My Arsenal Blog

Arsenal face a really big test tonight as they lock horns with Benfica for a place in the UEFA Europa League’s Round of 16. Nobody is quite sure which direction this game is going to go, especially after the 1-1 draw in the first leg, but the Gunners should definitely be feeling confident about their chances of progressing into the next round.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta knows how important it could be for the club to make a run late in the competition, and he spoke about that and so much more with the media recently.  .......Read more here.....

In an interview with BT Sports, Granit Xhaka responded to the abuse he’s been subjected to recently on social media, revealing that he has no issues with playing in front of the fans again.

The Swiss midfielder has always been a controversial character, but things appeared to have gone too far last season when he was booed off the pitch while being substituted at the Emirates against Crystal Palace and aimed some ill-advised words back at the crowd. He was stripped of club captaincy after that by Unai Emery, who was in charge of the team at the time. A series of insults at his expense, and even more unacceptable ones towards members of his family, have been sent his way since then.  .......Read more here.....

After the first leg ended in a 1-1 stalemate, Arsenal are set to go to war with Benfica once again in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League tie this week. The Gunners know that things are on a knife-edge after they were unable to fully get the upperhand on their Portuguese opponents last week, but they should also know they’ve more than got enough in their locker to progress into the Round of 16.

Today, we’re going to give our thoughts on the contest and where we see Arsenal going from here in the competition.  .......Read more here.....

Matteo Guendouzi caused a fair amount of trouble at Arsenal last season, which is probably what led manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu to remove him from their plans for a while and send him out on loan. In all fairness, the club would probably have sold him last summer, had there been any suitable offers for his services, but be that as it may, he left to join Hertha Berlin on a season-long loan.  .......Read more here.....

Pablo Mari has able to get a full 90 minutes under his belt during Arsenal’s recent loss to Manchester City, and while he alone wasn’t able to get the Gunners a successful result, many supporters were happy enough with his output. Mari’s role within the squad has been questioned on several occasions with some wondering whether or not he has what it takes to be a consistent first teamer, which is a conversation that’ll probably go on for many of Arsenal’s defenders.

During an interview with Arsenal.com, Pablo was honest in his assessment of how the game went.  .......Read more here.....

Paris Saint-Germain are set to revive interest in Hector Bellerin this summer, according to CBS Sports, and the Spaniard is apparently willing to consider leaving the Emirates, despite being contracted to Arsenal until the summer of 2023.

Arsenal are said to have rejected an offer worth up to $35 million (just under £25m) from the Ligue 1 champions last summer, valuing Bellerin’s services at $50m (£35m) at least. This term, the 25-year-old has played 22 times in the Premier League, scoring once and assisting three times.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal showed a few bright sparks last night against Manchester City, but in the end, the Gunners fell to a 1-0 defeat against the runaway league leaders and champions-elect. Raheem Sterling’s 2nd minute goal proved to be the winner, and while this may be a setback, there are some positives to take away from the performance – even if it doesn’t seem like it.

After the game, Mikel Arteta spoke with the media about the game as well as the road ahead with a quick turnaround before they face Benfica.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal will lock horns with Manchester City this afternoon in what has the potential to be one of the games of the season so far – if the Gunners are able to really go after the league leaders, that is. We all know that Arsenal have had their fair share of difficult moments throughout the course of the campaign thus far, but if they can get out ahead of Pep’s men and put some pressure on them, we could be in for a cracker.

During a recent interview with Arsenal.com, manager Mikel Arteta looked ahead to a huge few weeks that will see them play Manchester City, Benfica, Leicester, West Ham and Liverpool.  .......Read more here.....

While Arsenal never really seemed to be in full control of their UEFA Europa League game against Benfica, they definitely had moments in the game where they seemed to be at the races – and Bukayo Saka was at the heart of that. The youngster put in another solid performance, even getting a goal to show for his efforts that helped the Gunners leave Rome with a 1-1 draw.

After the game, Saka spoke with the media and appeared to be in a visibly frustrated mood – which isn’t hard to understand.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal will welcome Manchester City to the Emirates on Sunday evening, and it will be a chance for Mikel Arteta to catch up with some of his former colleagues, from the time he spent as an assistant manager at the Etihad.

Arteta joined City’s coaching staff in 2016, having been regarded very highly by Pep Guardiola who reportedly always believed the man he met as a boy at the Barcelona academy would one day become an excellent coach. He was one of the names considered to replace Arsene Wenger in 2018, but the club went for Unai Emery instead. They obviously believed that the former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain would do a better job given his experience, whereas Arteta had none as a head coach. However, the decision was reversed less than 18 months later, and Arteta left City to take over at Arsenal.  .......Read more here.....