for taking too long to get the ball back into play at a throw-in (Arsenal deliberately delay restarts - tick...). Except that he was letting Sunderland do it all game. Gabriel forced to leave the field for a minute, having been fouled (Arsenal time wasting as usual - tick…). And then a booking for Gabriel, who had been looking to act as peacemaker following an incident between Konsa and Mukiele (Gabriel always instigates trouble. I've got to punish him - tick...)

The icing went on the cake late on, as deep into injury time Saka was awarded a penalty. Reinaldo - previously booked for tugging Saka's shirt - got his marching orders, having dragged him back inside the penalty area. Spot kick low to the keeper's left again; but this time there was too much power for Roefs to keep it out. 

Three more points tucked away, then, at a ground where many teams are sure to struggle. Sunderland are here to stay; that I can confidently predict. And this means that Arsenal now find themselves 5 points ahead of where they were from comparative games last season. You will recall the late loss at Villa, and the late concession leading to a draw at the Stadium of Light. That'll do.

Before I go; two things. Firstly, victory in Naples. Never an easy place to go, yet Arsenal dominated almost throughout. Two words of caution, however.

Firstly, Naples did have a few chances on the break. As did Sunderland, And as had Chelsea. I'd suggest that Arsenal are riding their luck somewhat as they look to 'attack' this season. It is very possible that a combination of a little bit too much risk-taking, and a perceived lack of fire power and true star quality up top, may hurt them as the season progresses. I am sure that Arteta is aware of this.

Secondly, there is the question of Ebereche Eze on the left wing. Arsenal dominated completely, and at a suffocatingly slow pace I must add. But I certainly felt that they were inhibited by Eze's unwillingness to even attempt to go to the outside of his full back. He wants to play more in the interior, so he doesn't feel like a natural alternative to Tzolis. Maybe it'll have to be the left-footed Madueke?

Finally - and I cannot let this pass - there is the actual biggest refereeing controversy of the weekend. Which is the goal awarded to Manchester City at Old Trafford. All I can say is this: there is no way that ANYBODY who has played or watched football at any level can possibly think that Enzo Fernandez is not offside and 'interfering with play' as he launches himself at Cherki's cross inside the 6-yard box, directly in front of the goalkeeper and with the lone defender drawn to him instead of staying with Haaland at the back post. I have seen some diabolical officiating decisions in my time, but for the referee and VAR to go through the process they did and come up with Goal as the answer takes the absolute biscuit. It's simply unfathomable - but I'm sure that United will take solace in the inevitable 'apology'. As if the decision to send off Foden, and not book Rat Face Fernandes, wasn't enough of an egregious error earlier on. 

When will it stop, and no wonder that Arsenal fans feel that there's corruption in the air as City continue to keep pace with the Champions. Simply unbelievable, and it is clear to me that PRO Ref (new name for PGMOL; same old sh*t though) are completely unfit for purpose. Just look at how UEFA and FIFA run their competitions for comparison.

Anyway, Arsenal move on; masters - hopefully - of their own destiny. Ipswich away in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday (I'm expecting full rotation) and then another tricky game at Brighton on Saturday before the tumbleweed of an extended Interlull beckons.

Let's keep going. COYG!

Anything You Can Do...

… Arsenal can do better.

My big take away from Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Sunday is that it doesn’t make much difference to this group what type of game is presented to them. They work out how to deal with the problem, adapt, and almost always come out on top. 

Whether it’s a ‘low block’, attempting something over-physical, looking to dominate possession or - as Chelsea looked to do - a counter-attacking plan, Arsenal invariably have the answer. And the home side managed to do that despite Chelsea taking that shock early lead. 

There’s no point in me regurgitating information or analysis that you will have already heard or read about the game, so I’m going to look for some slightly different angles to those put forward by others as I analyse it. Little things that might make a difference as the season goes on. 

For those who missed my latest On The Whistle, by the way, please click here - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r1k4AdtN7dA. You'll find them on the marksyspeaks YouTube channel after every home game. But, for now, let’s crack on:

1. Evidence of the need for an extra right-sided defender was right in our faces on Sunday. Arsenal have been hurt in the recent past by ‘cluster’ injuries, so when one adds the minor injury to Mosquera to the longer term issues being suffered by Saliba and Timber, it shows that the summer signing of Konsa was really important. I for one wouldn’t have liked to see Hincapie pressed into playing as an emergency right back, or maybe Rice or Zubimendi repurposed there and forced to try to deal with Morgan Rogers. Not only would that have meant a mis-match, but could have unbalanced the entire side. Well done to the hierarchy for getting Konsa in - and yes, I’m sure that they overpaid; but the alternative wasn’t worth considering. As far as his performance was concerned, it was as if Konsa has been at Arsenal for the past 5 years - https://x.com/i/status/2096658429528219911

2. It’s remarkable to me that MLS continues to keep both Zubimendi and Bruno out of the starting XI - although I’d suggest that judging from the latter’s non-appearance from even the bench on Sunday he probably wasn’t fit enough t play a part in any case. Nonetheless, this is remarkable from a 19-year-old that the manager only saw fit to select in a moment of desperation as recently as April (shades of what he did with ESR in December 2020). Whether the teenager is going to manage to hang on to his spot as the season progresses is open to doubt, as the competition is so strong. But Arteta doesn't need to overplay any of these guys, so they should all hopefully remain pretty fresh throughout. What seems pretty clear to me, however, is that MLS is going to find himself back in the England squad next week 

3.    I am particularly delighted to see Martin Odegaard return to his very best form this season, as I have remained a steadfast supporter of what he offers the team when others had been declaring him 'finished'. The skipper sets a lot of the tone of the team, and is absolutely key to how Arteta wants them to play. If he can maintain fitness levels and arrive fresh at the back end of the season, he can be the difference in the latter stages of the Champions League. What was very noticeable to me when Arteta finally withdrew him late on in Sunday's game was that his replacement, Mikel Merino, was not capable of covering the ground like the Norwegian does - gaps started to appear in midfield where previously there were none. Arteta needs to look after a number of key players - and ought to be able to do that with a squad of the size and quality that he has assembled - but Odegaard is possbily the most important of all.

I should mention, by the way, the remarkable similarity between his goal in this game and the one he scored in the Community Shield. Watch this for proof - https://x.com/Arsenal/status/2097007219380539580?s=20 - and presumably opponents might get wise to this at some point. But these were two sublime goals, frankly

4.    One or two people may have questioned David Raya's inability to prevent Rogers' shot going in (I am not one of them), but he once more put in a gigantic performance in goal, and he continues to add further strings to his bow on almost a weekly basis. He is already a top-class shot stopper (that injury-time tip over from Estevao's effort shows that clearly), and commands his penalty area remarkably well - especially considering that he is no physical giant in goalkeeping terms - when meeting crosses and dead balls; thus installing high levels of confidence in his defenders, of course. 

But the addition of a remarkable ability to hit long balls out of his hands pretty much exactly where he needs to is changing the way that Arsenal counter attack; and changing the way that opponents need to defend against Arsenal. On numerous occasions on Sunday he set Havertz and latterly Gyokeres free with 60-70 yards balls. And these were no aimless punts. What will he and Ignaki Cana come up with next?

5.    This was another high class performance from Kai Havertz. Yes, he was nowhere near his best on Monday at Villa Park, but this was chalk to that cheese. He occupied Chelsea's defenders over the full width of the pitch, his clever flicks and switches of play had the opposition at 6s and 7s, he atoned for a failure to shoot when let in by Tzolis's square ball a few moments earlier with a precision near post shot (which, to double the joy, ought to have been saved by pantomime villain Emi Martinez, who was relentlessly and deservedly booed throughout), and his sublime dummy to let Odegaard in for the decisive second goal was beautiful to behold. He is clearly - and rightly - Arteta's first choice up top at the moment, and if he stays fit could be in for a stellar season. The fact that he always seems to get a goal against his former club must really rankle with their supporters - especially those who were actually delighted to see him leave Stamford Bridge at the time - and I'd hope to see him continue to rub the doubters noses in whatever they don't want their noses to be rubbed in

6.    Chelsea supporters - know your place! The pathetic addition of blow up plastic Champions League trophies on Sunday was an embarrassment, and hopefully their supporters are now beginning to accept Arsanal's long-term superiority. I was in the ground the past time that they beat Arsenal - August 2021, when Thomas Tuchel outwitted a rather less experienced Mikel Arteta by overloading Chelsea's right hand side; they tore Arsenal apart that day. Since then, Arsenal have remained undefeated against Chelsea, and that's long time for another so called Big Six club to fail to beat Arsenal. We had an awful lot less of the 'Champions of Europe - you'll never sing that' nonsense. Especially because we soon will - and they know it! And a lot of the social media stuff I've come across both before and since actually acknowledges Arsenal's current superiority. Good - stay down where you belong, if you don't mind!

7.    I have to say, by the way, that a re-watch was far more comfortable than being in the ground was. Especially with the game resembling something like a game of basketball for much of the last 15 minutes. My heart rate hit 118bpm at one point... but those watching on television tell me that they were considerably less concerned. I really do need to relax!

That'll do, I think. 9 points from 9 - difficult to argue with that! And attention now turns to the Champions League, with Arsenal on their way to Naples for their season opener on Wednesday. The draw could have been a little kinder, I guess, but Arsenal have avoided both PSG and Barcelona, and can look forward to a match-up with Bayern in Germany (I'm going to try to snaffle a ticket for that, I think), and a repeat of the Real Madrid match-up from a couple of seasons ago that is most memorable for Declan Rice's free kick double. This is the first of a sequence of no less than 4 successive away matches in three different competitions, before the interminable Interlull that will follow. So Arsenal aren't back at Emirates Stadium until October 10th!

But long may the excellent form and result continue. I don't see why they should not. 

COYG!