It is finally matchday. Manchester United vs Arsenal at Old Trafford.
For us Gooners, this isn’t just any season opener. It is a marquee clash against one of our oldest foes in a game that could set the tone for the season.
Three consecutive runner-up finishes have raised the bar of expectation for the season, with many fans now seeing anything under champions in May as failure.
Form & Firepower: Both Teams Rebuilt
Arsenal enter with strong momentum.
Our pre-season ended on a high note, including a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. We’ve integrated exciting new signings – Viktor Gyokeres, Martín Zubimendi, and Noni Madueke – to add depth and redefine our threat. Arteta insists that if we keep digging, we can finally strike Premier League gold.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are in transition under Ruben Amorim, after a disastrous 15th-place finish last season. Their summer overhaul has brought in Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, and Matheus Cunha – a statement that they’re gunning to reclaim legitimacy. Yet, they remain defensively shaky – something Arteta’s well-organised side can exploit.
Team News & Tactical Outlook
Arsenal: Injury concerns with Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus sidelined, but Gyökeres is fit and may lead the line; Havertz may also be an option if the Swede is not 100% sharp. Our midfield trio of Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard looks primed to control the game.
United: Onana is still in goal, whilst Lisandro Martinez is still out, and Sesko might not start – though he and Cunha could feature upfront. A 3-4-2-1 formation under Amorim seems likely which could make it a very narrow game.
Key Battles to Watch
Midfield Mastery Can Rice and Zubimendi smother United’s creative spine? Containing Bruno Fernandes will be crucial to depriving them of that spark they desperately need.
Striker Stakes A big moment awaits Gyökeres debut vs his old Sporting boss, Amorim. Can he silence critics and thrive in the Premier League pressure cooker?
Wings of Threat Saka will look to exploit United’s full-backs with his quick feet and creativity. The battle with their wing structure’s cohesion will likely swing the early momentum.
Head-to-Head & History’s Weight
This fixture carries weight well beyond the points. It’s 245h clash between Arsenal and United – including the hat-trick of FA Cup chaos, title-deciders, and the infamous ‘Battle of Old Trafford’, where rivalry burned fiercely and red cards flew.
Our recent record isn’t shabby either: We have lost just 2 of the last 14 league games against United at Old Trafford, going unbeaten in the last five (W4 D1).
Prediction: A Gooner’s Gut Feeling
I am cautious yet optimistic.
Having reinforced both spine and flair, and with Arteta’s system more refined than ever, I’ll back Arsenal to win—maybe 2-1 or 3-2.
The midfield must dominate, and Gyökeres will look to make a statement if he starts. If we match United’s physicality and stay sharp defensively, the Red Devils’ new-look attack should be contained.
The atmosphere at Old Trafford will be electric; can we silence the roars early? If Saka delivers, Odegaard dictates tempo, and Rice locks things down – they might not stand a chance.
During the early days of the transfer window, two names were being mentioned as top targets for Arsenal – Rodrygo and Eberechi Eze.
As it stands, with the Premier League season having started, neither is an Arsenal player. And it is increasingly looking like they will end up at Manchester City and Tottenham, respectively.
So just why have Arsenal not secured either man?
Signings contingent on exits
Both the signings of Rodrygo and Eze were always contingent on players departing.
The talk around Eze came out around the same time as contract negotiations with Ethan Nwaneri were stalling. It has now been talked about that Eze was being lined if as a replacement for Nwaneri, if a deal for the young Englishman could not get over the line.
Arsenal would have expected an offer in the region of £60-80m if Nwaneri went on the market. That would have paid for Eze with change left over – and Nwaneri departing would have been pure profit.
In the end, Nwaneri stayed, which meant Eze was no longer an important target – Nwaneri will step up to be Martin Odegaard’s cover, which is the role Eze was being pencilled in for.
As for Rodrygo, his recruitment was always dependent on either Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard leaving.
A new contract has been on the table for Trossard all summer, indicating that the early preference was for Martinelli to depart. That would have seen Rodrygo step in for Martinelli as first-choice left winger, backed up by Trossard on his new deal (his current deal expires in 12-months).
As it was, no significant offers came in for Martinelli, although there was plenty of interest, and Trossard is yet to sign his new deal. That means there is no space for Rodrygo on that left hand side.
With Trossard not signing the new contract, it is more likely now that that the Belgium winger will depart rather than Martinelli. That could result in Arsenal going back in for Eze, who would then become Martinelli’s cover and competition on the left (although it is not Eze’s natural position), and the Englishman also replacing Trossard as a more central option.
With the money Martinelli is on, having the Brazilian play back up to Rodrygo would not make sense, especially taking into account the eye-watering numbers for the Real Madrid player.
As it stands, it is likely that Martinelli will be given another year to show he can step up, and Arsenal will look to recruit if Trossard departs.
Rodrygo financial numbers
Arsenal could not get the Rodrygo deal to work without Martinelli departing.
The deal to Manchester City is reportedly in the region of £86million, with Rodrygo demanding a salary in the region of £350k a week. That is huge numbers for a forward who scored just 6 La Liga goals last year.
Martinelli is reportedly on £180k a week, and Arsenal would have hoped to have sold him for a fee in the region of £80m (to Saudi or Europe). This fee is not unrealistic when you consider what the likes of Jamie Gittens, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha have gone for.
Had Martinelli departed, it would have freed up the money to pay for Rodrgyo and around 50% of his wages. Without his departure, we could not make the deal work, considering what we have already spent.
We should not have signed Noni Madueke
Taking into account the primary reason that we stepped away from Rodrygo is financial, a lot of fans will point to the recruitment of Madueke and say we should have used his money to finance a transfer for the Brazilian.
This ignores the fact that over the last 2-3 years, we have been crying out for quality cover for Bukayo Saka. And Nwaneri is not that man.
Expecting Nwaneri to be the cover for both Saka and Odegaard was not a solution. It would have been a huge burden on an 18-year-old. Instead, Mikel Arteta and the team decided to go out for Madueke – a Premier League proven right winger who can come in for Saka without us needing to change the set-up.
Put simply, we had two left wingers (Martinelli and Trossard) and only one right winger (Saka). So getting Saka’s cover was a higher priority than signing a 3rd left winger.
There is an argument that had we signed Rodrygo, either he, Trossard or Martinelli could cover Saka on the right. But these are all right footed players so would not have been “like for like”. If a player picks up an injury, you want to replace him with a similar player to avoid changing the system.
Madueke also provides us with a left footed option on the left if we do want to change up how we are playing. His recruitment will allow Arteta to be more tactically fluid in attack.
Some will argue (again), that Saka could have switched over to the left. But on the elft side Saka would be blunted as he does not have it in his game to rip past the full back on the outside and put in cross after cross. He is an average left winger, a world class right winger.
Not signing Madueke (or another left footed right winger) was simply not an option.
The future?
As it stands, I would be surprised if we sign either or Rodrygo. But things change quickly in football.
If over the next 7-days, Trossard departs, I think we will go back in for Eze. He will then be the cover and competition for Martinelli, whilst as above replacing Trossard as an option more centrally. This would however be heavily reliant on Trossard departing and Eze still being available.
There is some talk about how we might “do an Odegaard” with Rodrygo and bring him in on loan. We would cover his wages for the season, and have an option to buy in 2026, thus pushing the expenditure down the road a year when we are likely to need fewer new recruits than this year.
Personally, I can not see this happening. Especially if Trossard does not depart. However, if a move to Manchester City does not materilise and Rodrygo wants a way out of Madrid, it could be one to keep an eye on.
Whilst this might all be frustrating for Arsenal fans, it has to be remembered that we have Martinelli, Trossard, Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson. We are not Manchester City where we can just dump players and easily finance another £50-80m player. And we also need to take into account squad sizes.
As it stands, we have 17 non-homegrown players in the squad. So if no one departs, someone will have to remain unregistered.
We also have a further 9 home-grown players (excluding MLS and Nwaneri who do not need to be registered). That takes us to 26 senior players.
The result is, if we sign someone without selling, we have 2 players too many and will need to leave a couple unregistered. That is not an option.
Over the next week, Andrea Berta and his team will continue working on exits for the likes of Karl Hein, Oleksander Zinchenko, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira. Once we see a couple of them depart, alongside Trossard, then we may see some movement for a new left winger.
Until our squad is trimmed a little bit, we will not see anyone else come in.
My view is that the left wing was never a priority. That Arsenal are ready to miss out on both Eze and Rodrygo if they can not secure transfers away for either Trossard or Martinelli. And that they are happy with the pair as options on the left, supported by Madueke.
I have always felt that those names mentioned to come in ahead of Martinelli were “shiny new toy syndrome”. Huge money signings for players not much better than our Gabi. And I think Arsenal’s hierarchy feel the same. And that result was a big name (Rodrygo) would only have come in if Martinelli departed.
Oh Tony. You have shown the world again why you are on the speakers’ circuit rather than working in football.
Tony Adams (alongside David Seaman) was one of my childhood idols.
For me, he is our greatest ever player. Above Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. A boy from Romford that came through our ranks, beat his demons, and become not only our greatest ever captains, but one of the greatest ever seen in football.
He led us to league titles in 3 difference decades, an achievement unlikely to be every matched in English football. He is a legend. No debate.
But his recent quotes about Martin Odegaard and captaincy shows that he is still living in a by-gone era. One where a single man was the captain. Where squad had just 15 men and the coaching staff was 5 or 6.
In Adams’ day, captaincy was very different.
Leadership can very much be split into two roles – on the pitch and off the pitch.
30 years ago, the captain would lead his merry men and be the managers voice on the pitch Off the pitch they would be front and centre for everything – from being the man who is the link between manager and players, the man who is in front of the camera for interviews, and, most importantly, the man who organises the weekly alcohol related social events.
These days, leadership is different.
On the pitch, you do not want one leader. You want a team of leaders. And it should not take an armband to show leadership.
You go back to 2012 when Chelsea won the Champions League final. Senior players stepped up and led the team to the clubs greatest success. Leadership was not just shown from the captain, John Terry, but also from Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba.
Eddie Jones also bought the concept of multiple on-pitch “captains” to the England rugby union team. And it is a concept that every rugby nation, and most football teams, now use.
Players these days are coached nth. A manager has very little impact during the game beyond making substitutions and tactical changes, and therefore, a captain has even less. These days, on the pitch, the man wearing the armband pretty much just does the toin coss.
The comments from Adams about “you’re not going to win the league with Odegaard as captain” misses the fact that on-pitch captaincy has changed.
Gabriel, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz do not need an armband to show leadership on the pitch. They do so naturally. As does Odegaard.
Training ground captaincy has also changed since Adams’ day.
These days, teams do a lot of specialist training. It is no longer just goalkeepers training on their own. And this is why you here managers talking about having a “keeper captain”, a “defender captain”, a “midfield captain” and a “captain of the attack”. These individuals are the leaders when the various different components of the team split apart for training sessions.
And with 25-30 players at each training session, you need leaders across different groups, and different ages. Gone are the days of a 15 man squad, all training together and just doing lots and lots of running.
The club captain’s role off the pitch is probably their most important these days.
It is the role of the club captain to ensure an arm is put around youth team players when they join the senior pros for a training session or two. Likewise, it is the club captain’s job to help new players integrate into the squad. They do the informal welfare checks on players. Make sure everyone feels OK and part of the squad. Captaincy has changed in the same way normal employers, employees and management have changed when it comes to mental health, welfare, etc.
No longer does a captain just organise a piss up for him and his mates outside of training time and think that is all he has to do.
Finally, with the amount of pre-and-post-match interviews players now have to do, it would be impossible for one man to do everything. Arsenal, and every other club, therefore, have a group of leaders whom they select from to do interviews. This ensures the onus is not on one player and they take into account the mode of player, opponent and more.
Odegaard is reportedly a very popular captain amongst teammates. Just like Adams was. And surely with the off-pitch complexity of the job, this is what is important.
The days of a leader (in all organisations) leading just by shouting and screaming are over. It is now about putting your arm around a colleague, making sure they are OK and encouraging them. Some will say the world has gone soft. But the data is there that employees perform better when being encouraged, not when being shouted at.
It is not just Arsenal who run a multi-leader model. Every club does from Manchester City to Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona and beyond. They all operate using a “team of leaders” rather than putting the onus on a single man.
Pep Guardiola took this a step further by having players vote on who should make up the leadership group, and then who from that leadership group should wear the captain’s armband. The most successful manager this century having a very similar philosophy to Mikel Arteta.
Adams is an Arsenal legend. But that does not mean everything that he says is gospel. It is the same for Ian Wright, for Thierry Henry, for Arsene Wenger and more.
I am not going to get into the reasons why Adams often speaks about Arsenal in a negative tone. There is more to it than him just wanting to see us win things. But what Adams has shown is why he no longer works in football.
His views are still stuck in the 80s and 90s. He has not progressed to the modern-day thinking on football. And it is his reluctance to modernise (or inability to?) that has seen him go from great leader, to very poor manager and coach, and even worse pundit.
Adams managerial record is horrendous. He has shown that a great leader on the pitch does not make a great manager further down the line. He probably wishes that he had the managerial brain of Mikel Arteta. But he does not. And I think that frustrates him.
I will always have a place in my heart for Tony Adams. But every time he has opened his mouth in the last decade, all he has shown is that his views are from a bygone era and why he no longer works in football.
Tony – love you, but you are wrong. As you often are.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 