The intensity of the end of this season feels mad, eh? On Saturday, I had a knot in my stomach basically up until the moment the final whistle went against Newcastle. The picture of the players all on their haunches also showed that they were feeling similar. But the relentless nature of the end of this season is such that there is little time for a reset, as tomorrow the players will be boarding the plane to kick off the first of the two-legged semi-final against Atletico Madrid.
I woke up last night with a feeling of dread that we’re basically going to see Man City win a domestic treble this season. After all of the backwards and forwards, after the fact, people have said all season that this City side is fallible. You look at what now lies in front of them, and it is certainly believable that it could happen. They will probably win the _Morally Bankrupt Final_ against Chelsea in a few weeks, after that second disgusting football club overcame Leeds to reach the FA Cup final in a few weeks. They’ll win that, and as we talked about on yesterday’s [Same Old Arsenal podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKKgtG-y1WI), Amanda thinks they are going to win all five of their remaining games in the Premier League.
We had a debate on that with regard to whether goal difference is going to be important in this run-in. If it is, I think the general feeling is that City will probably win out. They have the better attacking options in abundance, whilst we’re having to keep on trotting out the likes of Madueke and Martinelli to _not-score_ their way through football matches. The Brazilian is currently on course for his worst season (from an end product perspective) in the Premier League since 2020/21. That year, he only made 14 appearances in total and 586 minutes as a 19/20-year-old, so he was always on the edges that season. It means that since he has established himself as a regular in the Arsenal team, he has never had such a barren run as this. This, of all seasons, when we are a team who are the closest (almost) we’ve ever been to winning the Premier League, and Gabriel Martinelli has been dropping stinkers. This season, he has one goal and two assists, having appeared 28 times, although 18 of those have been as a sub, and he’s had 982 minutes. So perhaps you can excuse him? Perhaps it’s the way in which he is asked to play? Perhaps the manager is asking him to do something differently?
I don’t know, but what I do know is that when we have seen him of late, he’s been dropping some stinkers of performances, which is not what we need.
I do wonder if part of that is the personnel on the pitch and the clear lack of connection. I said on Saturday before the game that I never want to see Martineli/Gyokeres/Madueke as the trio again, as it simply doesn’t work. Yet, 34 minutes into the match on Saturday, and we were back where that was our front three. It is so frustrating. The arrival of Saka means so much, but the fitness of Havertz is also something that we can all bemoan and lament. The man just can’t stay fit, and I think at this stage, when we get to the summer, we have to question his longer-term future. He was a bastion of fitness, until he wasn’t. And now we’ve basically had 18 months of him in and out of fitness, with various injuries.
For Wednesday night, I am just praying that if he isn’t fit (which I don’t expect him to be), then Arteta calls on Saka or Trossard. Trossard, who, let’s be honest, has also been pretty poor this season. Certainly in 2026, and with five goals and five assists in 1,728 Premier League minutes so far, he’s on course to have his worst Premier League season in an Arsenal shirt. The season he signed for us in January, he’d already bagged seven goals and three assists for Brighton, before getting one goal and ten assists for us in 2022/23, but at his current end-product rate of form, he’s on course for his worst season since 2020/21, too, when he got five goals and five assists for Brighton in 35 games.
It doesn’t stop there, either, because Madueke will also hit his poorest season since he first appeared in the Premier League in 2022/23. That season, he made 12 appearances as a 20/21-year-old, scored just one goal, but played 646 minutes. This season, he’s had 23 appearances, racked up just over 1,000 minutes, and has a pathetic return of two goals and one assist. He’s had an injury or two, but that just isn’t good enough. And so, once again, I find myself bemoaning our wide-forwards and their lack of end product, in a season that still could be the most glorious of all, as much as it could be a horrible disaster. And, if it turns out to be the latter, I think there won’t be many Arsenal fans desperate to see that trio combo of Martinelli, Gyokeres and Madueke get many minutes next season. Something will need to change in the summer, for sure.
That will be debated _en masse_ by the Arsenal fans, regardless of whether we win anything or not, I think. But we have to just hope that something happens in the next five games that hasn’t happened all season, because expecting those three wingers to suddenly hit some semblance of form when they’ve shown little or nothing for months, feels like a tall order. We have to just hope that Saka’s return can kick-start some more end product, with maybe a little more leaning into Max Dowman, Eze and who knows, maybe even Odegaard?
Right, I’ll leave it there for today, I think. It’s lovely outside, and I need to find some time to get out there and go for a run.
Have a good one, kids.