I ended the weekend feeling a little disheartened. I’d just watched Arsenal play like champions and rescue a win against a very good Leeds side. That should have put a grin on my face to start the week. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Sunday. Manchester City’s dominant but hollow win at Anfield was a twist of a knife in the belly for all of us who love football.
I know, I know. I’ve talked about this a lot. But how can I not? The City scandal is an existential threat to the integrity of football, to the meaning of this game we all invest so much of our lives into, lingering in the air like the putrid stench of a wastebin filled with garbage that someone should have disposed of long ago.
Erling Haaland’s smug smile when he lashed in the opener is seared into my mind. I won’t soon forget Mancunians cosplaying as sheikhs (which feels vaguely Islamophobic if we’re being honest) while proudly holding aloft AI-generated banners. And I am still utterly flabbergasted that Chris Kavanagh, he and “Pro Ref” both knowing damn well how it would look, felt it necessary to give two extremely soft yellows to Ryan Gravenberch to send him off and ruin this match, at this moment in time, as a contest.
For the last few days, football has felt ugly to me. I didn’t know it, but I needed Tuesday’s first-ever clash with Lille at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s second match of this Champions League season felt like a break from the depressing reality that hangs over English football. This game was mostly divorced from the City scandal; the Gunners aren’t as of yet competing directly with City for the European title, and they will not have to play them for quite some time, if at all. This battle with Davide Ancelotti’s (yes, son of Carlo) men was just that — a pure football match, free of drama, of narrative (aside from the return of Olivier Giroud to north London), of disgrace.
When Arsenal failed to put the ball in the net, the criticism from supporters wasn’t tinged with the panic that comes from knowing you have an extremely limited margin for error against an illegal superteam that rarely suffer for their recruitment or on-pitch errors. This was just people who love the sport wanting their team to find another gear, to do better because they are capable of better.
And ultimately, the Gunners did do better. In the second half, Noni Madueke and Jurriën Timber, two bright spots in an otherwise disappointing starting side from an attacking standpoint, combined to produce a luscious opener. Then, the pivotal trio of Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka, and Kai Havertz took the pitch and killed the game off with ruthless swiftness. Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners while Giroud thankfully made an anonymous cameo near the end of the match — although for what it’s worth, I always thought the Frenchman was underrated during his time with us.
Now, they gear up for a return to that trudge through the muck. A trip to Nottingham Forest awaits them at the weekend while City host Ipswich on Saturday (and probably win) and the rest of us await the fall of a legal hammer with bated breath. It’s going to be like this for a while, sadly.
I’m not just saying this because they drew 2-2 with Viking and Michael Olise is set to miss the game through suspension. But I can’t wait for Arsenal’s trip to Bayern Munich next week.
Ballers
Bruno Guimarães
In his first Champions League match for Arsenal, Bruno G brought the ener-g (I’ll see myself out now). The Brazilian was absolutely everywhere on Tuesday evening, doing everything in his power to steer his side toward a positive result. He punched numerous balls through the lines, charged through midfield on the counter on multiple occasions, and never missed an opportunity to rile up the Emirates Stadium crowd.
Guimarães finished with the most touches in the match (95), took the most shots (five) in the game, and won more ground duels than any other Arsenal player (nine). On top of that, the Brazilian completed the most final third passes (37), made the joint-most recoveries (seven), and made the most interceptions (three). He also attempted fewer passes than only Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa. The former Newcastle man racked up 0.53 xG and probably should have tucked away his chance when he got on the end of a cross deep inside Lille’s penalty area 20 minutes in. He ended up delivering the pre-assist for the Gunners’ second goal. But ultimately, Guimarães was a constant source of worry for Lille.
The most encouraging aspect of his performance was how willing he is to take on as much responsibility as he can handle in new surroundings. It speaks to that genuine leadership of his we’ve heard spoken about so often. The second-most encouraging thing about Guimarães’ showing is the almost PSG-like fluidity he adds alongside Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard. Late in the match, the three of them appeared truly in sync, swapping positions as necessary and creating a real unguardability and unpredictability to Arsenal’s midfield play. Projecting forward, it’s undoubtedly exciting.
Jurriën Timber
Finally looking well and truly back from his long-term groin injury, Timber got the start at right back against Lille. The Dutchman proceeded to demonstrate some of the qualities we’ve missed at the position in his absence. First and foremost, of course, was Timber’s suffocating defense. He kept the visitors’ left side deathly quiet; Hákon Haraldson achieved a combined xG and xA of 0.02.
He also combined quite well with Madueke in the final third, switching around with and playing in the Englishman to great effect. Timber amassed nine passes into the final third, six touches in the opposition box, and created two chances worth 0.33 xA. As much as it may have annoyed some of us (myself included) last season, Timber’s involvement in attack typically leads to more good things than not. Tuesday was no exception.
He often took up a position in the inside channel between the center back and full back. It was from there he did the most damage; Madueke slotted a ball through to him there before an excellent first touch by Timber set him up to break the deadlock. In the game’s latter stages Guimarães found him there as well, but the defender’s touch let him down that time. It was a heartening showing from a man who is very much in the conversation to be one of the world’s finest right backs.
Bukayo Saka
But I thought he was washed and not good at finishing? Look, I know that’s facetious and I know that there have been things to critique regarding Saka’s recent performances — namely, his inability to convert big chances and some uncharacteristic sloppiness on the ball. However, much of the negativity toward the Arsenal talisman of late has frankly been toxic and hard to understand; I never thought I’d see the day when people calling themselves Arsenal fans would almost seem to relish tearing down the club’s best player.
In any event, Saka took a big step toward silencing those detractors on Tuesday. The Englishman replaced Madueke at 65 minutes with the score at 1-0 and after five more minutes had earned himself a goal and an assist. First, he received the ball on the move in the final third and with his first touch of the game decisively fired a low ball across Lille’s box for Eberechi Eze to smack home. He then followed that up with some lovely interplay with Ødegaard and Havertz that set Saka up to tuck home a finish from close range. Deservedly and undeservedly maligned this season, Saka nevertheless oversaw an instantaneously demolition of the visitors.
The Arsenal no. 7 now leads the team for goal contributions with four goals and an assist in eight games. Despite what some are desperate to say about him, Saka looks like the Gunners’ most dangerous player. And with Olise having picked up a red card against Viking, the stage at right wing should be all his at the Allianz Arena next season.
Eberechi Eze
Another player who has received his fair share of flak this season is the club’s most expensive signing from the summer of 2025. Eze has been something of a non-factor to start this young campaign. He’s still been good for a reliable wall pass but hasn’t really demonstrated the initiative and intent Arsenal have needed at left wing, to the extent that Madueke started over him there at the weekend.
But on Tuesday, Eze got the nod on the left flank. And what he produced was encouraging. He drove at defenders and attempted mazy runs into Lille’s box. He linked up well with Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly to facilitate the creation of chances. And, of course, he scored.
It was a goal that should serve as a reminder of two things. First, that Eze is still an immensely talented player capable of some truly special moments of quality. And second, that those sorts of players shouldn’t be given up on in October.
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Fallers
Mikel Merino
I was initially quite glad to see Merino in the starting lineup. I expected him to serve as a calm presence on the field, as well as a target man to connect offensive play to Viktor Gyökeres. But unfortunately, he simply couldn’t match the tempo of the game.
Merino is also a considered operator on the ball, but against Lille the Spaniard looked downright ponderous. He was lethargic on the ball and got caught on it a number of times during promising moves. He also only won one of four ground duels and one of three aerial duels. To top it all off, he squandered a pair of fairly decent chances in the first half.
There will be better days, but this wasn’t one of them.
Viktor Gyökeres
It is yet another game that simply passes Gyökeres by. The Swede has now made 62 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, and he has finished with no shots on target in 40 of those matches. Lille is the latest example of the striker’s inability to leave an impression on the game.
On one hand, I understand frustrations around a lack of service. There were multiple instances in which he could have gotten on the end of a low ball to the back post and teammates didn’t attempt it. But on the other hand, we once again watch Havertz take the pitch and immediately help conduct attacking moves — the German only needed a few minutes to notch an assist. Gyökeres will have his moments but in the long-term I’m massively concerned.
I also want to take a moment to say a few words about Ken Friar, whose passing was announced on Tuesday. We talk all the time about the likes of Thierry Henry and Arsène Wenger, but in terms of Arsenal legacies, Mr. Friar’s sits unrivalled. I’ve shared these words from Amara Nwankpa before, but I will do so again here:
“The best, and most enduring, encapsulation of the Arsenal identity is not a race, a trophy, or even a style of play. You will find it in a quiet statue at the Emirates: a boy in 1945, kicking a ball under the manager’s car outside Highbury, retrieving it, and being offered a job for nothing more than his enthusiasm. Ken Friar stayed seventy years: messenger, secretary, managing director, life president. He was recognised before he had proved anything, and he never left. That is the club’s deepest pattern. It sees people not as they are, but as they could become. Recognition, offered first, becomes loyalty that outlasts everyone.”
Ken was the personification of the values of Arsenal Football Club. Over the course of 70 years working for the club in various positions, he served as a guiding hand through numerous eras of success and of transition. He oversaw countless changes in and around the walls of Arsenal’s home, which also changed under his stewardship. Tasked with directing the relocation of the club from Highbury to a new stadium, Ken labored unceasingly to successfully conclude that move until the Emirates opened on time and on budget in 2006.
It is an immaculate achievement among a plethora of other immaculate achievements in a long, legendary career. The countless fond memories and heartwarming stories people have shared about him since his passing are a testament to the unmatched good he has done for this club we all love so much, and to his unending commitment to fostering a culture of warmth and togetherness within this football team that unites us all. I probably won’t ever again mean this as much as I mean it now: Ken Friar was Arsenal through and through.
Rest well, Ken. Thank you for everything.
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