I drafted Jadarian Price in fantasy football (NFL) this season. For those of you who don’t know, he is a rookie running back for the Seattle Seahawks. I drafted him perhaps a round earlier than I should have. But the potential beckoned to me convincingly. Price was drafted in the first round by the Seahawks, the current Super Bowl champions. Kenneth Walker III had completed a switch to the Kansas City Chiefs while Zach Charbonnet, the player who had shared the backfield with him, began the season on injured reserve after suffering a torn ACL in last season’s playoffs.
In other words, one of the most talented rookie running backs to enter the league this year was going to get a whole lot of touches for the current best team in the NFL.
At least, that’s what I thought was going to happen. It didn’t pan out like that. After a debut that demonstrated Price clearly had serious juice, I had to watch on as the player I’d taken such a sizeable gamble on was forced into a committee with two pedestrian backs.
The sad part is, it made sense. Price clearly has needed an adjustment period to the big leagues — his runs weren’t efficient and he has had an issue with fumbling. The room for improvement was evident, and the Seahawks are out to defend their title.
Then came the kicker. Price suffered a chest injury at the beginning of the month that warranted him being placed on injured reserve. And so he has been sitting on the end of my bench for the past few weeks, on the IR spot.
But I’m not giving up hope. While I’ve made a few offers involving him to other managers in my fantasy league, I’ve refused to let him go on the cheap. And I wouldn’t consider dropping him. Because things change. Price could be back in action in a week or two and putting up a hundred yards and a touchdown per game. He could become a league-winner for me just like [pretend I’m snapping my fingers] that. Just like Knowshon Moreno did. Just like James Conner did. Just like Kyren Williams did.
What I’ve learned over the years is that in sport and a few other walks of life, writing people off is foolish. Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich on Wednesday is but another exhibit of evidence supporting that conclusion.
When Bukayo Saka exited the match in just the eighth minute with what looks to be a quad injury, the Gunners were clearly affected for a moment. Their momentum in the game was snatched away by the hosts, who enjoyed a spell of possession in and around Arsenal’s penalty area. They came close to scoring on multiple occasions during that barrage.
But then Mikel Arteta’s men came to life. And with some help from the main cast, the three forwards who have not only been relegated to the status of backup attackers in the team, but have acquired scores of detractors among the club faithful, produced moments of quality to help their side earn a 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena.
Again, these are players whom fans have asked to sell, rejected pieces of an attack that is constantly derided already. Last week, many would have told you that the Arsenal careers of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres were over and that Noni Madueke would never be a significant figure in this Arsenal team. But now, they all look like they all have roles to play.
For every player, there will be ups and downs. Opportunities will present themselves to almost every member of the squad before the season has reached its conclusion. The only constant is that things will change.
So perhaps it’s time we showed a little patience and belief in all of Arsenal’s first team players, even the ones who have bigger flaws than our favorites do. It’s a long season. We’re going to need everyone.
Ballers
Eberechi Eze
This was by far Eze’s best performance of the season so far. After coming on for the injured Saka, the Englishman enjoyed a very effective showing, completing the joint-most dribbles in the match with three. He didn’t create any chances, but he did produce some dangerous moments including a ball across Manuel Neuer’s goal in the 54th minute that forced the German into action. He also gave Bayern’s defenders repeated problems, drawing four fouls over the course of the match.
Of course, his shining moment occurred in the 25th minute, when a lovely ball over the top from Martin Ødegaard found Eze in behind before the attacker smashed the ball past Neuer into the far side of the net. It is his second goal of the season in all competitions, but it also means Eze now has two scores in two Champions League matches so far in 2026/27. He also was involved in the buildup to Arsenal’s late equalizer. This all provides encouragement that the Arsenal no. 10 may just be rounding into some form.
Off the ball, it should be said that he was quite impressive as well. Throughout the match, Eze displayed smart timing of his runs that threatened Bayern’s high line. He also won eight of 11 ground duels and one of two aerial duels. After looking for so long that he could not be molded back into a left winger, Eze produced a pretty complete performance at that position on a massive stage.
Martin Ødegaard
As he always tries to do, Ødegaard pulled the strings on the ball for Arsenal. On 87 touches he completed 63 of 70 passes, including ten passes into the final third and seven line-breaking passes. The Arsenal skipper created three chances, the most in the match, amassing 0.38 expected assists in the process.
The best chance of these chances was of course the one that Eze converted to initially put the Gunners ahead. Ødegaard received the ball at the top of the Arsenal’s side of the center circle before promptly swiveling and lofting a sumptuous pass over Bayern’s back line to put the winger in on goal. The assist now means that the captain is the club’s joint-top goal contributor on the season along with Saka and Declan Rice.
I was also quite impressed by Ødegaard’s set piece delivery throughout the match. His corner in the 30th minute found Bruno Guimarães in space just outside the six-yard box; unfortunately, the Brazilian blazed his shot over the crossbar. His free kick in the 67th minute really should have been put in the back of the net and in any event produced a nervy scrum in front of Neuer’s goal line. All in all, it was a great performance from the Norwegian.
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Declan Rice
What’s becoming increasingly apparent is that Rice is becoming just as influential a player on the ball as Ødegaard is. The Englishman finished with 99 touches, the most by any player in the game. Rice completed 69 of 77 passes, including six into the final third and six that broke Bayern’s lines. He also created two chances from corners, with one leading to a point-blank header from Guimarães that Neuer somehow miraculously kept out.
Off the ball, Rice was his usual tremendous self. He finished with six tackles, two clearances, one interception, and five ball recoveries. He won seven of ten ground duels and all three of his aerials. Despite playing 93 minutes, he did not commit a single foul.
In the end, the Arsenal record signing’s most important contribution was his 82nd-minute equalizer to ensure that the Gunners left Munich with something to show for their efforts. The Englishman initiated and concluded a lovely sequence in the final third, laying the ball off to Madueke before making an intelligent third-man run and slamming the ball home past Neuer when Gyökeres found him in behind. With that goal, Rice is also among Arsenal’s joint-top goal contributors so far. He is world class and Graeme Souness can go kick rocks.
Viktor Gyökeres
This is more like half a Baller entry given that Gyökeres only played 22 minutes and managed just six touches, so he didn’t really do much else besides his assist. But for him, it was a highly encouraging action to see — the Swede appears to have improved his back-to-goal play and successfully held off Jonathan Tah as he tapped a ball played quickly to him in behind for Rice’s goal. I think if he can keep that up he definitely has a role to play in the near future, even if he hasn’t yet scored a goal for Arsenal this season. He just feels more connected to the team of late, and that’s never a bad thing.
Fallers
Ezri Konsa
For the most part, I think Konsa was solid at Bayern. However, he committed a crucial mistake for the hosts’ first goal: when Harry Kane dropped deep to receive the ball and play quarterback, Konsa sat off instead of following him. It was a moment when I found myself missing William Saliba; the Frenchman would have been on Kane like White on Rice whenever Arteta does that thing in training where he tells the players to jump on someone’s back.
As a result, Kane had acres of space and all the time in the world to play a perfect pass in behind for Alphonso Davies to score Bayern’s first goal. It is admittedly a little annoying — the English striker is literally a frontrunner to win the Ballon d’Or and he was allowed free rein to play that pass. Konsa didn’t help matters when he clattered his countryman shortly after to pick up a booking. It was just a small reminder that for as excellent as he has been, there is a gap between Konsa and Saliba still.
Kai Havertz
It’s another disappointing performance from the German. Havertz was fine as a focal point at the tip of the spear — he won three of four aerial duels as well as two of three ground duels. But aside from that, he did not figure in Arsenal’s attack nearly as much as he needed to.
The Arsenal striker made one pass into the final third and achieved four touches in Bayern’s penalty area. He only took one shot during his 68 minutes on the pitch, and that was a minute before Havertz was replaced by Gyökeres. Havertz latched onto a free kick taken by Ødegaard but could not tuck the ball home from point-blank range; instead, the attempt was blocked. It also doesn’t help that he continues to get booked for unneccessary and rash challenges.
After a hot start to the current season, the German’s form has cooled massively. Maybe he has played too many minutes recently, and he did suffer an injury during the last international break. But the fact remains that Arsenal need him to rediscover that attacking verve he demonstrated in the early weeks of the campaign. Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gyökeres start over him against Everton.
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