Earlier in the season, I kept thinking “wow, Arsenal are not even missing Ødegaard that much!” That is definitely not true anymore. His absence has really been hurting. Just cannot get things going in possession.

There’s a vibe I’m hearing around “where’s the proper #9 to finish the move!” as a slight at Havertz… ignoring that Havertz was a key going in the buildup to create the chance

Having Calafiori and Havertz in there really improves the flow of the attack (as I have been crying for for a while). Still need just a bit more to get something over the line.

“The injured guy is the answer” is a dumb trope, but you can get far in a diagnosis of Arsenal’s attacking struggles (and why they’re boring) with

1. Ø is really important to things functioning

2. Kai/Calafiori out simultaneously adds to it

3. Eze/Gyök are not good, esp in controlled possession

Yeah, they actually slightly edged the xG so “smashed” probably isn’t accurate, and as mentioned in my next post, they’ve been good in other recent games. It’s just a pretty big points gap to make up still.

West Ham could/should have gotten 6 points out of MU and Bournemouth but got 2. If they had gotten those points, this would look completely different.

Tottenham are terrible but I don’t think the juice is there in the chasing pack.

This weekend is a microcosm, where one of their competitors got smashed by Liverpool and the other is losing to a Brighton team in woeful form.

It’s worth having a stare down Arsenal’s PL-only match log.

In 2025, the team was rolling, and all bad results were some combination of finite, explainable, and inevitable.

In 2026, they just haven’t really been at it. Even those big wins were flattering scorelines (and against far weaker teams).

Days since Eze last executed an action of value for Arsenal Football Club:

[googles date of Arsenal-Spurs]

[calculates how many days it has been since then]

there is some kind of mass psychosis going on in Arsenal fandom about Martin Odegaard

he's an obviously highly productive football player who also works hard and also does beautiful things with the ball

and people afaict disproportionately *within the fandom* have decided they think he sucks now

Drives me crazy, especially for the simpler ones. The commentators don’t even bother.

For example, Eze’s done that video and introduced himself in other contexts for years, and his name is pronounced “ehzuh” but for some reason people decided it’s “ehzay” and there’s no going back.

The truly amazing part? He is the only one pronouncing it (essentially) correctly

youtu.be/ScNovNeQUU4?...

Sorry to head you’ve had some tough times, Adam. I hope all is well. Don’t let the annoying internet people get to you, which I know can be a challenge.

Arsenal conceding 3 is going to be a red herring in the reaction to this; the problem is more in the inability to create when needing to, plus some poor sloppiness in minutes ~30-50.

I thought he was a questionable buy when we bought him (and of course everyone was ecstatic) and I’ve still been disappointed.

Beyond the few moments we all remember — which have been valuable! — he’s offering nothing.

Taking Ødegaard off was the mistake. There’s no passing in midfield.

There’s no reason to take Ødegaard off when chasing a goal unless he’s dead or playing terribly, neither of which were the case.

I was hoping this was a good opportunity for Eze to do the thing where he does something (for the first time since November) but nope, more of the same

The frequency at which I oscillate between “Arsenal are the best team in Europe and are on their way to a historically special season” and “Arsenal aren’t very good” is troubling

Can’t wait for this lad to score the winner

That’s the fewest possible games for Manchester United in a season, confirmed

No UEFA + elimination in their first game in both domestic cups

Quietly, not only are all 3 relegation spots quite possibly already locked in, we might already have our final top 5.

I’ll consult the models tomorrow but think the current bottom 3 may now have joint probability >50% to go down. I doubt we are there with the top 5 but don’t think it’s far off.

Rotated every player they reasonably could, put up 3.3 xG / 3.1 xGOT, conceded on the only shot on target.

I’m fine with either result here and the performance was good. However this falls, there’s very little to be upset about.

Martinelli is absolutely cooking. Arsenal up to 1.5 xG, need to get one in the net.

The NFL quietly gradually moving toward the large majority of teams having domes -- including in geographies that do not remotely need them -- is a bummer.

Too much obsession by the suits with year-round use and getting big events. Too much obsession by the coaches with controllable conditions.

The comparative npxG in Forest-Spurs and Palace-City are basically identical, and both games are 3-0 in opposite directions

5 total shots in over an hour in Sunderland

Trossard increasingly looks like the modal pick for starting LW, which is quite funny considering all the movements this summer (and not the greatest situation for the club long term)

Arsenal’s key issue today was Gyökeres, Martinelli, Eze all seem to need transition to be effective, and it was a bus-park game

…but also the opponent is terrible and those guys shouldn’t need more favorable match conditions to beat them

The costs committed to him are too high to say “well you see it has to be a transition-heavy game where he’s playing in the left half-space with a wide winger and a striker running in behind” etc.

Gotta figure out how to get Eze doing anything useful that’s not scoring a hat trick against Tottenham