My Arsenal Blog

Arsenal are yet to agree a contract extension for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as well as a loan extension for Cedric Soares to enable him to finish the season at the Emirates, according to reports.

Aubameyang is probably the hottest subject regarding the Gunners and their potential transfers. The captain is under contract until next summer, and plenty of speculative reports have suggested that his decision on whether to extend the deal would depend on whether Mikel Arteta’s team manage to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Meanwhile, the club are believed to planning to sell him this summer if an agreement cannot be found, in order to avoid losing him for free.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Cedric Soares on loan from Southampton.

It seems the Gunners are finally getting a their priorities right when it comes to signing new players. Last summer, they did sign William Saliba and Kieran Tierney, but while Saliba is widely considered too young to make immediate impact and under the terms of the deal, has been loaned back to Lille, Tierney has been mostly prevented from making a contribution towards the stabilization of the defence by injuries. The main talking point of the window was once again an attacking player as the club forked out £72 million for Nicolas Pepe.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal have been heavily linked with Southampton fullback Cedric Soares in recent days, and it seems a deal is indeed on the cards. The player has informed the club of his wish to leave, and manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has revealed he would be allowed to go.

Soares joined the Saints from Sporting Lisbon in 2015 for €7 million and has been on their books since, but he spent the second half of last season on loan at Inter Milan. This term, he has played in 19 games in total, of which 16 in the Premier League, scoring a single goal and assisting one as well. He was a regular member of the starting XI until he suffered a knee injury which he is still recovering from.  .......Read more here.....

It’s now been 15 months since Unai Emery led the team in a competitive game for the first time, and at this point it feels safe to say that things haven’t improved at all since then. In fact, it could be argued that they’re looking even bleaker than in the last days of Arsene Wenger’s 22-year reign.

The defence has been the most criticized section of the squad and rightly so, but Arsenal at least still had that familiar attacking swagger when the legendary Frenchman departed. They’re still scoring goals, but at the moment it feels that even in that area a lot of things have to come together for the ball to find its way into the opposition net.  .......Read more here.....

On the formation change:
That’s a decision I’ve made because I need to find a solution. We play with three centre backs to feel stronger defensively. But also because in the first half, we were better defensively. But it wasn’t enough. We needed to attack more in the second half so I changed it. Then when we were attacking more, we had 20 or 25 minutes where we were better offensively but then defensively we lost a little bit of that balance and conceded more chances than we wanted. That is the issue. I need to work, I need to analyse, I need to find a solution. Today I tried that, starting with the centre backs, changing in the first half when we were drawing because we wanted to win. We wanted to achieve more risks to attack and to get more players in the attacking third. But then we struggled defensively then with their transition. Now we are going to analyse it and find solutions as to whether we are better with three or two centre backs, the balance, and then work out how we can be stronger defensively and offensively. We lost that balance. We had a strong start to the second half in the first 20 or 25 minutes, but then we lost that balance and defensively we struggled more than we needed. At the end we drew and it’s not enough. We’re frustrated and disappointed, so are the supporters. Now we are speaking in the dressing room, the coaches, the club, and we need to work and analyse to find a solution. We can be disappointed at the moment but we need to keep on moving for the next match, to prepare and improve on the issues.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal fans went into yesterday’s game against Southampton with an all-time low level of confidence, and in the end, that was justified. The Gunners were unable to secure all three points against the Saints, and they were even lucky to take a point from the clash.

Danny Ings gave the hosts an early advantage with Alexandre Lacazette bringing them back into the game not long after, but late in the game, James Ward-Prowse gave the visitors what they hoped would be the winner. Alas, Lacazette popped up once again in the sixth minute of injury time to save their blushes and guide them towards a point.  .......Read more here.....

The Premier League is set to return to our screens this weekend, and not a minute too soon. While we certainly had an interesting international break it’s time to get back to business, and by business, we mean Arsenal (hopefully) dragging themselves kicking and screaming towards a top four challenge.

It’s going to be one hell of a task for them to get back in the mix, and while the table may not suggest it’s impossible, it will be if Unai Emery isn’t able to get the morale of this team back where it needs to be. Alas, we’ll try and remain positive as the Gunners prepare to return to the Emirates.  .......Read more here.....

The Premier League season is underway, and while every single game is going to count for the Gunners, there’s no way of getting around it: they need to have a strong run of form at home if they want to be successful. They’ve struggled away from the Emirates for a few years now, whereas their ability to get the job done at home has consistently gotten them out of jail more times than we can count.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal have been credited with interest in Mario Lemina of Southampton, courtesy of The Telegraph.

Having started his professional career in Ligue 1 with Lorient back in 2012/13, Lemina moved to Olympique Marseille after two seasons , and his 50 performances – most of those very good – earned him a transfer to Juventus. The midfielder went there initially on loan, but the move was made permanent before the 2015/16 season had ended.  .......Read more here.....

We’ve already taken a look at what Arsenal’s proposed start to their upcoming Premier League season is going to look like, and now, we’re going to take a look at what the conclusion could be. The Gunners are going to be involved in four competitions as we all know, but there’s certainly an argument to be made that none are more important than the Premier League.  .......Read more here.....