In the average season, the winter months are frequently described as a “grind.” The warm weather of autumn has passed. Players are all feeling the strain of the unceasing schedule of training, matches, and travel across competitions domestic and European. The optimism of the season start is behind but the finish line still feels miles off. While it’s rare to have a celebratory week in winter, that is the rarified air that Arsenal have reached at all levels. This week brought amazing news and accomplishments for the women’s team, the men’s team, and even the youth ranks. Let’s dive in: The Women Roll The biggest headlines go to the women’s team. They started the week by beating Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.(The Blues aren’t at their dominating best this season but they have been a bogey club for Arsenal.) Any win over their arch-nemesis signals an uptick in performances in the WSL and should be applauded. The bigger story, though, is in the FIFA Champions Cup. The mini-tournament comprised the reigning champions of North America (Gotham), South America (Corinthians), Europe (Arsenal), and Asia (AS FAR). Midweek saw Arsenal beat AS FAR 6-0 in what could only be called a mismatch, but Sunday’s championship against Corinthians was no walk in the park. Corinthians supporters traveled loudly and in numbers to London to support their club, and the team responded. Arsenal went up 1-0, only to see Corinthians equalize. The Gunners went up again 2-1 and were once again pegged back. The match went to extra time, with Caitlin Foord scoring the decisive goal to win Arsenal the inaugural FIFA Champions Cup. A great accomplishment that should raise spirits as the women push forward in both the WSL and the Champions League (where the knockout stages will begin Arsenal’s defense of their title). Unexpected Help on the Men’s Side While the women were winning their second major trophy since May, the men started the week with a setback in their quest to win their first Premier League title in over 20 years. A chastening loss to Manchester United at the Emirates–offset by wins by Manchester City and Aston Villa–cut the lead at the top of the table to four points and (re)raised the question as to whether the men’s side have the mental fortitude to win the title. After a midweek Champions League match that didn’t matter much, it was off to Leeds, currently sitting in 16th place, for a fixture that pundits and supporters alike were more worried about than the opponents’ relative places in the table might lead you to believe. Despite the apprehension among the supporters, the match against Leeds was never really in doubt. The hosts barely mounted an attack while Arsenal scored two on either side of halftime with Zubamendi, Madueke, Gyokeres, and Gabriel Jesus providing the goals. While a minor injury to Bukayo Saka forced his withdrawal from the starting line-up, Madueke didn’t miss a beat, providing the cross for Zubamendi’s opener and the corner that went in for the second (although most places called it an own goal due to some comedic defending between Karl Darlow and Dominic Calvert-Lewin). Gyokeres getting on the scoresheet was also a huge sigh of relief, for the highly-scrutinized striker, even if it doesn’t change the fact that he’s struggled to adapt to his new surroundings. With three points in the bag, Mikel Arteta and the team had the luxury of watching Aston Villa and Manchester City try to keep pace on Sunday. Aston Villa’s opponent on the day had never beaten the Villans at Villa Park. Their prospects looked even bleaker when striker Kevin Schade was sent off for violent conduct in the 42nd minute with the score tied 0-0. Within a few minutes of the sending off, Dando Ouattara picked out the top far corner of the goal from an outrageous angle. Brentford hung on a man down for the entire second half for a win that was nice for them and huge for Arsenal. With the weekend already producing one pleasant surprise for Arsenal, on the other side of North London the Spurs hosted Manchester City at the Tottenham Stadium. Hopes were not high, with Spurs in a rotten run of form and City fortified with the recent acquisitions of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth and Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace boosting the attack and defense respectively. The match got off to the expected start with City dominating and scoring twice in the first half. On the other side of halftime, however, something remarkable happened. Spurs actually mounted a dangerous attack. Dominic Solanke scored a gritty goal in the box in the 53rd minute to change the momentum of the match. In the 70th minute, he leveled the score with a crazy scorpion kick goal that has to be seen to be believed. It isn’t often that an Arsenal supporter will pull for Spurs, but they had me on the edge of my seat rooting for a 3rd for the final 20 minutes plus what seemed like interminable stoppage time. Despite any negative impact on my blood pressure while watching the final moments, Spurs pulled out the draw. A weekend that started with Arsenal supporters worrying about a gap that had closed to 4 points with City and Villa ended with a resounding win for Arsenal and a gap of six points to City in second and seven points to Villa in third. Adding in the Champions Cup trophy for the women, weekends don’t get much better than that. Dowman SIgns As icing on the cake, teen sensation Max Dowman signed an agreement with the club to remain at the only footballing home he’s known, returning after six weeks from an ankle injury. The newly-signed deal doesn’t take effect until Dowman’s 17th birthday on December 31st, but it will tie him to the club for the long term. Specific terms weren’t released, but five years is a typical duration and would presumably start with the 2027-28 season (which would have him contracted to Arsenal through 2032-2033). Given the potential he has already demonstrated, coming to an agreement now puts to rest any worry that he might have his head turned by a Real Madrid or a Barcelona. It’s also a good sign that the precocious talent is happy with his experience coming through the ranks at Arsenal, even if he hasn’t gotten a great deal of match time with the senior squad. Next Up Mid-week sees the men host Chelsea in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final. The Gunners go into the match with a 3-2 lead. (The winner will face either Manchester City or Newcastle in the final, with the Citizens leading by 2-0 after the first leg.) The men host Sunderland at the Emirates when Premier League play resumes on Saturday. The women will host WSL-leading Manchester City on Sunday before traveling to Belgium to face Oh Leuven in the first knockout round of the Champions League. Best of luck to both teams!

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In a professional sports culture increasingly infused with analytics, hard-to-measure concepts like “confidence” and “winning DNA” are either thrown around by former players and managers as if those concepts were obvious, or brushed off by the analytically-inclined as “not real” metrics. The topic–and how it might impact my enjoyment of the rest of this campaign–is top of mind as the Arsenal men enter 2026 leading the Premier League and the Champions League group stage. First, some context. Being an Arsenal supporter has been difficult in recent years. Despite minor successes in the FA Cup, the past 20 years have witnessed a descent from regular EPL title contender in the Premier League and significant Champions League competitor in the Champions League to being out of Europe altogether. Were there reasons for the regression? Certainly, chief among them the financial impact of the construction of the Emirates Stadium. Did that make those years any easier? Not really. The years since Stan Kroenke assumed full control of the club and started rebuilding it into something more closely resembling its peak have been fun. When you are at the top of the heap, it is hard to get excited about qualifying for the Champions League or being in the Premier League title race without actually winning it. After bottoming out, those accomplishments felt good again. So while Arsenal have won their way back into the top echelon of the European game, they don’t yet have any hardware to show for it. In the Premier League, finishing second the first time felt great. (We were in a title race!) The second time felt a little less great, with creeping worries that we didn’t quite have the stuff to compete with Pep’s City. Finishing second a third consecutive time, especially in a season when City were in disarray and Liverpool had lost their manager, increased the doubts that Arteta and the current squad had what it takes to win it all. Even an extended run to the semi-finals of the Champions League wasn’t enough to make 2024-2025 feel like a step forward. Bringing us back to the concept of the intangibles that go into a championship team, Arsenal have had the talent to win the Premier League for the past few seasons. Manchester City have had title-worthy talent. Liverpool have had title-worthy talent. Of those three clubs, only the latter two have lifted the trophy since Arteta took charge at the Emirates. Deducing why that is has been the subject of much debate over the past 18 months. One could argue that Arsenal’s bad luck with injuries to key players like Saka, Odegaard, and Saliba have tipped the balance between finishing first and finishing second. Another explanation could be that Arsenal haven’t enjoyed a Erling Haaland- or Mo Salah-level prolific scorer to rescue them when Plan A and Plan B fail. Finally, the case could be made that Manchester City and Liverpool, by virtue of recent successes in the Premier League and the Champions League expect to win when things get tough, whereas Arsenal–blanked of both those prizes in recent memory (or ever in the case of the Champions League)– don’t expect success when the chips are down. As 2026 gets underway , the Gunners seem to have addressed the first of these concerns. The squad is so deep in quality that they have thrived despite a first half of the season fraught with injuries at every outfield position group. (Saliba, Gabriel, Odegaard, Saka, and Havertz–nearly half of the starting eleven from last season–have missed significant time.) Last year, that would have been devastating. This year, there are so many quality reserves that Ethan Nwanri and Max Dowman can barely get minutes off the bench despite injuries at their preferred positions. As for the arrival of a prolific scorer, while Viktor Gyorkeres was supposed to be that guy, he continues to struggle to adjust to the Premier League and a new style of play. On the plus side, Liverpool have seen Mo Salah regress and Alexander Isak fail to rise to the opportunity of being the difference maker at Anfield. City still have Haaland, but Arsenal lead Pep’s side by six points despite the Norwegian striker leading the Premier League in goals by a wide margin. Now the big question: can Arsenal go from thinking they can win to knowing they can win when the pressure is on with a title rival? Unfortunately, there’s no objective way to gauge progress in this area. They let up late goals at Liverpool, Villa, and Sunderland in the first half of the season, but scored late to rescue points against Manchester City, Wolves, and Bournemouth. They dominated Villa and Bayern Munich at the Emirates. As I look forward to the second half of the season for the Arsenal men, it seems clear they have the talent to win every competition going forward. With Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz returning from long-term injuries to join Gyorkeres and Merino, there is a depth of striking options that should shrink City’s advantage with Haaland at the number nine position. The question that remains is whether they have the resolve–the winning mentality–to continue to ruthlessly grind out results and not let City back in the Premier League race, while at the same time getting up for every round of the knockout stages of the Champions League. Once upon a time, during the end of the Arsene Wenger era, there was a stretch in February or March where the Gunners would just go off the rails for a couple of weeks. They would bomb out of the FA Cup, lose a couple of Premier League matches against bottom half opposition, and not show up for a big match in Europe. A season that seemed hopeful turned to dust over the course of 14 to 21 days. To get over the hump and win it all this season, that is the history that they must overcome…starting with Liverpool on Thursday.

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Turns out that writing a weekly column is harder to keep up with than I remembered! Changing my scope from the entire Premier League to a single team (even if the team in question is MY team) has also presented a challenge, so thanks for staying with me!. After a busy summer for both the men and the women, the storylines have been fairly constant for both groups. Arsenal Men: Steady and Reliable On the men’s side, the big stories have been defense, depth, and consistency. I mean, they went the entire month of October without conceding a goal while winning all six of their matches across all competitions. They continued by extending that streak over their first two matches in November. All of the above is happening without an unsustainable run of good health or a single player scoring goals at an unreasonable clip. In fact, one might argue that Arsenal have been unlucky when it comes to injuries having Odegaard, Havertz, Madueke, Saka, Saliba, Martinelli, and Gyorkeres all missing time. Scoring is also broad: no player has more than 6 goals across all competitions, and 12 have contributed at least one. Similarly, twelve players have registered at least one but no more than four assists. Given the talent on hand, the club is more likely to get healthier, and possibly enjoy a single player hot streak than being dependent on a single (shall we say Haaland-like?) player whose loss could undermine the entire operation. Arsenal Women: The Struggle is Real On the women’s side, the narrative is less positive, with last season’s Champions League title a minor outlier among otherwise pretty-good-but-not-great results. The women are deep in talent but don’t seem to have the same ability to close up shop on defense while the attack figures it out. That struggle led to a draw-that-should-have-been-a-win (Manchester United) and a couple of losses that needed to be draws (Manchester City and Lyon). As a very good league side who will likely finish top three with a chance of making a tournament run either domestically or in Europe is hardly a tragedy. That said, coming off of a Champions League title and investing over the summer, the hope was that the women were ready to challenge Chelsea and Barcelona at the very top both domestically and in Europe. That brings us to this past weekend where both the men and women drew their matches. While the results may have been the same, their place in the side’s respective season narratives could hardly be more different. Staying Within Shouting Distance Let’s start with the women here since it is the more positive outcome. A draw a positive outcome? Didn’t I just say that they should be turning those draws into wins if they wanted to challenge Chelsea? Well, in this case, the opponent WAS Chelsea and getting a draw against the defending WSL champions was a nice outcome based on a recent history of Chelsea wins. The result gets even better upon closer examination. While Arsenal did concede a beautiful early chipped goal from US international Alyssa Thompson, they came back when in seasons past they likely would have folded. After Thompson’s goal, Arsenal had the far better of the chances with the ball finding the back of the net three times only for two of them to be ruled out. The WSL does not use VAR technology so none of the three incidents were reviewed. From my watching, the goal Arsenal was awarded should have been disallowed while the two that were disallowed by the officials would have been allowed upon further review. It has been since December 2023 that Arsenal took points from Chelsea so getting a point and at least staying in the title race was a move in the right direction. Chelsea are still the prohibitive favorites even if Manchester City have crept a point ahead of them temporarily. With Manchester United and Spurs both losing at the weekend, Arsenal find themselves in 4th place, six points behind City at the top. Not terrible but still a lot of work to do. A Late Disappointment There were a lot of shocking things about Arsenal’s trip to Sunderland on Saturday. Let’s start with the fact that the newly promoted Black Cats were sitting 3rd in the table coming into the match. I don’t think even the most optimistic Sunderland supporter had that on their November bingo card. Maybe less shocking and more jarring was seeing former Arsenal captain in opposing colors for the first time since he left the club for Germany a few years back. He was always a divisive figure but seems to be one whose stature has grown after his contribution to Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen Bundesliga winners. His impact upon arriving at Sunderland this season has been similarly impressive. Getting to the action on the pitch, it was shocking to see the Gunners concede a goal for the first time in six weeks. To make matters worse, Sunderland were making life difficult with a physical brand of defense and scoring the opener put Arsenal somewhere they haven’t been frequently this season, playing from behind. All seemed better after Bukayo Saka scored to the keeper’s short side and Leandro Trossard delivered a cannon shot from outside the box to put the Gunners up in the second half. Give Sunderland credit though, they continued to fight and had the better of the possession and chances between Trossard’s goal and their equalizer late in stoppage time that owed as much to desire and physicality than it did to skill. Still, on a weekend when Arsenal knew that at least one of Liverpool and Manchester City would drop points (they were playing each other on Sunday), they were perfectly positioned going into stoppage time to keep one of their title rivals at bay while putting more distance between themselves and the other. That they couldn’t do it offers the first evidence in quite some time that they shouldn’t necessarily be considered title favorites. Based on what we’ve seen this season, getting a draw at Sunderland isn’t nearly as frustrating a result as you would have thought coming into the season. They have been legitimately good. Still, a side with title aspirations can’t be dropping points when taking a lead into stoppage time. How did it go between City and Liverpool, you may ask? City pretty well destroyed the Reds. It is still early but unless something dramatic happens, Liverpool are probably done as title contenders and need to worry more about whether they have what it takes to finish in the top four. City, on the other hand, look like they’ve shaken off their slow start to the season and have to be considered at least co-favorites despite being four points back in the standings. Erling Haaland has been a goal-scoring machine and they are starting to get contributions from elsewhere that they hadn’t been earlier in the season. What’s Next? The Premier League is on their final international break of 2025 and the men will return to action on the 23rd against North London rivals Tottenham before hosting Bayern Munich on the 26th at the Emirates. The women do the two in reverse as the women face off with the German giants in Champions League action today at the Allianz Arena (12:45 PM Eastern) before returning to London to face off with Spurs in the WSL this coming Sunday.