My Arsenal Blog

This weekend will see the return of the FA Cup once again, just a few weeks after the third round, as the fourth round of action gets underway. Arsenal will be in action once again in what equates to the last 32, as they prepare to travel down to Bournemouth in order to face the Cherries for the second time in a matter of months. It’s one of those games which is bound to test the metal and steel of this Arsenal team, but we can’t quite figure out how much Mikel Arteta wants to win this competition.  .......Read more here.....

The FA Cup continues this weekend as the field is dwindled down to 16 teams with the race to reach Wembley hotting up. Arsenal will face a trip to the south coast in order to take on Bournemouth which, in itself, should serve as a pretty intriguing game.

Today we want to take a quick look at the team news situation courtesy of the club themselves, in what is bound to be another tricky game against the Cherries – despite their recent form.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Suspended. Further to receiving a red card at Crystal Palace (a) on January 11, suspended for Monday’s game at Bournemouth.  .......Read more here.....

On the suggestion that Leeds could have been two up at half-time:
That’s why we had to react. We changed some things. The biggest change was how we approached the second half, the mentality, how aggressive we are, how intense we are. We started to win every duel, every 50:50, we were playing in the opponent’s half and making passes forward and runs forward and being positive on the ball. It was different.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal faced a lot of adversity last night during their FA Cup third round clash against Leeds United. It was the definition of a tough game as the Championship leaders came right at them in the first half, refusing to let them breathe. However, in the second half, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was able to turn things around and guide the Gunners to a 1-0 win that secured their spot in the fourth round of the competition.

After the game, Arteta spoke with the media about the win.  .......Read more here.....

The magic of the cup has been seen, felt and heard across English football in the last few days as the third round of the FA Cup has been and gone – well, almost. There’s one more game of note that is set to take place and that game will see Arsenal host Leeds United in a battle between two of English football’s most historic clubs.

Both have had their fair share of bumps in the road over the years, but it’s safe to say that Leeds have suffered the worst across the last decade or so. Now, though, things seem to have changed, and there’s an argument to be made that this third round encounter is going to wind up being more unpredictable than most would think.  .......Read more here.....

Today Arsenal will step back into the lion’s den in the form of an FA Cup tie against Championship high-flyers Leeds United – a team they will almost certainly be meeting again twice in the Premier League this season. Alas, while many people will choose to focus on what they can do to try and succeed and progress into the fourth round, we thought it’d be fun to take a look back at a meeting between the two clubs from around seven years ago. In fact, it was almost seven years to the day in the same competition and at the same venue.  .......Read more here.....

On Eddie Nketiah’s return:
We have to sit down with the loan department and we’ll do that this afternoon, to discuss the best possible way for him to keep developing. I think the environment that he’s been living in has improved him as a player, 100 per cent. He played some minutes, not as much as we wanted, but he’s a kid with incredible potential and we have to make a decision for the club, not for the next four months but for his career. What’s the best thing to do? We have to sit down with him, hear from him – that’s very important because we need to know what he needs as well – and make the right decision for the next five months.  .......Read more here.....

We tend to believe in a world in which the FA Cup matters, and we’d like to think Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta invests in that theory as well. It’s a competition which has been incredibly kind to the Gunners over the years, and if they put a lot into it, then that could be the case once again. Prior to the Gunners jumping back into action against Leeds on Monday night to conclude third round weekend, Arteta spoke to the media.  .......Read more here.....

The Premier League season is in full flow right now and we’ve got a lot of fun European football to look forward to alongside that. However, we’re not so sure that anything compares to the thrill that comes with the FA Cup. The oldest club football competition may have lost its spark in the eyes of many, but for Arsenal fans, this has always been a competition that has agreed with them.  .......Read more here.....

Europa League (cont.)

The knockout stages wound up being much more difficult than anyone could’ve anticipated, and when we say difficult, we mean BATE Borisov and Rennes just wouldn’t lie down. They did it a really great job of holding firm and pushing Arsenal all the way, and they deserve to be applauded for that. Then, in the big games against Napoli and Valencia, the Gunners proved once again that they can mix it up with the best of them when called upon. Now, one final showdown with Chelsea awaits – and there’s no reason to believe they can’t get the job done.  .......Read more here.....