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Down the Stretch

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:25:56 GMT

How is it April? Still, the fact remains that we are into the home stretch for Arsenal’s domestic and European campaigns. With the men back from the last international break of the season and the women steaming toward the finish line of the season, let’s check in with where things stand for each and what the important dates are in the run-in.

Three Trophies Still Possible for the Men

The biggest, but certainly not best, thing that happened on the men’s team front since last time I posted was that the League Cup Final happened. It, uh, did not go well. Arsenal dominated the first 20 minutes or so of the match and had a few presentable chances but couldn’t convert. After that, City were the better team and deserved the win.

City’s first goal was something of a fluke with cup competition goalkeeper Kepa letting a high ball slip through his fingers to be tapped in by Nico O’Reilly who was in the right place at the right time. Did Kepa have to stretch to reach a high ball? Yes, but it certainly wasn’t so high that he should have struggled to control it and let the danger pass.

It would be easy to blame the loss on that mistake but the rest of the match could definitely have been worse than City scoring a second goal. Arsenal mounted next to no attack and really seemed to miss having one of Odegaard or Eze as partner to Declan Rice in the center of midfield. Kai Havertz has never looked comfortable at Arsenal when asked to be a creative force in midfield. He has been best as a change of pace center forward or in the role currently being played by Declan Rice where he is a runner, secondary creator, and can make late runs for shots at the edge of the box. Unfortunately, due to injuries to Eze and Odegaard and Ethan Nwaneri being out on loan, Arteta’s choices were limited.

If it had been me, I would have thought about moving Saka into the Odegaard/Eze spot with Madueke on the right and one of Martinelli or Trossard on the left. They got there eventually but it wasn’t until O’Reilly scored his second in the 65th minute.

It is never great to lose a final. If you’re there, you might as well win it. That said, the goals for the season are higher than that. With the Premier League, the Champions League, and the FA Cup still available for the taking and Arsenal the favorite or joint favorite in all three, there are bigger fish to fry. If they are successful in some or all of those endeavors no one will remember that they lost the League Cup Final. If that loss was an indicator that they are again going to fall agonizingly short of the finish line, well, the League Cup loss won’t be the thing we mourn but it might be seen as an early warning sign that we should have taken more seriously when it happened.

Injuries

The big question as we look forward to the run-in is how healthy the team will be coming down the stretch. The international break so a load of high profile Arsenal players not participate for their countries in friendlies with injuries sighted as the reason. We know that Noni Madueke came out of England’s first friendly of the break with a leg brace on as a “precaution”. Saka and Rice didn’t even go to camp at first and then, after Madueke came off injured in the first match, they were withdrawn. Also withdrawn with various statements related to injury/treatment were Saliba, Gabrielle, Zubamendi, Hincapie, Trossard, Timber, and Odegaard.

Now, if all of those players are actually injured, Arsenal are screwed as that is most of the starting eleven and some key reserves along with Mikel Merino who we know will be missing through through April at least. The good news is that Odegaard, Rice, Saka, Zubamendi, Saliba, and Gabriel at least are more their international managers wanting to give them a rest knowing that it is more important for them to be rested for the run-in and not completely burnt out heading into the World Cup.

What’s Next?

The injury situation is where Arsenal’s good fortune in their cup competitions will help them. The next two matches on their agenda are Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup this Saturday and Sporting Lisbon in midweek. Both matches are on the road but Arsenal should be favored even if they don’t have access to their entire first choice eleven. A line-up of Raya, Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Califiore, Zubamendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, and Gyokeres against Sporting with a few reserves like Norgaard, Havertz, or Dowman sprinkled in against Southampton should get the job done while a few of the others who actually sustained injuries are given a little extra time to recover.

The big matches will come mid-month when the Premier League resumes with Bournemouth at the Emirates and a trip to Manchester City on either side of the home leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Lisbon.

The Women Are Technically Still Alive in Three Competitions

Like the men, the Arsenal women are alive in the FA Cup, the WSL, and the Champions League. The only difference is that the WSL title is pretty close to out of reach. The FA Cup and the Champions League are still very much on the table.

The second half of the WSL season has gone much better for Arsenal than the first half did. They haven’t dropped points in the league since the nil-nil draw with Manchester United on January 10th. Dropped points against the Red Devils (two nil-nil draws), Tottenham (nil-nil in November), and a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in September are what held them back along with Manchester City setting a pace that allowed no faltering. Going one win and one loss against City and Chelsea is reasonable. Even dropping points in at least one match with United is reasonable. The dropped points against Spurs, who are better this season but shouldn’t be at Arsenal’s level, and Villa, who are just mediocre couldn’t happen this season if the Gunners expected to be in the WSL race until the end.

Where will they finish? They currently sit 3rd, 11 points behind City and 2 points behind Chelsea, with two matches in hand (both of which they should win given the opposition). The top three finishers qualify for next season’s Champions League so even if they are highly unlikely to win the title, they should easily achieve their secondary goal from the league of staying in Europe’s biggest competition.

The Cups

Even with the league trophy not likely to be coming their way, the FA Cup and the Champions League are still very much available to be had. There isn’t a great deal to say about the FA Cup yet. The quarterfinals are coming up this weekend with Arsenal given the relatively easy draw of Brighton and Hove Albion. Chelsea against Tottenham, Manchester City against Birmingham City, and Liverpool against Charlton Athletic make up the other three quarterfinal match-ups with City, Arsenal, and Chelsea heavily favored to move on. All three will be hoping to draw the winner of Liverpool and Charlton in the semi-final.

The Champions League will present a little more of a challenge at the next hurdle. Arsenal finished off Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate despite losing the return leg 1-0. Next up is Lyon who beat Arsenal 2-1 in the group stage in September. I can’t say I have followed Lyon closely this season but over time they have been one of the best women’s sides in the world and they beat Arsenal 2-1 in the group stages in September. Arsenal are certainly playing better now than they were in September but there won’t be anything easy about repeating their Champions League title.

If they can clear the Lyon hurdle in the semi-finals, they will face the winner of the other semi-final between Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Bayern also beat Arsenal by a goal (3-2) in the group stages so they won’t be a pushover. Barcelona and the Gunners haven’t reprised their Champions League final yet this season but Barca are coming off a 12-2 aggregate drubbing of Spanish rivals Real Madrid in the quarterfinals and are generally thought to be the best women’s side in the world.

Down the Stretch

What a great time to be an Arsenal supporter! Both the men’s and women’s sides are competing on multiple fronts and it would be shocking if they didn’t come away with more silverware to add to the Champions League and Club World Cup titles the women have secured in the past year. The next two months won’t be easy on the blood pressure and may require some hard decisions between work obligations and watching mid-week afternoon matches but what a blast it will be.

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A Hero Is Born

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:50:09 GMT

Remember earlier in the season when I mentioned an insanely talented 15-year-old waiting at the fringes of Arsenal’s first team squad? Well, this weekend the now-16-year-old Max Dowman stamped his mark on the title race. While both the men’s and women’s teams enjoyed an outstanding weekend, Dowman’s dramatic arrival headlines the recap.

Things have been getting tense for the Arsenal men. Regardless of recent outcomes, Mikel Arteta’s side have made precious few matches look easy. The attack has been ponderous. The defense, while still the best in the Premier League by 6 goals, has become increasingly leaky. And the depth of the squad has been tested by injuries to Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Ricardo Calafiore, and Kai Havertz.

With strategic buys by Manchester City in January, the pressure on Arsenal mounts. City’s acquisition of two of the best Premier League players playing outside the “Big Six” has supercharged the team’s push to catch the Gunners. Former Bournemouth standout Antoine Semenyo has been scoring for fun since arriving at the Etihad. Meanwhile, Mark Guehi, the rock in Crystal Palace’s run to the FA Cup title last season, has solidified a shaky City defense.

With that in mind, entering the weekend Arsenal led City by seven points in the standings, with City down a match, and a showdown at the Etihad scheduled for mid-April.

Arsenal certainly had the trickier fixture. The visit of Arteta’s former side and manager (Everton and David Moyes) has been a frustrating matchup the past couple of seasons. They managed a 1-0 victory earlier this season, but had to settle for two draws against the Toffees last season (including a nil-nil at the Emirates). City’s task appeared much easier with a trip to 18th place West Ham United.

The Arsenal vs. Everton match found Arsenal struggling in the second half to break a nil-nil deadlock against a modestly-talented but persistent and well-organized opponent. Enter Max Dowman in the 74th minute.

Dowman’s substitution into the match was notable for a few reasons:

The situation was tense, with Arsenal in position to drop two points in the title race
With the attack struggling, Arteta clearly saw Dowman as a match winner
Bringing a 16-year-old attacker on for holding midfielder Martin Zubamendi would have resulted in never-ending recriminations had the outcome been different.

From the moment he entered, however, an unfazed Dowman rose to the gravity of the occasion, dribbling, passing, and shooting aggressively. About 15 minutes into his appearance, his towering cross from the right flank fooled Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to find its way to Piero Hincapie deep in the box. The Ecuadoran (probably anticipating that Pickford would make contact) likely didn’t realize what came next, but the ball rebounded off him into the path of the onrushing Viktor Gyokeres, who slotted home the easiest goal he’ll likely score in Arsenal colors. One-nil to the Arsenal because the kid was aggressive and it worked out. The stadium breathed a collective sigh of relief and hunkered down to wait out the six minutes of stoppage time that stood between them and victory.

A momentous play for a 16-year-old who hasn’t seen much action since September due to an ankle injury. As it turned out, Dowman had another trick up his sleeve. In the final minute of stoppage time, Everton had a corner that made Arsenal supporters around the world extremely anxious. Would victory slip through our fingers? As it turned out, no. Here’s what happened next (with credit to @takaharu_osako on IG).

Two-nil to the Arsenal on a runaway from the youngest-ever goalscorer in the Premier League. And just like that, title momentum shifted firmly to North London. Throw in that City, clearly spooked by Arsenal’s late win, looked terrible at the London Stadium, only managing a draw against West Ham.

A weekend that started seven points clear with nerves frayed ended nine points to the good –and with the arrival of a new hero.

(If you want something else to dream on, after Saka, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, and Dowman, there’s another high potential star, Luis Munoz , on the way in a year or two. Yes, he’s only 14, but given the recent track record at the Hale End Academy, you should probably keep him on your radar.)

A Familiar Scoreline and Result for City

On most other weekends, the women would have earned top billing following a spectacular weekend of their own. Granted, London City isn’t exactly a fearsome opponent, and an element of cruise control from Renee Sleger’s side might not have made for the best watch party. (Disappointingly, Loudoun Soccer’s women’s watch party at Anchor Bar was cancelled following a reschedule to 7:55 AM Eastern.)

Earlier in the season, the women were making hard work of weaker opponents after draws with Spurs and Aston Villa before Christmastime. A confident 2-0 win over London City, on the heels of a 3-0 win over Bristol City and 7-1 on aggregate against Leuven, feels like solid momentum. After a relatively slow start to her Arsenal career, Olivia Smith has been picking up steam in the goalscoring department.

To make things better, Manchester City drew with Aston Villa and Tottenham lost to Everton in matches that City and Spurs would have been expected to win.

With Chelsea and Manchester United still to play (Brighton and West Ham, respectively), Arsenal are in solid shape heading into the home stretch. They may be 11 points behind City in the standings but Arsenal have two matches in hand and an easier schedule. The Arsenal women still face:

West Ham (H)
Tottenham (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Leicester City (H)
Everton (H)
Brighton (A)
Liverpool (A)

They should be favored to win all seven of those matches. City’s run-in looks like this:

Tottenham (H)
Manchester United (A)
Brighton (A)
Liverpool (H)
West Ham (A)

While City may be favored to win each, the match with United is, by far, the most challenging match-up left for either side. If Arsenal do their business and City slip up against their cross-town rivals, all it will take is one more slip for Arsenal to have a chance to pip City to the title.

Is it a great chance? No, is it a lot more likely than it was a few weeks ago? Absolutely!

What’s Next?
The women host West Ham at the Emirates on Saturday the 21st at 8 AM Eastern before hosting Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League Quarter Final.

The men host Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday in the return leg of their Champions League Round of 16 match-up (currently tied 1-1 after the leg in Germany), followed by the League Cup Final against Manchester City next Sunday at 12:30 Eastern. This Sunday’s Loudoun Soccer watch party at Anchor Bar is a lock, with a 12:30 PM kick off and Arsenal-themed raffles and giveaways from Club partner Soccer Post!

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St. Totteringham's Day

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:00:39 GMT

Happy St. Totteringham’s Day to all who celebrate! For those unfamiliar with this most joyous of holidays, St. Totteringham’s Day marks that day in the Premier League season where Arsenal’s North London rivals Spurs are mathematically eliminated from finishing ahead of Arsenal in the standings.

Schadenfreude aside, the past week and a half has seen a rollercoaster of emotions for the Arsenal men, starting with a mid-week trip to Wolves, who have been courting the worst record in Premier League history. Arsenal went up 2-0 in the driving Midlands rain and then came apart. A 2-0 lead somehow ended in a 2-2 draw “highlighted” by terrible miscommunication between David Raya and Gabriel that resulted in a Wolves equalizer.

After three consecutive seasons of finishing second, it doesn’t take much to get the fans and media focused on the narrative that Arsenal don’t have a “championship mentality,” and dropping points at the Molineux poured gasoline on that particular fire. So a trip across North London last weekend sparked trepidation in all corners of Arsenal fandom, despite the fact that Spurs, abject for most of the season, have yet to win a Premier League match in 2026.

You’d think defeating your chief rivals 4-1 at their home stadium would steady frayed nerves,but instead the narrative shifted from “it’s a big rivalry and Arsenal could slip up” to “Tottenham have been terrible so beating them doesn’t really mean much”. While the latter was probably the most realistic way to look at a team struggling as mightily as Spurs have been, the same could have been said about Wolves (see result above).

Which brings us to last weekend and our match with 6th place Chelsea at the Emirates.

The Blues are a hard side to figure. While they certainly have talent and they’re sitting in the top six of the league, it’s hard to escape the sense that they are only playing at about 75% of their capability. Is it because they switch managers with approximately the same frequency that responsible car owners get their oil changed? Is it because their squad is so overpacked with young players that they can’t establish any rhythm? I don’t know. What I do know is that they’re exceptional at collecting red cards, which would prove decisive for the Gunners.

To set the stage for the match, Manchester City had already prevailed in unimpressive fashion over Leeds United, bringing City within two points of the Gunners at the top of the table with the same number of matches played. The pressure was on Mikel Arteta’s men to match City and restore their 5 point lead (albeit with one more match played than City).

Those following Arsenal this season will know that their skill at set pieces, especially corner kicks, has been extraordinary. Once again–for the ninth time this season–the men opened the scoring through a set piece. Bukayo Saka sent a fantastic corner to the far post where Gabriel headed back across the net to find William Saliba, who nodded it home. Despite a lack of scoring opportunities and a slightly better Chelsea side, the power of Arsenal’s set piece game made the difference: all it takes is winning a corner and a moment of brilliance to reset the flow of the match.

It seemed like Arsenal would maintain their slim margin going into halftime but, in an ironic twist, they were victimized on a corner kick just before the halftime whistle. To make things worse, an Arsenal defender, Piero Hincapie, headed the ball into his own trying to clear Reese James’ delivery. I saw a couple of replays and I’m still not sure how it went wrong. Hincapie got a good jump and wasn’t impeded. Unfortunately, rather than nodding it away from the goal, it flicked just enough in the wrong direction to angle it past Raya for a deflating 1-1 scoreline at the half.

When the match resumed after the halftime break, Arsenal were the better side, but it was once again the corner kick routine to the rescue. This time it was Declan Rice delivering to Jurrien Timber on the other end for the winner.

Wondering if I am going to get around to the bit about Chelsea having the most red cards in the league by far this season? Why, yes, yes I am. About three minutes after Timber’s goal, Pedro Neto hacked down substitute Gabriel Martinelli as he was racing down the sideline, a clear yellow card which added to the one Neto had picked up previously for dissent. For the next 20 minutes, it was smooth sailing for Arsenal with the extra man running out the clock. The Blues created some anxious moments in extra time, but Arsenal made it over the finish line to restore their five-point lead in the table.

Champions League Draw

In-between matches, the Arsenal men also learned their fate for the knockout stages of the Champions League. The news could hardly have been better. Unlike previous seasons where there is a new draw after each knockout round, this year UEFA released the entire knockout bracket at once. Arsenal’s first knockout opponent, Bayer Leverkusen, is a solid side, but hardly one of the more daunting opponents remaining. If they advance, they’ll face the winner of Bodo/Glimt and Sporting Lisbon. The semi-final of the “Blue Bracket” would be against the team that emerges from Barcelona vs. Newcastle United and Atletico Madrid and Tottenham.

The really good news is that Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, and Chelsea are all on the other side of the bracket. This means that Arsenal will only have to face whichever of those clubs makes it through the gauntlet of the “Silver Bracket”.

Women’s Team Update

You’ll note that there hasn’t been much about the women’s team in this particular update, mostly because there hasn’t been much going on with the women over the past few weeks. They haven’t had a match in the WSL since my last post; they did play one match in the Women’s FA Cup which they won over Bristol City 3-0 to move into the Quarterfinals of that competition. They also had a home-and-home series with OH Leuven in the Champions League which will see them on to the Quarterfinals of that competition as well.

The WSL campaign resumes this coming weekend with Arsenal traveling across the city to face Michelle Kang’s London City Lionesses. We’ll be hosting a watch party at the Anchor Bar on Sunday, March 15th at Noon to mark the occasion. We hope you’ll join us there and celebrate all of the positive news coming out of Arsenal this season.

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February Patient First Athlete of the Month

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:04:58 GMT

Congratulations Mackenzie Hayes of Loudoun 2014G White, our Patient First Athlete of the Month for February 2026!

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Within 10 Minutes of a Perfect Week

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:27:51 GMT

The excitement of the previous week–featuring a trophy for the women, and the men extending their lead at the top of the Premier League–was going to be hard to top. But still, the follow up week came within 10 minutes of being as good as it possibly could have been for the red side of North London.

Men’s League Carabao Cup Semi-Final (2nd Leg)

On the heels of the women’s Champion’s Cup win, the Arsenal men inched closer to their first trophy since 2020. On Tuesday, local rivals Chelsea arrived at the Emirates trailing the two-legged League Cup semi-final 3-2. The Blues needed to overcome their one-goal deficit or it would be off to Wembley for Mikel Arteta and the Gunners in mid-March.

For a side trailing on aggregate, Chelsea and new manager Liam Rosenior chose an odd approach. For the first 60 minutes of the match or so, they played five at the back in an apparent effort to ensure that Arsenal didn’t stretch the lead any further. If the Blues had been ahead, taking the air out of the match would have made all the sense in the world. Even if it had been tied up, I can see the logic in playing it safe for sixty minutes on the road and then switching up personnel for a sprint to the finish line in the last 30 minutes.

Whatever the thinking, with Chelsea down, their tactic achieved its ostensible goal–there weren’t many chances for either side for the first two thirds of the match. At that point, Rosenior introduced Cole Palmer and Estevao in an attempt to draw level and either get a late winner or force extra time. Rather than the desired result, what Rosenior discovered was that Arsenal’s defense was still strong, and leaving his best attacking line-up only 30 minutes to achieve a breakthrough wasn’t nearly enough.

The Blues had to content themselves with long-range, off target shots for most of the time that Palmer and Estevao remained on the pitch together. A weak header that finally made it on target six minutes into stoppage time made an easy save for Kepa. To add insult to injury, the Spanish netminder’s distribution was spot on and led to the release of Kai Havertz, who sprinted past the Chelsea defense and slotted home against his former team to secure the match and a trip to Wembley.

Back to Premier League Action

Saturday’s match against Sunderland at the Emirates was once again trickier than anyone would have expected when the season kicked off. When Arsenal visited the Stadium of Light earlier in the campaign, the Black Cats rescued a draw late, and have been without question the surprise package of the league so far.

Fortunately, old friend Granit Xhaka was not fit for the tie, and Sunderland were just a bit off of the heights they’d achieved over the first half of the season. While not terribly dangerous, the Black Cats were playing tough defense and it wasn’t until nearly halftime when Leandro Trossard found David Zubamendi just outside the box. The Spanish number 6 isn’t known for his goal-scoring prowess, but he struck the ball true to the goalkeeper’s short side, hitting the inside of the post and ricocheting in for Arsenal’s favorite scoreline (1-nil to the Arsenal) going into halftime.

The second half started slow for the home side, with things picking up when Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres came on for Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus. Arsenal brought the ball up the left side of the attack as Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz looked for an opportunity. German Havertz found his way into the box and slotted the ball to Gyokeres, who powered it home as he was being dragged down. It was a rare meaningful goal in the Premier League for the Swede and one that will certainly do his confidence a world of good.

Sunderland continued to drive forward after conceding the second but couldn’t find their way through. Finally, Arsenal sprang a fast break late with David Raya finding Martinelli who sprinted past the Sunderland defense and laid the ball to Gyokeres for a tap-in to sew up the result.

As an added bonus, Aston Villa, sitting in 3rd place seven points behind Arsenal headed into the weekend, blew an early 1-0 lead to Bournemouth and had to settle for a single point. I don’t think anyone really suspects that Villa are a real contender for the title, but it’s still nice to see any close challenger fading back.

So Saturday wrapped up with Arsenal leading both City and Villa by 9 points, with City still facing Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

The Women Continue to Build Momentum

Another Manchester City team, the WSL-leading women, arrived at the Emirates. Coming off their Champions Cup win and the WSL victory over Chelsea last week, anything seemed possible for the Arsenal women. That said, the City side had run off 13 straight wins in the WSL after losing their season opener.

As a fairly even match throughout without many strong looks, even the single goal didn’t look like a great chance. Olivia Smith had a lot of work to do, passing a City defender to catch up to the through ball that she corralled and slotted home after rounding Yamashita in the City net. That goal came in the 16th minute, and–commendably–Arsenal didn’t just try to hang on for a 1-0 win. While they didn’t score again, neither did they go into a shell, playing a back-and-forth match for the remaining minutes before emerging victorious.

With back-to-back wins over reigning champions Chelsea and presumptive champions Manchester City, Arsenal have to be in a great frame of mind heading into the back half of their WSL and Champions League campaign. As the Citizens are still 10 points clear of Arsenal in the WSL standings, it is probably not reasonable to expect them to win the league. They have, however, drawn within a point of Chelsea and two points of Manchester United and, perhaps most importantly, gone three points clear of Spurs in fifth. A second place finish seems within reach, which isn’t exactly the trajectory just two weeks ago.

City Spoil The Men’s Perfect Weekend Late

Yes, I’ve spoiled the outcome of the City vs Liverpool match. Was I expecting City to drop points at Liverpool? Not really. The most disappointing aspect of the result was that Liverpool managed to frustrate City for 84 minutes. They even scored a Dominik Szoboszlai wondergoal from a set piece to karmically, balance the one he scored against us earlier in the season. Hopes rose that the Reds might do us a favor and win the match before a Erling Haaland flick drew the score level.

Once City had the momentum on their side, there was a feeling of inevitability about the outcome. (One could probably argue about whether Allison’s tackle should be considered a penalty given that the attempt on net had already happened and failed, but there is little doubt that the Liverpool goalkeeper did foul Matheus Nunes in the box after his attempt.) Even in my desire for City to drop points, I can’t make the argument that this shouldn’t have been a penalty.

As expected, City’s Norwegian goal-scoring machine slotted home the resulting penalty, and Pep’s side went home with a 2-1 win to stay within six points of Arsenal in the table.

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Momentum in Motion

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:43:50 GMT

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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2026/27 MLS NEXT AD ID Registration

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2026/27 Girls Academy/GA Aspire ID Registration

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January AOTM

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:57:34 GMT

Learn more on our Athlete of the Month page .

January Arsenal Watch Party!

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 20:03:58 GMT

Join Us at Anchor Bar Leesburg on Sunday, January 25! Details on our Watch Party page !

Not All That Matters Can Be Measured

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 19:51:01 GMT

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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SPRING 2026 REC REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 20:56:39 GMT

Learn more about our Rec programs on our Rec page .

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SUMMER SOCCER LEAGUE

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 21:17:46 GMT

Get the details and register on our USL-Y page !

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Contrasting Draws

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 21:20:56 GMT

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.

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WINTER INDOOR MINIS!

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:49:25 GMT

Sessions in Ashburn, Leesburg, and South Riding. Details here !

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Catching Up with the Gunners

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 15:48:01 GMT

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here at Loudoun Arsenal-watching headquarters (also known as our house). At our house, that means travel baseball and Challenge soccer are peaking. Fortunately, almost all of what has happened over the past week and a half has been great news, and there hasn’t been as much to cover as the men have come off of an international break and the women are heading into one.

Women Rebound

We’re going to start with the women who, if you’ll recall from the last post, were struggling a bit after dropping points to Manchester United (draw), Aston Villa (draw), and Manchester City (loss) in the WSL and then FC Lyonnes in the Champions League. Not a great second half of September and first half of October.

The rebound has consisted of a win in both the Champions League (Benfica) and WSL (Brighton) going into the international break. Of the two, the Champions League win over Benfica, a 2-0 victory with goals from Beth Mead and Alessia Russo, was the more impressive, as Arsenal beat Benfica decisively, while their win over Brighton came by a 1-0 margin with the lone goal coming from a Brighton own goal.

So, where do the Arsenal women stand? It was imperative that they get some momentum heading into the international break so, mission accomplished. With Leicester City (currently 9th out of 12 in the WSL) on tap for their first match back in November, there should be a runway to be feeling good about themselves come the two massive match-ups that follow. On November 8th, Arsenal face Chelsea in the WSL in a crucial match to stay in the title race. While it may seem hyperbolic to call any match a must-win this early in the season, Chelsea are already five points ahead of Arsenal and are setting a blistering pace, with only a single draw blemishing their otherwise-flawless record. Going down by 8 points, even this early, would start to feel insurmountable, to say nothing of the other three opponents -- Manchester City, Manchester United, and Spurs -- sitting between them and the leaders.

On the Champions League front, the win over Benfica was nice but it hardly seemed as important, as the group stage of the event seems to be largely a formality for a side of Arsenal’s quality. Their next match-up, with German champions Bayern Munich, will be a tough test but the rest of the group matches – Real Madrid (not quite of the quality of their men’s side), FC Twente, and OH Leuven should put their worst outcome at 4-2 in the group with a reasonable chance of 5-1 or at least 4-1-1. Any of those outcomes should earn them a nice seeding for the knockout stages when the stakes get higher.

Men Step on the Gas

It is always frustrating when an international break interrupts a strong run of form. In this case, Arsenal went into the break with four consecutive wins across all competitions and unbeaten since the calendar turned to September. Would the break somehow mess with that momentum? As it turns out, the answer was a pretty definitive “no”.

A trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham may not seem like the trickiest fixture to face when returning to Premier League play but it is worth remembering that Arsenal played to a very frustrating draw in the corresponding fixture last season. It was the type of very winnable fixture that Arsenal was not clinical enough in last season on route to a third consecutive 2nd place finish.

One thing remained constant between the two, Fulham did not roll over for their more talented London rivals. It was a hard fought battle throughout but it was Leandro Trossard to the rescue in the 58th minute with the only goal of the match and then to the defense to lock things down and ensure that they Gunners secured all three points.

The hard fought victory was made even sweeter when, the next day, Liverpool hosted struggling Manchester United and contrived to lose 2-1. The match was a chaotic, wide open affair that, in addition to the three goals, saw Cody Gakpo hit the post three times and miss an easy header. Unlike other matches that have seen them struggle recently, the Reds had the better chances but still managed to lose a rare match at Fortress Anfield.

The two outcomes left Arsenal three points clear of second place Manchester City and four points clear of the defending champions, Liverpool, with all of the momentum in their favor.

With all of that positivity in their favor, Arsenal welcomed Atletico Madrid to the Emirates in what was billed as one of their tougher Champions League group stage matches. For those who don’t follow La Liga, Diego Simione’s Atletico are famous for their no-holds-barred defensive style and physical play.

Despite their reputation, Arsenal were very much in control of the match from the start. The first half didn’t yield any goals but they were threatening consistently with Bukayo Saka frequently going past Atletico left back Hancko like he was a traffic cone. Between some last ditch defending and nice work from Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, the visitors held their hosts scoreless through the intermission. After the break, though, all hell broke loose.

For those who associate Arsenal with the high-scoring, elegant passing days of Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, and Patrick Vieira, Mikel Arteta’s side have been more pragmatic. The defense has been one of the best, if not the best, in Europe for a couple of seasons but the attack has rarely been as prolific despite their talent. Some of Arteta’s summer additions - specifically Eze and Gyokeres - were supposed to help add more flair to the bedrock defense. In the second half on Tuesday, the eruption finally happened.

In a thirteen minute span starting in the 57th minute, the Gunners struck four times leaving Atletico stunned and the Gunners at the top of the Champions League group standings. As it tends to under Arteta’s reign, it started with a set piece goal. Declan Rice, who has raised himself to Beckham-like levels as a free kick taker, found Gabriel in what is becoming one of the most potent routes to goal for the Gunners.

The second goal came seven minutes later and came from a slightly less frequent collaborators. Myles Lewis-Skelly, getting a rare start over Ricardo Calafiori, rampages from his left back spot through the center of the midfield. His dribbling left four or five Atletico players in his wake before he threaded a wonderful pass to Gabriel Martinelli who curled a one-time shot from the top left of the box into the far corner of the Atleti net. Arsenal haven’t scored many goals that one would consider pretty this season but this was definitely in that category.

If you sensed the weight of the world being lifted from a player’s shoulders this week, then it was probably the result of Viktor Gyokeres scoring Arsenal’s third and fourth goals to put the match away. Neither were works of art but for a forward who has been putting in a ton of work but not being rewarded with goals, these were hugely important. The first saw the Swedish international, positioned just inside the penalty spot, fire off a defender with the corresponding ricochet squirting past a wrong-footed Jan Oblak. The second was a repeat of the Rice-to-Gabriel set piece routine with the Brazilian center back’s resulting header coming across goal for Gyokeres to direct into the goal with his thigh.

After going down 2-0, Atletico weren’t going to get back into the match so the two Gyokeres goals were far more impactful for the player than the outcome of the match. That said, if the two less-than-artful goals are what boost his confidence and set him on a hot streak, it will give Arteta’s side the final piece of the attack they were looking for when they spent big to sign the Swede.

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Arsenal Watch Party!

For the first time since the opening weekend of the season, Loudoun Soccer and Anchor Bar are teaming up to throw another Arsenal watch party ! Join us at 11:30 AM on Sunday, November 23rd at Anchor Bar Leesburg (609 Village Market Blvd SE, Leesburg, VA) as Arsenal face arch rivals Tottenham.

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October 2025 Athlete of the Month: Lucca Valentine

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 20:58:26 GMT

Congratulations to our Patient First Athlete of the Month for October 2025--Lucca Valentine!

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Good News & Bad News

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 15:08:47 GMT

I have to admit that this blog is a bit of a new experience for me. In the past I’ve written about either a specific team - mostly the USMNT - or an entire league - mostly the Premier League and through the lens of a fantasy soccer game. Through that time, I was always an Arsenal supporter so my coverage may have had more depth when it came to the club, but they were only ever part of the ongoing conversation.

The Loudoun Soccer partnership with Arsenal and the creation of this blog has been interesting for me as a writer, and is the underlying theme for this week’s post. Beyond focusing on a single club every week with this blog, which is new for me, the rise of the women’s professional game - both in terms of its importance to the club and its availability on TV in the US - has meant that I am covering two teams under one umbrella.

Why is that interesting and/or challenging? Beyond having to pay attention to two teams and everything else going on in the competitions that they are participating in - League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League, and Champions League for the men and Women’s League Cup, FA Cup, Women’s Super League, and Champions League for the women - it means figuring out how to summarize a week that might have gone very well for one of the teams and not so well for the other.

The opening weeks of the season when the men were either winning or playing good games against top competition and the women were winning comfortably didn’t provide much reason to consider how the task might become more difficult. This past week, unfortunately, has introduced this new complexity into my life at the expense of the women’s performance over the week.

The Men Top the Table

I’ll start with the easy one. The men, finally through their challenging opening games, got a fairly straightforward assignment in struggling West Ham. While it wasn’t a blowout on the scoresheet, it never really felt like that they were going to lose. Former Hammer Declan Rice scored in the 38th minute and Bukayo Saka scored a penalty in the 67th minute to confirm the win.

My takeaways from the match were the following:

Injury - Martin Odegaard’s knee injury - he went off in the first half after a clash of knees - is a huge bummer as he’s struggled for form and fitness over the past year and seemed to be getting closer to his best.
Depth - Whereas last season, a second injury to Odegaard, coupled with the ongoing absences of other key attackers - in this case Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz - would have had me freaking out that the club was going to crater and lose their chance at the title. This season? The quality in depth is so strong that we’ll STILL have a choice between Declan Rice and Ethan Nwaneri as Eze’s partner in the center of midfield. With Odegaard out, one of those two players (or Martin Zubimendi) will be coming off the bench. That is just insane depth and should allow us to weather the early-season storm of injuries.

The other big thing that happened for the men was that Liverpool’s luck with late-match heroics has clearly run out. Through their unbeaten start to the season, the Reds got four extremely late winners – including the miraculous free kick that gave them the win over Arsenal at Anfield. Over their past three matches - two in the Premier League and one in the Champions League - Liverpool have lost all three with the two Premier League losses coming on goals in the 7th and 5th minutes of extra time. The loss in the Champions League will be, perhaps, even more disheartening for the club given that it came against Galatasaray rather than one of Europe’s titans.

Liverpool supporters would certainly argue that two late losses in the Premier League do not a crisis make. What they will have to confront is that their two biggest stars - Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk - are older and it is reasonable to assume that they will lose a step at some point in the not too distant future. That time might be now. They also have to reckon with the fact that they have played poorly against teams like Burnley, Southampton, and a Newcastle club reeling from the loss of their talisman, Alexander Isak that they would have dispatched with ease at their best last season.

The Women Continue to Struggle

The Champions League title is the biggest honor a club side playing in Europe can win. The Arsenal women’s unexpected run to that title last season was magical. I wouldn’t trade the experience of watching that final at the Anchor Bar with Loudoun Soccer colleagues and members for anything.

What has started to dawn on me is that it may have caused us (or at least me) to ignore that the difference between being successful in a tournament versus a full league season is real and that success in one doesn’t necessarily translate to the other.

My assumption after a Champions League title followed by significant investment in the transfer market was that Arsenal would mount a serious challenge to Chelsea in the WSL while at least being in the conversation to repeat their Champions League exploits. Well, five matches into the WSL season and one into the Champions League campaign, it may be time to reexamine my expectations.

Now, at the surface, losing to Manchester City, perennial contenders for the WSL title, and FC Lyonnes, the most decorated club in the European women’s game, isn’t a tragedy. Doing both in a single week makes it a little tougher to handle for a club that wants to be considered among the elite of the elite in Europe. Adding the context of draws with Manchester United and Aston Villa in their two WSL matches before the loss to City starts to really raise the level of concern.

Going back even further to the end of last season, Arsenal struggled with their mid-table opponents in the WSL. They dropped matches to Brighton, Aston Villa, and Liverpool - none of whom will be mistaken for Chelsea or Barcelona - in either WSL or domestic competitions. Now, maybe they had already conceded the WSL title to Chelsea and were putting all of their eggs into the Champions League basket.

Put together one set of results in calendar year 2025 and you can paint a rosy picture of where the Arsenal women sit. They beat Real Madrid, Lyon, and Barcelona to win the Champions League while finishing second in the WSL. That’s impressive. They’ve also been blown out by Aston Villa and Brighton, lost to Manchester City, and drawn with Villa and Manchester United in league play. That’s far less impressive.

Somewhere in-between those two sets of results lies the truth as to the current level of this team. Of the difficult matches listed, I saw all of the Aston Villa match, most of the Manchester United and Manchester City matches, but none of the FC Lyonnes match. I’m still trying to figure this side out. They have quality in depth but seem to be lacking…something. I just haven’t figured out what that something is quite yet.

Maybe they’re struggling under the weight of so many players playing in the women’s Euros over the summer. Maybe they started to believe their press clippings after winning the Champions League. Maybe it is really one outlier draw (Aston Villa) followed by a brutal stretch of competition in United, City, and Lyonnes.

Where Things Stand

The men sit first in the Premier League as the PL heads to it’s second international break of the campaign. The women sit 5th behind Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham (ugh!), and Manchester United.

What’s Next?

The women welcome Brighton to the Emirates on Sunday at 9:30 AM Eastern (ESPN+) while the men don’t return to action until Saturday the 18th when they travel to Craven Cottage for a 12:30 PM Eastern match with Fulham.

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Stoppage Time Drama Giveth & Taketh Away

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:19:13 GMT

Since we last talked, the men have played three times (League Cup, Premier League, and Champions League), and the women once. While the men’s League Cup and Champions League ties were pretty straightforward, the other two matches were alive with late drama that changed the outcome of the match.

First, the League Cup tie at Port Vale’s Vale Park. PVFC are currently sitting in 16th place in League One and, given Arsenal’s insane depth in quality, this was never going to be a particularly competitive match. Aside from Saka and Saliba returning from injury and rebuilding their edge, this was a reserve side. Nonetheless, it still featured:

Kepa - the reigning most expensive goalkeeper transfer in the history of club football
Cristhian Mosquera - can jump right in for Saliba against much better opposition than Port Vale despite his youth
Ben White - an England international
Myles Lewis-Skelly - England international and one of the top young players in world football
Christian Norgaard - Danish international and former Brentford captain
Ethan Nwaneri - England U21 international
Eberechi Eze - England international and scorer of the FA Cup-winning goal last season
Mikel Merino - Spain international and European Champion
Gabriel Martinelli - Brazil international

To be clear, this was mostly the B team. You could make the argument that Eze will be a presumed starter for most of the season, but he’s hardly a lock when Odegaard and Madueke are both fully healthy.

Following an early goal from Eze and a late one from substitute Leandro Trossard, the 2-0 final determined that Arsenal’s next opponent would be always-difficult Brighton at the Emirates on October 29th.

Dropping Points Late

Chelsea have set an insane pace in the Women’s Super League in recent seasons and as crazy as it might sound, any points dropped are massively important even four matches into the season. Against this backdrop, the Arsenal women kicked off against Aston Villa on Saturday morning.

Unlike the first two matches of the season, the Arsenal women got off to a fast start behind Frida Maanum’s 9th minute goal. Unfortunately, from there, things sort of sputtered out. I was up early on Saturday for a 7 AM ET start, and I can’t say that there was much to justify my early rising after the goal.

Even the usual trick of bringing stars who would be starters on other teams off the bench for the final 20-30 minutes didn’t help. Not only wasn’t a second goal forthcoming, there weren’t many passable opportunities at all.

It was enough of a bummer to witness a listless attacking performance early on a Saturday morning, but the real downer happened in the 3rd minute of stoppage time when Aston Villa scored an equalizer that robbed the Gunners of two crucial points in the race for the WSL title.

If the goal is to beat Chelsea to the WSL title, every single point is critical. Through four matches, the Blues haven’t dropped a point and have only conceded two goals (vs. 10 scored), including their opening day match-up with title contender Manchester City.

Did I mention that Chelsea didn’t lose a single match last season and only tied three? You can see how I might be worried that Arsenal have already drawn two. It may be that over the course of a league season, Chelsea are just too good to beat and that tournaments like the Champions League or the FA Cup are a better chance for Arsenal to win trophies this season (and into the near future).

Two Rallies for the Ages

Speaking of the difficult task of keeping pace with a strong defending champion, the Arsenal men opened the Premier League weekend five points behind Liverpool and facing what has been a house of horrors for them at St. James Park on Sunday.

The good news is that Liverpool were similarly faced with a fixture that has been challenging for them (and everyone else) at Selhurst Park on Saturday. It is here that we start our story with Crystal Palace going up a goal in the 9th minute through Ismaila Sarr.

Now, we know the script that has repeated itself far too frequently this season–where Liverpool play poorly to mediocrely, only to save their unbeaten streak in stoppage time. Sure enough, stoppage time hero Federico Chiesa scored in the 87th minute to level the tie and set up the inevitable-feeling stoppage time winner.

Sure enough, there was a stoppage time winner. The twist was that Crystal Palace did the scoring in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Even sweeter, the goal came from Hale End Academy product Eddie Nketiah. (Perhaps the most important goal he scored for Arsenal came in another club’s jersey. Sometimes, the Premier League script writers have a sense of humor.)

With Liverpool dropping three points, it was over to Arsenal to capitalize against Newcastle. St. James Park has been a miserable place for the Gunners over Mikel Arteta’s tenure and it didn’t start out much differently with the Magpies playing their typical physical brand of soccer and preventing Arsenal from mounting a fluid attack. When Arsenal did get a good chance on goal, Nick Pope was on the spot with multiple goal-saving stops. A frustrating start to the match for sure.

Things went from bad to worse in the 34th minute when 6’6” summer signing Nick Woltemade beat Gabriel to the spot on a corner kick and headed home the opening goal of the match. The Brazilian defender misplayed the situation badly and, realizing he was beaten, went to the ground hoping to convince the referee that Woltemade had fouled him to gain position. The referee (correctly) wasn’t buying it, and the Magpies were up 1-0 and looking strong.

And so it went until the substitutes again changed the course of the match. Mikel Merino, often criticized as the “conservative” choice in midfield, played the key role. His deft header from a Declan Rice free kick equalized in the 84th minute. At the very least, it seemed as if Arsenal would rescue a point from a tricky fixture, as well as picking one up on the leaders, Liverpool.

As stoppage time wore on, the draw looked inevitable until Gabriel, at fault for Newcastle’s tally, rose above the crowd from a corner kick and drove home a winner in the 6th minute of stoppage time. For a side that has frequently been called out for not having the grit necessary for a title chase, it was the type of late winner that we associate with Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United title winners, or more recent vintage Liverpool sides under both Klopp and Slot. Does it mean Arsenal are title favorites? Certainly not. Does it represent something that they can look to when things aren’t going well? Absolutely.

Oh, the Champions League

In a pretty straightforward 2-0 win, the men bested Olympiokos on Wednesday in the Champions League to remain unbeaten and unscored upon in the competition. The final scoreline was a little misleading as Arsenal held a one goal advantage for much of the match and were fortunate that the visitor’s best attack ended in a goal disallowed for offsides. Bukayo Saka’s stoppage time goal sealed the match.

What’s Next?

The men host struggling West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday, while the women travel to Manchester to face Manchester City before a Champions League visit from FC Lyonnes on Tuesday.

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College Night Zoom

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:26:19 GMT

Join us here on Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 8:00 pm

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2026 Loudoun Soccer College Showcase

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 15:05:12 GMT

REGISTER HERE for the 2026 Loudoun Soccer College Showcase!

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LoCo Gunners Blog: Fit to Be Tied

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 23:05:53 GMT

It was a big week across the board at Arsenal FC. The men played their first Champions League match of the 2025-26 campaign, followed by a glamour match-up with Manchester City, while the women learned their opponents for the first stage of their Champions League title defense, followed by a glamour match-up of their own against a strong Manchester United team.

Arsenal Men v Bilbao Athletic

Once again, the men’s team showcased the value of their summer signings as they successfully navigated a trip to Bilbao. Athletic were incredibly aggressive from the first kick and I worried that this was going to be a frustrating 0-0 draw or 1-0 loss against a less-talented but resolute and well-organized opposition.

That was until Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli were introduced late. Inside of a minute of Martinelli coming on, fellow substitute Trossard released him on a break that saw the Brazilian in alone to beat the goalkeeper with a fine finish. Not long after, their roles were reversed with Martinelli driving to the touchline and drawing the ball back for Trossard to score for a 2-0 finish that looked like a more comfortable result than it actually was.

While two long-standing players figured in the scoring, the new-found quality of depth proved its worth. With William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, and Bukayo Saka all still missing, Mikel Arteta was able to field an excellent starting line-up featuring Cristhian Mosquera, Eberechi Eze, and Mikel Merino in place of Saliba, Saka, and Odegaard respectively and STILL have quality like Martinelli, Trossard, and Nwaneri available as substitutes.

In addition to veterans Martinelli and Trossard, new arrivals like Madueke and Eze make for a lot of options when injury or rotation keeps key players out. The theme continued when league play resumed on Sunday against Manchester City.

On to Manchester City

Sunday brought the good news that William Saliba was healthy enough to start, with Saka and Odegaard available from the bench. While still not at full strength, it’s great news that the team is on a path to all three starting.

The bad news was that the match started off poorly for the Gunners. Despite Arteta’s conservative approach, deploying a midfield trio of Zubimendi, Rice, and Merino, Manchester City broke through early through Norwegian goal-machine Erling Haaland. That Haaland scored is hardly surprising, but it was frustrating that City was able to go straight down the middle past three Arsenal midfielders. If we’re going to be vulnerable to that sort of attack, we might as well do it with players like Eze and Nwaneri in the line-up to break through the lines in the other direction.

Other than the goal, Sunday’s match wasn’t easy on the eyes. Without creative forces like Eze, Odegaard, and Nwaneri in the middle of the park, it was largely left to Noni Madueke to create chances from the right side of the attack. Against lesser opponents, that might be enough, but Pep ensured that Madueke was contained by multiple defenders and took his chances that Arsenal’s central midfield couldn’t break down the rest of the City defense.

City held their slim 1-0 lead into stoppage time. Then Arsenal’s quality in depth rose up again with Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli combining for a spectacular stoppage time equalizer.

A draw against a high-quality opponent is hardly a tragedy, but there is certainly some concern with Arteta’s approach to both the Liverpool match and the City match, where he has been more conservative rather than taking his newly-acquired attackers out for a spin and try to win from the start.

The View from the Other Side of Manchester

Just before the men kicked off against City at the Emirates, the women’s side were in Manchester facing Manchester United’s table-topping women’s side. Coming into the match, both teams were undefeated after two matches, with United leading the table on goal differential.

Like the blockbuster men’s match in London, the actual match failed to live up to the hype. While there was no shortage of effort, the post-match statistics show only four shots on target combined for both teams and none of them stood out as particularly dangerous.

Getting a draw on the road against a title contender isn’t a bad outcome, but for a team with title aspirations, it didn’t feel like quite enough. Keeping pace with a dominant Chelsea club is going to be incredibly difficult. Dropped points, even on the road against Manchester United, cannot happen.

Previewing the Women’s European Journey

Before heading to Manchester to face the Red Devils, the women learned who they would be facing in the first stage of the 2025-26 Champions League as they look to defend their title. Repeating won’t be an easy road though. Here’s a quick look:

OL Lyonnes - the most storied club in the women’s game, now owned by Michelle Kang as the crown jewel of her women’s football empire. Not an easy way to start off a title defense.

Bayern Munich - while not as dominating as the Bayern men’s side, they made it to the Champions League quarterfinals and dominated Germany to win the domestic treble. The schedule-makers are doing Arsenal no favors here.

Real Madrid - Again, not quite up to the otherworldly standards of their male counterparts but, like Bayern, they advanced to the Champions League quarterfinalists last term, while contenting themselves as runners up to Barcelona domestically.

Benfica - dominant at home in Portugal, but not really a force in Europe at this time.

Twente - after going out in the group stages last season, the reigning Dutch champions shouldn’t be a significant hurdle.

OH Leuven - making their first Champions League appearance, the newly-minted Belgian champions and are probably in the “happy to be here” club, rather than presenting a real threat.

Where Things Stand

Arsenal Men: Liverpool are chugging along, winning 5 of 5. After five weeks in the Premier League, the Arsenal men sit five points behind Liverpool, tied on points with Tottenham and Bournemouth, but ahead of those two on goal differential. While slightly disappointing, given that they have already played Liverpool on the road and Manchester City at home, that’s not a bad place with Chelsea and City both struggling.

Arsenal Women: After three weeks, the women are third in the table. Like Liverpool on the men’s side, the Chelsea women just keep churning out unimpressive wins, but style points aren’t awarded in the table. Manchester United remain tied with Arsenal on points and a goal ahead in differential, and Manchester City sit a point behind in 4th.

What’s Next

Arsenal Men: The men play their first Carabao Cup match of the season on Wednesday against Port Vale, followed by the always tough trip to St. James Park on Sunday at 11:30 AM to face Newcastle United.

Arsenal Women: It’s an early 7 AM start for Americans watching them face off with Aston Villa this coming Saturday at the Emirates Stadium.

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LoCo Gunners Blog: Goals Galore!

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 20:40:53 GMT

Chilly temps and rain in North London didn’t put a damper on the Arsenal Men and Women, as both romped to decisive victories. Neither opponent was especially daunting, but the class that each side showed in seeing off credible opposition is exactly what should be expected of teams who compete for championships.

Friday Night Lights

The Arsenal women kicked off the weekend Friday night at the home of the West Ham women’s side, Chigwell Construction Stadium. The trip across London meant that attendance dropped from the 38,000+ that saw the season opener at the Emirates to just north of 3,000 ( Pro Tip: If you’re considering going to see the Arsenal Women this season, you might want to catch a road match.)

Once the match got underway, the script seemed almost identical to what we saw from the Gunners in last weekend’s season opener against London City, with a rough start as Gunners goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar misplayed a high cross that she would handle easily 99 times out of 100.

As in their opener, however, there was no panic about being down a goal. The Gunners held the bulk of the possession and the breakthrough came in the 21st minute from Frida Maanum from a Beth Mead assist. Both Mead with her pass and Maanum with her shot nutmegged their defenders to produce the first goal. Arsenal kept the pressure up through the rest of the first half, but couldn’t get the go-ahead goal before the break.

As with London City, the introduction of Stina Blackstenius changed the match. The Sweden international came on at halftime, and the goals started flowing.Although Blackstenius scored first in the second stanza, the plaudits for the goal should go to Alessia Russo, whose one touch backheel made Blackstenius’ job routine for a striker of her quality.

From 2-1, the rout was on. A goal from Caitlin Foord in the 62nd, and a stoppage time brace from Russo delivered the final 5-1 scoreline.

To see more, check out an extended highlights package (requires free sign-up) from the match.

The early-match jitters against modest opponents that Arsenal have shown in both matches so far are the only quibble that anyone might have after two dominant matches. They will have to get things sorted out this week, though, when they face current table toppers Manchester United on their home ground.

New Arrivals Shine

Where the women’s successful weekend was driven by returning stars, the men’s victory over visiting Nottingham Forest was notable for the contributions of new arrivals. With Bukayo Saka and William Saliba still injured, Mikel Arteta started five summer signings–Cristhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, and Viktor Gyorkeres. Each was excellent.

The most obvious star of the match was Zubimendi, who opened the scoring with a screaming goal from long distance. After an attempted Forest clearance from a corner, the ball fell to Zubimendi and he struck true. A slight touch from a defender on the way through provided just enough change of direction to ensure that goalkeeper Matt Sels didn’t have a chance to get a hand on it.

While the Gunners were dominant in the first half, going into the break up only a goal certainly wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. Fortunately, in less than a minute Eberechi Eze combined with Viktor Gyokeres to double the lead.(The play started with early-season star Ricardo Calafiori who played a long ball for Eze who crossed it immediately into the path of Gyokeres for an easy finish.)

Zubimendi once again closed the scoring in the 79th minute with an unlikely strike from the diminutive holding midfielder–a headed goal. The build-up came from a set piece on the right side of the attack. Declan Rice worked the ball across the pitch to substitute Leandro Trossard, who clipped the ball into the box where Zubimendi rose to head it home for the final 3-0 scoreline.

For video highlights of the match, click here (requires free sign-up).

While three of the five new arrivals who started - Zubimendi, Eze, and Gyokeres - figured prominently in the scoring, the other two - Mosquera and Madueke - showed even better. Madueke, the subject of supporter ire when he was purchased from Chelsea over the summer, was excellent for the 79 minutes he played, consistently driving at defenders and opening up potential scoring opportunities that Arsenal could have done better converting.

Mosquera made his most obvious contribution when he prevented a Forest attacker from being in on goal after some less-than-impressive work clearing the ball from David Raya. Mosquera dispossessed the attacker without looking even mildly panicked, and ensured that Forest’s best opportunity came to nothing. Beyond that one play, the extent to which Mosquera, acquired more as “one for the future” rather than being targeted for a starting role, has stepped in for William Saliba and looked every bit the Frenchman’s equal.

With a Tuesday Champions League opener against Athletic Club, Arsenal’s newboys will have to excel for the Gunners to get a positive result in Bilbao.

The Results: WSL Week 2/PL Week 4 With both the men’s and women’s teams now playing league matches with Champions League to come soon for each, I’m going to condense the details to results, place in the table, what happened to their title rivals, and what fixtures are upcoming.

Women’s Result: 5-1 win @ West Ham

Men’s Result: 3-0 win vs. Nottingham Forest

Women’s Place in the Table: 2nd (tied for first with 6 points, second behind Manchester United by one goal on goal difference tie breaker)

Men’s Place in the Table: 2nd (3 points behind first place Liverpool)

WSL Title Contender Round-up:

Chelsea: The Blues won 3-1 over Aston Villa and welcomed back striker extraordinaire Sam Kerr, who scored on her return to the pitch after the better part of two years out.

Manchester City: City came from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 and record their first win of the new season.

Manchester United: The Red Devils, unlike their male counterparts, are in fine form, one-upping Arsenal’s result against London City from last weekend to maintain their slim lead at the top of the table on goal differential.

PL Title Contender Round-up

Liverpool: The Reds struggled mightily to break through against newly-promoted Burnley only, to see a Clarets player wrongly sent off late in the match. A minute before the final whistle a foolish hand ball in the box led to a Mo Salah penalty and an extremely lucky 1-0 win to maintain Liverpool’s perfect start to the season.

Tottenham: Tomas Frank has wasted no time in transforming Spurs into a credible side. West Ham aren’t very good and were even worse after a 54th minute red card, but Arsenal’s North London rivals did what they have failed to do so often in recent seasons and took care of a weak opponent with a minimum of fuss.

Chelsea: I debated whether to include the Blues in this space or not. They just don’t seem to be able to get the best of the talent on their squad let alone actually being more than the sum of their parts. They conceded well into stoppage time against West London rivals Brentford and had to settle for a disappointing draw.

Up Next

Women - 9/21 9:50 AM EDT: Arsenal travel to current leaders Manchester United for a top-of-the-table clash.

Men (UCL) - 9/16 12:45 PM EDT: Arsenal travel to Bilbao in Spain to face Athletic Club and frequently-rumored transfer target Nico Williams in the Champions League opener for both sides.

Men (PL) - 9/21 11:30 AM EDT: Hopefully, the women have their tie in hand and you can switch over to the men’s clash against Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday. City haven’t looked quite right yet this season but this is, without question, the match of the weekend in the Premier League.

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A Stunning Debut

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 20:15:16 GMT

The Arsenal women had the Emirates and the spotlight all to themselves this weekend in about as perfect a season-opener as the club could have wished for. As the Premier League took the weekend off for the season’s first international break, the women took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase both their new and returning stars.

Saturday was a glorious early Fall day in North London for the opening of Arsenal’s Women’s Super League campaign. For the occasion, the Gunners welcomed over 38,000 spectators and the newly-promoted London City Lionesses and owner Michelle Kang to the Emirates Stadium.

The Arsenal women were certainly favored heading into the match, but with a hint of uncertainty due to Ms. Kang’s investment in new arrivals preparing for their debut in the top flight. Lingering concerns that London City might be a surprise package in their first season in the WSL were exacerbated when they scored a penalty in the 17th minute to go up a goal.

It took a further 12 minutes, but new signing Olivia Smith announced herself to the home crowd with a wondrous debut goal from 30+ yards out to level the score. Once back on level terms, it was Arsenal’s core group of attacking stars who blew the match open. After a few opportunities went begging, Alessia Russo’s clever dribble around a lunging defender gave her space to find Chloe Kelly who slotted home the go-ahead goal just before the stroke of halftime.

The second half saw a brief flurry from London City that culminated in a shot hitting the post and bouncing out, but they were unable to convert and Arsenal’s quality in depth took over down the stretch. The luxury of bringing in stars like Stina Blackstenius, Beth Mead, Caitlin Foord, and Frida Maanum proved too much for the WSL newbies.

Mead and Blackstenius came in in the 77th minute and it only took five minutes before the two connected for Arsenal’s third. Mead, as she so often is, was the catalyst as Blackstenius scored off of her cross to put the Gunners up 3-1. Only a minute later, it was Mead again as she crossed for fellow substitute Frida Maanum, who scored the final goal and sent the crowd home happy.

The two assists marked a milestone for Mead as they made her the first woman to record 50 assists in WSL play.

The Result: WSL Week 1

Starting Line-up: van Domselaar, Catley, Reid, McCabe, Fox, Pelova, Caldentey, Little, Russo, Kelly, Smith

Substitutes: Hinds (McCabe), Maanum (Pelova), Blackstenius (Russo), Mead (Kelly), Foord (Smith)

Arsenal Result: 4-1 win vs. London City

Goal(s): Kosovare Asliani, Olivia Smith, Chloe Kelly, Stina Blackstenius, Frida Maanum

Assist(s): Alessia Russo, Beth Mead (x2)

Place in the Table: 2nd (tied for first with 3 points, second behind Manchester United by one goal on goal difference tie breaker)

Title Contender Round-up:

Chelsea: Last season’s champions were undefeated in the WSL and kicked off the season with a 2-1 win Friday against a Manchester City side that should finish in the top three in the WSL. A statement of intent from the Blues to open the campaign.

Manchester City: See above, City lost to reigning champions Chelsea in their opener but should be in the race all season.

Up Next

Women - 9/12 2:30 PM: Arsenal travel south and east to face a West Ham women’s side coming off a 1-0 loss to Spurs.

Men - 9/13 7:30 AM: Arsenal host former technical director Edu and his new side, Nottingham Forest at the Emirates to kickoff Match Week 4.

NOTE: WSL TV Coverage

A note to those who are interested in following the Arsenal Women’s WSL action on TV: In an announcement that came just before the season’s Friday kickoff, the League announced that all WSL matches will be available to US audiences on ESPN+. As of late last week, the plan seemed to be for matches to be available in the US via the FA’s FAPlayer app, but the late-breaking change should be an improvement.

The Arsenal Men on International Duty

As mentioned above, the men were on a break from Premier League action over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t playing with many of Mikel Arteta’s squad turning out for their countries late last week and early this week. Here’s a list of the 15 Arsenal players who were called up by their countries and then a link to a page that is tracking results :

England (4): Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Myles Lewis-Skelly

Spain (3): Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino, David Raya

Brazil (2): Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel

Italy (1): Ricardo Calafiori

Norway (1): Martin Odegaard

Sweden (1): Viktor Gyokeres

Netherlands (1): Jurrien Timber

Belgium (1): Leandro Trossard

Ecuador (1): Piero Hincapie

Two bonus mentions as Max Dowman (England U19s) and Cristian Mosquera (Spain U21s) were called up by youth teams in their respective countries.

Of particular note from the matches that have been played so far have been Mikel Merino’s four goals and an assist in two matches for Spain against Turkey (3 goals) and Bulgaria (1 goal, 1 assist) and Declan Rice’s tally for England against Andorra.

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LOCO GUNNER BLOG: Liverpool, Transfers, and Mounting Injuries

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 20:45:26 GMT

A trip to Anfield has never been an easy task. Liverpool have won the top flight title more than any other club–including their triumph last term. Throw in some strong work in the transfer window and the Reds went into the top of the table clash with Arsenal looking at least as daunting a prospect as last season.

How you view the eventual outcome of the match, a 1-0 Arsenal loss, probably says a lot about how you approach supporting your team. The pessimist might look at the result and suggest that Arsenal, despite all the strengthening done in the summer, are still likely no better than second best in the Premier League.

That pessimist may be further inclined to think that Arsenal have something of an injury-related curse brewing after last season’s injuries to key players, and the early stages of this season have accelerated the trend with William Saliba going early with an ankle injury.

Finally, the pessimist might complain that Mikel Arteta’s approach to the match was a bit too conservative, with Mikel Merino replacing Martin Odegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli playing on the left with Noni Madueke moving to the right to replace Bukayo Saka. Supporters looking for a more aggressive approach might have preferred Ethan Nwaneri for Odegaard, or Eberechi Eze instead of Martinelli/Trossard from the start.

While there are certainly times to be pessimistic about your team, I have a more optimistic view of this particular match. In particular, I was impressed by Cristian Mosquera’s turn replacing Saliba, as well as the extent to which Arsenal was able to contain Liverpool’s exceptional attack with three key starters missing.

As far as the flow of the match went, possession was close to even–as were the chances. And while I would have liked to see Nwaneri from the start and Dowman sooner than the 89th minute, would that have changed anything? Perhaps not, but it would have signaled intent to win rather than to draw.

In the end, the difference in the match was a miraculous free kick from 30-ish feet out by Dominik Szoboszlai that would have beaten just about any goalkeeper in the world.

A disappointing result for sure given how well the team played away from home, down a few key players, and facing excellent opposition. But it’s definitely not the end of the world only three weeks into the campaign.

The Transfer Deadline

If Sunday brought disappointment, Monday and the transfer deadline brought continued change to the club. Arsenal brought in their eighth signing of the summer window as they acquired Ecuadorian Piero Hincapie from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. The defender can play both a left-sided center back as well as left back and will replace Jakub Kiwior (who confirmed a move to Porto on Monday). Also leaving the club with Kiwior were Albert Sambi Lokonga (Hamburg), Fabio Vieira (Hamburg, loan), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Nottingham Forest, loan), and Reiss Nelson (Brentford, loan).

One of the bigger criticisms of Arsenal’s transfer market dealings in recent years has been their inability to sell players for good fees in an effort to “balance the books” when they bring in expensive new players. The Kiwior and Sambi Lokongo sales both netted small profits from the prices paid a few years ago, but the failure to conclude permanent sales for Nelson, Zinchenko, and Vieira underscore the ongoing problem.

Since it isn’t my money, I can’t say I’m TOO concerned about the money recouped in the transfer market so long as the club can continue to buy like they did this summer and they keep developing talent like Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Saka, and Dowman at the Hale End Academy.

The Women’s Turn

With the men heading to the first international break of the season, the women get next weekend to themselves for their season debut. Their opponents for the curtain-raiser will be the London City Lionesses. The only independent (not owned by a Premier League side) club in the Women’s Super League after promotion from the Championship last season, the Lionesses are owned by Michelle Kang who also owns the Washington Spirit in the NWSL and OL Lyonnes in France.

While Michelle Kang has a history of success, facing the reigning European champions in the club’s first match in the top flight seems like a lot to ask. Arsenal will be close to full strength as the players who featured deep into or won the European Championships over the summer return to the pitch after late-summer vacations. All of the Euro competitors played at least 45 minutes in the pre-season-ending 2-0 win over West Ham last Wednesday.

The match will be played at 8:30 AM on Saturday, September 6th and can be streamed live for free on the FA Player app found in Google Play and Apple App Store .

The Result: Week 3

Starting Line-up: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Merino, Madueke, Martinelli, Gyokeres

Substitutes: Mosquera (Saliba), Odegaard (for Merino), Eze (for Martinelli), Dowman (Madueke)

Arsenal Result: 1-0 loss away to Liverpool

Goal(s): Dominik Szoboszlai

Assist(s): none

Place in the Table: 3rd (3 points behind leaders Liverpool and one point behind 2nd place Chelsea)

Title Contender Round-up:

Liverpool: I think we covered that sufficiently above.

Manchester City: For the second consecutive weekend, Manchester City looked out of sorts against seemingly so-so opposition. They dropped a 2-1 decision to Brighton and Hove Albion at the AmEx Stadium.

Chelsea: Chelsea got a bit lucky having an early Fulham goal wrongly disallowed by VAR but managed to score two against their West London rivals at home to extend their winning streak to two after an opening weekend draw. Not particularly convincing but they did what they had to do against solid opposition.

Up Next

Women - 9/6 8:30 AM: Arsenal host the London City Lionesses including former Gunners Danielle van de Donk and Nikita Parris at the Emirates to start their season.

Men - 9/13 7:30 AM: Arsenal host former technical director Edu and his new side, Nottingham Forest at the Emirates to kickoff Match Week 4.

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2025 FALL FESTIVAL @ LSP

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:32:46 GMT

Saturday, September 6! Details here !

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Women’s Preseason, A New Men’s Arrival, and Arsenal Men v Leeds

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:50:04 GMT

Women’s Preseason, A New Men’s Arrival, and Arsenal Men v Leeds

The summer interval between the Premier League and Women’s Super League openers generally follows a familiar pattern: hope and excitement for a new season and new players, followed by a lull as the long season stretches ahead. In North London, the arrival of Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, and Olivia Smith certainly provided off-season anticipation building to the Men’s opener against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Women’s Preview

With the Women’s Super League season not kicking off until September 6th, the defending UEFA Women’s Champions League holders are still ramping up with preseason friendlies. Last Saturday saw them drop a 4-3 decision to North London rivals Spurs as the players who competed deep into the Women’s Euros worked their way back into shape after late-summer vacations.

The match saw goals from Victoria Pelova and Caitlin Foord, as well as a Spurs own goal, and marked a 45 minute pre-season debut for Olivia Smith. Additionally, the Gunners’ higher-profile players still recovering from the Euros should start working themselves into shape as soon as this Wednesday’s friendly with West Ham. More to come from the Arsenal Women as the Super League opener approaches.

Eze Arrives!

On the Men’s side, following their 1-0 win over the Red Devils, preseason excitement for the new arrivals’ Emirates debut in Week 2 only increased on the news that Arsenal had signed Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace.

The move brought the London native’s football journey full circle, from his youth at Arsenal’s Academy at age 8, followed by stops at Fulham, Reading, and Millwall youth set-ups before breaking into the first team at Queen’s Park Rangers.

A lifelong Arsenal fan, Eze’s professional career led him from Loftus Road to five seasons at Selhurst Park for Crystal Palace. His Eagles career culminated with his match-winning goal in the FA Cup Final earlier this year, delivering Crystal Palace their first-ever major trophy.

Eze brings with him a few crucial characteristics that will benefit the club:

As a positive player, Eze can break down a defense with his speed, his dribbling, and his passing, enabling the Gunners to break down an attacking third packed with deep-lying defenders.
As a versatile performer, he can play an attacking role both out wide on the left or centrally.
As a creative scorer, Eze can deliver goals for himself and for his teammates. Spreading scoring responsibility around, rather than counting on one or two players, gives Arsenal a new scoring edge.

Men’s Week 2: Arsenal 5 - Leeds 0

As Eberechi Eze entered waving to his new supporters, Arsenal welcomed Leeds United to the Emirates Stadium for their home opener last Saturday. While the Gunners maintained control early, they struggled to break through against a resolute and occasionally chaotic Leeds defense that was just enough to keep them out.

In a repeat of Week 1, Declan Rice’s corner kick opened the scoring in the 34th minute, when right back Jurrien Timber found space between Leeds defenders to glance Rice’s delivery into the far side netting. A little over 10 minutes later, Timber went from scorer to provider, passing to Bukayo Saka, where he powered his drive past the keeper to double Arsenal’s lead a minute into stoppage time.

Saka’s goal seemed to sap Leeds’ will heading into the locker room, opening the flood gates in the second half, with Viktor Gyokeres marking his first goal for the club three minutes in on Ricardo Calafiori’s assist. Eight minutes later, Calafiori was at it again, setting up Jurrien Timber for his second on a scramble in front of the net after a set piece.

Perhaps the loudest ovation in a day of celebrations came at the introduction of 15-year-old Max Dowman onto the pitch for his debut. The Hale End product didn’t disappoint. After a couple of impressive shots that didn’t find the target, he found his way into the box, earning a penalty that Gyokeres converted for Arsenal’s fifth.

Not All Good News

Unfortunately it was not a day of unbridled joy at the Emirates. Captain Martin Odegaard went off injured in the 38th minute, replaced by Ethan Nwaneri. Adding injury to, well, injury, Bukayo Saka limped off in the 53rd minute, with left wing Madueke moving to the right, and Leandro Trossard coming in on the left.

Reports on Sunday in The Athletic indicated that neither injury is considered “serious,” but with a trip to Anfield to visit defending champions Liverpool next weekend, it isn’t exactly a great time to be without two of your most important attacking players.

While last season, Arsenal struggled to replace Saka and Odegaard for long stretches of the season, the club’s summer work–including the addition of the versatile Eze–means that they have better answers for the absences of their stars, and the depth in case of yet another injury or a need to change things up late in a tight match.

In the event both players miss the trip to Anfield, here’s my prediction on how Arsenal will adapt:

Eze will come into the left wide attacking role where Martinelli and Madueke have started in Week 1 and Week 2 respectively.
Ethan Nwaneri will come in for Odegaard as the right-sided “#8”.
Noni Madueke will replace Saka in the right wide attacking role.

As the match evolves, the Gunners have the option to move Eze infield to replace Nwaneri, bringing either Martinelli or Trossard off the bench. On the right side, Dowman might only be 15, but I wouldn’t bet against him to make an impact as a substitute at Anfield if given the chance for Madueke late in the match.

The Result: Week 2

Starting Line-up: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Saka, Gyokeres

Substitutes: Nwaneri (Odegaard), Mosquera (Timber), Lewis-Skelly (Calafiori), Trossard (Saka), Dowman (Madueke)

Arsenal Result : 5-0 win at home vs. Leeds United

Goal(s): Jurrien Timber (x2), Viktor Gyokeres (x2), Bukayo Saka

Assist(s): Ricardo Calafiori (x2), Leandro Trossard, Jurrien Timber, Max Dowman

Place in the Table : 1st (tied with Spurs on 6 points and ahead of them by one on goal differential with Liverpool on three points yet to play)

Title Contender Round-up:

Liverpool: The Reds face off with Newcastle on Monday before their clash with Arsenal next Sunday.

Manchester City: Tottenham shocked Manchester City beating them 2-0 at the Etihad. Perhaps City haven’t solved all of their problems from last season and their Week 1 success was more down to the Wolves.

Chelsea: Reversed the frustration of their Week 1 draw against Crystal Palace with a thorough 5-1 drubbing of West Ham at the London Stadium. The minor concern coming out of the match for Enzo Maresca’s men is that star attacker Cole Palmer was withdrawn minutes before the start of the match. Clearly, the absence didn’t hurt the Blues on the day, but it could be a problem against stronger opposition if it lingers.

Next Up

8/31 11:30 AM: Arsenal travel to Anfield to face defending Premier League Champions Liverpool in one of the biggest matches of the season (even if it is still only Week 3).

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LOCO GUNNER BLOG: The Season Begins

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 19:37:14 GMT

The Season Begins

I have lived in Loudoun County for fifteen years; before that, I lived in DC and Atlanta. All have been fantastic places to live but one of the things that I missed most in the last 15 years was having a soccer bar close by. Whether it was Summer’s in Arlington, Lucky Bar in DC, or Brewhouse in Little Five Points, my pre-suburban life was filled with excellent places to watch a match with like-minded fans..

As the parent of a busy almost 13-year-old, I can’t say my life affords much time for sports bars on my own schedule. At a tournament or after a game, sure, but rarely with a purpose beyond eating and bonding with the rest of the team. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the experience of coming together with a few friends–but mostly strangers–for the sole purpose of watching soccer.

I must not be the only one who feels this way, because attendance at our Arsenal Watch Party at Anchor Bar far exceeded expectations. At 11:30 AM on a Sunday, in the midst of the Loudoun Premier Cup tournament, the place was packed with fans! Many of the 120+ people came with their Arsenal jerseys and scarves, with their energy invested in the start of a new Premier League season.

The opener’s opponent, Manchester United, made the occasion that much more special. Man U are a legendary club that last year outperformed their record, logging a win and a draw against defending champions Manchester City, and a draw with eventual champions Liverpool. The Red Devils held Arsenal to a draw at Old Trafford last season, and spent the summer improving their squad with the arrivals of Brian Mbuemo, Matias Cunha, and Benjamin Sesko. Definitely not a match to be taken lightly.

Match Review

After honoring Portuguese brothers Diogo Jota (Liverpool) and Andre Silva (Penafiel), who tragically lost their lives in a car crash over the summer, the match kicked off with the high intensity befitting a season-opener between bitter rivals. From the start, crunching tackles greatly outnumbered deft passing moves or silky dribbles.

As much as I’d like to say that Arsenal came out blazing, that wasn’t the case. They were wearing their gorgeous third kit , but beyond that looked very much like a side with newcomers in crucial positions (Martin Zubimendi at the base of midfield, and Viktor Gyorkeres at center forward). The midfield trio of Zubimendi, Declan Rice, and Martin Odegaard ignited a few opportunities on the counterattack in the first half, but decision-making in the final third was off, with promising attacks failing to materialize.

At the other end, Manchester United’s new arrivals looked bright, with Brian Mbuemo and Matias Cunha frequently forcing the defense to scramble. While both Red Devils wide attackers were credited with three shots, it certainly felt like more given the sighs of relief from the Arsenal supporters (and the smattering of cheers from the few brave souls sporting Manchester United gear).

I may have buried the lede by not mentioning on Arsenal’s 13th minute goal, which came as a relief to everyone at Anchor Bar, as well as Gunners around the world. On the plus side, it came from a source that has been a club strength under Mikel Arteta, the set piece. (The Gunners have scored more goals on set pieces than any team in the Premier League since the arrival of coach Nicolas Jover.)

Unfortunately, the goal was more down to Manchester United’s inexperienced keeper making a poor play than Arsenal making an exceptional one. A fine delivery from Declan Rice, followed by nice work from William Saliba disrupting defenders and the keeper’s contact as the ball came into the box, served the resulting rebound on a platter to Ricardo Calafiori, who tapped it in after it was already half way across the goal line.

All sorts of cliches apply to the goal, and the match overall: Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. The most important thing is the three points. There are no style points awarded.

On the positive side, Arsenal got a win on the road against a traditional powerhouse. As the Gunners get to know each other better, their collective and individual form should only improve as the season continues. If you’re a pessimist, you can certainly worry that Gyokeres and Zubimendi weren’t immediate hits, and that Odegaard didn’t immediately rebound after returning from a significant ankle injury.

While the truth lies somewhere in-between, I’ve seen enough early-season matches to be far more on the side of optimism.

The Result: Week 1

Starting Line-up: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Gyokeres

Substitutes: Madueke (for Martinelli), Havertz (for Gyokeres), Timber (White), Lewis-Skelly (Calafiori), Merino (Rice)

Arsenal Result: 1-0 win at Manchester United

Goal(s): Ricardo Calafiori

Assist(s): Declan Rice

Place in the Table: 6th (tied with five other clubs on 3 points but last among those six on goal difference with Everton and Leeds yet to play)

Title Contender Round-up:

Liverpool: The Reds looked amazing scoring four goals against Bournemouth on Friday, but showed the same defensive frailties that cost them the Community Shield against Crystal Palace last weekend. New signing Hugo Ekitike looked like an excellent acquisition with a goal and an assist, but Arne Slot’s side features two aging superstars (Virgil Van Dijk, Mo Salah) with no quality depth behind them.

Manchester City: The Citizens blew Wolves away with a combination of returning superstars and new arrivals Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki. Wolves aren’t expected to dominate, but it certainly looked like City have moved past a disappointing 2024-2025 season and there’s still room for improvement.

Chelsea: The Blues looked a bit disjointed against a game Crystal Palace side and had to settle for a draw. Given the number of new players at Stamford Bridge, the expectation should be that they will start slow and pick up pace as they get comfortable with each other.

Up Next

8/23 12:30 PM: Arsenal host newly-promoted Leeds United in their home opener at the Emirates.

LOCO GUNNERS BLOG: Arsenal Camp Insider

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:47:21 GMT

Loudoun Soccer x Arsenal Camp - An Insider Look

This morning I was afforded the exciting opportunity to sit down with Simon McManus , Programme and Activation Manager at Arsenal FC. As you are likely aware, this week Arsenal and Loudoun Soccer kicked off their first jointly-delivered summer camp. As my son was on the field with the Arsenal Academy coaches, Simon graciously answered my questions about how the Premier League club approaches player development partnerships like this one, and how they adapt training methods meant for future professionals to youth players across a wide range of skill and experience.

I also talked with Loudoun Soccer Technical Director John O’Hara to gain his perspective on the Arsenal coaches and how the camps added to the Loudoun Soccer experience.

Before I summarize, I would like to remind everyone reading that Arsenal kick off

their season this Sunday at 11:30 AM Eastern. To mark the occasion, Loudoun Soccer

is hosting a watch party at Anchor Bar in the Village at Leesburg.

The event will feature drink specials and giveaways from Soccer Post.

The Club expects a lively match, with fans from both sides representing.

The Arsenal Philosophy at Loudoun

As my conversation with Simon unfolded, it became clear why this partnership made sense for both clubs. Everything we do at Loudoun Soccer is in service of creating Champions for Life, and Arsenal has a similar unifying approach to their training regardless of age, experience, or skill level.

“The philosophy that we use to deliver training sessions is built on the same four pillars that the Arsenal Academy uses to underpin every session and every program.” Simon explained. “We want everything to build toward players being effective team players, efficient movers, lifelong learners, and having a champion’s mentality.”

“From those underpinnings, we adapt each program to the audience. This week is going to be great! In the mornings we have Rec camp; entry-level players but we’ll still be communicating using the same language. Running the activities will be a little simpler than, say, the Travel camp in the evenings, but the terminology will remain the same for both.”

While I have only been on the periphery of coaching in the Loudoun Soccer system during my son’s time at the Club, I can attest to the philosophy’s compatibility with the approach of Mark Ryan and his technical staff: Build a common philosophy, train professional and volunteer coaches in that philosophy, and then adapt it based on age and skill level so that the concepts remain constant as the activities grow in difficulty.

Winning vs. Developing

I next asked Simon about the environment in the US compared to Arsenal’s Academy and in Europe overall. He cited the level of athleticism and competitiveness in the US as strengths, but noted that the focus here on winning youth matches, versus developing as a youth player aren’t always compatible goals.

As an example, he noted the tactical decision to build from the back versus playing the ball long. If the goal is purely to win the match, it is often more expedient to play the ball long. While this approach might produce more goals, playing out from the back offers more opportunities for player involvement, where each player must make decisions, providing more opportunities to learn.

It’s a good reminder for all of us parents of young athletes that development should be the goal rather than victory-at-all-costs. If it worked for the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Michelle Agyemang–all of whom have come through the Arsenal Academy in recent seasons and achieved great heights at Arsenal and beyond–then we should probably pay attention.

Simon’s Advice for Parents

“It’s always a challenge to give advice to parents on how to behave or communicate, but I think it's most important to be supportive, not corrective. Let the coaches do the correction and the development piece and, as a parent, just talk about big picture behaviors that can help them. For example, did you put maximum effort in today? Did you enjoy yourself? How did you feel on the pitch? And just being supportive on that emotional journey for your player rather than being corrective or coaching from the sideline.

“I know I can rock up to a session and have opinions but, if I haven't seen the session plan, I haven't seen those players before, I find it really hard to judge what's happening. So, you've got a very valid opinion, but it might not be a contextualized opinion that can help the kid. Sometimes, as coaches, we'll play kids out of position to help them learn different aspects of the game. So, a lot of it is not always what you see, you need to pull the layers back.”

The Loudoun Soccer Perspective

After talking to Simon, it made sense to talk with Loudoun Soccer Technical Director, John O’Hara, to gauge what they see as different and additive to the programs the Club has been running successfully for years.

“Our objective is always to help us grow the game in Loudoun County and the country. That's always number one when we consider opportunities, and Arsenal’s history, player development platform, coach development platform, and the resources they put not only into their boys side but also their girls side are major assets.

“In addition to their own academy and development partnerships, Arsenal have invested a huge amount of time into getting to know our players, coaches, and members across countless Zoom meetings, in-person meetings in December and March, and now the time spent together this week at camp and beyond.”

As an Arsenal supporter, I was already excited by the idea of the partnership, but the synergy I experienced in these two separate conversations made it clear to me why the partnership makes sense. I’m excited to watch it unfold in the coming months and years. –Neal

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Men's 25/26 Season Preview

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 18:09:06 GMT

Men's 25/26 Season Preview

With the pre-season in the books and the Premier League set to kick off this weekend, it’s time to take a deep dive into what to expect from Arsenal in the upcoming season. We’ll start with a brief recap of last season before tackling summer changes, and what to look forward to in the early stages of this campaign.

KICK OFF THE ARSENAL MEN’S 25/26 SEASON WITH US AT OUR MEN'S OPENER WATCH PARTY THIS SUNDAY!

Join us at 11 am at Anchor Bar for lunch, drink specials, games, and prizes!

(We’ll have Match Attax EPL trading cards for sale!

If your pack includes an Arsenal player, celebrate with a drink of the house!)

RSVP here !

2024-25 In Review

Arsenal entered the 2024-25 season expecting to once again challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title. With City’s Ballon D’or winner Rodri lost for the season due to injury, Jurgen Klopp departing Liverpool after an illustrious run as manager, and Chelsea, Spurs, and Manchester United being in various states of chaos, it was thought that Arsenal were the front-runners for the title. Most of the above turned out to be correct. City fell off in the absence of their midfield talisman.Chelsea, Spurs, and Manchester United continued to struggle to varying degrees with none mounting anything close to a title challenge.

Two things didn’t go to expectations on the path to a potential Arsenal title. At Anfield, Arne Slot replaced Klopp and not only didn’t he skip a beat but he improved on the German’s final season with the Reds. Despite the change of manager and aging key players in Virgil Van Dijk and Mo Salah, Liverpool were consistently excellent from start to finish.

The other significant hurdle faced by the Gunners were some unfortunate injuries that pointed out some areas of the squad where the club was light on depth. Ideally, a club will get 34-36 starts out of 38 Premier League matches from their key players. Of their key attacking players, Arsenal received significantly fewer than that from Bukayo Saka (20 starts), Martin Odegaard (26), Kai Havertz (23), and Gabriel Jesus (8). Beyond the absences, it seemed clear that Odegaard especially was less than 100% even after returning from his injury.

Finishing second in an incredibly competitive league while also getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League is hardly something to apologize for. But given the turmoil among the usual suspects and big spenders, finishing second did feel like an opportunity missed.

If there was a silver lining to the club’s injury issues, it was the emergence of some young talent from the club’s Hale End Academy. A pair of 18-year-olds, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, took the opportunity presented by the absences of Saka, Odegaard, and Calafiori and showed that, despite their youth, they are capable of competing at the highest level. Nwaneri scored four goals and assisted on a further three in Premier League play across 11 starts and 15 substitute appearances between Odegaard’s attacking midfield role and Saka’s wide attacking role. In addition to the statistics, he impressed with his fearlessness, control in tight spaces, and willingness to take on defenders.

A left back capable of moving into midfield when the club is in possession, Lewis-Skelly didn’t produce significant counting statistics but did demonstrate his ability to both attack and defend while tasked with marking players like Mo Salah in the Premier League and Rodrygo of Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Summer Activity

I wrote an extensive post about Arsenal’s summer and invite you to check it out here if you want all of the details. To keep this post to a manageable length (too late, I know), I’ll just do a quick summary.

The goals for the club in the summer transfer window were as follows:

Secure a star-level center forward capable of scoring 20+ goals/season
Replacing departing holding midfielders Tomas Partey and Jorginho with someone capable of shielding the back four and initiating the attack from deep.
Building depth in key positions to ensure one or two key injuries couldn’t derail the season as the injuries to Odegaard and Saka did last season.

Clearly, we will need to see how it plays out on the pitch but, on paper, the club accomplished all of these goals with approximately three weeks still to go in the summer transfer window. Here’s how each of the above items were addressed:

In late July, Arsenal purchased Viktor Gorkeyes from Sporting Lisbon. Gyokeres scored at more than a goal per match across two title-winning seasons in the Portuguese first division. He also showed well in the Champions League. The step up to the Premier League is significant but there is ample reason to expect he will be a significant upgrade at center forward.
To replace their two departing holding midfielders, Arsenal acquired Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and Christian Norgaard from Brentford. Zubimendi has been an exceptional player in La Liga and should be an improvement over the aging Jorginho and frequently-injured Partey. He won’t light up the stat sheet but he should contribute to a tight defense and facilitate the transition to attack. Norgaard, until recently Brentford’s captain, will back up the Spaniard and provide steady play and veteran leadership.
Beyond potential starters in Gyokeres and Zubimendi, Arsenal added depth at center back, wide attacker, and in goal with the additions of Cristhian Mosquera, Noni Madueke, and Kepa Arrizabalaga. Mosquera is a Spain youth international who will deputize for William Saliba and, hopefully, grow into an exceptional starter in his own right. The versatile 23-year-old Madueke, an England international, comes over from Chelsea where he enjoyed a strong season and will have an opportunity to compete with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard for a starting job on the left wing while also backing up Bukayo Saka on the right. Arrizabalaga joins Madueke coming to North London from West London. It didn’t work out at Chelsea for Kepa after arriving at Stamford Bridge as the most expensive goalkeeper in history but he represents a way-above-average reserve goalkeeping option behind David Raya.

While the acquisitions from other clubs are likely to be the most impactful this season and into the near future, perhaps the most exciting development of the summer has been the arrival in the first team of 15-year-old Max Dowman. The Hale End product has been putting up crazy numbers in Arsenal’s youth set-up despite playing with far older players the past couple of seasons. Finally allowed to play with the first team after turning 15, Dowman has tantalized in pre-season including drawing two penalties and showing his ability to create from the right wing. It isn’t clear how much time the youngster is likely to see in the Premier League but he is certainly one to watch whenever he gets on the field.

The Season Ahead

As the 2025-26 season approaches, Arsenal are as talented and as deep as they have been since the title-winning days of the early 2000s. In defending champions Liverpool and newly healthy and reinforced Manchester City, they will face two significant rivals for the title with Chelsea potentially a wild card in the race after a strong summer showing at the Club World Cup and continued spending on their squad.

As Arsenal kick off against Manchester United at Old Trafford on September 17th, the expected starting line-up will be as follows:

GK: David Raya - The Spanish international is the reigning Golden Glove winner for most clean sheets in the 2024-25 season

RB: Jurian Timber - The young Dutchman has been excellent when healthy but has struggled with injuries in pre-season so former England international Ben White may start the opener.

CB: William Saliba - among the top few center backs in the world, the young Frenchman continues to ascend as the rock upon which Arsenal’s defense is built.

CB: Gabriel - the Brazilian is a menace in the air winning defensive headers and contributing to Arsenal’s league-best record for scoring from corner kicks and set pieces. He and Saliba form arguably the best center back pairing in the Premier League.

LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly - The 18-year-old will look to build on his exceptional breakout season last campaign.

CDM: Martin Zubimendi - As noted above, the Spaniard won’t turn heads with his statistics but he has proven himself as one of the best all-around holding midfielders in the world in both La Liga and international play.

RM: Bukayo Saka - Arsenal’s homegrown star, Saka is among the best young attackers in the world. If he can start 34 or more Premier League matches this campaign, the Gunners will be well-positioned to challenge for the title.

CM: Declan Rice - The England captain has moved up the pitch from a holding midfield spot to a box-to-box role that will allow him more license to create, score, and work higher up the pitch in Arsenal’s high press.

CM: Martin Odegaard - At his best, the Norwegian is the creative force the gives life to the Arsenal attack. His vision, range of passing, and ability to fit the ball into seemingly impossible spaces for his teammates to score was diminished after his injury last season but he should be back to his best after a summer with no commitments for club or country.

LM: Gabriel Martinelli - The talented Brazilian has flashed moments of brilliance for Arsenal since his introduction into the squad as an 18-year-old in 2019. Now 24, he must add consistency to his game or face the possibility of losing his spot to Madueke or a new arrival.

CF: Viktor Gyokeres - The towering Swedish international scored a load of goals in Portugal and will be counted on to translate that form to the Premier League. Arsenal’s title chances may well ride on his ability to be this generation’s Robin Van Persie.

These players and key reserves like Kepa, Jakob Kiwior, Ricardo Calafiori, Norgaard, Moreno, Nwaneri, Madueke, and Havertz will face a tough start to the season with trips to Manchester United and Liverpool (1st in the Premier League last season) and visits from Nottingham Forest (7th), Manchester City (3rd), and Newcastle United (5th) before the end of September. It isn’t ideal for a team with a bunch of new players to integrate to face such a tough run right away but if they can survive the first two months, everything will be in place for a great run at the title.

All in all, it’s going to be another exciting season for Arsenal fans! Hope you will join us this Sunday to watch the season kick off vs. Man United!

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Loudoun Soccer Golf Classic

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 20:12:01 GMT

Join us Monday, September 29 at Lansdowne Resort!

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LOCO GUNNERS BLOG: A Recent History of Arsenal FC

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 13:10:17 GMT

Despite what my son might say, I’m not as old as Arsenal. Dating back to 1886, when a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory formed their own football team, the club is one of the most storied in world football.

I’m not going to attempt to do a better job than the club or Wikipedia have in putting together a history of the club before I was aware of it. Both are great resources if you want to learn how the team moved to North London, who the key people were in the pre-Premier League era, and how they compare with some of the other big clubs in England in winning trophies.

What I will attempt is to give my perspective on the club since I became aware of them in the mid-1990s. What has been their relatively recent history? How have they performed lately? How is it reasonable to think about the club in comparison to the rest of the Premier League and other legendary European clubs?

The Dawning of the Premier League Era

I became aware of Arsenal in the mid-1990s which, as it turned out, was a pivotal time for English football in general and for Arsenal specifically. During the 1994 World Cup, I saw Dennis Bergkamp play for the Netherlands against Saudi Arabia at RFK Stadium and immediately became a fan. In 1995, my satellite TV provider started broadcasting the Premier League, while Bergkamp joined Arsenal from Inter Milan.

For Arsenal, the arrival of Bergkamp - an established international star - represented a departure from the club’s recent tradition of defense-first, blood-and-guts play. The pre-Bergkamp editions of the club featured legendary England international defenders like Tony Adams , Nigel Winterburn , Lee Dixon , and Steve Bould , and became famous for “1-nil to the Arsenal” wins.

Bergkamp was something else altogether. He was one of the most skilled attackers in the world who, along with manager Arsène Wenger , appointed in 1996 ushered in an attack-oriented style of play that would captivate fans (myself included) and revolutionize the Premier League.

(If you’re interested in why Dennis Bergkamp motivated my fandom, here are some of his greatest hits on YouTube. If you only have a moment to watch, I’d recommend from 0:55 sec to 2:15 or so. Just incredible.)

The Wenger Era, Part 1 - Revolutionary Success

Arsène Wenger has been credited with bringing the Premier League into the modern era of professional sports. His approach to training and nutrition probably looks quaint by modern standards, but when he arrived at Highbury in 1996, the culture in English football wasn’t what we would associate with modern athletics.

Wenger also recognized that while English talent was expensive, there were market inefficiencies that would allow Arsenal to recruit foreign talent at a discount compared to their similarly-talented English counterparts. Soon, the Dutchman Bergkamp was joined by a number of Wenger’s French countrymen in the form of Thierry Henry , Robert Pires , Patrick Vieira , and Sylvain Wiltord along with Swede Freddie Ljungberg , Brazilians Edu and Gilberto Silva , German Jens Lehmann , and Ivorian Kolo Toure in the first English club side that was competing for championships against the likes of Manchester United and their English/Welsh/Irish core of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, and Teddy Sheringham, with only a few high-profile foreigners sprinkled in from year-to-year.

While Manchester United were the dominant team of the early Premier League era, Arsenal also experienced great success, finishing either first or second in the Premier League in Wenger’s first nine seasons at the club (including winning league titles in 1997-98, 2001-02, and 2003-04). The 2003-04 squad, The Invincibles , has the distinction of being the only side ever to complete a Premier League season undefeated.

The Wenger Era, Part 2 - The Move to the Emirates Stadium

While the first half of Arsène Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal was an unqualified success, the second half is a bit harder to characterize. There were a few things happening that changed the situation considerably:

Arsenal executive leadership diverted money from buying players to finance the new, larger stadium that they felt was necessary to be financially viable heading into the next era of the Premier League.
Chelsea, now owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, was spending money on the type of high potential foreign players that Arsenal had recruited in the late-90s and early 2000s.
The rest of the league caught up to Arsenal’s approaches to training and nutrition, blunting what had briefly been a significant advantage.
Not long after Chelsea rose to prominence on the back of Abramovich’s fortune, Manchester City was acquired by the Abu Dhabi United Group, further raising the financial stakes for success in the Premier League.

With Arsenal financially hamstrung by the move from Highbury to the Emirates, Chelsea’s deep-pocketed owner brought in players like Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, and Petr Cech – the exact profile of players likely to have gone to Arsenal in the earlier part of the Wenger era. Arsenal’s financial struggles also cost them existing players, with superstar Theirry Henry moving to Barcelona, and England international Ashley Cole moving to Chelsea.

The rise of financial powers at Chelsea and Manchester City, along with the continued might of Manchester United, relegated Arsenal to competing at the fringes of the Premier League title race for the remainder of Arsène Wenger’s time at Arsenal. Given the club’s inability to compete financially, holding him to the standard of his first decade in charge seems harsh. Despite FA Cup wins in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2016-17, Wenger was ultimately relieved of his duties after 22 years in charge.

The Kroenke Era

Underlying the second half of the Wenger Era was a fight for control of the club. US-based businessman Stan Kroenke (owner of, among other things, the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and Colorado Rapids) had been increasing his stake in the club. Finally, in 2018, he completed his takeover of the club and declared his intention to once again compete with the top teams in England and Europe.

Kroenke was instrumental in calling time on the Wenger era and, after a brief tenure from Spaniard Unai Emery, appointing two former Arsenal players - Mikel Arteta and Edu to oversee the club’s revival as manager and technical director respectively.

The results over the past five years have improved progressively, with the club steadily climbing back up the standings after finishing 8th in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Arteta jumped up to 5th in 2021-22, and has finished 2nd in each of the past three campaigns. He has done so by almost entirely turning over the squad. He has focused on developing Arsenal’s academy talent with the likes of Reiss Nelson , Emile Smith-Rowe , Bukayo Saka , Ethan Nwaneri , and Myles Lewis-Skelly having played significant roles under Arteta’s leadership.

Coming off of a second place finish in the Premier League and a run to the semi-finals in the Champions League, Arsenal’s men’s side are a few major summer acquisitions away from competing for titles in 2025-26.

The Arsenal Women: A History of Dominance

So far, I’ve focused on the men’s side because, until recently, that was the only Arsenal side that it was easy to follow from the US. That shouldn’t take away from the early commitment to and success in the women’s game at Arsenal.

The Arsenal women’s team was founded in 1987 and have been historically dominant ever since. Their numbers are staggering (from their Wikipedia page):

The club have won

15 league titles ,

14 Women's FA Cups ,

7 Women's League Cups ,

10 Women's National League Cups ,

5 Women's FA Community Shields .

They are the only English club to win the UEFA Women's Champions League , having won in 2007 and 2025 .

They are also the only English club to win the continental treble while going undefeated in all competitions played that same season.

In the 2006–07 season, the club became the first in the history of women's football to achieve the continental European sextuple .

The great news for Arsenal supporters in the US is that Arsenal’s women’s matches, specifically the Women’s Super League (the top women’s league in England) and the Women’s Champions League, are increasingly available to watch in the United States. Loudoun Soccer hosted a watch party at Anchor Bar last Spring for the Women’s Champions League final, where Arsenal defeated Barcelona for the right to call themselves champions of Europe. More watch parties for both the men's and women's sides are planned for 2025-26.

A Local Connection

In addition to their historical and recent success on the pitch, Arsenal boast Loudoun County native and US Women’s National Team defender Emily Fox as a key starter in their current squad. Ms. Fox was born and raised in Ashburn and attended Stone Bridge High School. From her local roots, she went on to the perennial collegiate powerhouse University of North Carolina Tarheels, where she appeared in two national championship games. She also earned multiple caps from the USWNT before becoming the first overall pick in the NWSL in 2021. Drafted by Racing Louisville, she played for two seasons before moving to the North Carolina Courage and winning an Olympic Gold Medal with the USWNT. In 2024, she transferred to Arsenal to rejoin former college teammates Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy , winning the Women’s Champions League title in her first season at the club.

If you’re looking for a reason to support Arsenal beyond the partnership between our clubs, I can think of few better than supporting a Loudoun County native who has already achieved so much in the game–with the promise of more to come!

Wrapping Up

Yes, I know that was a lot to cover, but what’s not to love? Loudoun Soccer has the great good fortune of partnering with a club that:

Experienced historic success on both the men’s and women’s game in England and Europe;
Boasts a history of recent success at the highest level on the women’s side;
Features a strong trajectory on the men’s side, with Premier League and Champions League titles within reach as soon as the upcoming season;
Built a strong academy program that has produced stars like Bukayo Saka, Serge Gnabry, and Myles Lewis-Skelly on the men’s side, and Alex Scott, Leah Williamson, and Lauren James on the women’s side–both with a great pipeline of talent close to breaking through;
Features a local player as an integral starter on a championship side.

Clearly, I’m biased, but I couldn’t think of a professional club better positioned to earn your interest and attention than Loudoun Soccer partner, Arsenal FC!

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A Big Weekend for Arsenal!

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 19:20:19 GMT

If you read my first post , you’ll know that I was planning a leisurely summer of introducing you to Arsenal and preparing to watch the upcoming men’s and women’s seasons. That’s still the plan, but the events of this past weekend are too important to Arsenal to maintain a slavish devotion to an editorial schedule of my own making.

As I mentioned in my second post , many of the Arsenal women made their mark in the Women’s European Championships in Switzerland. While it was a fun tournament overall, the semi-finals and finals, with key performances from Arsenal players, were notable enough to elevate the tournament into an emergency column. (As an added bonus, I’ll throw in a few notes about the men’s pre-season results from their first two matches in Singapore.)

Women’s Euro Headliners

The setup for Sunday’s final had its roots in two matches: Spain’s Women’s World Cup win over England two summers ago, and Arsenal’s Champions League victory over Barcelona in May. Spain’s World Cup victory launched a potential dynasty on the international side, supplanting England’s Euro championship in 2022 as the most significant development in European women’s football. Spain’s World Cup winners were fueled by a core of players from Barcelona’s Champions League winners from 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Arsenal, with a core of players from the England squad, faced an uphill battle in the Champions League final and never looked like the better team despite ultimately winning the match. The feel for the Euro Final was very much the same. Could England, with their Arsenal core, contain Spain with their Barcelona core?

The match played out very much the same way as the Euro Final. Spain maintained most of the possession and looked like the better side, while England kept the ball out of the net and reduced Spain’s advantage to an academic one.

Goals Straight from North London

While Arsenal features six England players, their member on the Spanish side, Mariona Caldentey, was first on the scoreboard on Sunday. The former Barcelona forward’s tally came from a thundering header in the 25th minute.

On the other side of halftime, it was Caldentey’s Arsenal teammates who crafted the equalizer. Chloe Kelly crossed for Alessia Russo, who went for placement rather than power with her header and found the back of the net behind Spanish keeper Cata Coll.

The balance of the 90 minutes and both periods of extra time went by without another goal, setting up a penalty shootout for the title. Arsenal forwards Beth Mead and Caldentey both had penalty attempts saved along with Gunners defender Leah Williamson and two-time Balon D’Or winner Aitana Bonmati. After Salma Paraluello missed her kick wide it set up Gunner Chloe Kelly for the winner, which she dispatched with aplomb.

Between the honors earned by Spain and Barcelona, there is no denying their quality, but the England side, powered by a core of Arsenal players, are now two-time defending European Champions to go along with the Gunners' Champions League title. The Arsenal women have consistently displayed the mentality necessary to prevail on the biggest stage against incredibly talented opponents.

Notes from Singapore

While the Women’s Euros were playing out in Switzerland, the men traveled to Asia to start their pre-season schedule. Pre-season matches, by their nature, are disjointed and don’t make for the best entertainment because coaches are getting players into shape, trying combinations and tactics, and rotating 22+ players into a 90-minute match that usually only accommodates 13 or 14 players. Despite those realities, there were some positive takeaways worth passing along:

Everyone Stayed Healthy. Job one in pre-season is to get everyone to the first match of the season in good health. The Arsenal men’s team has come through the first two matches in good shape. We’re still waiting to see a few players for the first time, with Gabriel and Jurian Timber still recovering from injuries late last season, and new arrivals Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres not yet with the team. Otherwise, everyone is training and playing in the pre-season.
Zubimendi Impresses. Martin Zubimendi is the rare case of a high-level international player whose move was completed early in the transfer window, and who didn’t have any summer obligations for his country. As a result, he was available to participate in Arsenal’s entire pre-season program. On early evidence, he is going to be a great addition. He isn’t going to show up in many highlight packages, but he is assured on the ball, and kept the attack moving in the half he played against each of AC Milan and Newcastle.
One for the Future. Arsenal’s academy has been producing talent at a high level recently, with Bukayo Saka, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ethan Nwaneri the highest profile graduates currently starring with the first team. The next in line may well be Max Dowman. Participating in his first pre-season with the first team, the 15-year-old has very much looked the part against high level opposition. His first appearance against Milan showed some flashes without any end product, but his second appearance against Newcastle saw the precocious teen draw a penalty and force a strong save from the Magpies’ goalkeeper. It is probably too much to expect a significant role in Premier League and Champions League action for Dowman this season, but he’ll be one of the main reasons I tune in to watch their early round League Cup and FA Cup matches. He looks like he might be another special player coming off the Colney assembly line.

Next up for the men will be the first North London Derby played outside of the UK, as Arsenal face off against Tottenham from Hong Kong on Thursday, July 31 at 7:30 AM Eastern Time.

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LoCo Gunners Blog: Summer of Arsenal

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:01:20 GMT

There's a Lot Going On in the Offseason

While summer is technically the "offseason" for Premier League and Women’s Super League teams, that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. For club teams, the summer is about a few things for both the men’s and women’s sides:

International tournaments
Player movement
Kit releases
Pre-season tours

This week, we’ll look at each of the above from an Arsenal perspective for both the men and the women.

International Tournaments

Because Arsenal did not qualify for the new version of the Club World Cup, there wasn’t a great deal happening on the pitch for the men this summer. Mikel Merino and new signing Martin Zubimendi featured for Spain in the UEFA Nations League final in early June. Gabriel Martinelli played for Brazil at about the same time in the CONMEBOL version. Beyond those couple of matches, the summer was a rare time to rest and recover between the end of one Premier League season and the start of the next.

The summer has been more active for many of the Arsenal women. The Women’s Euros are being held this month in Switzerland and Arsenal are well represented, with twelve players being called up to represent their countries. Here are the Arsenal players competing and which country they are representing:

England: Michelle Agyemang, Chloe Kelly, Beth Mead, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson

Netherlands: Victoria Pelova, Daphne van Domselaar

Norway: Frida Maanum

Spain: Mariona Caldentey

Sweden: Stina Blackstenius

Switzerland: Lia Walti

For those interested in watching, Women’s Euro matches are being televised in the US by Fox (mostly on FS1).

Player Movement

With the men’s and women’s sides having finished last season second in the Premier League and Women’s Super League respectively, this is an important summer for both when it comes to strengthening their squads as they look to move up a spot in the standings in 2025-26.

Player movement in club soccer is a little different from American sports. There are no drafts, and there are rarely trades. Players are typically acquired in cash, or as free agents when their contracts expire. Players can be bought and sold during the so-called “transfer window” from July 1st through August 31st, as well as the “January window” which offers a mid-season opportunity to adjust rosters.

Despite the summer window being less than half way through, both the Arsenal men and women have been busy with both headline-grabbing moves, as well as smaller ones to build depth. Here’s a rundown for each side:

Men’s Transfers

Mikel Arteta’s side entered the transfer window knowing that it was going to lose Jorginho and Tomas Partey at the base of midfield, Neto as a second choice goalkeeper, and Takehiro Tomiyasu as a utility defender. They also had a big gap at the center forward position where Gabriel Jesus has struggled with injuries and Kai Havertz and Mikel Merino were more makeshift solutions rather than first choice. Beyond those clear needs, there was a desire to improve depth across a squad that showed cracks when injuries hit key starters like Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, William Saliba, and Gabriel last season.

New Sporting Director Andrea Berta has come in and gotten to work quickly to address his “to-do” list. Here’s a quick summary of confirmed arrivals for the 2025-26 season:

Martin Zubimendi: This one has been percolating for over a year with Mikel Arteta looking to bring in his countryman to control the base of midfield for the Gunners. Zubimendi is not going to be a flashy presence but has a reputation for being in the right place at the right time to snuff out trouble and then making the right passes to get the ball out of danger and where it needs to be to start an attack. His presence should allow Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice to play further up the pitch without worrying about leaving gaps behind them.

Victor Gyökeres: Since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left the club in 2022, Arsenal have been looking for a top-level center forward. In Victor Gyökeres they may have finally gotten their man. A late bloomer, Gyökeres broke out as a 23-year-old in the Championship scoring 17 and 21 goals for Coventry City which earned him a move to Sporting Lisbon where he absolutely exploded with 68 goals in 66 Premeira Liga matches over the past two seasons. The move from the Portuguese first division to the Premier League is not to be dismissed but Gyökeres has also been prolific for Sweden in international play (10 goals in six matches) and in the Champions League for Sporting (6 goals and 2 assists in eight matches). Both fast and powerful, Gyökeres will be counted on to lead Arsenal’s attack for the foreseeable future.

Noni Madueke: The good news is that Bukayo Saka is one of the biggest young stars in world football. The bad news is that while he seems super-human at times, he can go down to injury as he did for a significant chunk of the second half of last season. Enter Noni Madueke. The 23-year-old winger can play on either wing but, as a left-footer like Saka, is likely to play on the right more frequently as Saka does. That he is being brought in as depth shouldn’t cast shade on the player so much as highlight Arsenal’s desire to have depth in top level talent. Madueke scored seven goals and added three assists across 32 matches in the Premier League last season and has represented England at every age level, including seven appearances for the senior national team.

Christian Norgaard: The 31-year-old Danish holding midfielder arrives from Brentford as an experienced Premier League campaigner who can play a role when called on, provide leadership in the locker room, and be counted on not to understand that Zubimendi and Rice are ahead of him in the pecking order for minutes in midfield. This isn’t the type of transfer that makes headlines but is one that can save a match or even a season if the injury bug strikes.

Kepa Arrizabalaga: Arsenal’s new second choice goalkeeper holds the distinction of being the most expensive goalkeeper in football history when he made his move from Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea in 2018. While that move didn’t move out as Chelsea had hoped, Kepa is more than qualified as a back-up for David Raya and comes much cheaper this time around. Still only 30, Arrizabalaga has been selected for the Spanish national team 13 times and has won the Champions League twice, the Europa League, La Liga, and the UEFA Nations League among other titles.

Cristhian Mosquera: Nominated for 2024 Golden Boy award given to the best young player in Europe, Mosquera represents depth at center back immediately and a potential replacement for William Saliba should the Frenchman decide to leave the club at some point.

In addition to the six players above arriving, there is plenty of talk about further activity as Arsenal continue to look to strengthen the squad as they look to close the gap between themselves and 2024-25 title-winner Liverpool.

Women’s Transfers

Not to be outdone by their male counterparts, the Arsenal women have been busy acquiring talent in an effort to build on their second place finish in the Super League, as well as defending their Champions League crown. Their initial forays into the market were of the lower profile variety, but the third week of July saw them break the women’s transfer record to bring in 20-year-old Canadian national team forward Olivia Smith from Liverpool. Here’s a look at the new players that have been confirmed so far this summer:

Olivia Smith: At age 20 and already the veteran of three seasons as a professional, Olivia Smith was Liverpool’s top scorer in her lone season on Merseyside and was voted the Reds Players Player of the Season last term. The youngest player ever to play for Canada at 15 years and 94 days, she has scored 4 times in 18 matches for her country after a prolific 22 goals in 22 appearances at the U20 level.

Taylor Hinds: England-born Jamaican international Hinds played at Arsenal as a youth player and is returning to the club after two seasons at Everton and five at Liverpool. The left back was a vice captain at Liverpool for multiple seasons and has captained the club on occasion. Hinds arrives on a free transfer after her contract at Anfield expired and will likely start her second stint at Arsenal as a reserve.

Chloe Kelly: Another Arsenal youth product who left the club only to rejoin, Kelly actually returned to Arsenal ahead of last season on loan from Manchester City. She started eight matches in the Super League, scoring twice, and started five times in the Champions League, including the final. With the expiration of her contract at Manchester City at the end of her loan period, Kelly has elected to rejoin Arsenal on a free transfer. Kelly and fellow returnee Taylor Hinds came through the youth ranks at Arsenal together and were teammates at Everton.

Anneke Borbe: Despite being relatively young for a goalkeeper at 24, Borbe has been playing professionally in Germany for eight years. Borbe has been up and down between Germany’s top two leagues with Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg, and has featured 87 times between the two clubs in her eight seasons. Her 2024-25 Wolfsburg side made it as far as the quarter finals of the Champions League. She has also been selected for Germany at multiple youth levels. One for the future, Borbe arrives on a free transfer and will likely start her Arsenal career as a reserve.

As with the men, there is certainly time for more new players to arrive. The fact that three of the four new arrivals so far have been free agents means that there may be some budget left for another higher profile arrival or two.

Kit Releases

It used to be that soccer clubs, like most American sports, changed their kits infrequently and, when they did, only made minor alterations. Those days are long gone, yielding to a cycle where clubs release three kits - home, away, and a third - each year along with a training range or two and a variety of other options for the supporter who wants to show their allegiance.

As an Arsenal supporter of many years, I have my favorites and some that I am not as fond of but this year is off to a solid start. Here is right back Jurrian Timber unboxing Arsenal’s new home kit .

The home kit rarely strays too far from Arsenal’s traditional red torso with white sleeves and this season is no exception. The differences from year-to-year tend to be in the details when it comes to the home kit.

The away kit tends to provide more flexibility for designers as Arsenal have used a variety of secondary colors as the basis for the away kit. Blue has figured heavily into the away kit from the earliest days of the club having multiple kits and this season adds heavy graphical elements. Here is a video of a number of players unboxing the new away kit .

The third kit will be announced later in the summer, and from what I’ve seen via unofficial leaks on the interwebs is correct, it is going to be gorgeous.

Pre-Season Tour

Finally, to wrap up our guide to all things Arsenal over the summer, we arrive at the club’s pre-season tour. Global soccer clubs, recognizing a chance to expand their fan bases outside of their home countries, have turned their pre-season into a combination of training and goodwill-building tours, with the US, Asia, and Australia being popular destinations. Over the past two summers, DC’s Audi Field has hosted both the men—facing off against the MLS All-Stars in the summer of 2023, and the women—who played Chelsea’s side in a doubleheader that also featured the Washington Spirit and Kansas City Current.

This season sees the Arsenal Men traveling to Singapore and Hong Kong where they will play AC Milan (July 23rd), Newcastle United (July 27th), and rival Tottenham Hotspur (July 31st). The Arsenal Women, at least those not participating in the Euros, have just returned to training outside of London and have yet to announce any pre-season friendlies or tour plans.

Welcome to the LoCo Gunners Blog!

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:43:59 GMT

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Sometimes, things in your life just line up perfectly. What do I mean?

I started playing soccer as a young kid in the mid-70s.

I started supporting Arsenal in the mid-90s.

I started writing about soccer for outlets like Football365, Yahoo UK, Vox Media, NBC Sports, and the Premier League’s site as a side job in the mid-00s.

I moved to Loudoun County and got involved with Loudoun Soccer as an adult player, volunteer, parent, sometime assistant coach, and Board member in the mid-10s.

If you’re wondering about the “lining up perfectly” part, you may have heard that Arsenal and Loudoun Soccer announced a strategic partnership earlier this year, bringing together multiple things I’ve been passionate about for years. Already, we have sent coaches to North London to learn from their counterparts at Arsenal. Later this summer, Arsenal will send Academy coaches here to co-host a camp with Loudoun Soccer. From there, we will continue to find additional ways to collaborate to the benefit of both clubs.

From the moment I heard that this partnership might come to fruition, I wanted to find a way to contribute to its success for both clubs. Unfortunately, I’m too old to make an impact on the pitch, and don’t have the aptitude to be an impactful coach.

What I can do is write about soccer and bring what I know about Arsenal to the Loudoun Soccer family. So, welcome to the LoCo Gunner, the official blog of the Loudoun Soccer partnership with Arsenal Football Club.

For those who are already passionate about Arsenal, my hope is that the LoCo Gunner will be a forum where you can learn more about the partnership with Loudoun Soccer and how you can engage locally with the Gunners. For those who aren’t as familiar with Arsenal and the Premier League, I hope this is an opportunity to jump in and learn about this historic club that has become part of the Loudoun Soccer family, and come to love it as much as I have over the past 30 years.

So, what can you expect in this space over the next year?

Between now and when the Premier League kicks off on August 15th, I’ll focus on getting you up to speed on who Arsenal are, what to expect from the upcoming season, and where you can experience the partnership locally. Topics will include:

Club History and Recent Results
What's Happening Over the Summer
Season Preview: the Men's Team
Season Preview: the (defending Champions League title holders!) Women's Team
Arsenal/Loudoun Soccer Camp Wrap-up

During the season, I’ll write up a weekly summary of all things Arsenal, including results on the pitch for the men’s and women’s teams, upcoming schedules, local events like watch parties, and anything else of interest involving the Club.

I'm excited to get started, and I hope you'll join me every week! --Neal

25/26 Uniform Kits REVEALED!

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 22:30:24 GMT

Check them out HERE ! Thanks to our Uniform Sponsors: Michael & Son , Patient First , and NSMI !

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FALL 2025 REC REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Wed, 21 May 2025 16:29:01 GMT

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Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:11:06 GMT

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LoCo Gunners Blog: Fit to Be Tied

LoCo Gunners Blog: Goals Galore!

A Stunning Debut

LOCO GUNNER BLOG: Liverpool, Transfers, and Mounting Injuries

2025 FALL FESTIVAL @ LSP

Saturday, September 6! Details here !

Women’s Preseason, A New Men’s Arrival, and Arsenal Men v Leeds

LOCO GUNNER BLOG: The Season Begins

The Season Begins

LOCO GUNNERS BLOG: Arsenal Camp Insider

Loudoun Soccer x Arsenal Camp - An Insider Look

Men's 25/26 Season Preview

Men's 25/26 Season Preview

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Join us Monday, September 29 at Lansdowne Resort!

LOCO GUNNERS BLOG: A Recent History of Arsenal FC

A Big Weekend for Arsenal!

LoCo Gunners Blog: Summer of Arsenal

There's a Lot Going On in the Offseason

Welcome to the LoCo Gunners Blog!

25/26 Uniform Kits REVEALED!

Check them out HERE ! Thanks to our Uniform Sponsors: Michael & Son , Patient First , and NSMI !

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