My Arsenal Blog

Arsenal are set to resume the Premier League season when they take on Newcastle United at the Emirates on Sunday, following the winter break which reportedly did the team a lot of good. Be that as it may, head coach Mikel Arteta spoke to the press ahead of the game and provided some updates on the situation with injured players.

Left-back Kieran Tierney, who hurt his shoulder by falling awkwardly in the West Ham clash back in December, has been ruled out and will likely need a few weeks more. It was confirmed that he was back in training in Dubai, but it was restricted to strictly non-contact work which obviously means his shoulder is still too sensitive for him to play.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal have been struggling much with fitness issues lately, especially in the defensive department. Calum Chambers it our for the rest of the season. Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac have both been out recently, forcing Mikel Arteta to utilize young winger Bukayo Saka on the left defensive flank – but Saka picked up a knock too in the goalless draw away at Burnley last week. Even the newly signed Cedric Soares came from Southampton injured. Forward Reiss Nelson has now joined them all in the treatment room.  .......Read more here.....

Kieran Tierney believes Unai Emery is still the man to lead Arsenal through this period of extended transition, and says he has learnt a lot from the manager.

The Scottish left-back arrived this summer from Celtic for £25 million after a prolonged saga and several rounds of negotiations between the two clubs. It took him a while to start making his mark in an Arsenal shirt due to injury, but he’s started to fit in gradually and challenge Sead Kolasinac for the place in the starting XI – which was the main reason he was brought in following the departure of Nacho Monreal. The fact that he was carrying a groin problem at the time of the deal being struck shows great faith Arsenal had in this particular player.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal will be going head to head with Sheffield United on Monday Night Football and one of the biggest questions on the mind of the club’s fans up and down the country will be the team selection. Nobody really knows what Emery is going to do on a week to week basis, and that’s especially true when the club is dealing with some injuries. Today, we’re going to take a quick look at what Emery has said about the fitness of Alexandre Lacazette and Kieran Tierney.

The quotes come from Arsenal.com.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has confirmed the Granit Xhaka has been named club captain. The queue behind the Swiss international goes like this: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Hector Bellerin, Alexandre Lacazette, and Mesut Ozil – these players are in line for the armband in case Xhaka is unavailable to play.

The boss praised the midfielder’s commitment, behaviour, experience and determination, but most of all his ability to deal with pressure and criticism and lead the way.  .......Read more here.....

It’s always nice to hear from the new signings, and courtesy of Arsenal.com, we’re able to take a glimpse into the mind of new defender Kieran Tierney who has arrived at the Emirates from Scottish giants Celtic. The Deadline Day move had been in the works for, as far as we could tell, the entirety of the summer transfer window. Now, it’s time to see what he thinks and how he’s feeling ahead of the new season.  .......Read more here.....

It has been an exciting summer for Arsenal transfer-wise, with the club agreeing a deal with left-back Kieran Tierney just before the closing of the window on 8 August. It took some time to finalise the deal and despite the fact that Tierney has had a double back hernia operation during the summer and is only now starting to get back to shape, there are great expectations of and a lot of interest in this 22-year-old, who is joining the Gunners after playing for Celtic since the age of seven.  .......Read more here.....

As the ever reliable David Ornstein of BBC reports, Arsenal have agreed deals to sign David Luiz from Chelsea and Kieran Tierney from Celtic.

The fee the Gunners will be paying for the services of the Brazilian centre-back is set at £8 million, and he will sign a two-year contract. Luiz was linked with a move to the northern side of the English capital before, but it appears it will truly happen this time around.  .......Read more here.....

Despite the early signs announcing a highly frustrating summer transfer window this year, the club have pulled up their socks just in time, abandoned to fruitless Wilfried Zaha chase and grabbed Nicolas Pepe of Lille ahead of a number of other suitors.

The financial details of the deal haven’t officially been disclosed, but a number of reports claim the fee the Gunners will be paying for the winger’s services amounts to £72 million. So much for the £45 million transfer budget stories.  .......Read more here.....

Having seen their initial offer of £15 million for Kieran Tierney rejected by Celtic, Arsenal reportedly made an improved bid of £25 million, but according to Sky Sports, the Scottish champions are still not impressed.

Apparently, there’s nothing wrong with the overall amount, but the offer contains too many add-on clauses. One of those is that the Gunners need to secure Champions League qualification at the end of the season, which is something Celtic do not deem likely to happen.  .......Read more here.....